Political Round Up

Blogging in the Philadelphia City Paper, Atrios provides the best explanation for why the media has such an intensive presence at these conventions every four years:

The short answer is that they do so because it's fun, and because this is where the important people are. There may not be a lot of "news" going on here, but there are a lot of goings on nonetheless. Who wants to be left out?

That makes sense to me, but it does nothing to explain why anybody who's not there watches.

I wonder how many people were really surprised that Teddy Kennedy was there in a speaking role. There had been rumors that he might make an appearance, and it was said that he might even speak if he felt up to it. Did anybody really think he wouldn't feel up to it? He's Teddy Kennedy--that's what he lives for (my fingers made a Freudian slip and typed loves rather than lives--that might be even more correct). There could be a question of whether or not he was strong enough to address the convention, but there was no question in my mind that he'd go out to make a try. From clips I've seen of his speech, he looked quite strong, probably deceptively so from everything he's been through. I was expecting him to look more frail, and I wasn't sure he'd necessarily do more than say a few words (which would have provided its own sense of drama), but I had no doubt that he was going to be there.

What did surprise me today was the news that Cindy McCain was on her way to Georgia, where she'd meet with President Mikheil Saakashvili. What?! Apparently, she's been "trying to get into Georgia since the conflict started." I didn't realize that "hot war zone" was synonymous with Cindy McCain. This development is do far out of left field that I don't really have anything much more to say about it other than to ask, didn't Bill Clinton try to pull something like this, sending Hillary to Tuzla where she had to flee sniper fire while he sat comfortably in the White House. I sure hope Sinbad is going along to run interference.