Looks like John Kerry's stunt Thursday night did not sit well with John McCain:

John McCain tried Saturday to play peacemaker again. The Republican said Democrat John Kerry was "unfair" when he criticized the GOP ticket as "unfit to lead the nation" and when he suggested that President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney avoided serving in Vietnam.

"John Kerry's characterization that the president is unfit for duty is unfair," said McCain, a Republican senator from Arizona. "I categorically reject that just as I categorically reject allegations that Senator Kerry didn't serve honorably."

Of course, this time the Kerry campaign is going to ignore McCain's criticisms and continue their attacks:

Stephanie Cutter, a Kerry spokeswoman, stuck by Kerry's comments. "We agree with Senator McCain that the debate should not be about what happened 35 years ago, it should be about the state of the country today," she said. "Because of the way George Bush and Dick Cheney misled this nation into war, they are unfit to lead the country for another four years."

Not only did John Kerry put words into Cheney's mouth during his midnight rally, but he once again asserted that his own service in Vietnam somehow makes him qualified to be President.

"The Vice-President called me unfit for office last night," Mr Kerry told the rally in Springfield, Ohio, with his running mate, John Edwards, beside him. "I'm going to leave it up to the voters to decide whether five deferments [obtained by Mr Cheney over Vietnam] make someone more qualified than two tours of duty."

Many Democrats were delighted at the counter-offensive, having grown increasingly impatient with Mr Kerry's passivity in the face of the attacks on his military record, amid the fear that the political initiative was slipping from him. But Republicans claimed that Mr Kerry was playing into their hands, expending time and energy to deal with a peripheral issue.

And that he has. Even though John McCain has said the debate over Vietnam service is "a distraction" from real issues like the war on terror, Kerry is still trying to make this election about the wrong war.

John Kerry may be somewhere in the country talking about Vietnam still, the President has taken a lead in the electoral college:

In a seesaw campaign, President Bush has opened a lead over John Kerry in their drive to White House victory by making gains in the Midwest and solidifying his Southern base.

The race is spread over 19 states, with the fiercest competition in Ohio, Florida, Iowa, Minnesota, New Mexico and Pennsylvania, according to state polls and interviews with strategists in both parties.

Two months before Election Day, the president has 20 states firmly in his column and eight leaning his way, for a total of 237 electoral votes. It takes 270 to win the White House.

The Democratic challenger has 11 states plus the District of Columbia in hand, with five states leaning his way. That puts Kerry at 211 electoral votes.

Needless to say that Kerry's pathetic display of attacking our President and Vice President following Bush's acceptance speech shows that Kerry's in the process of a meltdown. Kerry's orchestrated bashing fest was clearly attempt to catch a headline when it was obvious that our President was going to come out of this convention stronger than ever... As the AP reported "Bush made small but significant gains even before the convention 'bounce' became part of the equation."

We're on our way.

I'm not one to get anyone's hopes up, but the AP is reporting that a officials believe we are close to capturing Osama bin Laden.

The United States and its allies have moved closer to capturing Osama bin Laden in the last two months, a top U.S. counterterrorism official said in a television interview broadcast Saturday.

"If he has a watch, he should be looking at it because the clock is ticking. He will be caught," Joseph Cofer Black, the U.S. State Department coordinator for counterterrorism, told private Geo television network.

Could bin Laden's capture be imminent?

Convention Reflection

Opportunities come and go. Today it seems like the convention was over as quickly as it came upon me. If I had missed one event, or an interview, it will never feel like a loss because the experience of being at the Republican National Convention could have been nothing other than a net-positive.

There was so much happening at the convention that I anticipate several post-convention posts on the various incidents, encounters, and experiences I had. This post will give some overall reflections on the experience of blogging the convention.

It was difficult work but a rewarding challenge. Without the help of Kevin Patrick (fellow writer at Blogs For Bush) and Scott Sala from SlantPoint I would have felt like a fish out of water all week. I can only wonder how much more difficult my experience would have been without their help throughout the week.

Being invited to the convention is an experience I have no doubt many bloggers would have loved to have. I hope I was able to offer them a look at the convention that they enjoyed. I felt my responsibility was not just to the planners of the convention, but to those who would have jumped at the opportunity to have been in my shoes.

Heading home from the convention exhausted, I may have felt at the time that I was glad it was over. However, as I take a look back on the past week, I wish I could hold on it for a little while longer, and in the next few days it will be a race against the inevitable fading of my memories to document my experience in writing before it's too late, and forget those little details observations I wasn't able to get down during the week.

Scott and I learned almost immediately what it meant to be a credentialed blogger. Within an hour of picking up our credentials, we found ourselves on the floor of the arena witnessing Vice President Dick Cheney's speech sound check. It was not an event for the history books, but the reality of what our five credential badges meant was realized in that moment. The next few days were going to be much different then covering the protests in the city on Saturday.

From the very first interview on Monday to being watching (in person) President Bush give his acceptance speech, I was in awe of this convention. This was my first convention and I am sure it won't be my last.

The convention may be over. I might be back home. But there is still a lot to say, and I hope to share it all with you this weekend. Stay tuned for my follow-up coverage of the Republican National Convention.

Not all that different than the way John Kerry would cede domestic securitiy to the UN/France/etc, apparently his campaign is conceding that George Bush and Republicans are better at national security than him and his cronies:

With 59 days to go until the presidential election, the campaign of Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. — trailing by double-digits in two recent national polls — has made a shift in strategy.

While decrying Republican attacks on Kerry's military service and fitness for office as unfair and personal, the Kerry campaign is also attacking the military service and fitness for office of President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. At the same time, the campaign almost seemed to be ceding the national security issue to the president as Kerry focuses on domestic issues.

With President Bush up by 11 percentage points in two polls; with the economy adding 144,000 new jobs last month; with terrorists in Iraq and Chechnya showing us what is really at stake in this election; with John Kerry proving himself ever more inept on the campaign trail, it stands to reason that our Democrats will go to their ready stand-by: The politics of personal destruction.

Apparantly, CBS's 60 Minutes (motto: There's No BS Quite Like C BS) is to air an interview with a former Lt. Governor of Texas who will claim that he pulled strings to get President Bush into the Texas ANG, while other stories will relate that the Elder Bush pulled strings to get President Bush into the Alabama ANG in order to get then-wild partier George W. Bush out of Texas for a bit.

Yawn.

