RNC: Day One: "Sept. 11th"

I am in the middle of watching the Republican Convention on TV. The GOP says the theme today is "A Nation of Courage". From my viewpoint, the theme so far has been "September 11th", but that is why the GOP decided to have this convention in New York.

So far, at least three memorials to Sept. 11th, McCain mentioned it by name five times in his speech. No doubt Guiliani will also make it a focal point. Why is this a focal point? Bush was just as neglegent as Clinton in ignoring warning signs that led to Sept. 11th. He ignored the briefings, made terrorism a second rate priority to missle defense, and marginalized terror reports from Clinton aides and his own terrorism czar.

If you put all that aside, Bush II still had a chance to unite the nation and clinch his second term. He took care of business in Afghanistan, and then let himself get entagled in the Iraqi quagmire. He lost all credibility then. He had 85% approval ratings after Sept. 11th...anyone want to say where he is now...try half of that. Bush is using the emotional tragedy of Sept. 11th to put blinders on the American public so that they do not focus on his failures on the domestic front, and with the war on terror in general. Keep watching, count how many times Sept. 11th gets mentioned in speeches for the rest of the convention....I bet it outnumbers policy initiatives for the next four years.

And lets hear it for the "big tent party", ramming home their platform today that isolated gays, pro-choice Republicans, and diversity. Don't be fooled, the evangelicals are being kept under tight control so that Bush can still look like a moderate, but once he is re-elected the right wing gets it's prize....Supreme Court judges.