Pogo returns

More  grumpiness:  

      Please.  What was all of the indignant fuss at the GOP convention Wednesday night over entrenched special interests, fat cat lobbyists, big spenders and do nothing pols who raid the federal treasury every morning before breakfast?  You know.  "The Beltway business-as-usual crowd" that drew an even meaner scowl from Fred Thompson.    That's what speaker after speaker wanted us to know, without once acknowledging that the party's presidential nominee(and a lot of the others in the audience)  has been around for 26 years as part of the Capitol Hill mix and has  more than a few lobbyist friends to look after his and their best interests.   Or that Alaska is doing very well with millions in earmarked funds?  What I didn't hear from any of them is Pogo's historic insight:  "We have met the enemy and he is us."

....And what was Rudy Giuliani's hyperventilating problem as he elevated himself to personally untested spiritual heights when he rose and applauded Sarah's self-congratulatory comments on her many happy years of wedlock.   As mayor he shared the role of husband to one  and boyfriend to another. He also was the guy who foisted his friend, Bernard Kerik, a New York City police commissioner  on the  White House to run Homeland Security - a ploy that didn't get very far before Kerik was convicted of nimble corruption.  In retreat, Rudy was forced to describe his pal as a "good criminal"  while tooling around on the speaker's circuit for upward of $200,00o per appearance.  

         .....And it soon became obvious that Palin hadn't vetted McCain very well, either, having promised the crowd that her  team would work diligently on alternate forms of energy.  If she had gone through some clippings, she would have known that McCain repeatedly was a no-show for the Senate votes on renewable energy. The work could have started by harnessing the windpower from the stage.  

         Finally, how quickly the rules change in presidential politics.  Four years ago John  Kerry's military service was scandalized by the Swift Boaters committed to sending Bush and Cheney back to second terms as committed  lifelong civilians.    This year,  praise of military valor is pouring from the lips of the McCain people as an overwhelmingly positive issue to seat him in the White House.  For them, on this and other blatant contradictions, a losing candidate is not an option.  But he was the very same POW that Bush & Co. trashed in 2000.  You'll  find it somewhere in the fine print of this year's campaign.