Its just more of the same for these Donk's; can't win on substance, so hope that a bit of slime will make the other guy so unpopular that even a miserable Democratic candidate can slip in (this, by the way, is precisely how they got California's Gray Davis elected to a 2nd term back in 2002...only it didn't work out in the long run for them). You'd think that after months and months of this sort of thing resulting in President Bush still managing to be ahead the Democrats would figure out that the American people want answers regarding the future - not hit-pieces about the past.

For four days this past week the Republican Party laid it out in bold terms both as to why President Bush should be re-elected and why Kerry's public record makes him unqualified to be President. I do believe that even if the Democrats matched the GOP on substance we'd still win - but if the Democrats keep down this path of "don't criticise Kerry and Bush is scum" campaigning, then the result this November will be a win by historic margins by the President.

With the GOP putting its best foot forward last week, it is heartening to know that more people watched the GOP convention than watched the DNC's Vietnam-fest:

Although the election is not until November, President Bush and his Republican party have bested John Kerry and the Democrats as far as U.S. television ratings are concerned, research showed on Friday.

Nearly 28 million Americans -- more than a quarter of them watching cable's Fox News Channel alone -- tuned in to see Bush accept his nomination for a second term at the climax of the Republican National Convention on Thursday, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Bush's national TV audience topped Kerry's speech at the Democratic convention in July by just over 3 million viewers, among those watching Big Three commercial networks ABC, CBS and NBC and the three leading cable news outlets -- Fox, CNN and MSNBC.

The Republican meeting as a whole also drew bigger audiences than the Democrats, averaging 22.6 million viewers over four nights at New York City's Madison Square Garden, compared with 20.4 million mustered by Kerry and his party in Boston in July.

Yesterday, Time magazine released a poll taken of likely voters before George W. Bush accepted the nomination and gave his stirring acceptance speech.

Newsweek released its poll of registered voters taken after Bush had given his speech and the President has an 11 point lead, 54% - 43%

UPDATE: Wizbang discovers some fuzzy math by the Chicago Sun-Times.

President Bush takes his momentum gathering campaign to Ohio today and reaches out for votes from Democrats and Independants who voted against him in 2000:

Northeast Ohio's blue-collar cities overwhelmingly voted against Bush in the 2000 presidential campaign. But many suburbs are controlled by Republicans, as are fast-growing "outer-ring" suburban counties.

Bush's visit Saturday hits two of those locations - the Cleveland suburb of Broadview Heights, where he took 55 percent of the vote in 2000, and conservative Lake County northeast of the city.

David Tryon, 45, attending the Bush rally in his hometown of Broadview Heights, said he understands the importance of Bush winning Ohio and doing well in heavily Democratic Cuyahoga County.

"I think that all of Cuyahoga County should vote for George Bush, including the inner city to be free from the tyranny of the Democrats who have destroyed the inner city of America," he said.

In this morning's New York Post Ralph Peters says what I have been feeling since 911. This is personal, as my son and I were in the air at 35,000 feet when we found out about the attacks on America.

Those Muslims who preach Jihad against the West decided years ago that killing Jewish or Christian children is not only acceptable, but pleasing to their god when done by "martyrs."

John Kerry has already told us that he will treat the war on terror "primarily" as law-enforcement action while President Bush and his staff has told us that terrorism is war. I totally agree with President Bush.

This picture of a seriously injured child could of easily been your child or one of the kids next door. When will the world finally learn that calling on law enforcement is not the answer to stop the killing by terrorist of innocent people? Destroying them is the only acceptable answer.

I have for the most part; have not been very political before 9/11, at least in my adult years. I didn't even have as much as a political bumper sticker on my cars. Only yard sign in my yard was my young son selling Lemonade. Give money to a campaign? Yeah, like that was going to happen. Go knock on doors? Well I admit, that I did, but only to see if the neighbor wanted to watch a football or a baseball game. Never once was it to talk about how important it is to elect a man President.

This year it is different, so very very different due to the 9/11 attacks. Now all of our cars have George Bush 2004 bumper stickers. I have not one but two George Bush yard signs. We donate money to Republican Campaign's. I knock on doors, but now it is never to discuss football or baseball, it to talk to people about how important it is to elect a man President.

This year it is indeed personal.

Hat tip Powerline.

In a very politically incorrect column (it's about time someone says it out loud) Ralph Peters closes with a devastating line:

A final thought: Did any of those protesters who came to Manhattan to denounce our liberation of 50 million Muslims stay an extra day to protest the massacre in Russia? Of course not.

The protesters no more care for dead Russian children than they care for dead Kurds or for the hundreds of thousands of Arabs that Saddam Hussein executed. Or for the ongoing Arab-Muslim slaughter of blacks in Sudan. Nothing's a crime to those protesters unless the deed was committed by America.

The butchery in Russia was a crime against humanity. In every respect. Was any war ever more necessary or just than the War on Terror?

And what will terror's apologists say when the killers come for their own children?

Blogs For Bush Interviews Richard Miniter

I now have available for your listening pleasure, my blogger exclusive interview (from Thursday night) with Richard Miniter, author of "Losing Bin Laden: How Bill Clinton's Failures Unleashed Global Terror" which is coming out in paperback in a week.

We discussed the convention and more specifically a key issue in this election: the war on terror, he told me that there are lots of things in that people need to remember before going to the voting booth. He told me, "If you elect Kerry, you are voting for the Clinton approach to fighting terrorism ... if you look at the foreign policy team - the counterterrorism team that Kerry has assembled, it is the old Clinton team ... It's all the same people, it's all the old same ideas, the law enforcement approach to fighting terrorism. You can say a lot of things in favor of that approach, but the one thing you cannot say is that it works."

I decided to ask Mr. Miniter how Bush's approach to fighting terrorism differs from that approach, from both before and after 9-11. He informed me that before 9-11 Bush had a plan to hit bin Laden's bases in Afghanistan but it took a while for that plan to make it through the national security bureaucracy and it was finally approved on September 4, and by then "it was just a race against time."

He did tell me, that since September 11, the Bush administration "has been unlike any administration, Democrat or Republican, since the end of WWII. Extremely effective, extremely active."

Most interesting was when he told me, that based on information he has from high level intelligence sources that on average, that they disrupt one plot a day against Americans somewhere around the world.

Miniter, who has had access to intelligence documents, told me that there was a plot against the U.S. embassy in Paris that was stopped, the U.S. embassy in Bamako, Mali was also targeted, but an attack was prevented. A plot "to turn 15 different ships into floating bombs and set them off against U.S. warships – that was stopped."

