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There is a difference between being ignorant and being stupid. Ignorance is a state of not having the knowledge. Stupidity is when you just don't know have the capability to figure it out. If the Republicans nixed the nomination of Lieberman for VP because he was a Democrat then that is just plain stupid. They would rather stand on their principles and let the election slip through their fingers than win. Don't they know what the stakes are? It seems the Republicans would rather shoot themselves in the head than survive. They truly must believe in Creationism for if Darwinism is the truth they are going to be extinct.

That said one has to pick up the sticks as best as one can and move on. Fred Thompson made one mistake in his presentation. McCain was tempered by his being a POW and found that life is far too short to do anything that is not what one thinks is the best course of action. That is what makes McCain a Teddy Roosevelt like figure. Teddy Roosevelt was the President that went against his own Party and busted the Monopolistic trusts and ushered in the modern era of America.

Palin is a good choich in that she brings youth to the Party. She brings a certitude for doing what she believes is right. She brings having your feet planted squarely on the ground when dealing with issues. What she really brings is a sense of the future for the Republicans that can steal some of the Obama thunder. In that sense she was a good choich.

The Lieberman speech should be embraced by the Republican wholeheartedly as the only path to victory in the fall. The Republicans just don't seem to get that they must go after the Independent voters, the disaffected Regan Democrats, the Jewish vote, Women Voters. They must reach out and be able to compromise their principles to win this election. They must create a coalition of people that just can't stomach an extremist Liberal who believes that the highest attainment of good is that we should all be our brothers keeper. That individual effort should be subordinated for the good of the collective. That is what is at stake here. The very soul of what made America an extraordinary nation.

In the final analysis McCain does represent the best choice between the 2 candidates in that he is his own man and will make the choich which he thinks is best and not what is best for partisan politics. He has the experience and a recognizable track record of doing just that. So while McCain has the same philosophical beliefs as GW Bush, he is no GW Bush in practice. The past 8 years was not a failure of the philosophical beliefs it was a failure of the practitioner. That is the very thing that so many of the Democrats just can't conceive of.