Diablog: Real-time repartee

During each convention night's keynote address, watch political analysts and keyboard comedians Peter Robinson and James Norton exchange wit and wisdom in a real-time format.

Join us each convention night at 10pm (ET).

 • Tuesday night (Aug. 31): Arnold Schwarzenegger/Laura Bush
 • Wednesday night (Sept. 1): Zell Miller/Dick Cheney
 • Thursday night (Sept. 2): President Bush

Transcript of Monday night's Diablog, featuring commentary on John McCain and Rudy Giuliani:

Josh Burek (Mon. 8/30, 9:58:54 pm ET)

Good evening, and welcome to Diablog: real-time repartee. We're delighted to welcome back, from the right, Peter Robinson, and from the left, James Norton. Gentlemen, the virtual podium is yours.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 9:59:55 pm ET)

Thanks, Josh. What a relief to have an extended speech. That business of bouncing from RNC "reporter" to "reporter" was getting on my nerves: the same kind of cloying chirpiness as in one of those old "Up With People Shows."

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:00:09 pm ET)

I like to think of it as James Norton from the center, Peter Robinson from the fringe right.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:00:23 pm ET)

But it's great to be back, regardless. Nice to "see" you again, Peter.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:01:01 pm ET)

A pleasure, James. And may you – and more particularly, your candidate – continue to think of yourselves as occupying the center. All the more of a victory for my side on Nov. 2.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:01:34 pm ET)

You may say that, but the speakers' list at the RNC seems to indicate another tactic. McCain? Giuliani? Schwarzenegger?

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:02:09 pm ET)

That's my point, James. We occupy the center, not y'all.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:02:21 pm ET)

This is going to be a tough night. I voted for McCain in 2000...and Giuliani did some great stuff for my newfound home city.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:02:30 pm ET)

Compliments on spelling Arnold's surname correctly at such speed, by the way.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:03:04 pm ET)

Ah, but you don't. McCain, Schwarzenegger, and Giuliani don't call the policy shots, and no one in America thinks otherwise.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:03:32 pm ET)

Looks good. Solid, sober opening. And nothing wrong with quoting FDR, which I guess is what he's building toward.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:03:34 pm ET)

Look at O'Neill, Whitman, Powell – gone, gone, totally tainted and marginalized.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:03:59 pm ET)

Powell, marginalized? Scarcely.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:04:20 pm ET)

McCain's great. An intoxicating mix of gravitas and wry distance from the fray.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:05:09 pm ET)

Yes, he really can be great. Odd divide, though, at least to me: On foreign policy, he's faultless and convincing. On domestic policy, he's unpredictable – and wrong at least half the time.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:05:14 pm ET)

When they write the history of the Bush Administration's foreign policy, you can bet they won't be writing about Powell's insistent push to a disastrous war in Iraq, or Powell's breaking of nuclear and bio-weapon treaties.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:05:54 pm ET)

"The very essence of our culture: liberty." This is really good prose.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:06:10 pm ET)

I agree – his foreign policy insights are superb. Take, for example, what he said about the way Bush fought the Iraq conflict: "The signs were there that we needed to have more boots on the ground."

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:06:40 pm ET)

"Success/setbacks...vanquish this unpardonable enemy." Just beautiful. Parallelism leading to a memorable, sophisticated conclusion.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:06:54 pm ET)

It's a simple, strong, clear, sober. A nice contrast to the smoggy eternal war and good vs. evil rhetoric this administration usually produces.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:07:52 pm ET)

Gee, that was another beautiful riff: Not theocracies, not armies, not this, not that, but the people. Just gorgeous.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:07:58 pm ET)

What's so tragic, is that he's right. We were totally united as a country after 9/11. And what's happened to that unity?

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:08:25 pm ET)

It's strong and clear, but is it really simple? I have a feeling that when we read this in [The Christian Science Monitor] tomorrow, we'll find that the sentence structure and rhythms are pretty complex.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:09:01 pm ET)

He's moving to the attack. I'm leaning in to my screen....