There have been many plots that have been stopped, and some of these end up on the newswires, but the "the media just yawns."

The government has been trying to get this information out. But the media just ignores it. Because of this, Miniter told me that is why blogs are so important. He says, "blogs operate as alternative assignment editors." Because assignment editors decide which stories are important and which ones are not. Bloggers can "connect the dots," he told me.

With all this insight into war on terror, I had to ask him if he felt John Kerry could fight an effective war on terror. He answered, "I don't think he can, partly because the team that surrounds him is the Clinton team. These guys had a whack at it between 1996 and 2000." And then explain how mindset of the members of the Clinton administration, particularly in their response to the USS Cole bombing. "They had all these excuses for not acting, and it worries me – if you elect Kerry, you elect this team ... you are electing a failed approach, a 'make excuses' not 'take action' approach."

This interview offers some great insight into why we need George W. Bush to be reelected. Miniter strongly believes that Kerry just won't cut it when fighting the war on terror. I urge you all to listen to this interview

Wizbang Live Blogs Kerry's Post-RNC Meltdown Speech

Amongst the craziness that was the last night of the convention I missed Wizbang's live-blogging of Kerry's pathetic attempt of trying to put the breaks of Bush's momentum following his successful convention. Check it out.

Written by guest blogger Aaron Margolis of Pardon My English.

Democrats quickly rebutted Zell Miller's vicious speech Wednesday night, with a web video called "Zell Miller: Then and Now" and with links to "donate to REAL Democrats who DO get it."

You see video of Zell being critical of George Bush, saying that "George Bush just doesn't get it," and repeats that line many times. You hear Zell Miller say that George Bush doesn't deserve "four more years."

The video then cuts to the “Now” Zell Miller, with a quote of his from August 1, 2004, saying “I am for President George W. Bush because he is the right man at the right place at the right time.”

At first glance, this video makes you think that Zell has "flip-flopped" on George W. Bush... but that is not the case.

Look carefully at the "Then" Zell Miller footage. Look at the "fine print." The footage of Zell Miller saying "George Bush just doesn't get it," is from the 1992 Democratic Convention. In that video, he's talking about George H. W. Bush, not George W. Bush. They want you to think he's talking about the same George Bush... they want you to think he's talking about George W. Bush.

We are smarter than that. We get it. And I think Zell gets it, too. It's the Democrats that just don't get it.

Home, Home Again

Hey everyone, after missing two trains and going through the ordeal of being stranded because of a dead car battery, I have made it back home.

Follow up coverage on the Convention will be coming in the next few days... In the meantime, here is a roundup of some media coverage the RNC Bloggers got:

• The NY Daily News
• Investors Business Journal (a harsh article criticizing lack of traffic to the RNC Bloggers' sites.
• Kevin McCullough defend the RNC Bloggers from Mark Follmann's Salon.com piece.

Coming soon, my exclusive interview with Richard Miniter.

New Time poll: Bush up big over Kerry as more likely-voters trust him on Iraq, terrorism, economy, handling the command-in-chief role, providing strong leadership in difficult times, and tax policy. What's left for Kerry? Well, he is waaaaaaaay ahead in the percentage of likely voters who believe he is the candidate who once served in Vietnam, a war so long ago that there are about 50 million potential voters who weren't even born yet and a war that is irrelevant to the global war on terror. Time's poll was taken Tuesday-Thursday during the Republican convention, which means most or all of the respondents hadn't seen Bush's speech - a speech that can only help him.

Something struck me as I watched President Bush deliver his acceptance speech last night. Actually, several things struck me. His domestic agenda, driven by a conservative viewpoint that government policies should help people rise out of government dependence stands in stark contrast to the liberal's vision of creating more government dependency. George Bush wants government to empower people to take ownership of such things as their retirement planning, healthcare, education and more - while John Kerry wants to empower government to take ownership of those aspects of people's lives.

And on foreign policy and the issue of terrorism, the contrast could not be more stark. John Kerry, as he promised in his acceptance speech last month, will position America to respond to future attacks. George Bush, on the other hand, has been responding since 9/11, understanding that we are not in a niche war with a few al Qaeda cells, but in an ideological struggle with the tyranny that, in various forms, has made the Middle East dysfunctional and a breeding ground for Islamist terror. Bush understands that democracy and freedom lead to peace and prosperity - and peace and prosperity in the Middle East is the only long-term hope for reducing the threat of terrorism against the United States.

View from the Convention

Here are my quick thoughts on Bush last night.

He rose to the occasion and did just about everything right. Not saying it was a speech for the centuries, but he laid out his domestic agenda (blunting criticism that this convention was about nothing other than 9/11 and contrasting Kerry's convention that was about nothing other than Vietnam) and strengthened his resolve to win any battle and take it to the jihadists in their backyards so we are not fighting this in our backyards. His campaign is a well-oiled machine so Kerry will have to do a lot to take Bush down, but there are plenty of pitfalls over the next 60 days so nothing is certain. Needless to say, from my partisan standpoint I am pleased.

Kerry's impotent stunt last night coupled with improving jobs numbers this morning only add to the growing wind in Bush's sails.

So fasten your seatbelts 'cause it is going to be a wild ride!

Clinton advisor and Gore 2000 voter Dick Morris offers high praise for the President's speech:

In a speech that was at once eloquent and substantive, sensitive and dynamic, profound and familiar, Bush has risen to a level few presidents have ever reached.

Sometimes a strategist just has to sit back and gasp. Occasionally, a seasoned political observer needs to realize that he has seen something extraordinary. Tonight, Bush made me feel like that.

These observations led Morris to conclude:

I voted for Gore in 2000, as a true child of the Clinton era. But I decided to vote for Bush on Sept. 12, 2001 when I saw how he handled the threat we face. I used to back Bush because he offered safety; now I support him because he summons us all to an ideal. Before he spoke, supporting Bush was a duty one owed to the fallen. Now, it is an honor.

The economic cherry on top of the convention sundae is the latest jobs report.

U.S job growth snapped back in August after two disappointing months, rising an as-expected 144,000, the Labor Department estimated Friday. The unemployment rate fell by a tenth percentage point to 5.4 percent, the lowest since October 2001. Job growth in June and July was revised higher by a cumulative 59,000. Average hourly earnings rose by 5 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $15.77 an hour. Wages are up 2.3 percent year-over-year. The average workweek was unchanged at 33.8 hours. Aggregate hours worked in the economy increased 0.2 percent. Goods-producing industries created 36,000 jobs in August, including 22,000 in manufacturing. Service-producing industries created 108,000 jobs, including 42,000 in health-care.

