1 Boring Old Man

• President George W. Bush (via satellite)
• First Lady Laura Bush
• U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman (Conn.)
• Former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson (Tenn.)
• U.S. House Republican Leader John Boehner (Ohio)
• U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman (Minn.)
• U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.)
• Robert M. "Mike" Duncan, Chairman of the Republican National Committee
• Jo Ann Davidson, Co-Chairman of the Republican National Committee and Chairman of the 2008 Republican National Convention Committee on Arrangements

Meanwhile, Ron Paul is across town with his Rally against the Bush Republicans. I haven’t followed him very much. His position is that the Democrats are Socialists and the Bush Republicans are Fascists. The Libertarians are the true Conservatives. Most of the speeches are kind of sarcastic. The Libertarians have the sound of people who would rather be "right" than "win."

Now the Republican Convention itself is opening. Good sets. More "ruley" than the Democrats. Dated music. Few delegates with any "rhythm." More suits and ties. Way more flags. Mostly white people – the most striking thing is the whiteness of it all. I’m wandering in and out of the room where the television lives. It always makes me uncomfortable watching Republicans. I’m always afraid they’ll win people over with their version of solidarity and homogeneity [and those clothes – the kind we last wore in college in the early 60s before things changed].

They’re still running on the line that Democrats want to give your money away and have big government with higher taxes. I expect they’ll be running against F.D.R.’s New Deal forever – in spite of the obvious rampant escalation of government spending by the last three Republican Presidents – 20 out of the last 28 years. It’s become an ideology disconnected from reality – similar to the disconnection between Christian teachings of poverty and humility and the doings of the organized Church. I suppose if it works, you just keep doing it.

Then comes George W. Bush [60] [on television], Fred Thompson [66], and Joe Lieberman [66] all talking of McCain’s heroism. All talking of patriotism and war – extolling McCain’s war record. Bush was in the National Guard, going AWOL for his last year. Neither Thompson nor Lieberman served in the military, even though, as contemporaries of mine, they were living during the years of the Draft. They’re talking about the glories of McCain’s Service, and about the inexperience of Obama.

I’m surprised how infuriating it is to me to listen to these three draft evaders crow about McCain’s service, and malign the character of Obama, knowing from being alive at the same time that they had to play the system pretty well to avoid the Draft, just as the other War-Mongers like Cheney. Obama, they say, wanted to cut off funding for our troops on the battlefield. Obama wanted to deprive our troops of coming home with "honor." I want to scream at the television set, "You guys are not allowed to talk about battlefields or honor. You forfeited that right a long time ago. And you, particularly you, Mr. Bush, are especially forbidden to talk about war and honor. You started a major war based on a lie. You knew it was a lie. That puts the blood of thousands on your hands. Where’s the honor in that?"