For those without the inclination, or the stomach, to watch the Republican Convention last night, I thought I would bring you a few highlights(?) of what transpired. First, a shot of the delegates on the convention floor:

 

Anything catch your eye? Notice the diversity of the crowd? There are a total of 36 black delegates to this year’s RNC, that is less than 2% of the total and down from 7% in 2004. By contrast, at the Democratic Convention nearly 25% of the delegates were black.

Then there was President Bush addressing the crowd via satellite. Just as an aside, this is the first time since 1968 that an incumbent President hasn’t attended his party’s National Convention. President Bush took the occasion to jump aboard the “former POW” bandwagon with these remarks:

 

I thought comparing those who oppose John McCain, the so-called “angry left”, to North Vietnamese prison guards was a low blow, but not unexpected given the tenor of the McCain campaign so far.

Bush’s glowing remarks about McCain also brought to mind this famous photo of himself and Senator McCain.

 

 

Then there was Fred Thompson taking the obligatory shot at Barack Obama as someone who doesn’t oppose infanticide.

 

Joe Lieberman didn’t exactly receive a warm welcome from the Republican delegates, to say the least. Then he made this ridiculous statement: “God only made one John McCain, and he is his own man.”

Well, maybe with the exception of choosing a running mate. Then he bows to what the Party leaders tell him to do.