The Republican Convention - Day Two

I considered using “One Asshole Encourages Us To Vote For Another Asshole” as the title for this post. Would that be unkind?

If you’re looking for some kind of comprehensive coverage and opinion on the Republican Convention, you sure picked the wrong place. I tried to watch some of it on television last night from time to time. I think I logged in a total watching time of two minutes. Todays Republicans either bore or disgust me in an extremely short period of time, until I just can’t take it anymore.

Compared to the Democratic Convention the crowd looked small and unenthusiastic.

The first thing I saw was the fifteen year old girl saying something or other over some video footage. I guess it wasn’t too memorable for me. Then she got up to the podium (or is it a pulpit?) to lead everyone in the Pledge of Allegiance. After the Pledge a gag reflex started to kick in and I switched to another channel. (To be fair, I guess the Democrats did the same thing. I just didn’t see it on television.)

I also saw part of George W. Bush giving what some might call a speech. He said things like this:

My fellow citizens, we live in a dangerous world. And we need a President who understands the lessons of September the 11th, 2001: that to protect America, we must stay on the offense, stop attacks before they happen, and not wait to be hit again. The man we need is John McCain.

I'm optimistic because I have faith in freedom's power to lift up all of God's children, and lead this world to a future of peace.

God bless you, and God bless America.

As a hard-core atheist and anti-theist any invoking or use of God for political gain angers me, and that includes the Pledge of Allegiance.

The quote about “a dangerous world” scares me, and it is not because of the way that Bush intends for me to be scared. I am more scared of my own country at this point than I am about any terrorist threat. In this one paragraph Bush is calling on us to elect John McCain in order to carry on the worst polices that Bush has ever implemented. He is saying that we need to start more illegal, immoral wars, and that John McCain is the man for the job. Is this what we want?

I didn’t hear this last night, but I found it in the transcript of the speech and it makes me laugh:

Fellow citizens: If the Hanoi Hilton could not break John McCain's resolve to do what is best for his country, you can be sure the angry left never will.

Bush, of all people, is essentially comparing the Left, of all people, with torturers. How absurd can you get?