The overarching message of the Convention was that George W. Bush has the courage and the wisdom to rout out terrorism around the world, and John Kerry does not.

Apparently in addition to being the only people willing to defend the world from bloodthirsty Muslim radicals, Republicans give better speeches.

Thoughts expressed by Republicans (or almost-Republicans) at our Convention in Manhattan include:

– “Like generations before us, we have a calling from beyond the stars to stand for freedom.”  (George W. Bush)

– “…it has been said so truthfully that it is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us the freedom of the press.  It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech.”  (Zell Miller)

– “…nothing makes this Marine madder than someone calling American troops ‘occupiers’ rather than ‘liberators.’”  (Miller)

Thoughts expressed by Democrats in Boston include:

–“Today, the better angels of our nature are just waiting to be summoned.” (Teresa Heinz Kerry)

– “I'm not making this up.”  (John Kerry, before telling a short story)

It’s interesting that Hollywood celebrities — whose livelihoods are based solely on their ability to be effectively theatrical — overwhelmingly support the party who couldn’t even put together a decent Convention.  Perhaps Barbra Streisand and Sarah Jessica Parker should have considered taking a break from their rigorous schedules to teach Democrats how to act like normal people.  This would likely have taken quite a bit of research, but, luckily, I think Babs may once have sung a song with a similar topic.

It’s also interesting that while Kerry attained neither a pre- nor post-Convention bounce in his poll numbers, Bush enjoyed both.  Additionally, Bush earned millions more viewers on the three networks, on cable news, and on public TV.  One can only speculate how sky-high his ratings would be if the news media covered him fairly.

USA Today, a publication which is usually balanced in its coverage, refused to run Ann Coulter’s articles about the Democratic Convention, but couldn’t have been happier to print Michael Moore’s ramblings about the Republican Convention.  After all, Coulter only went to Cornell.  Moore had the enviable good sense to drop out of college and make millions of dollars slandering his country. 

Moore views the truth the same way he views visits to the gym:  pointless.

Though I still think McCain-Feingold is a blemish on history, I’ll promise never to make fun of McCain again if he will promise to continue mocking Michael Moore until the end of his days.  It’s telling and fitting that when McCain, who spent sixty months as a prisoner of war in Hanoi, questioned Moore’s integrity, all the oleaginous filmmaker could do was call McCain a “loser.”  I think it’s clear who won that debate.

Proving that they still lack any cohesive strategy, Democrats’ principal post-Convention argument has been that the Bush daughters weren’t funny.  Apparently it’s okay for a sitting president to have sex in the Oval Office with a White House intern, but it’s totally uncouth for the president’s 22-year-old daughters to mention Sex and the City.

Any mention of Chelsea Clinton by anyone identifiable as either a Republican or conservative was completely off the table for the eight years of the Clinton presidency, but calling the Bush daughters “ditzy and discordant,” as one newspaper did, is fair play.

The finest aspect of the twins’ performance was that it was authentic.  Idiotic expositions of death-defying rodents weren’t necessary.  Barbara and Jenna were able to poke fun at their grandmother, their parents, and themselves.  They acted like 22-year-olds who just graduated from college — and whose dad just happens to be the most controversial figure in the world.

The overarching message of the Convention, the candidates’ daughters aside, was that George W. Bush has had the courage and the wisdom to rout out terrorism around the world, and John Kerry has not.

Beslan, Russia currently serves as an example of what happens when terrorists are not dealt with.  Terrorists with the same mindset as the monsters who crashed 757s into skyscrapers are slaughtering children.  Alina Khubechova had just turned 11 when she was murdered in her school.   Rimma Butueva spent days searching for her young son, but he had also been killed.   "We did not give up hope until the end," she told Reuters.

Tell me, who do you think is giving up hope on the subject of counterterrorism:  George W. Bush, chief liberator of Iraq, or John Kerry, the spitball-wielding self-proclaimed war hero?