Pit Bull With Lipstick

This is what passes for political discourse in our country. Joe Biden brags about bloodying noses of childhood bullies, and Sarah Palin likens herself to an attack dog. U-S-A! U-S-A! We love a good cage match, don't we?

Once again, this is why I hate political conventions. To my mind, pep rallies tend to bring out the worst of human nature. The grandstanding, the oversimplification of complex issues, the outright distortion and lies: and it works!

So, how'd she do? Did she "hit it out of the park?" If you like pep rallies, then your answer is a resounding, "Yes, she did!" (A phrase best shouted in unison by people wearing cowboy hats.) Lots of "red meat" for the base. Like imposing a windfall profits tax on oil companies. And invoking Harry Truman. Hey, whose convention is this, anyway? I guess my question is, who is this Republican party? What does it stand for besides "keeping America on offense" and stripping our enemies of legal rights?

What did we learn about Palin's priorities for our country? That she -- unlike so many of her Republican colleagues who attempted to thwart the Americans with Disabilities Act at every possible turn -- will be an advocate for children with disabilities. Good. But then why did she slash the budget for special needs kids in Alaska? Maybe, like so many Republicans, the issue popped onto her radar only after it became personal. What other BREAKING NEWS did Palin make? She thinks we should vote for John McCain because he was a POW. Dubious. Then, there were the surreal, near Orwellian assertions: Palin hates earmarks, even though she procured 27 million dollars worth of them for the tiny town of Wasilla. Palin hates taxes, even though she raised them on gas and groceries. She carefully navigated an attack on Obama as raising taxes on the country, knowing full well he's calling for a tax cut for all but the wealthy.

But why quibble with what Palin actually said, or what kind of vision she has for the country? She was snarling and mean and feisty, and (as with Biden's dismal performance) that's all that seems to really matter in a presidential surrogate. One thing is clear. After the litany of taunts, the outright mockery of her opponents, we can put to rest the notion that a substantive counter-attack is the least bit sexist.