Skattershooting about the Republican National Convention:

• Laura Bush did a pretty good job speaking on the first night of the convention. The only awkward moment came when she pronounced the silent "g" in the word "poignant" in her speech which centered around education. Heck, I would have been so nervous that I would have stumbled over the "p".
• During the opening applause, Ms. Bush looks to her right, appears to recognize a couple of people, and says "Hey, Jerry. Hey, Grant." Do you think she was coached to do that in order to give the appearance of being "at ease"?
• In an effort to appear diverse, the Convention brought in a gospel singing group to entertain on night number one. There's nothing quite like watching an audience of white, overweight men clap their hands to the sound of an African American choir.
• Colin Powell's support of affirmative action has no place in the GOP.
• George W's video appearances on the big screen as he campaigned on the way to the convention, although obviously for hype and showmanship, worked fairly well.
• W's father, the former president, may have made the biggest news of all when, stung by criticism of W by Bill Clinton, he told NBC that "If he continues that, I'm going to tell the nation what I think about him as a human being and person."
• As a kid (when we only had 6 television stations available) I can remember the big three networks blocking out 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. all week for convention coverage. Nowadays, convention junkies have to resort to cable channels like CNN or MSNBC to get wall to wall coverage. I completely understand.
• I appreciate W wanting to take credit the increased passing rate for the TAAS test, but I doubt if he even really believes it.
• John McCain spoke on the second night of the convention and (1) fails to even mention his pet peeve, campaign finance reform and (2) he says of Bush "I support him. I am grateful to him. And I am proud of him."  How odd. Even today, McCain remains the good soldier.
• When U.S. Rep. Jim Kolbe of Arizona, who is gay, spoke to the convention about free trade, "Some delegates from Texas, the home state of the presumed Republican presidential nominee, George W. Bush, bowed their heads in silent prayer, holding their cowboy hats in their hands or over their hearts. One delegate in the crowd held up a sign that read ‘There is a way out.’". Hey, its the Republican National Convention not the Southern Baptist Convention.
• Humorist Dave Barry wrote that although Oklahoma representative J.C. Watts is the most influential African American in the Republican party, it can also be said that Ringo Starr was the most influential drummer in the Beatles.
• The cowboy hats that the Texas Delegation wore should be immediately burned.
• At first I was skeptical of the Republicans inviting "The Rock" (he's a wrestler for all of you unfamiliar with the WWF) for an appearance on stage Wednesday night. However, after he proclaimed to have 14 million fans, a number I wouldn't dispute, it appears to be a pretty good marketing ploy.
• I watched an interview with Gerald Ford from the floor of the convention on Tuesday night and noticed his slurred speech. I, along with everyone else, just attributed the problem to old age. Lesson learned: It is pretty easy to ignore those "early warning signs".
• In his speech, Dick Cheney gave a moving remembrance of how his job used to require a helicopter ride from Andrews Air Force Base to the Pentagon. He spoke of how he enjoyed viewing the Capitol, the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. Then he remarked "Just before you settle down on the landing pad, you look upon Arlington National Cemetery...its gentle slopes and crosses row on row . . . ." Oops. The cemetery has no crosses. All headstones are  42 inches long, 13 inches wide with a rounded top.
• When George W made the "Don't Mess With Texas" reference in his speech on Thursday night, why was I not surprised to see media savvy Texas Attorney General John Cornyn sitting with the Texas delegation and cheering like a frat boy at a Longhorn-A&M football game?
• No speech should ever exceed twenty minutes in length.