After a highly successful convention that focused on President Bush's national security credentials, the Kerry campaign has been struggling to shift the debate to the economy. That's a playing field on which we are prepared to compete as well.

Time to get back down to earth and down to brass tacks, good people. The Convention did what it was supposed to do - we're in an excellent position going into the main campaign between Labor Day and November 2nd, but lets not kid ourselves into thinking that our Democratic friends and their lunatic leftist allies will go quietly into that good night.

Senator Zell Miller is not the only Democrat out there dismayed by what is going on with his Party - Victor Davis Hanson, also a Democrat, has seen the abyss towards which our Democrats are marching. In his latest piece at National Review Online, Mr. Hanson catalogs for us the ongoing crimes and threats of our enemies and juxtaposes them with the antics of the rapidly disintegrating Democratic Party:

Almost every day, al Qaeda suspects or affiliated terrorists are arrested somewhere in the world. Islamic fascists blow up Israelis, behead Nepalese, murder Russians children in schools and on the street, and kidnap French journalists (so much for appeasement). They want to destroy trains in New York as they did in Madrid. They seek to ruin democracy in Kabul and Baghdad and take down Russian airliners. Nearly each week they are caught forming cells in Europe and the United States — all akin in their desire for theocracy, incoherent demands, partiality for barbarous methods of killing civilians, and hatred of Western-style liberalism and freedom.

Now we learn that they may well turn their attention to targeted assassinations here at home — in the manner in which Osama bin Laden took out General Massoud of the Northern Alliance on the eve of the September 11 attacks, and like the various efforts to incinerate General Musharraf in Pakistan. The problem is not only that such efforts would be aimed at short-circuiting the nerve center of the United States, but also that previous reckless talk on the part of some cultural elites at home would only accentuate the turmoil.

The 2002 winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, Nicholson Baker, is due out with Checkpoint — an extended dialogue on killing (in a variety of strange ways) George Bush. Last year, comedian Rick Hall played to full houses in the U.K., performing his newest composition, “Let's Get Together and Kill George Bush.” A so-called pacifist group announced its sponsorship of a rather violent-sounding off-Broadway “guerilla comedy” entitled, I’m Gonna Kill the President.

This is stupid — and dangerous. Al Qaeda has announced its intentions play on perceptions of Western decadence and nihilism. Should the terrorists strike at our leaders, there will be a national accounting over the failure of those on the left to condemn such extremism. Alfred A. Knopf, for example, is promoting Baker’s book as a cris du coeur — “in response to the powerless seething fury many Americans felt when President Bush decided to take the nation to war.”

“Seething”? The radical Left is courting disaster and threatens to destroy the credibility of liberals who are apparently fearful of condemning the madness in their midst — this “cry of the heart” to save Saddam Hussein from the wrath of an imperialistic and bullying United States. When upscale protestors swear at delegates and parade obscene signs in New York while John Kerry goes windsurfing in shades and racing gloves, you have a recipe for disaster for wannabe populists.

We've been told endlessly that this is the most important election in our lifetime - and its true. The stakes are massive and absolute. This has gotten entirely beyond just President Bush and his opponent Senator Kerry - important as they are, they are now the symbols of two different visions; the former a vision of an American Dream triumphant, the latter of an American Dream defeated. It is vital to re-elect President Bush not because we are good Republicans who wish our Party success, but because we are good Americans and daren't let our nation slip into the hands of anyone not entirely convinced of American exceptionalism.

Things happen for a reason; there is an order to the universe. We are not just flopping about in a void in which any choice is as good as any other. We are called to a task - a task which is not to arrest terrorists, or even to kill terrorists (the two dimensional way our Democrats view the matter), but, instead, to defeat the idea of terrorism. The American idea is locked into a battle to the death with the terrorist idea - whichever idea loses will be swept from the face of the earth; and only those who believe absolutely in the idea can fight to win.

In this election, the fundamental question is: Do you believe in America? If you do, then President Bush must get your vote.

FOUR MORE YEARS!!!!

I have just returned from Bush's speech.

Read my lips, George W. Bush will be President for FOUR MORE YEARS!!!!!!!

Inside, all you feel, all you could be was proud. I was so glad to be in there and be a part of it. The energy, the enthusiasm. It was outstanding. I had never been to a Bush rally before, This was my first time seeing him give a speech in person and it was just an incredible experience.

This was the big event of the week. The moment everyone was waiting for.

I wish I could convey the experience, but I don't know how to describe it.

John Kerry is on the TV right now making a fool out of himself. He is clearly desperate... and after Bush's speech, Kerry is runnning scared.

(MORE...)

President Bush's Speech

Blogs For Bush has it!

Previewing Bush's Speech

i don't want to give any real detail, but I have just previewed President Bush's speech tonight, and we're in for a great speech!

Off the get closer before he starts........

Blogs For Bush Gets Exclusive Interview With Richard Miniter

This evening I got a blogger exclusive interview with Richard Miniter, author of "Losing Bin Laden: How Bill Clinton's Failures Unleashed Global Terror", I have the audio, but unfortunately, I am having a problem getting the audio off of the iPod, so it might be a while before I can have that for you.

General Tommy Franks (Ret.) On Stage

There he goes...

Today's Cutie For Bush

While Kevin has been going after GOP Babes of The Day, I personally have enjoyed meeting several cuties at the convention that support Bush. Here is today's Cutie For Bush.

This is Morgan, the vixen responsible for the previously posted photo of Al Franken.

Ed Gillespie Talks to The Bloggers

Ed Gillespie writes:

We will come out of New York with momentum because the President is talking about the future and putting forward a positive agenda to improve our schools, create more jobs, make health care more affordable and win the war on terror.

RNC Bloggers Interview Senator John Cornyn from Texas

Another great interview by the RNC Bloggers. This time with Senator John Cornyn from Texas. He came by right after we finished with Senator Santorum. We talked about a lot things. He told us, "this is not a time for a nuanced approach to the war on terror." David from OxBlog asked him a question about the electoral college, and the quetion of abolishing it, and he said, "Well, I'm not ready to scrap the electoral college, and really we wouldn't be having this conversation if the last race wasn't so close. I frankly don't expect this race to be that close."

