Third Night of the Convention (aka: All You Can Eat)

I am stuffed like a tick! I haven’t had that much red meat in years! Zell Miller absolutely sassed his party. Sassed it! He beat on Kerry like a tap drum. And as passionate as he was – as much anger as he has towards his fellow Dems – he still didn’t scream and yell and look like a madman they way former Vice President Al Gore has been partial to doing this year. There will be some gristle left over for the Kerry camp to chew on and complain about, but that speech had to smart. Overall, that was the most damning condemnation of Kerry, yet. Zell took his senate record, which Kerry strategically ignored during his own convention leaving it wide-open and unprotected, and he flayed it to pieces. It wasn’t just a few stray votes that you can easily chalk up to the amendment process and nuance. He depicted a voting pattern.

Then came Cheney. He was far more collected and stoic than Miller, but still brutal towards Kerry while comparing the two candidates at the end of the speech. They painted Kerry, alright. By the end or the night that donkey had two thick coats on him before they set him out to wander.

Afterwards, Miller, still fired up, was on Chris Matthews. Matthews asked (and I paraphrase): “do you really think that Kerry and Kennedy want to defend this nation with spitballs (as he said in the speech)?” That was about the time that Miller went off on Chris, saying stuff like he knew he would ask that type of garbage, etc. Of course Matthews kept asking it and Miller responded with something like: “You know what metaphor is don’t you Chris?” Zell got a little carried away, but it was funny stuff. Even Matthews, with rating points in his eyes, liked it. He and panel were laughing about interview for a while afterwards.

So after three strong nights of speeches, which perhaps crescendoed tonight, I'm wondering how Bush will tie it all up in a neat little package for the voters tomorrow. Can he cap off a strong aggressive convention with his intimate theater in the round performance? Stay tuned.