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:09:09 pm ET)

There's a clear message, here: We faced a decision point, and made the right choice when it came time to fight.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:09:37 pm ET)

This overlooks some important things, such as the importance of attacking the right countries. I think that's a bit simplistic.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:09:57 pm ET)

Ah, he's talking about the coalition of the billing.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:10:59 pm ET)

I'm struck here by the cumulative sophistication of this speech. He's had his disagreements with Bush, as everyone knows. He likes lots of Democrats. But on the one essential matter between now and Nov. 2, on the central question: it's Bush. He's building space for disagreement under an overarching unity. Impressive, impressive stuff.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:11:06 pm ET)

Which war is he talking about? The war on terror? Or Iraq II?

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:11:44 pm ET)

Clinton fought the war on terror harder than Bush did before 9/11, and Iraq II was one of the most avoidable conflicts we've faced since the occupation of the Philippines.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:12:13 pm ET)

"I commend to my country." An archaic formulation, but McCain is speaking with such grace and understated authority that he pulls it off. I've never seen him quite this good.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:12:33 pm ET)

A favorable mention of Cheney? I will now pause, James, for you to erupt.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:12:41 pm ET)

Ooh, calling Dick Cheney "public spirited" is like calling Al Capone a "business leader."

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:12:54 pm ET)

Right on cue.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:13:17 pm ET)

Confession: I just laughed out loud at your "Al Capone" line.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:13:49 pm ET)

I think this is a very pleasant speech, but I don't think it's much of a [criticism] of Kerry, or a soaring blast of praise for Bush.... Is he soft-balling this?

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:14:15 pm ET)

"And so they did. So they did." Superb use of repetition. McCain is pulling out all the rhetorical stops here. What a speech!

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:14:58 pm ET)

Perfectly right: What I thought was building to an attack on Kerry wasn't much of one at all. McCain just isn't going to behave as a pit bull.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:15:35 pm ET)

But as to his soft-balling his support of Bush, that, my friend James, does not compute. Quite how could he praise Bush, on the central matter, the matter of the war on terror, more highly?

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:15:38 pm ET)

McCain's been on the business end of the pit-bull a couple times too many to become one himself, I think.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:16:08 pm ET)

Which is honorable...a rare and expensive quality in a politician on the national stage.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:16:29 pm ET)

Maybe so. But there are some politicians – Dole on our side, and Edwards on yours – who seem to love the attack.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:16:34 pm ET)

Oh, the Republicans apparently don't like Michael Moore.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:16:56 pm ET)

Moore being booed. Right impulse, but I'm not sure it was wise to give Moore the time on camera.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:17:11 pm ET)

I agree, I think that was sort of a concession to Moore's influence.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:17:35 pm ET)

Am I remembering Boston correctly? Doesn't this crowd seem more spontaneous and unscripted? Perhaps unscriptable?

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:17:49 pm ET)

And it makes the movie seem that much more "dangerous," and therefore more intriguing as a DVD rental. But kudos to McCain for the humorous reprise.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:17:58 pm ET)

WONDERFUL! McCain is having FUN, and so is the crowd.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:18:42 pm ET)

A little glitch there. He failed to make an adequate transition from having fun with Moore to talking about the horrors of Iraq. But now he's back on track.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:18:50 pm ET)

I think it's a little early to say how rambunctious they are...but wasn't a restive, angry crowd going to be pounced on by Fox commentators as a sign of insecure Democrats who were scared of losing the election, and motivated only by bitterness?

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:18:59 pm ET)

A rowdy crowd can say a lot of things.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:19:40 pm ET)

Well, shall you and I agree right now, though, that we prefer a rowdy to a scripted crowd? (And that there seems to be hope for this group?)