We had Senator Cornyn's ear for over twenty minutes. Be sure to check it out!

Al Franken, New Poster Boy For Blogs For Bush?

So Al Franken has been going around stirring things up on Radio Row. Word has it that things were getting pretty rough on the Michael Medved Show. Earlier this afternoon A few of us were having a candid conversation with John Podhoretz about the Bush twins speech the other night.

He didn't have anything nice to say about it either.

The girl in the photo above is Morgan. She's a student at NYU and a supporter of President Bush. She came over to Bloggers Corner to check it out and I told her about this site. I gave her a few bumper stickers to give out at a College Republicans meeting. It was around this time Al Franken was sticking his nose all over Radio Row as if anyone really cares what he has to say.

As he was on the Michael Medved show, I was being interviewed for ABC News Radio with Scott from SlantPoint, but she got the idea of getting a photo of Franken with the bumper sticker. One of the people she was working with took this shot.

RNC Bloggers Interview Senator Rick Santorum

Click below to hear the interview.

This was a really good interview with Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania. The main topic we discussed was gay marriage and the issue of a Federal Marriage Amendment defining marriage as being between a man and women being added to the constitution. I asked the Senator if he thought such an amendment could be passed, and he told us he feels "it's an important enough issue that we have to try," and explained that it takes a long time to get an amendment passed. Check out the entire interview!

President Bush's Speech Sound Check

I have returned to Bloggers Corner after attending President Bush's speech sound check... Click below to hear audio:

"My fellow members of the press corps, especially the cameramen, tax relief is on the way! Don't spend it all in one place, save it!"

And more audio from a few moments later:

« Show less.

Andrew Jackson Speaks

If you have been reading the pundits and blogosphere, you no doubt have heard reference to the links between the founder of the Democratic Party, former President Andrew Jackson, and possibly its last torch bearer in Democratic Senator Zell Miller. Michael Barone has an absolutely must read on this phenomenon:

Until Wednesday night, I was under the impression that Andrew Jackson had died in 1845. But on Wednesday night he appeared at the podium of the Republican National Convention under the guise of Georgia Senator and former Governor Zell Miller. In the accents of the mountain South, with a directness that left his sentiments unmistakable, with a hatred for what he considers betrayal of America and out of a fierce love of family and country Miller delivered the keynote for this Republican convention in the same place as he had delivered one of the keynotes for Bill Clinton’s convention in New York 12 years before.

The 1992 speech was real good. The 2004 speech was electrifying. Zell Miller was a United States Marine—“no better friend, no worse enemy.” You know which side of Zell Miller you want to be on.

And if you are unsure of all the meaning behind all of the Jacksonian references, here is a great summary compliments of Instapundit:

Short summary: "[The idea is]: "Don't bother with people abroad, unless they bother you. But if they attack you, then do everything you can. . . . When somebody attacks the hive, you come swarming out of the hive and you sting them to death. And Jacksonians, when it comes to war, don't believe in limited wars. They don't believe, particularly, in the laws of war. War is about fighting, killing, and winning with as few casualties as possible on your side. But you don't worry about casualties on the other side. That's their problem. They shouldn't have started the war if they didn't want casualties."

BIll Hobbs points us to a quote (or a paraphrasing of a quote) by Joe Trippi, former campaign manager of the Howard Dean campaign

Voters who are undecided just before a presidential election tend to vote for the incumbent. That's different from down-ballot races. In those races, undecided voters tend to chose the challenger, but in presidential races, historically, late undecideds tend to chose "the Commander in Chief they know" instead of the would-be Commander in Chief waiting in the wings.

Bill notes: "If, as you might expect, that trend would be even more pronounced at a time of war, then this election is not going to be as close as most pundits seem to think."

Got some nice press in the Hartford Courant today... from an interview that was nearly a month ago.

When Matt Margolis was a student at the University of Hartford a few years ago, he pursued conservative political commentary in the media outlets traditionally open to aspiring pundits: the campus radio station and the student newspaper.

After graduating in 2002, Margolis found his interest in political commentary growing. Yet the mainstream media seemed out of reach for him - his major was architectural engineering technology, not journalism or political science. So Margolis began his own media outlet.

Today, Margolis is a publisher and editor of Blogs for Bush, an online resource (www.blogsforbush.com) that unites bloggers (the self-publishing diarists/commentators of Web logs) supporting the president's re-election. The potential of this digital media has not gone unnoticed: Margolis received press credentials for the Republican National Convention...

My big quote came at the end of the article:

"It is too early to tell what kind of an impact online media will have on the election ... Clearly, a successful Internet campaign did not translate into votes for Howard Dean. At this point, the Internet has been useful in organizing a candidate's base - but the real success of online media [and blogs in particular] will be how they reach the undecided and independent voters."

Quotes of the Night

Obviously there are too many to choose from. Matt had some choice ones below. But I really got a kick out of these two:

Twenty years of votes can tell you much more about a man than twenty weeks of campaign rhetoric. Campaign talk tells people who you want them to think you are. How you vote tells people who you really are deep inside.

-- Senator Zell Miller (D-GA)

Senator Kerry says he sees two Americas. And that makes the whole thing mutual — America sees two John Kerrys.

-- Vice-President, Dick Cheney

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While a new survey has President Bush's approval rating up to 53%, and varied news stories have Kerry's campaign starting to rip itself to shred in laying blame for their disasterous August, I think its time to stand back from it all and take a quiet look at the situation.

How many times a day, dear readers, do you use an obscenity? I'm a former sailor of the United States Navy, so my catalog of verbal filth is a rather thick volume; but I'm not a foul-mouthed person. I don't, to put it simply, rely upon vulgar language to make my point. But have you noticed how often those who oppose President Bush in particular and the GOP in general use them?

Our Democratic friends do like to harp upon the alleged use of the "F" word by Vice President Cheney in a private conversation a little while back - and I guess they consider Mr. Cheney's indiscretion to be their license to really let 'er rip on the foul language. The invaluable Best of the Web today gives us a fair sample of it, cleaned up for decent company:

People in line heckled back the potty-shirted heckler, and he responded by repeatedly shouting, "You're scum! You're the slime of the earth!" A guy behind us observed, "I love hearing that from someone wearing a shirt like that." Suddenly a group of perhaps a dozen materialized, chanting and carrying a banner that read "Free John Hinckley." Their slogan: "F--- Reagan! Go home!" They moved down the avenue at a very fast pace and were gone as quickly as they arrived...

