As a matter of choice, I don't have TV in my home, and this week was one of the few times I've really regretted it. By nearly all accounts, the 2004 GOP convention was one for the history books. I've downloaded the transcripts of the major speeches, and I plan to spend the weekend reading them. Republicans all over America - both born-and-bred, and newcomers to the party like myself - have reason to be proud of their party's performance.
And Zell Miller! Wow. Can't tell you how pleased I was to learn that Chris "hardball" Matthews had finally gotten a taste of his own medicine. Heh. So, what's it like to pick on someone your own size, Chris? How's it feel?
(Bleg: Does anyone know where I can get a videotape of the Republican convention? Extra credit for Zell Miller's performance on Chris Matthews.)
Let's also reflect on how the average, undecided American must have viewed the contrast between the words spoken at the convention - some of them frivolous, many impassioned, but all sharing a bright and worthy vision for America and the world - and the antics of the buffoons cavorting on the streets outside.
So it's not surprising that the poll numbers are starting to show the effect of the Republican Convention. Now, for the first time, President Bush has a significant lead over John Kerry. And I don't think things can go anywhere but up from here for Bush. As many commentators have remarked, Kerry does not represent any ideologically cohesive voting bloc; he can attract as many supporters as he does only by virtue of the fact that he can truthfully tell supporters of position A that he's supported A, while also telling the anti-A faction that he has opposed A and supported B.
But as the date of the election draws inexorably closer, the Kerryites will begin to have the uneasy realization that they cannot say for sure whether he's for A, B, both, or neither. Many left-leaning liberals will turn to Nader or Cobb. Moderates, as they better understand the choices America faces in the Mideast and throughout the world, will support Bush.
It may be that the islamofascists are already realizing the likelihood of a second Bush term. They may be making plans now to either cut their losses, or go out in a blaze of bloodshed.
We must make sure that their losses are total, and all the blood shed is their own.
What Bush must do - NOW, not next year - is confront the IRI regime in Tehran, which is working feverishly to build enough atomic bombs to incinerate Israel and intimidate a newly free Iraq. We cannot let this happen. If you haven't done so yet, please put your name on the Iran Regime Change Petition.
The tide may be turning, but the hardest part is surely still to come.
