Rather than get all flustered by Zell Miller's speech, why don't the Democrats use to advantage their built-in counter, John Edwards?

He has the accent, he's younger, better looking, and a successful trial lawyer. Who better to cast oil upon the seething waters and bring voters to sweet reason?

Taking a phrase from the cited article by Harold Meyerson, he could say this:

We Democrats need not resort (strike that) descend to malice or mendacity (great southern phrase, that) in this great contest.

Indeed, we seek to mend what is torn, to heal what is wounded and soothe what is sore in our republic.

Our president on Thursday referred to Ecclesiastes 3:1. Yes, to everything there is a season. We have had a long season of great upheaval, death and trauma. Currently, we are in a season of trial and disappointment.

John Kerry can bring a new season to this country. He will ...

Sure, it needs work. It's a lot better than "He hit me!"

Mickey Kaus said at the outset of this campaign that the Democrats could win by thanking the current administration for their efforts during a traumatic time for the country and offering a perspective from outside the eye of the hurricane.

They're not doing a good job of it.

UPDATE: Is John Edwards, like, a token southerner in that campaign?

I don't know why we don't hear of more stories like this from the campaign trail, about candidates, handlers and the press:

Teresa Heinz Kerry, wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, was treated and released at Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa Saturday night after becoming ill during a campaign stop here earlier in the day.

Those are endless days of travel, noise, food on the run, standing, smiling, greeting, press and heckling.

I've traveled a bit. I'd be a stinking, bloated mass of digestive discomfort, swollen and sore feet, aching back, neck tension and headaches. I'd pick up every little bug from every snot-nosed child everywhere. My temper would be hair-trigger and my face would be sore. And I'm younger than a lot of people on the trail.

Shove it, indeed.

"Lyman, honey, will you bring me another milk punch, please?"

Lucy is still willing to stand as the Ole Miss mascot with proper compensation in snacks and due consideration for her bedtime.

This girl is not Lucy, but close enough for the purpose. Hey, Matilda.

Yes, yes, it's football season. Who cares?

This story from The Advocate is the most interesting thing I've seen for a while:

Among the soda bottles and lost basketballs floating down the Vermilion River, there are things much odder and mysterious.
The Vermilion River could be called a one-way hoodoo highway.

Over the years, more than four dozen ordinary, little brown plastic prescription bottles have been found in the murky water -- each filled with blue or pink powder and strange, rambling spells meticulously written on scraps of paper.

Bottle? Check. Powder? Purple or gold. Check. Offensive plan? Check.

UPDATE: Here at halftime on Saturday evening, I think Saban might like to change a spell or two.

Before things get totally out of hand, read this story from the Washington Post that better explains some of Kerry's statements and votes.

I don't care for Kerry, but it won't hurt me to be fair.

UPDATE: Gary Farber has more here.

I watched what MSNBC showed of Kerry's response to the convention from Springfield, Ohio. He looked pretty good.

I thought the Republican Convention could have used less of September 11. But it does no good for me when John Kerry says "Four years ago, Bush said x."

Four years ago, I thought I might have dinner at the World Trade Center one day.

Pataki was duller than I thought he might be, though I haven't seen him speak before.

George Bush looked good. Am I just imagining that part of that speech was written for Al Jazeera TV? Will they air it?

Hatebeak, death-metal parrot - "You can run, but you cannot fly":

When he isn't recording, Waldo enjoys whistling the Andy Griffith theme song and mimicking a ringing telephone.

(Link via J-Birds)

Michael Gerson better have something wonderful on tap.

I have not liked evangelical political speeches since Martin Luther King was killed. He did it well, and with authority.

Zell Miller's speech went over the top. The Republican Convention crossed the bounds. Foot-stomping partisanship is something I don't like.

Cheney was his quiet, grandfatherly self.

UPDATE: Miller's speech was good theater. But this story from the Washington Post lays out some facts that would refute some of his statements. (I repeated the pointer to this story up top.)

Arnold Schwarzenegger looked like the cat that ate the canary in that venue. A competent speech from a, hmmm, solid person. "Don't be economic girly-men."

Laura Bush has grown since the last campaign. Very pretty, erect and confident.

The Kerry girls appeared a real credit to their parents. These Bush girls are giggly, their clothes are inappropriate for the venue, their material is terrible, and the impression they are making is embarrassing.

UPDATE: I've read "But they're just 22." Right. College graduates.

Obama was an inspiring speaker, Clinton is an excellent speaker, John McCain is a man I'll closely listen to, but Rudy Giuliani is the man I want to dance with.

All right, all right. I have a weakness for Italians.

Lucy is one ticked-off little biddy.

She had her beak and toenails trimmed today. You'd have thought they were preparing her for dinner.

If she were quiet and cooperative, the whole process might take four minutes, if they were being extra careful. What with all the screeching and battle and rests, the whole lot of us are worn out when it's done.

I told the vet that if she were a good-looking 20-to-30-year-old man it would be a lot easier. That's Lucy's type.

Where did she learn that?

Lyman came in yesterday with a cucuzza squash. I would never have imagined that Louisiana has the largest farm of that kind in the world. Hype, maybe, though it could be true.

Bloomberg, Giuliani and McCain speak tonight at the convention. Wading through Google-ups I can't find the schedule for all the protest info. Does someone know the approximate time these gentlemen will be speaking?

It was much easier to track the DNC.

Fine. Many men would like nothing better. Now whatcha gonna do, honey?

(Girl's in the wrong city. She should move to Los Angeles. She'd be well on the road to her dream there.)

Kitchen Hand in Melbourne, Australia, has a post here that combines possums and parrots, so how can I not link?

He cooks and gardens, among things. I check there frequently for his recipes, though I don't have a clue as to where I'd find skate. These mussels frustrate me no end.

His site slipped onto my blogroll there on the left a short while ago.

A 4-foot pet monitor is loose in town:

Neighbors suspect the lizard is what ate two new roosters a resident on Camellia bought recently.

"He got two brand-new roosters," neighbor Michelle Bumgarner said. "They didn't even get to crow the next morning."

The old mattress on the guest bed was a cotton mattress, covered in blue ticking, with a roll and roping at the edges. The springs were covered in blue ticking with roping. When were sets like that last made?

The bed, end tables and chest of drawers date from the forties.