...One featured performer, the comedian Lewis Black, had a message for GOP delegates who might hold other views.

"It is un-fu**ing-believable that since the time I was 15 we have been having to argue this sh**," Black said. "There comes a point where you say, f**k you, enough is enough. There is no argument. It's not your body, a**hole. Shut the f**k up."

This is the sort of discourse we get from people on the liberal/left side of the spectrum - the side of the spectrum the liberal/left elite advise us is far more intellectual than we, and more willing to entertain differing opinions. Yeah, right; whatever.

Its just words, of course; and they don't hurt. But they are symbolic - what they symbolise is the complete end of any attempt on the part of the liberal/left to defend itself. Their only real tactic is to try and use words to intimidate. It is hard to argue with someone who just told you to "F" off, isn't it? I mean, what do you really say to such a person? You can shout back the same sort of vulgarity, but what does that actually accomplish? Essentially, people who shout like that are left alone - and might appear to win in their little sandbox. We're not going to try and counter-demonstrate these people on the streets because we've got better things to do than try to outshout mindless, ill-mannered people who wont stop shouting for fear their brains might start to work.

They shout because they cannot think; and they also shout to keep their own flagging spirits up. They shout, also, because they are protected - protected in a cocoon surrounded by people they ostensibly hate but who stand between them and a punch in the mouth by the people they routinely offend. You'll note that these vulgar shouters don't normally take their show on the road outside of urban liberal enclaves - if they tried their stunts outside my house then they'd be lucky to be arrested before I and the neighbors gave them what for.

Shouting, banging, clanging insipid little mindless drones of the left - that is what we've got out in the streets of New York City while the adults of the world gather to discuss important matters inside.

One Zell of a Good Time

What can I say? I think Zell Miller stole the show tonight. His message and delivery were perfect. He stood up there at the podium, staring everyone down with a look that said "You better listen to me, I have something to say, you need to pay attention!"

He spoke with his mouth and his eyes, and you knew he meant business. It's a tough feat to beat Guiliani's performance on Monday, but I think Zell may have taken the trophy tonight.

I wasn't there on the floor, but I can imagine what it must have been like. I was up at Bloggers Corner, watching on TV, and a number of bloggers were up there watching as well as a good number of volunteers and staffers who were glued to Zell Miller's presence on the screen.

Did I want to blog during this time? Yeah. But you just couldn't leave during that speech.

How refreshing it was to listen him speak from his heart, and tell us whom he entrusts the future of his future to - my President and yours, George W. Bush.

Zell asked, "Where is the bi-partisanship in this country when we need it most?"

A great question. We all know the answer. John Kerry and John Edwards keep talking about two Americas. Perhaps they are right. We are a nation divided and it is Zell Miller's party, the Democrat party, which has indeed divided us.

Zell Miller can see the faults of his own party and has come out in strong support of our President because he knows that leadership is not defined by party. Leadership is defined by decisiveness and strength of character. George W. Bush has these qualities.

John Kerry doesn't. The Democrat party doesn't. Not anymore.

From my close encounters with Terry McAuliffe this week, I can only imagine just how infuriated he must be after hearing Zell Miller's speech. Zell Miller took his own party and hung out its dirty laundry for all to see.

Motivated more by partisan politics than by national security, today's Democratic leaders see America as an occupier, not a liberator.

And nothing makes this Marine madder than someone calling American troops occupiers rather than liberators.
...
No one should dare to even think about being the Commander in Chief of this country if he doesn't believe with all his heart that our soldiers are liberators abroad and defenders of freedom at home.

But don't waste your breath telling that to the leaders of my party today. In their warped way of thinking America is the problem, not the solution.

Miller nailed it. And for a Democrat to say this makes the message resonate even more. Miller even made it clear that it is "not their patriotism - it is their judgment that has been so sorely lacking."

Indeed.

Zell first mentioned John Kerry by name by coupling him with the one and only Ted Kennedy. Kennedy and Kerry, both my Senators, have been the most wrong the most often.

And he is certainly right.

He then went to talk about Kerry's record - the very record Kerry has been running from this campaign season. Another great line of Millers preceeded his runoff of weapons programs Kerry has opposed:

Listing all the weapon systems that Senator Kerry tried his best to shut down sounds like an auctioneer selling off our national security but Americans need to know the facts.

Oh, was that gold. I think most of us were shocked yet ecstatic over Zell Miller's boldness. After going through these systems Kerry opposed, Miller asked "This is the man who wants to be the Commander in Chief of our U.S. Armed Forces? U.S. forces armed with what? Spitballs?"

I can't begin to describe the reaction our group at Bloggers Corner had. The cheering... the laughter... it was priceless. I may not have been on the floor, but I was in good company.

We loved a lot of Zell Miller's lines:

Kerry would let Paris decide when America needs defending. I want Bush to decide.

John Kerry, who says he doesn't like outsourcing, wants to outsource our national security.

Perhaps most powerful was his praise for President Bush:

I can identify with someone who has lived that line in "Amazing Grace," "Was blind, but now I see," and I like the fact that he's the same man on Saturday night that he is on Sunday morning.

He is not a slick talker but he is a straight shooter and, where I come from, deeds mean a lot more than words.

I have knocked on the door of this man's soul and found someone home, a God-fearing man with a good heart and a spine of tempered steel.

The man I trust to protect my most precious possession: my family.

Absolutely fantastic. I was loving every minute of this speech and it just seemed to get better. He could have gone on for hours and it would have felt like a mere fraction of the time. You just couldn't help being awe struck by his presence and attitude.

And of course, he went out with a bang,

Right now the world just cannot afford an indecisive America. Fainthearted, self-indulgence will put at risk all we care about in this world.

In this hour of danger our President has had the courage to stand up. And this Democrat is proud to stand up with him.

Thank you.

God Bless this great country and God Bless George W. Bush.

Zell Miller hit hard tonight and it is just what the convention needed. This not about partisan attacks, this is about keeping the right man in office, and preventing the wrong one from getting in. Zell Miller understands a lot more about the situation we face than anyone else in his party. This not about him being disloyal to his own party, because his unwillingness to change parties despite major differences between his party and his conscience shows that he understand loyalty.

But party loyalty doesn't come before security.

Zell Miller delivered this message to America tonight. I hope they listen.

