Election Year!!!

[bobbob1313]

Or maybe they agree with the things that are being said?

 

I've never understood the need by people on any end of the political spectrum to write off the beliefs of others on the opposite as being "brain washed". Just like you believe what you believe, they believe what they believe. The Democratic convention had just as many people blindly cheering as the repubs did.

[sweetheart-mine]

Or maybe they agree with the things that are being said?

oh yes, clearly. they do agree with the things that were said -- lies, sarcasm, arrogance, belittling for the sake of belittling, the whole bit. i'm not saying similar things don't happen at dem conventions, but i didn't see many of them at this year's dem convention. mccain and his crew look small in comparison, both to this year's dem convention and to past years' repub conventions. i'm surprised to feel disappointed by that.

[sweetheart-mine]

Or maybe they agree with the things that are being said?

 

I've never understood the need by people on any end of the political spectrum to write off the beliefs of others on the opposite as being "brain washed". Just like you believe what you believe, they believe what they believe. The Democratic convention had just as many people blindly cheering as the repubs did.

i question whether the people at the democratic convention were cheering as blindly. they hadn't just met their v.p. candidate four days ago, and there was no example set there for the idiotic meanness of guiliani, the empty and completely unknown "tough" charm of palin, blah blah blah. i'd hate to be at any convention, but i see a big difference between the two this year and i don't like it.

[bobbob1313]

i question whether the people at the democratic convention were cheering as blindly. they hadn't just met their v.p. candidate four days ago.

 

And the Democrats' VP candidate didn't deliver a speech that really rallied the party.

 

Again, it's all a product of your disdain for the party as a whole. Republicans thought Giuliani and Palin were great (As well as Thompson, who was getting ripped here last night). Personally, it was all the same crap (both conventions) and I can't get a strong reaction going from either.

[mountain bed]

Interesting last 10 pages here - post Palin speech. I don't know what everyone was expecting. She at least came off better than Dan Quayle did 20 years ago - and he won the job!

 

I could totally envision Biden (during a debate) delivering a devaststing line like Bentsen's "you're no John Kennedy" to Palin and having it be of no consequence, ultimately. We shall see.

 

This thing continues to stay morbidly interesting to me.

[mybenito]

How long will it take before some video of Levi surfaces of him doing something totlly stupid, like kick'n some ass, getting drunk, kissing other girls, smoking grass, fuckin a moose. It's gotta happen. Something. This should be on one of those betting web sites. Odds are there is a video out there. Never in the world did he ever think he would ever be standing on that stage. Politics is so cruel.

[mybenito]

I could totally envision Biden (during a debate) delivering a devaststing line like Bentsen's "you're no John Kennedy" to Palin and having it be of no consequence, ultimately. We shall see.

 

I hope he doesn't use that line. It's already been all over the internet. It would sound to cliche-ish.

[DrNo]

That speech was nothing short of appalling. I could give you a grocery list of things I disagree with Republicans about, but the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach stems mainly from one thing--Sarah Palin and her cohorts putting down Obama's work as a community organizer. Obama and Biden have never belittled McCain's service to his country; in fact, they have publicly praised it, despite their disagreements. When will Republicans understand that serving one's country does not necessarily mean strapping on a gun and marching off to war?

[sweetheart-mine]

thank you for providing one of many examples of differences between the conventions. one was civil at the most basic human level, and one wasn't.

[sweetheart-mine]

And the Democrats' VP candidate didn't deliver a speech that really rallied the party.

 

Again, it's all a product of your disdain for the party as a whole. Republicans thought Giuliani and Palin were great (As well as Thompson, who was getting ripped here last night). Personally, it was all the same crap (both conventions) and I can't get a strong reaction going from either.

1. i thought biden's speech was both specific and rallying, which actually was more than i expected -- and what does that have to do with last night's convention performances? biden wasn't as new and charming as palin, if that's what you mean.

 

2. my "disdain for the party as a whole"? you must be lumping a lot of posters into one group, and you're wrong to do that. if you paid attention to posts, you'd knock off that lumping. i've been voting for many years, and i vote according to the issues and the integrity of the individual. very occasionally that has meant i voted for a republican. i've also voted green (to my regret), and independent (pleased with that vote), and many times in recent years wondered what good my vote would do at all. and that's it for my voting bio. if you want to paint me with some blind, unthinking "disdain" brush, you do the work to prove it, and don't leave out the contexts.

 

it's all about WHAT is happening now and WHO is behaving in which way now, although there are some sorry pieces of history on both sides. the particularly sorry history of the last eight years belongs to those who created it -- the neocons -- and also to those who promise more of the same for the future, when they dare to mention that same, which is a pathetically small percentage of the time.

