Well…I can say with some real confidence that the Republicans (and their pet, Lieberman) did no real or lasting damage tonight. I think Fred Thompson’s long, detailed explanation of how horribly John McCain suffered in captivity was poignant and educational to people not already familiar with the story. But any nation that can vote out Max Cleland for being insufficiently patriotic can certainly find a reason to vote against John McCain, despite his sacrifice for his country. It simply is not enough to have suffered the degradations of captivity and torture to win a political fight for the presidency of the United States. I do think the narrative was sympathetic. But it will mean almost nothing in the long term. Thompson did not name one program that McCain will start or one program that he will slash. He didn’t mention anything that is of concern to the American people. He focused exclusively on McCain’s character. I don’t think people give a shit about John McCain’s character. If anything, they’re wondering what kind of moron picks a running mate without vetting her.

As for Joe Lieberman, I watched most of it but I just got so bored that I wandered outside to the patio. It was clear that the Republicans in the hall were not very enthusiastic about having Lieberman there in the first place. And they certainly didn’t want to hear about how shitty their party is and how great it is that John McCain disagrees with them about global warming, immigration, and campaign finance reform. It was funny when Joe tried to force an applause line for Bill Clinton’s passage of NAFTA, welfare-reform, and his balanced budget.

The convention was desultory and listless. The place was half empty and the biggest applause lines only served to provide acoustic evidence that the place was not packed. The delegates are extremely old and almost universally white. Their age and lack of diversity are the most striking features of all the audience shots. The music was old and uninteresting. The video shorts were vacuous and uninspiring. And the tepid chants of U-S-A reminded me of a middle school pep rally for a winless basketball team.

The contrast to the Democratic convention was stark and unflattering. And it didn’t help that they had to pipe George W. Bush in from a satellite hook-up and that he seemed to be mailing in his last big address.

Color me incredibly unimpressed and unconcerned about the GOP’s performance tonight. Wake me up when they’ve found a real running mate for John McCain.

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