Day II of the Republican National Convention

Yes. I did watch the coverage of the Republican National Convention from St. Paul, Mn. last night. And yes, I made a concerted effort to not scream at the television screen. President Bush was limited to about a 9 minute speech via satellite as the Republicans seem to want to distance themselves from the last eight years.

It would seem that the main theme of the convention is that John McCain is a maverick and that he is not afraid to speak his mind and vote his convictions. He's going to take on Washington and provide the change that is so badly needed. It would seem to me that the "elephant in the room" is that the "Washington" they are so eager to change was brought about by a Republican administration. And didn't that maverick, John McCain, vote over 90% of the time backing that administration? Hmm??

It would seem that all the talk about Sarah Palin is about how she has so much more experience than Barak Obama. Their reasoning is that she has run both a city and state and Obama has spent his time writing bills and giving speeches. Taking that reasoning one step further, what has McCain been doing?? Writing bills and giving speeches. So I guess Sarah Palin is in fact more experienced that McCain as well!! Hmm???

Former Senator Fred Thompson spoke and gave an emotional description of John McCain's time as a POW. However, at the end of it all he made the telling statement, " Now, being a POW certainly doesn't qualify anyone to be President." Funny, that seems to be McCain's answer for everything.


I felt bad for a pretty young Minneapolis fire captain who had just been introduced and was at the podium preparing to speak when former president George H.W. Bush and his wife Barbara came strolling in. The crowd erupted into applause leaving the young captain standing at the podium for several minutes. It seems that the convention organizers should have made arrangements for the arrival of the Bush's to one, maximize their arrival, and two, not have been so rude to the speaker.


It turns out that the pretty Minneapolis fire captain is Captain Shanna Hanson, the face of the interstate 35W bridge collapse one year ago. She is quite a local hero as she responded from home to assist in recovering victims from the Mississippi River below. I remember watching the news that day and seeing her diving down amid the debris many times.

There will be more drama today as Sarah Palin is scheduled to speak.