Smoke? Where?

So as J noted, Sen. Zell Miller was burning up last night while delivering a magnificent piece of political oratory. For a contrarian analysis, you can always check out Matt Welch's take on the speech. While I agree in principle with some of his points, it seems that Mr. Welch is a little cranky after being up too late. I don't view convention speeches as serious policy proposals because they are political theater in the purest form. He did a great job of firing up the base, which is really what the conventions are for anymore.

While I'm at it, I'll throw in a freebie from yesterday: Hugh Hewitt vs. Terry McAuliffe. Scroll down a bit for the transcript, and watch the Chairman of the DNC get schooled. Terry McAuliffe came off as completely unprepared and wildly defensive. When are the donks going to get a clue and fire this idiot? It doesn't matter how much money you can raise if you can't win an election.

James Lileks brought up an excellent point about Mr. McAuliffe's backing and filling: "To be without a talking point 3 weeks after a story breaks is really quite remarkable." The fact that Sen. Kerry's campaign still hasn't figured out how to react is a sign that Sen. Kerry's staff is barely competent.

Moving right along in that vein, why does anybody give a rat's ass what Susan Estrich thinks about campaigns? I have no knowledge about her competence in other areas, but her campaign history is uniformly disastrous. She worked on Mondale's campaign and ran Dukakis'. The inquiring mind might ask how that gains you any credibility since both of those candidates got their ass handed to them on a plate, neatly arranged with garnish. Asking the biggest loser for advice on how to win strikes me as a fundamentally unsound procedure. Besides, she has a voice made for newspapers. Listening to that whiny rasp makes me want to go stick ice picks in my ear drums.