Two items this weekend reminded me of the Foreign Service Exam. To be considered for the U.S. diplomatic corps, applicants have to pass a test which includes a challenging section on English usage. An English professor of mine once said he'd known college deans who couldn't pass it. Too bad passing it isn’t a requirement for American heads of state.

Ruth: Will the lifeboats be seated according to class? I hope they aren't too crowded.

Rose: Oh mother, shut up! Don't you understand? The water is freezing and there aren't enough boats. Not enough by half. Half the people on this ship are going to die.

Cal Hockley: Not the better half.

After a string of elections characterized by “the politics of personal destruction,” what progressives have yet to come to terms with is that for conservative leaders elections are not about issues or ideas or what is best for the country. They are about establishing dominance, baser instincts. They are about which dog can pee highest on the tree.

Last night on The Daily Show, Barton Gellman, author of "Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency" spoke (16:25) about interviewing Rep. Dick Armey (R-TX) for the book. Armey had opposed the Iraq invasion.

Ruth: Will the lifeboats be seated according to class? I hope they aren't too crowded.

Rose: Oh mother, shut up! Don't you understand? The water is freezing and there aren't enough boats. Not enough by half. Half the people on this ship are going to die.

Cal Hockley: Not the better half.

After a string of elections characterized by “the politics of personal destruction,” what progressives have yet to come to terms with is that for conservative leaders elections are not about issues or ideas or what is best for the country. They are about establishing dominance, baser instincts. They are about which dog can pee highest on the tree.

Last night on The Daily Show, Barton Gellman, author of "Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency" spoke (16:25) about interviewing Rep. Dick Armey (R-TX) for the book. Armey had opposed the Iraq invasion.

Would America seriously consider giving them another four years?

Scratch out Barack Obama's name and insert Al Gore or John Kerry's, and this week’s GOP convention was the same gleeful character assassination fest we have come to know and loathe. Except during Gov. Sarah Palin’s speech when it took on the air of a political movie written and directed by Joel & Ethan Coen.

Come to think of it, a lot of the convention had that feel.

"It's over." - Peggy Noonan

Caught in a hot-mike moment, conservative pundits/advisors Peggy Noonan and Mike Murphy reveal their feelings about McCain's VP pick to Chuck Todd:

Let's see:

Karl Rove
Steve Schmidt
and now Tucker Eskew has joined McCain.

Barack Obama’s seven year-old daughter, Sasha, said “Hi, Daddy” to his big-screen image after mother Michelle Obama’s speech to the Democratic convention in Denver. It was a humanizing moment, those two words perhaps doing more than her mother’s speech to make Obama accessible to voters.