[Good Old Neon]

You've seen Palin speak once, and by all accounts she was pretty well spoken and confident. I don't think her being steamrolled by Biden is a given (I said this a few days ago that she was the wildcard, she might really be able to go toe to toe with him), and McCain is always better on his toes than reading cards or prompters.

 

I expect the debates to be very good, and very firey. I don't expect much to be held back, and that scares me because I definitely think Biden will say something about Palin's daughter, which will hurt them alot since Obama said families are off limits.

 

You

[Good Old Neon]

I love the following quote from Slate.com's, Jack Shafer:

 

"Even if a giant squid rips down the Golden Gate Bridge and fire ants kill every human on Fire Island, the biggest story of the week will be McCain's cockeyed selection of Palin."

[cryptique]

fact check

 

Attacks, praise stretch truth at GOP convention

 

_{By JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writer}

_{Wed Sep 3, 11:48 PM ET}

 

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her Republican supporters held back little Wednesday as they issued dismissive attacks on Barack Obama and flattering praise on her credentials to be vice president. In some cases, the reproach and the praise stretched the truth.

 

Some examples:

 

PALIN: "I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending ... and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. I told the Congress 'thanks but no thanks' for that Bridge to Nowhere."

 

THE FACTS: As mayor of Wasilla, Palin hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington annually to support earmarks for the town totaling $27 million. In her two years as governor, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation. While Palin notes she rejected plans to build a $398 million bridge from Ketchikan to an island with 50 residents and an airport, that opposition came only after the plan was ridiculed nationally as a "bridge to nowhere."

 

PALIN: "There is much to like and admire about our opponent. But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform — not even in the state senate."

 

THE FACTS: Compared to McCain and his two decades in the Senate, Obama does have a more meager record. But he has worked with Republicans to pass legislation that expanded efforts to intercept illegal shipments of weapons of mass destruction and to help destroy conventional weapons stockpiles. The legislation became law last year. To demean that accomplishment would be to also demean the work of Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, a respected foreign policy voice in the Senate. In Illinois, he was the leader on two big, contentious measures in Illinois: studying racial profiling by police and requiring recordings of interrogations in potential death penalty cases. He also successfully co-sponsored major ethics reform legislation.

 

PALIN: "The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes, raise payroll taxes, raise investment income taxes, raise the death tax, raise business taxes, and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars."

 

THE FACTS: The Tax Policy Center, a think tank run jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, concluded that Obama's plan would increase after-tax income for middle-income taxpayers by about 5 percent by 2012, or nearly $2,200 annually. McCain's plan, which cuts taxes across all income levels, would raise after tax-income for middle-income taxpayers by 3 percent, the center concluded.

 

Obama would provide $80 billion in tax breaks, mainly for poor workers and the elderly, including tripling the Earned Income Tax Credit for minimum-wage workers and higher credits for larger families.

 

He also would raise income taxes, capital gains and dividend taxes on the wealthiest. He would raise payroll taxes on taxpayers with incomes above $250,000, and he would raise corporate taxes. Small businesses that make more than $250,000 a year would see taxes rise.

 

MCCAIN: "She's been governor of our largest state, in charge of 20 percent of America's energy supply ... She's responsible for 20 percent of the nation's energy supply. I'm entertained by the comparison and I hope we can keep making that comparison that running a political campaign is somehow comparable to being the executive of the largest state in America," he said in an interview with ABC News' Charles Gibson.

 

THE FACTS: McCain's phrasing exaggerates both claims. Palin is governor of a state that ranks second nationally in crude oil production, but she's no more "responsible" for that resource than President Bush was when he was governor of Texas, another oil-producing state. In fact, her primary power is the ability to tax oil, which she did in concert with the Alaska Legislature. And where Alaska is the largest state in America, McCain could as easily have called it the 47th largest state — by population.

 

MCCAIN: "She's the commander of the Alaska National Guard. ... She has been in charge, and she has had national security as one of her primary responsibilities," he said on ABC.

 

THE FACTS: While governors are in charge of their state guard units, that authority ends whenever those units are called to actual military service. When guard units are deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, for example, they assume those duties under "federal status," which means they report to the Defense Department, not their governors. Alaska's national guard units have a total of about 4,200 personnel, among the smallest of state guard organizations.

 

FORMER ARKANSAS GOV. MIKE HUCKABEE: Palin "got more votes running for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska than Joe Biden got running for president of the United States."

