Disgusted

I watched a significant portion of the Republican convention this week, and I feel like I need a shower. I thought John McCain intended to raise the level of political discourse, but the culture war is not over, my friends. In fact, what we saw this week was a surge.

Sarah Palin described herself as a pit bull in lipstick, but I was thinking Spiro Agnew in heels. Lindsey Graham and Rudy Giuliani joined Palin and other speakers in an endless high-school style mockery of Obama and Biden that was actually embarrassing to watch.

Do they really think they can sell the notion that Palin's experience is superior to Biden's or Obama's? After trashing John Kerry's purple hearts and silver star service record, do they really have the nerve to run on John McCain's traumatic experience as a POW?

Can John McCain really believe that he can escape responsibility for the nastiness of the attacks on Obama offered by speakers at his convention - the slurs against his patriotism, the accusations of elitism, the snide references to Michelle's pride in America, and the blatantly dishonest representation of his positions?

The Republican conventions in 2000 and 2004 were pretty bad, but the proceedings this week were marked with a scent of desperation and resentment that was reflected in the simian vulgarity of the whole affair. The chants of "Drill, Baby, Drill" and "USA, USA, USA" were defiant rants, accompanied by shaking fists and wild eyes. No happy warriors in today's GOP, to be sure.

One hopes that independent voters looked closely, and were repelled.

One thing is clear. It's going to be an ugly fight from here on.

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