Spinsanity complains that Dick Cheney keeps confusing Sen. Ted Kennedy with Sen. John Kerry. Spinsanity says it’s happened twice, and that it sounds like these “alleged slipups” may be a strategic ploy, rather than a slip of the tongue.

My question: who exactly is alleging that Cheney’s “alleged slipups” are slipups? Maybe Dick was making a funny?

I think Jeff Jarvis was the first guy I read who said that convention bloggers should go outside the mainstream and report the unknown stories.

It’s a nice idea, in theory. After all, we don’t just want slop from the hogs at the trough. But come on: what real news is there at a convention? I thought Jarvis got a little self-righteous on the issue, which he has a tendency to do (sorry, Jeff). Now a Captain’s Quarters reader is taking the same easy, cheap shot at Captain Ed.

Interestingly, the e-mailer has no particular constructive advice on just what would be so interesting and newsworthy at a convention. Big surprise.

However, Captain Ed’s commenters had some good ideas. Like: show the true protesters! It’s a given that the media tends to “mainstream” protests that they like, by highlighting the reasonable people in the protest, and ignoring the huge numbers of lunatics. (I personally saw this happen at a gay rights march in Washington D.C. in 1992. I saw all sorts of very off-putting people, none of whom showed up in the T.V. coverage I saw later.) The media is performing the same service for the GOP protesters.

Bloggers can help correct this mainstreaming, by showing us the truth. Actually, someone did that here, if you’re interested.

Here’s an idea I have: go get interviewed by Michael Moore, who is asking clueless delegates inane, pointless questions — and then let him have it. Capture it on tape and put it on the internet.

But if you can’t get that creative, I’ll settle for pictures of Al Franken roughing someone up. I know: it happens so often it shouldn’t be a novelty. But it’s still fun to see.

UPDATE: The media is actually reporting on some of the real protesters. Here’s a New York Times story which mentions that a protester beat an NYPD Detective and put him in the hospital, where he’s in serious condition. (Hat tip to Bryon Scott.)

UPDATE x2: In response to my suggestion, Captain Ed e-mails:

I thought he left — the AP reported that he took off after McCain outed him Monday. I’ll check it out.

Hey, if that doesn’t work, I’ll try to get beat up by Al Franken.

Just get video!

Michael Dobbs, a Washington Post reporter who has reported extensively on the Swift Boat Vets, answers readers’ questions submitted over the internet, here. Parts I found interesting:

Los Angeles, Calif.: Do you think the links between Bush and the Swift Boaters are as strong as the links between Saddam and al Queda detailed by Vice President Cheney prior to our invasion?

Michael Dobbs: That’s a provocative, and amusing, question that I think I will pass on. I looked at the substance of the charges, rather than the links between Bush and the Swift Boaters. That is the subject for a different inquiry. I was unconvinced by the evidence Cheney provided of links between Saddam and Al-Qaeda.

Translation:

Uhh . . . I guess not, now that you mention it. But I don’t want to go on record saying so.

By the way, I promise that this question did not come from me, though I live in the Los Angeles area, and I have already asked that question on this blog. And there are those who call me “provocative, and amusing” (and others who call me, well, other things.)

Alexandria, Va.: Do you wonder why Senator Kerry will not allow himself to be questioned by the press about his service and awards in Vietnam? Why is that?

Where are Senator Kerry’s records and did he ever serve his obligation in the Ready Reserve upon his return to the U.S.? How could a U.S. officer, who had sworn an oath, meet with NVA and Vietcong leaders in Paris while still a member of the Ready Reserve?

Michael Dobbs: Kerry has given interviews to the press on this subject in the past, but you’re right, he doesn’t seem to have given any since the current controversy flared up again in early August. I would very much like to talk to him,but have had no luck so far in my requests for an interview. His personal records are with the Naval Personnel Command in Tennessee.

Along the same lines:

Dublin, Calif.: Seems to me that the Swift Boat Vets are mostly pushing for Senator Kerry to sign a Standard Form 180 so the navy can release all his military record.

Do you feel this is a resonable request?

Michael Dobbs: I think that Sen. Kerry should allow independent access to his military records. If this involves signing a SF 180, as it appears to do, I think that he should do this.

And so do I.

The whole thing is interesting reading.

(Via PrestoPundit.)

This is the first night I have tuned in to the convention. Impressions:

Ahhnold: good speech, I suppose. I still don’t like him.

Bush twins: don’t give up your day job. Whatever that is. Amazing how Jenna looks like an exact combination of her parents. It’s eerie, actually.

Laura Bush: nice lady. But what’s that annoying noise she kept making during the applause?

I think I missed the good night (last night).

UPDATE: Okay, for a much more in-depth, funnier, and all-around better take on Arnold’s speech, read Lileks. Which you should be doing anyway. His post is titled Medicine Square Godden. And, because Lileks likes Arnold, he can provide the red meat most readers of this site are looking for — but which I (as a moderate Schwarzophobe) can’t provide.

The Florida Supreme Court appears to be opposed to Terri’s law.

Big surprise. It’s the Florida Supreme Court.

UPDATE: Xrlq asks in the comments: “Does anyone seriously doubt that if the Florida Legislature voted tomorrow to end the death penalty, and Gov. Bush signed the law the same day, all death sentences that had been fully litigated would still have to be carried out?”

I think the more relevant question is whether the Florida Legislature could authorize the Governor to grant pardons in death penalty cases that have been fully litigated by the judicial system. And the answer, obviously, is yes.

Here, Governor Bush has essentially been authorized to pardon Terri Schiavo. What’s the difference? That is, other than the fact that Terri Schiavo is innocent of murder?

Before you start barking about her alleged wishes, please read a column I wrote comparing the protections available in the Schiavo case to those available in death penalty cases. In that column, I set forth several reasons to question whether Ms. Schiavo’s wishes are indeed being carried out. On a deeper level, I raise a fundamental question whether we have sufficient procedural protections in place in our judicial system, to make sure that such questions are answered properly.

Chrenkoff has the latest installment.

Glenn Reynolds has a nice column on the meltdown of the mainstream media, as they continue to shill for Kerry, and as a result miss facts (and entire stories) that bloggers are picking up.

The winners of the weekly Watcher’s Council contest for best posts of the week have been announced. Congratulations to Damnum Absque Injuria for the winning Council post, Letters From La-La Land, and to JustOneMinute for the winning non-Council post, I Attempt a Swift Ad.

The Florida Supreme Court hears the Terri Schiavo case tomorrow. Details here.

The National Right to Life Committee, an anti-abortion group, recently received a startling e-mail from a Reuters news editor named Todd Eastham. Details are available here. And here is the text of Eastham’s e-mail, which the group says came “out of the blue”:

What’s your plan for parenting & educating all the unwanted children you people want to bring into the world? Who will pay for policing our streets & maintaining the prisons needed to contain them when you, their parents & the system fail them? Oh, sorry. All that money has been earmarked to pay off the Bush deficit. Give me a frigging break, will you?

Although Eastham’s e-mail did not purport to represent the views of Reuters, this is an interesting little window into the mindset of at least one of their news editors. One suspects that Eastham is not alone in his views.