RNC Day One and a Halfish

It’s telling that Bush spoke to the RNC from the White House. I know that Gustav gave him the excuse, but there must have been a sigh of relief from the McCain campaign. You can’t exactly ignore the sitting president, but that being said, the last thing McCain (or anyone in office or running for reelection, something that the RNC is notably lacking this year) wants is to be seen having your picture taken with George W. Bush this year. Bush’s speech was about what you’d expect – did you know John McCain was a POW? – with this delightful slap at the left: “Fellow citizens, if the Hanoi Hilton could not break John McCain’s resolve to do what is best for his country, you can be sure the angry left never will.” It’s unbelievably galling to hear a man who authorized torture to compare his political opponents to torturers. The eagerness of the Republicans to get Bush back behind the curtain as quickly as possible almost – well, not really almost – makes me feel sorry for him. But then I see those beady shark eyes and remember his unshakeable sense of rightness and exactly why I can’t wait for January.

Fred Thompson brought more of the red meat for the party – did you know John McCain was a POW? – and I once again find myself asking, “Fred Thompson? From Law and Order?” I remember the Fred Thompson boomlet from the winter and spring and still find myself kind of surprised about it.

Ah, Joe Lieberman. What can you say? He’s a hack, and he’s a hack who’s about to lose his committee assignments.

Admittedly, this convention was not aimed at me. The Republican Party is split and right now it seems like the only thing holding it together is Sarah Palin. In a way, it was a smart move on McCain’s part. He’s never been beloved of the Christian Right. Nominating one of their own, even if she is dangerously ill prepared is one of the only ways I can see of him overcoming their antipathy. The problem, of course, is that in nominating a dangerously ill prepared Christian cipher, he’s undercutting the other part of his base – the perpetual war, American hegemony wing of the party that rode George W. Bush into the Departments of State and Defense. Palin is George W. Bush without the daddy issues and without the steady, guiding hand of Dick Cheney whispering in his ear.