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:19:58 pm ET)

I'm not sure if bringing up the beautiful dream of a peaceful Middle East is going to resonate very well in the heartland. That dream is looking increasingly tarnished as the body count climbs with little visible progress toward real stability.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:20:09 pm ET)

"The mission was necessary, achievable, and noble." Really. McCain couldn't do more for Bush than he did right there.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:21:06 pm ET)

Heh, I can't make a blanket statement about rowdy crowds. European history says we shouldn't necessarily be totally happy with large, energized groups of people at political gatherings.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:21:31 pm ET)

There's something strangely (and, to me, inexplicably) beguiling here. McCain keeps resisting the opportunity to pound home his best lines, insisting on a soft, conversational tone, instead. If we were going by the usual grade book, I'd mark him down. But it's somehow irresistible – somehow authoritative.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:21:49 pm ET)

Oh, Lord, James. The Garden ain't anywhere close to Europe!

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:22:16 pm ET)

I think you're right about McCain's style – he's not about bombast. He's self-deprecating – his personal history in public service and wartime fills in the gap between message and delivery.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:22:29 pm ET)

"They [those in uniform] are the very best of us." Sweet, true.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:22:48 pm ET)

Yes, exactly: It's a combination of quiet authority and self-deprecation.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:23:37 pm ET)

Another gorgeous riff, leading to "love is greater than hate." Amazing. This is really old-fashioned eloquence, the kind of thing I'd almost given up hoping to hear.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:23:50 pm ET)

Well, it's very sentimental. There are a lot of ways to serve one's country, and not all of them involve fighting wars. Our nation's veterans are an incredible treasure, but they've been amazingly fetishized by both sides in this election.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:24:06 pm ET)

Its why so much slime has been directed at Kerry's record.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:24:09 pm ET)

Wow! Love our freedom "for the goodness it makes possible." A perfect, and a perfectly beautiful, formulation.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:25:06 pm ET)

I don't know – a lot of this is ringing hollow for me. It's Hallmark brand wisdom ignoring the unpleasant truths of the Iraq disaster and the effects of Bush's tax giveaways to the richest of the rich.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:25:22 pm ET)

Hang on there, James. Surely there is a distinction between giving honor and "fetishizing." ("John Kerry, reporting for duty" tended toward the later, I'm afraid.)

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:26:05 pm ET)

It's a salute to the aspect I liked least about Ronald Reagan's tenure – a smiling, sentimental face concealing policies that hurt average people more than they helped.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:26:49 pm ET)

Hmm. You make an interesting point. If one truly believes, as you do, and I most certainly do not, that Iraq is a disaster, then McCain would seem to be intentionally misleading, a source of pretty harsh cognitive dissonance. Which of course leads to the eternal question about speeches of this kind: To what extent can they only encourage the believers, and to what extent can they actually change minds?

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:26:50 pm ET)

That's pretty good stuff.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:27:13 pm ET)

Wow. McCain was really going there – that was quite a close.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:27:52 pm ET)

James, can't let you have that one: ALL the evidence is that Reagan's long economic boom helped VAST numbers of Americans, the poorest most of all. A diablog is the wrong place to go into it all, but the statistics exist, and are easy enough to find, and your assertion is simply, and verifiably, wrong.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:30:25 pm ET)

Speeches can powerfully reframe issues, so that subsequent news stories can be read as support for the new picture of reality the speaker had constructed... I think there's a potential to change minds, given enough time, and a few good news bounces.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:31:38 pm ET)

I agree – not the right time/place. Sometime, however, the Monitor may consent to letting us debate Reagan's legacy; I'll be there!

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:31:50 pm ET)

For what it's worth, I thought McCain's last 30 seconds or so fell a little flat: Didn't seem to build, and his pacing was off, as he suddenly started to rush. But overall, a very beautiful speech.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:32:21 pm ET)

Wheresoever in cyberspace the Monitor convenes that debate, I shall meet you, nothing daunted.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:32:39 pm ET)

It was a beautiful speech, but I don't think it'll have much impact. I didn't hear a maverick challenging my perceptions of Bush or Kerry – I heard a party loyalist elegantly going through the motions.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:32:59 pm ET)

You know, I'm not sure about the seemliness of this – watching the previous speaker, the widow, was almost unbearable.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:33:37 pm ET)

Going through the motions? But McCain made a detailed case for the war.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:34:15 pm ET)

Well, as detailed as it could have been without talking about WMD, postwar Al Qaeda recruiting, the 23 different justifications for war, or the way the execution was bungled...