 

THE FACTS: A whopper. Palin got 616 votes in the 1996 mayor's election, and got 909 in her 1999 re-election race, for a total of 1,525. Biden dropped out of the race after the Iowa caucuses, but he still got 76,165 votes in 23 states and the District of Columbia where he was on the ballot during the 2008 presidential primaries.

 

FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOV. MITT ROMNEY: "We need change, all right — change from a liberal Washington to a conservative Washington! We have a prescription for every American who wants change in Washington — throw out the big-government liberals, and elect John McCain and Sarah Palin."

 

THE FACTS: A Back-to-the-Future moment. George W. Bush, a conservative Republican, has been president for nearly eight years. And until last year, Republicans controlled Congress. Only since January 2007 have Democrats have been in charge of the House and Senate.

[cryptique]

the truth about Palin's supposed military command experience

 

Palin has never ordered Alaska National Guard to do anything

 

_{By George Bryson, McClatchy Newspapers}

_{Wed Sep 3, 7:20 PM ET}

 

ANCHORAGE, Alaska

[cryptique]

view of Palin from a Wasilla resident

 

From: http://www.washingtonindependent.com/3671/...eform-candidate

Submitted by Michael Wrightson on Sept 1, 2008

 

A note to all by Anne Kilkenny

 

Dear friends,

 

So many people have asked me about what I know about Sarah Palin in the last 2 days that I decided to write something up . . .

 

Basically, Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton have only 2 things in common: their gender and their good looks.

 

You have my permission to forward this to your friends/email contacts with my name and email address attached, but please do not post it on any websites, as there are too many kooks out there . . .

 

[ This was already posted on Washington Independent comments area,

with a controllable hotmail account, and was obviously meant by the

author to be read. ]

 

Thanks,

Anne

 

 

ABOUT SARAH PALIN

 

I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Sarah since 1992. Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools. Her father was my child's favorite substitute teacher. I also am on a first name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more City Council meetings during her administration than about 99% of the residents of the city.

 

She is enormously popular; in every way she's like the most popular girl in middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice and won't vote for her can't quit smiling when talking about her because she is a "babe".

 

It is astonishing and almost scary how well she can keep a secret. She kept her most recent pregnancy a secret from her children and parents for seven months.

 

She is "pro-life". She recently gave birth to a Down's syndrome baby. There is no cover-up involved, here; Trig is her baby.

 

She is energetic and hardworking. She regularly worked out at the gym.

 

She is savvy. She doesn't take positions; she just "puts things out there" and if they prove to be popular, then she takes credit.

 

Her husband works a union job on the North Slope for BP and is a champion snowmobile racer. Todd Palin's kind of job is highly sought-after because of the schedule and high pay. He arranges his work schedule so he can fish for salmon in Bristol Bay for a month or so in summer, but by no stretch of the imagination is fishing their major source of income. Nor has her life-style ever been anything like that of native Alaskans.

 

Sarah and her whole family are avid hunters.

 

She's smart.

 

Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000 (at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about 670,000 residents.

 

During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running this small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had given rise to a recall campaign.

 

Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a "fiscal conservative." During her 6 years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over 33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation (1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they benefited residents.

 

The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration weren't enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it with indebtedness of over $22 million. What did Mayor Palin encourage the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? or a new library? No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of a multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to build on a piece of property that the City didn't even have clear title to, that was still in litigation 7 yrs later--to the delight of the lawyers involved! The sports complex itself is a nice addition to the community but a huge money pit, not the profit-generator she claimed it would be. She also supported bonds for $5.5m for road projects that could have been done in 5-7 yrs without any borrowing.

 

While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office redecorated more than once.

 

These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city.

 

As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created a budget surplus in Alaska. Rather than invest this surplus in technology that will make us energy independent and increase efficiency, as Governor she proposed distribution of this surplus to every individual in the state.

 

In this time of record state revenues and budget surpluses, she recommended that the state borrow/bond for road projects, even while she proposed distribution of surplus state revenues: spend today's surplus, borrow for needs.

 

She's not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideas or compromise. As Mayor, she fought ideas that weren't generated by her or her staff. Ideas weren't evaluated on their merits, but on the basis of who proposed them.

 

While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respected City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin's attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the Librarian are on her enemies list to this day.

 

Sarah complained about the "old boy's club" when she first ran for Mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set of "old boys". Palin fired most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the City and as Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people, creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally grateful and fiercely loyal--loyal to the point of abusing their power to further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged happened in the case of pressuring the State's top cop (see below).

