h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

He has to officially accept the nomination. There was some talk earlier that he would delay his formal acceptance until after the Republican convention so he wouldn't have the campaign spending limitations put into effect until Bush does. But that received such bad press that the idea died on the vine. So now, after tonight, the Dems are restricted to spending the federal funds and the GOP can spend as much as they want until Bush accepts their nomination - at which time they get as much as Kerry gets tonight. These laws are definitely screwy.

So, ads will have to be 'party' ads rather than Kerry ads. If I understand the muddle correctly.

Sharpton gave a good speech. CNN had Ralph what's-his-name, the Christian Coalition guy - Reid? - on to trash Edwards and Sharpton after Edwards' speech. He was spinning like mad. Lots of distortions. The point the GOP is making is that it's mean-spirited for the Dems to criticize the president. It was ok for them to slander Clinton - even accused him of murder - but it's dirty politics for Sharpton to give a partisan speech at a political convention. What am I missing here? That's why we have political conventions. They're supposed to be partisan.

I'm going to find a different network to watch tonight. The CNN love fest between Bob Dole and George Mitchell is enough to gag a maggot. There are a lot of really important things to be discussing and we get these two patting each other on the back all evening. I hate Fox. There is no way to get objective reporting from them. I don't want a Democratic spin or a Republican spin. I just want them to report the convention. I'm smart enough to recognize a political speech when I hear one. I don't need some pompous talking head to explain to me what I just heard.

Let the Democrats have their convention. Report it positively. Then let the Republicans have theirs and report it positively. I'm fed up with the attack dogs.

h

I turned off CNN right after Edwards' speech. I didn't see him.

I don't think the Dole, Mitchell interplay was too bad. Dole was pretty funny at some points during this convention, and there's nothing else to talk about for an hour.

What other network is there? MSNBC? Fox News ain't an option.

But you're right about the attack dogs, how it's not okay to criticize the President in a political convention, but the Republicans will definitely be doing it to Kerry.

I don't know. I'll probably watch CNN again. Like you said...who else is there. ABC should carry it. Maybe I'll watch Peter Jennings. I usually like CNN. I guess my problem is with Dole. I have friends in his old home town of Russell, KS. He did his first wife so dirty that I haven't liked him since I heard the story. Another thing is that Kansas is heavily Republican, so Dole was always a shoo-in. Right? He couldn't win the city he lived in, though, where people knew him. So I'm told. I wasn't there and don't remember the vote totals.

What's with King asking everyone which cabinet post they'll accept? It is getting tedious.

The Republicans are terribly negative. And distort things so much that you have to admire their hutspah (sp?)

H

Really? I've never heard this. Clinton seemed to like him... for a Republican.


They really have to entertain themselves in between speakers.

Right. Like Clinton is someone to listen to on the treatment of women.

I think a llot of Democrats who servedint eh Senate with Dole like him personally. But Senators aren't the most moral bunch. Treating your wife badly wouldn't be somehting they would hold against a person.

They just said that Kerry's speech is 55 minutes long. I'm really sorry to hear that.

H

Sorry about the typos. I'm really tired these days and it shows. My typing is even worse than usual.

H

Better than I expected. So did you listen to all of it? It would be a shame if you missed it since Dayton made the speech.

H

I know Clinton's not an authority on that. Hence the

I heard Dayton. And Canton. I believe that's two more references than Missouri received. But then I almost dozed off at the end.

Were you watching CNN? They aired the convention organizer yelling about the balloons. I thought it was good fun.

Actually, I think there were 3 Ohio mentions. Not a single Missouri mention. Guess he neds Ohio's electoral votes more than he needs ours. Which is logical. There are a lot more of them.

Someone said that the Dems are writing off Missouri already. If that is the case, they need to get out of the area I reside in and check in the cities. I think they still have a chance towin the state.

Our sitting Dem governor - whom I have known since our college days - is in deep doodoo in the primary.

H

I only heard 2 Ohio mentions, Canton and Dayton. Was there another?

Last year the Democrats wrote off Ohio just before the election because they thought Bush had it, and it ended up quite close. So, you never know.

I thought there was a plain Ohio one - not mentioning a city. Maybe I'm dreaming.

I just have this sinking feeling that the prez will find some sort of rabbit to pull out of his hat. Like finding Bin Laden or something. Heck, we might already have him for all we know. They could be waiting to pull off an October surprise.

H

That'd be a good move. Doubt it, but it would certainly bring his approval ratings up.

I'm almost done with the most difficult part of the Lincoln entries Part One - Life of Lincoln. Two - Assassination. Three - Legacy of Lincoln

I'm sure the entire series will be excellent as always. It will be nice to read about someone with integrity - something the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, certainly doesn't have.

H

It's a difficult task. I'm reading about four different biographies of Lincoln, his autobiography and something on John Wilkes Booth. But thanks for the vote of confidence. If it's not excellent, at least it'll be done.

Lincoln's got integrity. He's a man of American superlatives. He had legendary honesty, incredible intelligence, mythical rhetoric and fantastic humor. You could compare him to a nun, a Nobel Prize winner, Cicero and a comedian and none of them would have as much integrity as Lincoln.

Pity he wasn't from Ohio.

I'm glad you have a project you're truly interested in. Makes the writing much easier.

I'm going to pop some corn I think. I haven't done that for a while. We have the microwave junk at work, but it isn't nearly as good as that made in the old whirly popper.

I still don't know why we have a smiley but not an ice cream cone smiley.

H

He crossed the Ohio several times. And I think I've found about four ways to mention in the first entry, with him crossing the Ohio, with the Ohio delegation being the deciding votes in his nomination and two prominent figures in his history coming from that good old state.

But I'm going to remind you of Lincoln next time you talk about Kentucky. And Ohio nominating him.

I don't know why we have a and no ice cream cone smiley. Probably because the eds are all film buffs. And popcorn isn't the best movie food, I'd say. Chips are (Salt and Vinegar, I'd say) because in the dark you might bite down on an unpopped popcorn kernel, which is bad, but nothing like that happens with chips. Nothing unsurprising.

And luckily, we have .

Probably posted that too soon.

One of the reasons I love writing about people - like Presidents - is that their lives are so well recorded. And Lincoln, fortunately, provided hundreds of terrific quotes. Just as good as Mark Twain. Better than Dickens.

(but I never did like Dickens)

You're just Amerocentric. Is that a word? Hey! I may have invented a word. And a darn good one at that.

I love Dickens. And Twain. And Lincoln. Emerson has a lot of good quotes.

For the most part, on this site, (I can say this since we don't have anyone else who reads this thread - except Trout on occassion - waves to MT), I can tell if a researcher is American or not without them saying where they're from. The UKers really look down on us USAers. And it gets old. I don't spend my time online bashing the UK or the UK members. OK, I've done some France bashing, but they deserve it.

And a lot of the American researchers seem to hate the US as much as the Europeans do. It's disturbing at times.

H

I don't like Dickens at all. Overrated.

Yup. The words realize, color and tire are very useful for telling if people are Americans.

I make fun of the UK'ers just as much as they make fun of US'ers. And Canadians, but that's because that's so easy. It's only fair.

Life of Lincoln - Part One A2861345 Done