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:34:48 pm ET)

I mean, there's an elephant in the room tonight, and it's not the party mascot. It's the mishandling of Iraq.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:35:06 pm ET)

May I just ask: Was your candidate, Senator Kerry, right in voting for the war resolution?

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:35:53 pm ET)

Personally, I disagree with Kerry's decision. But he was operating with a lot less intelligence than the executive branch; there was some crazy stuff being stove-piped right to the top.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:36:47 pm ET)

You simply take "the mishandling of Iraq" as a kind of postulate or stipulate – something that needs no explanation. No time for details here, once again, but I do firmly promise you that there are lots of people, of whom yours truly is one, who believe that the successes far outnumber the mistakes in Iraq, and that the mistakes were nothing worse than those made by Ike in North Africa, or Grant early in the Civil War, or those mistakes that get made, even by great military leaders, in war, often.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:37:40 pm ET)

How about the decision to bring in far fewer men on the ground than veterans like Shinseki were recommending? That was clear cut. That wasn't a minor blooper. That was a major disaster.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:38:11 pm ET)

Anyone reading the reports the State Department or CIA were putting together could have seen the postwar disaster that was looming; unfortunately, they were out of the loop of intelligence that was listened to.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:38:49 pm ET)

Tommy Franks said in uniform, and says now, out of uniform, that he had plenty of forces on the ground. What you have there is a professional difference of opinion. (But it's undeniable that we'd have had another 50,000 or so on the ground if the Turks hadn't denied us crossing rights.)

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:38:49 pm ET)

If Iraq stabilizes and becomes a democratic bastion of peace in the region, I think your assessment will have more weight. Call me a pessimist, but I don't see that happening at the moment.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:39:14 pm ET)

Any thoughts on why the Turks might have been hostile to us?

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:39:51 pm ET)

I'll answer my own question: This administration has repeatedly failed to use diplomacy constructively, resulting in misery and death on the ground.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:39:59 pm ET)

Iraq is months – not years, but months – from doing something that has never before been done in an Arab nation (with the exception, briefly, of Lebanon): holding elections. That's huge.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:40:49 pm ET)

I disagree. Egypt holds elections regularly. So does Morocco. So does Iran. So does any number of Mideast states. They are deeply flawed, and not really representative of the people's wishes; at this point, it's optimistic to hope that Iraq's will be any cleaner or better.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:41:03 pm ET)

Though I certainly hope it is.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:41:22 pm ET)

You give me an opening (as long as someone is singing instead of speaking): Your side's constant insistence that if only Kerry were elected, the French would come around, betrays an almost unbelievable ignorance of diplomatic history. The French have defined themselves against the United States since at least De Gaulle. But here's Rudy....

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:41:34 pm ET)

Ah, Rudy. The one leader on the national scene in the immediate wake of 9/11. I have to admit: I have a soft spot for this guy.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:42:21 pm ET)

Sorry: I should have tossed in some qualifiers. The Egyptian elections are shams, and the Moroccan elections are recent (and I just plain forget them: thanks for that correction).

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:42:58 pm ET)

I wonder if he'll get into how New York's antiterror funding ranks at 35th nationally, while Wyoming is 1st...

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:43:29 pm ET)

Not as smooth a delivery as that of McCain. But completely engaging, no?

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:43:31 pm ET)

Oh, please! Qaddafi has been on that track for years before the Iraq war.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:44:12 pm ET)

It's engaging, I'll grant that. Abrasive. But engaging.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:44:27 pm ET)

James, you really do have the most eccentric views sometimes. Qaddafi, a long-time (if embryonic) pacifist.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:45:00 pm ET)

Yes. It's nothing a speaking coach would recommend, but in Rudy, it works: The abrasiveness actually contributes to the charm.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:45:18 pm ET)

Heh, I could go into some detail on Qaddafi's realignment with the West after the failure of his pan-Arabist and pan-Africanist utopian overtures...but I think I'd get booted by our moderator.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:45:24 pm ET)

"I've never seen so many Republicans in New York City." Hilarious.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:46:00 pm ET)

It is a statement, alright. It's a statement that the GOP has no qualms about using one of the nation's most tragic moments to further its own political purposes.