 

As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla's Police Chief because he "intimidated" her, she told the press. As Governor, her recent firing of Alaska's top cop has the ring of familiarity about it. He served at her pleasure and she had every legal right to fire him, but it's pretty clear that an important factor in her decision to fire him was because he wouldn't fire her sister's ex-husband, a State Trooper. Under investigation for abuse of power, she has had to admit that more than 2 dozen contacts were made between her staff and family to the person that she later fired, pressuring him to fire her ex-brother-in-law. She tried to replace the man she fired with a man who she knew had been reprimanded for sexual harassment; when this caused a public furor, she withdrew her support.

 

She has bitten the hand of every person who extended theirs to her in help. The City Council person who personally escorted her around town introducing her to voters when she first ran for Wasilla City Council became one of her first targets when she was later elected Mayor. She abruptly fired her loyal City Administrator; even people who didn't like the guy were stunned by this ruthlessness.

 

Fear of retribution has kept all of these people from saying anything publicly about her.

 

When then-Governor Murkowski was handing out political plums, Sarah got the best, Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission: one of the few jobs not in Juneau and one of the best paid. She had no background in oil & gas issues. Within months of scoring this great job which paid $122,400/yr, she was complaining in the press about the high salary. I was told that she hated that job: the commute, the structured hours, the work. Sarah became aware that a member of this Commission (who was also the State Chair of the Republican Party) engaged in unethical behavior on the job. In a gutsy move which some undoubtedly cautioned her could be political suicide, Sarah solved all her problems in one fell swoop: got out of the job she hated and garnered gobs of media attention as the patron saint of ethics and as a gutsy fighter against the "old boys' club" when she dramatically quit, exposing this man's ethics violations (for which he was fined).

 

As Mayor, she had her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork from Senator Ted Stevens. Lately, she has castigated his pork-barrel politics and publicly humiliated him. She only opposed the "bridge to nowhere" after it became clear that it would be unwise not to.

 

As Governor, she gave the Legislature no direction and budget guidelines, then made a big grandstand display of line-item vetoing projects, calling them pork. Public outcry and further legislative action restored most of these projects--which had been vetoed simply because she was not aware of their importance--but with the unobservant she had gained a reputation as "anti-pork."

 

She is solidly Republican: no political maverick. The State party leaders hate her because she has bit them in the back and humiliated them. Other members of the party object to her self-description as a fiscal conservative.

 

Around Wasilla there are people who went to high school with Sarah. They call her "Sarah Barracuda" because of her unbridled ambition and predatory ruthlessness. Before she became so powerful, very ugly stories circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to be made point guard on the high school basketball team. When Sarah's mother-in-law, a highly respected member of the community and experienced manager, ran for Mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her.

 

As Governor, she stepped outside of the box and put together of package of legislation known as "AGIA" that forced the oil companies to march to the beat of her drum.

 

Like most Alaskans, she favors drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She has questioned if the loss of sea ice is linked to global warming. She campaigned "as a private citizen" against a state initiaitive that would have either a) protected salmon streams from pollution from mines, or tied up in the courts all mining in the state (depending on who you listen to). She has pushed the State's lawsuit against the Dept. of the Interior's decision to list polar bears as threatened species.

 

McCain is the oldest person to ever run for President; Sarah will be a heartbeat away from being President.

 

There has to be literally millions of Americans who are more knowledgeable and experienced than she.

 

However, there's a lot of people who have underestimated her and are regretting it.

 

 

CLAIM VS FACT

-"Hockey mom": true for a few years

-"PTA mom": true years ago when her first-born was in elementary school, not since

-"NRA supporter": absolutely true

-social conservative: mixed. Opposes gay marriage, BUT vetoed a bill that would have denied benefits to employees in same-sex relationships (said she did this because it was unconsitutional).

-pro-creationism: mixed. Supports it, BUT did nothing as Governor to promote it.

-"Pro-life": mixed. Knowingly gave birth to a Down's syndrome baby BUT declined to call a special legislative session on some pro-life

legislation

-"Experienced": Some high schools have more students than Wasilla has residents. Many cities have more residents than the state of Alaska.

No legislative experience other than City Council. Little hands-on supervisory or managerial experience; needed help of a city administrator to run town of about 5,000.

-political maverick: not at all

-gutsy: absolutely!

-open & transparent: ??? Good at keeping secrets. Not good at explaining actions.

-has a developed philosophy of public policy: no

-"a Greenie": no. Turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores and disconnected parking lots. Is pro-drilling off-shore and in ANWR.

-fiscal conservative: not by my definition!

-pro-infrastructure: No. Promoted a sports complex and park in a city without a sewage treatment plant or storm drainage system. Built

streets to early 20th century standards.

-pro-tax relief: Lowered taxes for businesses, increased tax burden on residents

-pro-small government: No. Oversaw greatest expansion of city government in Wasilla's history.

