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Morning Edition interviews a foreign policy expert who explores the parallels between the roles of the United States and Jay-Z.  

Those readers who have hung out with me when there was a bottle to be opened have probably availed themselves of the use of my trusty ADP bottle opener. It almost became a bit of a signature of mine. Folks will look to me first when they come face-to-face with a non-twist top.

Sad to say, but my opener, which was growing dull and rusty and whose ADP logo had been scraped away long ago, has been lost. For a long time it had been threatening to fall off my keychain as the metal link that held it to the key ring would come apart at times. Finally the opener has fallen off without me noticing it, meaning it could be just about anywhere right now. I'll probably just go ahead and replace it, but the opener was sort of a relic of my days back as an undergrad (uh, sort of), so of course I've been waxing a bit nostalgic since it went missing.

So, my lower back is killing me right now. I also have a surplus of bourbon around the house. Problem, meet Solution.

Heard a news story on this morning's radio about the army's new field manual on "stability operations" which has been called a guidebook for the army on nation-building (winning hearts and minds and that sort of thing that's worked so well for us over the past seven years).

I commented to cerridwynn that it sounded like taking a hammer and packaging it with a manual on "How to Dry Your Hair with a Hammer".

Went out canvassing for Obama in East Concord, NH, on Saturday.  Most people whose doors I knocked on weren't home, but those who were were generally quite polite.  Found some really enthusiastic support from some people who the campaign was targeting as priority independents.  Still, marching around NH in the heat for miles provided me with a couple annoying blisters and exacerbated the sprained ankle I suffered a few days earlier.  And when so many people aren't around and some people demonstrate a fierce commitment to the other side, it can get a little discouraging.  In the end though, I think the canvassing experience is a lot like taking medicine:  You don't necessarily feel good, but you feel better.

So, I originally intended to liveblog the RNC, but that plan has sort of fallen through. I do have some thoughts on what I did get a chance to hear tonight, though.

Sideshow Rudy Giuliani got a few laughs.  All I could think, though, was, "What happened?"  Rudy had the kind of star power and the distance from Washington to make him a very viable candidate for the presidency.  All he really needed to do was get a good policy team together, craft some sort of economic policy to appease the economic conservatives, and then pound the pavement in Iowa.  He could have easily made himself into a tougher, less slimy Mitt Romney, and plugged along until his big state strategy paid off.  Instead, he retreated to Florida, and everyone forgot he was actually trying.  Pathetic.  Pathetic.  And now he's going on stage to be McCain's sad jester?  Your political career is over, Rudolph--bow out with some dignity.  

As for Sarah Palin, I must say I'm not that interested in your family.  I'm not worried about your daughter and her family who will grow up in a life of privilege.  I won't hold it against you that you love a sport for toothless Canadians (Dear Canada, please forgive me.  I don't really mean it.).  Just get to the issues, eh?

Instead, we get another bad Weekend Update-esque snooze fest.  Cheap laughs, no real plan presented to do things like creating jobs or curbing inflation or fixing the housing crisis.  Apparently if we just cut taxes enough, we'll finally have enough rich people to take care of us poor souls who weren't born into wealth and power or pulled ourselves up by our greedy, corrupt bootstraps.

Palin's speech should give Americans pause, not because she's inexperienced or because she's just on the ticket to pander to the security moms, but because she sent a clear message that she's not going to govern with a spirit of compromise or <gasp!> collaboration, but rather through obstruction and feeding the flames of partisan rancor.  Additionally, her reliance on one-liners over policy positions revealed a level of immaturity rarely seen on the national stage.  Take that stuff back to the bush leagues, Nuke.  All in all, maybe the base enjoyed this one, but if that's all they get out of it, then they're in a tough spot.  If your presidential candidate can't get the base juiced, then you're already screwed (see John Kerry, Al Gore, George H. W. Bush's re-election bid).

The Republicans may be vulnerable here.  But we've got to finish them off.

If you taught a Basset Hound how to stand on its hind legs and how to speak English, you'd have yourself Fred Thompson.

For those who haven't heard, the junior senator from Illinois has won the Democratic party's nomination for the presidency.

Obama's acceptance speech did what it had to do. He came through on everything you'd expect--a compelling vision. charisma, looked great, looked presidential, etc.

Far more important than the message of hope for everyone in America forced to choose between work or starvation (as opposed to work or selling house #7 and taking it easy), was the end of the Obama rope-a-dope. Finally he tore into John McCain, and while he didn't score a knockout, I think he drew some blood. At times this campaign has been painfully listless, like Democrats don't know how to balance their desired white knight image with some demonstration of toughness. How can you connect with a righteously angry public when you can't seem to get fired up even as your opponents do everything short of telling you just how fat your momma is (She's so fat, when we make Kool-Aid, she busts through the wall!)

So finally, maybe Obama is going to get off the ropes and start throwing some punches. McCain looks old and tired, but until he's out cold I won't take the bastard lightly--not with Karl Rove in the red corner.

The reinvigoration of the Obama campaign made the McCain VP pick even more critical.  After all, the over-under on McCain's remaining years is 5.5, so you'd think he'd want a known quantity to put folks at ease, right? Right? Wait, who? Alaska, you say...uhh...

The two possible motivations that I've thought about are:

1) McCain is deeply worried that his tenuous grasp on the conservative base is evaporating, so he needed a young energetic sparkplug to stir the pot, appeal to the security moms and the Christians and the oil barons and fans of Deadliest Catch (which all of us should be watching, if we should be watching television at all). If this is correct, however, it means that the campaign is playing defense in a campaign where they need to play offense. After all, the Republicans can afford to plunge a lot of cash into the Presidential race because they're screwed in so many Congressional races.

2) McCain believes that with a female running mate, he can peel off some middle-of-the-road Hillary-backing women.  Odd then that you'd choose a staunch pro-lifer though, which will likely blunt the appeal of Palin to Hillary fans. She may get some traction from playing up her status as a hard-working mom with one child in Iraq and another with Down's Syndrome, but I just don't think her appeal is going to play as well as say, Mitt Romney's ready-made list of donors and his potential to really put Michigan in play.

So, while I'm not as confident as I would be if Joe "The Original Biggest Loser" Lieberman had gotten the nod, color me a bit puzzled. I'm sure there's a plan for how to best exploit Sarah Palin's political abilities and her outsider (perhaps even...maverick) status, but I think I'd have made a different play here.



Also, while I may be courting charges of sexism, I have to agree with Craig Ferguson on this.