Josh Burek (Mon. 8/30, 10:46:23 pm ET)

You assume correctly James.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:46:27 pm ET)

I don't mean to seem bitter, but it gets my blood up.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:46:55 pm ET)

The other thing that's irresistible about Rudy? He's so visibly enjoying himself. (Again, am I remembering Boston correctly? The first few nights, all the speakers seemed tense, forced, almost anal.)

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:47:36 pm ET)

What burns me up is that on things that mattered – like the EPA report on air quality at Ground Zero – this administration did New York no favors after 9/11.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:48:18 pm ET)

As someone who lives in this incredibly vulnerable and underprotected port city, to see it transformed into a symbol of Bush's strength and wisdom is deeply frustrating.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:48:31 pm ET)

Hmm. An interesting, intriguing, suggestion: "There are times in history when our ideas are more important." A nice, grown-up recognition of the importance of a two-party system.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:49:21 pm ET)

Again, as a symbol of bipartisanship and inclusion – Giuliani is a smart choice. So was McCain. But where's the beef? This administration loathes bipartisanship.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:49:34 pm ET)

Don't know about that, James. I'm only sketchy on the details, I confess. But if the administration proved as neglectful of the city after 9/11 as you suggest, it seems to me, Rudy himself would have raised hell.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:49:49 pm ET)

In my comments, I hear poignant echoes of Peter Robinson at the Democratic National Convention...

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:50:39 pm ET)

"Thank God George Bush is our president." The implicit comparison is with Gore, not Kerry. But powerful all the same.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:50:47 pm ET)

Well, you would hope that Rudy would be raising hell. But do you say when an adequate GPS system for container ships costs $800 million – the cost of four days' war in Iraq – and we still don't have one?

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:51:12 pm ET)

"Strength and knowledge." Cheney's got both of those. At least Rudy's being honest, in a sense...

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:51:55 pm ET)

I retreat out of ignorance: I thought the Pentagon GPS system was available to everyone, including container ships (it works fine for cars). But I don't know enough to take you on.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:52:43 pm ET)

It's a custom system that would track each container and determine its inventory / open or closed status / etc... not just the general system...

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:53:01 pm ET)

"We need George Bush now more than ever." Let's see where he goes with this. (So far he's been talking about the past. Effectively. But sill.)

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:53:09 pm ET)

But we're losing the thread. Rudy said Bush has brought us together. That can't possibly resonate. We're more divided than ever.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:53:30 pm ET)

And I don't think the people in Madison Square Garden are here tonight to think sincerely about making common cause with the left, or even the center.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:53:36 pm ET)

But I thought the new RFID technology (if that's what it's called) was the way of the future for containers. Anyway, I surrender to you on that one.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:54:18 pm ET)

Booo! Germany! Booo! European allies! Who, who has the courage to alienate them?

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:54:50 pm ET)

Why, it's our president! He has the strength to stand up to anyone, even the countries that we desperately need to keep together our unraveling and sprawling global presence.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:55:07 pm ET)

Rudy skipped the terrorist bombing of the Marine barracks in Lebanon, the one real blot on Reagan's record (and the one aspect of his record he himself thoroughly regretted).

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:56:21 pm ET)

That's true; I wish more people would keep Lebanon in mind whenever Mogadishu gets mentioned... not that that was a proud moment in the Democrats' history book...