Let's Make A Wager

How much do you want to bet that this page will never be updated?

"George W. Bush will never seek a permission slip to defend the American people."

Dick Cheney is on right now!

UPDATE: 11:00PM Cheney is gone. He was awesome too...

Click below for Cheney's speech

Zell! Zell! Zell!

Zell Miller was absolutely amazing tonight!!!!! I was up at Bloggers Corner with some fellow bloggers watching on the TV and it was absolutely incredible. Zell had great lines, great jabs at Kerry and we almost couldn't believe just how authoritative he was.

He hit the ball out of the park nailing Kerry for voting against funding our troops.

He hit the ball out of the park nailing Kerry for his past votes against the very systems which have helped our military achieve success; the B-1 bomber, the B-2 bomber, the F-14A Tomcats, the Apache helicopter, and on and on..

And he hit the ball out of the park when he said, "This is the man who wants to be the Commander in Chief of our U.S. Armed Forces? U.S. forces armed with what? Spitballs?"

We were cheering and laughing so hard. Zell Miller was absolutely great, he couldn't have done better. From going after Kerry for being a weak leader, to highlighting the great leadership we've seen from George W. Bush, Zell was the star of the night.

Volunteers, staffers, and bloggers watching Zell.

Click below for his speech:

Keeping The Ass In Mass

I saw Massachusetts Lt. Governor Kerry Healey and Governor Mitt Romney speak tonight.

I have to say, Kerry Healey did a terrible job pulling off that speech. Hailing from Massachusetts, I was really disappointed in her.

Mitt on the other hand redeemed Massachusetts and he was great to watch. I loved it when he said "I'm proud to be from Massachusetts, where John Kerry will be the junior senator until 2008."

Face To Face With McCain

Kevin from Wizbang and I went off for some grub earlier and apparently we couldn't bring the food back to Bloggers Corner. We decided at a one point to check out the arena and we were kind of stuck at one of the entries, next thing we knew, John McCain stepped out and was a mere 24 inches away, he looked right at us and winked.

I have to say that's been one of the most bizarre things about being here at the Republican National Convention, finding yourself bumping shoulders and getting face to face with the leaders (and future leaders) of our country.

Here is a photo of the McCain encounter, courtesy of Kevin from WizBang's camera:

That is Karol on the right, and I am infront of her off-camera and next to Kevin, who took this quick photo.

Honoring the Gipper

I was in the big arena during the Ronald Reagan tribute earlier tonight...

Incredible moment.

Interview with Jim Holt, Candidate from Arkansas for the U.S. Senate

Tonight I got an interview with Jim Holt of Arkansas, Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate. We had a really good interview, we discuss his candidacy and the need to elect Republicans to the Senate. Check out the interview, then check out his website and be sure to help him out!

The Bush Convention bounce begins!!!!

President George W. Bush's job approval rating rose in August from July according to a National Annenberg Election Survey completed before the Republican National Convention began this week.

Bush's job approval rating among 5,146 registered voters surveyed from Aug. 9-29 was 53 percent, compared with 50 percent in a July 5-25 survey, the poll showed. The margin of error was plus or minus 2 percentage points.

Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, 60, a four-term Massachusetts senator, had a 45 percent favorable rating in August, up from 43 percent in July, the poll showed. The Democratic convention was held from July 26-29 in Boston.

Bush's favorable rating rose to 50 percent from 48 percent, according to the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg poll, based in Philadelphia.

``It's good news for Bush in the sense that Kerry didn't gain anything lasting out of the Democratic convention,'' said Adam Clymer, the political director of the survey, in an interview. ``It hasn't been a good month,'' for Kerry, he said.

Terry McAuliffe, Ignorant on the Blogosphere

After Terry McAuliffe decided to give credit to the already discredited story of Kerry's Cambodia "missions" he was interviewed by some fellow RNC Bloggers. Once again, Terry McAuliffe has absolutely no understanding of a particular issue. An issue very close to many of us who frequent this site:

Q: Why are liberals better at blogging in terms of politics?

A: Well, I think the Democrats... well, we're a younger party, we have a lot more young people involved the Democratic Party and I believe we've been on the internet more extensively than the republicans have... and I think the natural extension of that would be to move to the blog and they're very agitated by George Bush and his policies and I think that has really got them fired up...

Oops, wrong again... Perhaps he thought that Howard Dean's list of 90 blogs was a lot, or that Kerry's 55 was a decent amount. One can only assume that he isn't aware of the over 900 bloggers currently listed on the Blogroll For Bush.

I also have to say this, Terry also totally in the dark about who bloggers really are. Bloggers are not just young people. I've met many, and they are young and old. His biggest miscalculation however was his acceptance of the stereotype that the blogosphere is liberal. Look at the Blogroll for Bush... compare it to the one on Blogs For Kerry.

Oh wait a minute… there isn't a Blogs For Kerry site.

Silly me.

UPDATE: Terry McAuliffe guest blogged over at Red State.

Terry McAuliffe Says Kerry "Went To Cambodia Twice"

Bloggers get the scoop. Terry McAuliffe says he believes John Kerry went to Cambodia twice, then criticizes George W. Bush's service.

I guess Terry needs to read up on this a bit more.

Of course, my questions is this: Is John Kerry going to condemn the DNC Chairman's criticisms of Bush's service?

Or do we need to wait for them to coordinate with MoveOn.Org first?

Powerline has the video.

Franken Engages Hannity

I was there to witness Al Franken approach Sean Hannity while on break from his show. Surprisingly enough it was a civil exchange, even if Franken lied to Sean about what happened with Laura Ingraham's producer.

Bloggers Interview Former Senator Alan Simpson from Wyoming

RNC bloggers got an interview with former Senator Alan Simpson from Wyoming.

We began, and when he realized we were bloggers he said, "You thought I was adept at all this didn't you?" He told us has a Palm Pilot, and that he had e-mail but got rid of it because he got too much junk mail it was taking him too long to fiddle around with.

Then we discussed the latest shake up in the Kerry campaign. Simpson said the Kerry campaign would not be allowed to implode because "the hatred towards Bush and Cheney is so intense that ... they're going pay someone 60 million bucks for the next two months to save him."

He attributes the hatred toward Bush cheney to the 2000 election and the Democrats who can't get over the fact that "they got screwed." He also blames Clinton, who he says should have been censured, not impeached. "They should have taken the crumb when they couldn't get the loaf," he said, becuase they could have gotten a 100-0 vote for censure as opposed to a doomed to fail impeachment.