-pro-labor/pro-union. No. Just because her husband works union doesn't make her pro-labor. I have seen nothing to support any claim that she is pro-labor/pro-union.

 

WHY AM I WRITING THIS?

 

First, I have long believed in the importance of being an informed voter. I am a voter registrar. For 10 years I put on student voting programs in the schools. If you google my name (Anne Kilkenny + Alaska), you will find references to my participation in local government, education, and PTA/parent organizations.

 

Secondly, I've always operated in the belief that "Bad things happen when good people stay silent". Few people know as much as I do because few have gone to as many City Council meetings.

 

Third, I am just a housewife. I don't have a job she can bump me out of. I don't belong to any organization that she can hurt. But, I am no fool; she is immensely popular here, and it is likely that this will cost me somehow in the future: that's life.

 

Fourth, she has hated me since back in 1996, when I was one of the 100 or so people who rallied to support the City Librarian against Sarah's attempt at censorship.

 

Fifth, I looked around and realized that everybody else was afraid to say anything because they were somehow vulnerable.

 

CAVEATS

I am not a statistician. I developed the numbers for the increase in spending & taxation 2 years ago (when Palin was running for Governor) from information supplied to me by the Finance Director of the City of Wasilla, and I can't recall exactly what I adjusted for: did I adjust for inflation? for population increases? Right now, it is impossible for a private person to get any info out of City Hall--they are swamped. So I can't verify my numbers.

 

You may have noticed that there are various numbers circulating for the population of Wasilla, ranging from my "about 5,000", up to 9,000. The day Palin's selection was announced a city official told me that the current population is about 7,000. The official 2000 census count was 5,460. I have used about 5,000 because Palin was Mayor from 1996 to 2002, and the city was growing rapidly in the mid-'90s.

 

Anne Kilkenny

annekilkenny@hotmail.com

August 31, 2008

[remphish1]

Aye. I watched about 2 hours of the convention last night. Saw Palin speak. If they did get in I can say safely she would be a better vice president than Cheney! Anyway I can sum up my thoughts on the 2 hours I watched easily. I tried to think about all the points they made and summarize them to the best of my best ability but I couldn't. All I remember from the 2 hours of speaches is whats the difference between a pitbull and a hockey mom? (Lipstick) and The Drill Baby Drill chant! The only line besides those that stood out that I agree with is when Guiliana questioned if Palin would have enough time for her family and being VP and that they would never ask a man that...that was the only thing I seemed to agree with otherwise.

[jenbobblehead]

It's not polite to talk about a mother that way, now stop. She didn't lie, she still has hormone leftovers from being pregnant.What's that condition called anyway?

"crazy?"

[John Smith]

They have no choice.

 

At this point mccain could have chosen a bagel and the republicans would have eaten it up. Albeit an anti-abortion guntoting angry bagel, but a bagel none the less.

[JUDE]

20 35 pages, still not convinced Obama is the one, keep trying people!

[fatheadfred]

I hate to remind you, your vote doesn't matter in MN...unless that hockey thing supercedes the economy, energy, & internat'l affairs.

[austrya]

I tried to watch/listen but I gave up after the first reference to "hockey mom".

 

 

Well, a lot of kids play hockey and most of them have moms, some might even have 2. She wants to make sure she has their votes too.

[fatheadfred]

Seconded. That speech was almost entirely bitter and ugly, not to mention FULL of lies. Weren't they hoping to get some independents and cross-over votes from Dems if possible? I can't see much of that happening after such a hateful speech.

 

Way to take the high road, Obama.

 

I can't help but feel it was targeted at the base, 28% of the electorate. What good does that do? Urge them to proselytize (cheat)?

[fatheadfred]

I'm sure republicans said the same thing after the Democratic convention.

 

The convention is not for people of the other party. It's designed as one long ad for your party, which is why Democrats thought theirs was awesome, and Republicans thought it was condescending and empty.

I dunno about that. Considering they are both fighting for the swing states I would say it is best to show a little teeth, but not frighten peeps to the other side. The convention is the only national exposure they'll get, sadly. The debates, I hear, are not as viewed as often as the convention.

 

To give McCain credit where it is do, the Palin choice was truly MAVERICK, though perhaps also stupid.

He didn't pick her, the crispies did. He wanted lil' Joe.

[fatheadfred]

not sure about that. he definitely thrives in the "town hall" type of atmosphere, but behind a podium with no script? he has floundered and foundered before in that type of setting.

Like when got pissed at that college kid and called him a twirp or something and told him he oughtta send him to war.

[Good Old Neon]

Last night, while listening to Nick Cave and (almost sort of) watching the convention (I couldn