*Josh Marshall and Micheal Moore hit the nail on the head with regard to how the Democrats really feel about why this convention has been so vague and unspecific in its attacks on President Bush, to the point where I hardly think the name "Dick Cheney" or familiar hobby-horses like "Halliburton" or "Enron" or "Weapons of Mass Destruction" have been mentioned: they think it's so self-evident that Bush is a disaster that they don't even believe it's necessary to explain why. I'm not sure that's a winning approach, but I do think Marshall and Moore have put their fingers on what their side is thinking.

*The indispensable Dave Barry - for my money, the funniest writer in the history of the English language - on the convention's first night:

The highlight of Day One of the Democratic convention was the appearance of former President Bill Clinton, who gave a passionate speech on the theme ''My Book Is for Sale,'' after which the delegates unanimously nominated him for another term.

No, they didn't, but they would if they could. The Democrats haven't totally gotten over pining for Bill. Remember when you were in high school, and you really wanted to go to the prom with a gorgeous girl, but you couldn't ask her because she was really popular and already had served two terms as president of the United States, so you wound up asking John Kerry? That's the situation the Democrats are in now.

Barry also captures the Democrats' desperation to look tough:

The convention continues tonight, with the theme being: ''Making America Stronger through the Strength of Strongness.'' The idea here is to convince doubtful voters that the Democrats can be trusted to be tough on terrorism and won't create some kind of feel-good liberal bleeding-heart program like enrolling terrorists in bowling leagues.

Emphasis on this theme will continue through Thursday night, when, to climax the convention, an actual live terrorist will be released onstage, and John Kerry will beat him senseless with a hockey stick, after which John Edwards will sue him.

Read the whole thing.

*Terrific speech from last week by Senator Mitch McConnell on the media's failure to give adequate attention to the complete collapse of the story they trumpeted this time last year about the Iraq, Niger and the 2003 State of the Union Address.
(Link via the MinuteMan).

*Gratuitous Boston Herald paraphrasing potshot, in an article noting nasty comments Teresa Heinz Kerry once made about Ted Kennedy: "Kennedy's office dismissed the comments as water under the bridge" (Link via Wonkette)

*Tim Blair has a laugh at the expense of one of his chief nemeses, left-leaning Australian journalist Margo Kingston, who doesn't understand what's so "anti-semetic" about saying that "the fundamentalist Zionist lobby controls politics and the media in the US and Australia."