Check out the entire interview!

Protesters Disrupt Youth Convention

Earlier this afternoon I made my way down to the floor and arrived after the Youth Convention meeting. I had heard reports that there was some protesters who were forced to leave so I went to find out.

I spoke with Tiffany, 24, from Texas, who told me about the event. All the student in attendance were betwen 18 and 24 years old and selected by their state party and come from all over the United States.

"They had the Bush twins, George P. Bush, Ari Fleischer, Andy Card, some other people, it was like a big pep rally."

The spoke with the group, and Tiffany said it was a lot of fun and everyone was really pumped up "They encouraged everyone to vote, and talked about the things people can do."

She said, "They encouraged the kids not to let the media label you as liberal, and you go out and be who you who are and stand up for what you believe in."

Then I asked about the protest that occurred. She told me some people tried to protest and they were escorted off. They were seated amongst the crows and tried to disrupt the event. She didn't remember how many they were.

Despite the protest, everyone is having a good time and they've been really busy. They really enjoyed their event today. They have also been pretty busy, they came in on Saturday and did a community service project yesterday at the Hotel Pennsylvania, they've gone a broadway show and a went to a broadway show.

So, a small disruption didn't ruin the day for all these energetic young people at the convention. They are having a great experience here and they all seem pumped up to challenge the idea that young people are liberal. These young conservatives are going to help rock the vote this November!!

UPDATE: Drudge had a link to a story on the protesters:

Anti-war demonstrators disrupted a Republican youth gathering on the floor of the party convention Wednesday, shortly after President Bush (news - web sites)'s twin daughters left the stage.

Jenna and Barbara Bush introduced White House chief of staff Andrew Card. As he began speaking, 10 protesters sitting in the crowd jumped up, blew whistles and began to chant, "Bush kills." They also removed sweat shirts to reveal T-shirts reading "Bush Drop Global Debt Now."

Card tried to continue speaking, but was drowned out and stopped as young participants in the morning event scuffled with the demonstrators. Police moved in to remove the protesters, including a young woman hoisted out by two officers — one at her shoulders and one at her knees.

At least one delegate was slightly injured. Suhr Daniel, 20, of Milwaukee, said he was punched in the head by a protester. He had a cut near his temple and the side of his face was reddened.

Well, it's good to know that the other youths were not discouraged by this and aren't letting this incident get them down.

John Kerry can do no wrong, just ask him. No matter if he is falling down on the ski slopes or ineptly responding to troubles with his campaign. He always seems to blame missteps on “those other guys”.

The latest out of his sinking swift boat campaign is that he is “Mad”. Oh yes, he is so mad he passed on second servings of truffles and caviar this morning.

As many know by now, the men who know him best have put out a book (#1 best seller Unfit for Command) and have put out ads to correct the record and Biography Kerry has been trying to rewrite since the late 70’s.

The New York Daily News has this today.

Sen. John Kerry is angry at the way his campaign has botched the attacks from the Swift boat veterans and has ordered a staff shakeup that will put former Clinton aides in top positions. "The candidate is furious," a longtime senior Kerry adviser told the Daily News. "He knows the campaign was wrong. He wanted to go after the Swift boat attacks, but his top aides said no."

Instapundit has more.

Don King On John Kerry

This morning I got to follow around Don King as he was being shuffled from interview to interview. I first caught him being interviewed on Fox News Radio with Tony Snow. Now, I didn't know this until I saw him here at the convention, but Don King is an avid Bush supporter. He could talk and talk about how much he supported George W. Bush and why. I'll try and transcribe some of his great lines later.

I have to say that Don King is quite a character. I have a bunch of audio from a few of his interviews, but I thought this was the most hilarious. This is Don King speaking to John Kerry:

More Photos From Al Franken's Monday Night Fight

I just got these in, here are all the available photos of Al Franken's fight with Laura Ingraham's producer:

How are you going to feel if you wake up on November 3 to the prospect of a John Kerry presidency? For four years, a medal-throwing anti-war protester would be president. He'd go crawling to Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schroeder. He'd withdraw our troops from Iraq (he's said within six months) and give terrorists all over the world new hope that the America of today is the America that lost the Vietnam war.

You can do something to stop this from happening! Volunteer or donate to the Bush campaign today.

Today is Wictory Wednesday. Every Wednesday, over one hundred bloggers ask their readers to volunteer and/or donate to the Bush 2004 campaign.

If you're a blogger, you can join Wictory Wednesdays simply by putting up a post like this one every Wednesday, asking your readers to volunteer and/or donate to the Bush campaign. And then e-mail wictory@blogsforbush.com so that you'll be added to the Wictory Wednesday blogroll, which will be part of the Wictory Wednesday post on all participating blogs:

Speech Reflections

I was down at the floor, less than thirty feet away from the stage. The crowd went wild when Arnold came up. It was almost funny seeing him in person after so many years of seeing him on screen or on TV. Similarly, for someone from Hollywood to be up there on stage stumping for Bush the way he did was great.

Arnold talked about his own personal experiences as a child in Austria, which tied in perfectly with his message of the greatness of our country. His story about how he determined he was a Republican was very effective as well. I think in general his speech had the ability to appeal to moderates/independents and given his star power, I can imagine this speech would overwhelming sit well with them.

I have to say, I didn't realize Jenna and Barbara Bush were going to come on stage. It was an exciting moment, because I had only gotten to see them standing on stage earlier following their speech soundchecks -- and now I was going to get to see them actually give a speech... only 30 feet away.

I have to say, while I love the Bush twins, I was unimpressed with their speech tonight. It came off as ingenuine and was probably twice as long as it needed to be because of that. While I understand that they may not be political at this point in their lives, I didn't see much value in including their political indifferences in their speech and essentially telling us that they felt obliged to join the campaign.

Further, I thought it strange that they made a point to say they weren't political, but carried on a long joke suggesting they wanted to have an influential role in their dad's presidency. It made that joke even more cheesy.

However... I liked how they introduced their father and I thought the satellite feed was great. It caught me by surprise, and everyone was cheering.

From the Bush twins' quirky little stories, to Laura Bush's own personal stories, you really got a nice look into the First Family, and I think that will sit very well with those who watched the convention.

All in all, it was incredible experience to be there. I am glad I was able to get on the floor - even with some hassle with the Secret Service and I continue to look forward to the upcoming speeches.