Country First?

Obviously I just can't get into this Republican National Convention, but I never pretended to be impartial.

I'm listening to Giuliani speak right now... or should I say 9iu11ani? I felt insulted by him right from the start as he tried to create a comparison between picking a job applicant and picking a President. Does he think we're dumb? We ARE picking a job applicant for the most important job in our country. Anyway, after that, he really launched into an attack on Barack Obama. One of his points was that Obama voted "present" 130 times as Senator. Well, these votes are not unusual:

It's true that Obama voted "present" dozens of times, part of the thousands of votes he cast in an eight-year span in Springfield. Illinois lawmakers commonly vote that way on a variety of issues, and he has countered that many of those votes were cast because of technical or legal considerations about the underlying legislation.

Often, Obama voted "present" with large groups of other Democrats to protest what they saw as Republican trickery or abuse of power. Other times, voting that way sends a message that a lawmaker supports a bill's intent, but has concerns about how the legislation is drafted. Voting this way also can be a way to duck a difficult issue, as McCain charged, although that's difficult to prove.

There are also cases where legislators vote "present" as part of a strategy. Obama did this on some abortion measures, voting "present" to encourage some wavering legislators to do the same instead of voting "yes". Their "present" votes had the same effect as "no" votes, so getting them to vote present helped defeat the bills.

Giuliani was followed by Sarah Palin, and she got a standing ovation right from the start. My first thought was that they filled this stadium with "low information voters."

It's no secret that the Republican party wants to show Palin's personality and likability. I think they succeeded. I'd certainly like to have her as a next-door neighbor, but not a Vice President. Nope.

Because I'm not one of those "low information voters." I've learned a lot about her this week. I'm not simply talking about her unwed pregnant teenage daughter. That news was so yesterday. I'm talking about her possible links to this group who propose the dissolution of the US federal government. And the Republicans want their slogan to be "country first"?

And what was that she mockingly said about terrorists being read their rights?

"Al Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America ... he's worried that someone won't read them their rights? Government is too big ... he wants to grow it."

I'm not even sure how her last statement follows, but clearly she's going to be another irrational opponent of habeas corpus.

The last half of her speech was filled with fear of terrorism, taxes, and nuclear weapons. She reaffirmed my belief that McCain will be another war president.