Scattered thoughts on tonight, none really large enough to merit their own post:

• One of the Ohio delegates told a Convention Jockey that she was voting for Bush because "he'll keep Ohio safe." It's undoubtedly true that Ohio will be safe, but I think we can all agree that the reason is not strong presidential leadership... Seriously, Al Qaeda in Columbus? What the hell would they blow up?
  
• Pataki's list of thanks was pretty ridiculous, for two reasons:
  • A) It was three years ago! You couldn't have thanked them before now?
  • B) "Thanks, Iowa, for sending us 1,500 quilts"? Give me a break. Could he be any more blatant in his swing-state-pandering? He mentioned Oregon, Iowa, and Pennsylvania. I honestly expected him to come up with something to thank every single swing state for. "Thank you, Florida, for the 300 crates of orange juice that you donated to the relief effort. And thank you, Wisconsin, for the 80-pound block of cheese that fed 30 firemen for a week. And thank you, Ohio, for... well, for your unswerving moral support. We appreciated that."
• The headliner:
  • Was that the stupidest presidential entry you've ever seen? What is he, David Freaking Copperfield?
    
  • He sure had a lot of family to thank.
    
  • Oughtn't they to have given him a line to use during the uproar that was practically certain to occur if a protester had to be removed?
    
  • Someone should mention to Bush that there's a T at the end of the word "kept."
    
  • I give him full credit for the swagger joke. That made me chuckle.
• Why is it that 90% of country musicians are Republicans, and 90% of all other musicians are Democrats? And is that discrepancy related to the fact that 90% of all country music sucks?
• The convention, by unanimous rollcall, was adjourned "siney di." That's pretty funny all by itself.

A great site: Pleasure Boat Captains for Truth. (Its accompanying commercial, "Low Tolerance", is terrific.)

Rowboat Veterans for Truth is also amusing.

In the course of one ten-minute Hardball interview, Zell Miller called Chris Matthews "hopeless," told him to "get out of my face," and challenged him to a duel. Really.

(As a followup: John McCain, on the Daily Show, hypothesized thusly on the creepy-yet-humorous ferocity that came out in Zell's speech: "I think that maybe John Kerry must have shot his dog.")

Miller: No, I said it because it was—you‘re hopeless. I wish I was over there. In fact, I wish that we lived in—I wish we lived in the day...
Matthews: I‘ve got to warn you, we are in a tough part of town over here. But I do recommend you come over, because I like you. Let me tell you this.
Miller: Chris.
Matthews: If a Republican Senator broke ranks and—all right, I‘m sorry. A Republican Senator broke ranks and came over and spoke for the Democrats, would you respect him?
Miller: Yes, of course I would.
Matthews: Why?
Miller: I have seen that happen from time to time. Look, I believe...
Matthews: What does Jim Jeffords say to you?
Miller: Wait a minute.
Matthews: Jim Jeffords switched parties after getting elected.
Miller: If you‘re going to ask a question...
Matthews: Well, it‘s a tough question. It takes a few words.
Miller: Get out of my face. If you are going to ask me a question, step back and let me answer.
Matthews: Senator, please.
Miller: You know, I wish we... I wish we lived in the day where you could challenge a person to a duel. Now, that would be pretty good. Don‘t ask me - don‘t pull that...
Matthews: Can you can come over? I need you, Senator. Please come over.
Miller: Wait a minute. Don‘t pull that kind of stuff on me, like you did that young lady when you had her there, browbeating her to death. I am not her. I am not her.

That damned snake pit of fascism.

"George Bush, [Attorney General] John Ashcroft , [Vice President] Dick Cheney, the Halliburton firms," Owens responded. "We are going in the same direction as Nazi Germany in terms of we have a ruthless group of people who make bold decisions. They spit on democracy," Owens said.

Ahnold is a Republican because... Nixon was a Republican?

I remember watching the Nixon-Humphrey presidential race on TV. A friend of mine who spoke German and English translated for me... Listening to Nixon speak sounded more like a breath of fresh air. I said to my friend, I said, "What party is he?" My friend said, "He's a Republican." I said, "Then I am a Republican."

Karl Rove is pissed off about the Bush twins' preposterous intro:

"Whoever approved this," Rove moaned to a colleague, "I'm going to put on a slow boat to China."

The president sees the nation as a 10-year-old?

"It struck me as I was speaking to people in Bangor, Maine, that this president sees America as we think about a 10-year-old child," Card said. "I know as a parent I would sacrifice all for my children."

Well, we all know what a good job he did with his own kids, so...

Bob Kerrey lays into the Swift Boaters, Cheney-style.

I guess I have to at least give Alan Keyes credit for sticking to his guns:

After Keyes told the hosts that homosexuality is "selfish hedonism," he was asked whether Mary Cheney is a "selfish hedonist." "Of course she is," Keyes replied. "That goes by definition. Of course she is."

Followup: No, I guess I don't.

"You people are trying to say that I said the Cheney daughter is a selfish hedonist. That's just a lie," Keyes said. "I made an argument and left others to follow the argument."

The fat man leaveth.

I don't know who was having more fun: the delegates booing Michael Moore, or Michael Moore reveling in the booage that he'd wrought.

New poll compilation for the major polls taken through August 30, 2004. My calculations give me this:

	Bush	Kerry	Nader
June 23, 2004	44.00	44.33	5.33
July 25, 2004	44.17	46.25	3.33
August 30, 2004	45.00	46.22	2.78
Post-RNC (September 15, 2004?)	?	?	?

(Most recent sources: ABC/WP, American Research Group, AP, CBS, CNN, FOXNews, Gallup, LAT, and Pew.)

So Bush picked up three quarters of a point, while Kerry stayed the same (and Nader lost a half). It's worth noting that of the nine* major polls used to get the compilation numbers above, none were outside the margin of error. Within the margin of error, Kerry led in six of the polls; CNN was tied; and Bush led by 3 in the LAT and by 1 in Gallup.

* - National polling has fallen a bit out of favor (predictably), so new numbers aren't coming out with the frequency they had been. If you throw in the results of a few smaller (ICR and Marist) and older (Newsweek and Zogby) polls, Kerry holds fairly steady at 46.31 and Bush drops three quarters of a point to 44.15.