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:56:36 pm ET)

Not just defense but offense. That's good. But Rudy hasn't got the beautiful pacing that McCain had.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:56:58 pm ET)

He's making a lot of noise about "going on offense," without mentioning how we bungled Tora Bora and let Al Qaeda's leadership get away.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:57:23 pm ET)

Yes. There were good reasons why leaders of both parties missed the terrorist threat, but there's also good reason for both parties to regret it.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:57:55 pm ET)

This is smart, though – celebrate Bush's inflexibility and ignorance as strength and fortitude.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:57:56 pm ET)

There you go again. Qaddafi is a long-time pacifist...and Tora Bora should've been a cakewalk.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:58:25 pm ET)

Tora Bora shouldn't have been a cakewalk. It should have been tough fight fought by the right number of American troops.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:58:40 pm ET)

Not a bunch of Afghan allies with no real interest in finishing the fight.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 10:58:43 pm ET)

Question: Which is more effective? A written, eloquent speech, like that by McCain? Or a choppier, but (at least seemingly) more extemporaneous effort, such as this by Rudy?

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:58:57 pm ET)

While we kept our troops in reserve for the coming fight in Iraq.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:59:33 pm ET)

I think probably Rudy, actually.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 10:59:47 pm ET)

It's connecting for me. I don't much like it, but I'm engaged more fully.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 11:00:11 pm ET)

He's intense, he's in your face, he's driving his case home with vigor and emotion.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 11:01:41 pm ET)

Got logged off for another moment there. Sorry.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 11:01:59 pm ET)

Intense and in your face? Yup. That's Rudy.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 11:02:13 pm ET)

Wow. The crowd applauded John Kerry's service. I'm actually a little touched by that, even if it's shrewdly on message.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 11:02:27 pm ET)

The flip-flop line of attack on Kerry. Sorry about this, James, but it's effective.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 11:02:39 pm ET)

Yes, the applause for Kerry's service touched me as well.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 11:02:51 pm ET)

But this flip-flopping stuff is crazy. The $87 billion Kerry voted for contained a provision to take the money out of the tax break for the ultra-rich.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 11:03:04 pm ET)

They've turned a principled stand into an Abbot and Costello routine.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 11:03:13 pm ET)

Maybe this explains the need for two Americas? GREAT!

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 11:03:50 pm ET)

As a fan of political rhetoric, I salute the GOP and Rudy. As a fan of truth, I'm somewhat less delighted.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 11:04:00 pm ET)

I'm surrendering to you on another point, James: Rudy is the speaker of the night. He's producing one memorable line after another.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 11:04:58 pm ET)

He's absolutely great, that's for sure. He's got a fiery affect that is strong without being scary. A lot of the traditional GOP heavyweights are a lot less pleasant to watch.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 11:06:03 pm ET)

Another question: Who was (or will have been) more memorable? Bill and Hillary in Boston? Or McCain and Rudy in New York?

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 11:06:20 pm ET)

Again – Bush as the determined leader, going it along, striking out boldly. But to where? And by what means? And what do we do when our forces are overextended, our money has run out, and we're isolated diplomatically?

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 11:06:40 pm ET)

It used to be that the Republicans were the thoughtful conservatives, and the Democrats were the radicals...

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 11:06:58 pm ET)

I think the answer is Obama in Boston.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 11:07:24 pm ET)

I can't ever remember seeing a speech like that. It was lightning. Don't worry if you missed it; you'll see Obama on the national stage again, quite soon.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 11:07:26 pm ET)

I won't grant you that we're almost out of money or resources – at MOST we've committed 3 percent of GDP to this war on terror, whereas we committed 55 percent at the height of WWII – but I do grant that sooner or later, somebody is going to have to do some talking about the future.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 11:08:33 pm ET)

Well, at the same time we're paying for the war in Iraq – which is very different from, and somewhat at loggerheads with the war on terror – we're also slashing the federal budget in order to ladle money out to the richest corporations and individuals.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 11:08:45 pm ET)

This is Rudy the beautiful, the incomparable: He is so utterly in and of the city.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 11:09:20 pm ET)

It's true. He's a creature of New York, and he's wisely playing that for all it's worth.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 11:09:44 pm ET)

Rudy can't repeat what the construction workers said, but maybe Cheney could.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 11:10:02 pm ET)

You swiped my Cheney joke!

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 11:10:16 pm ET)

I knew I had to move fast.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 11:10:19 pm ET)

It's OK, I was wrestling with the format.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 11:11:30 pm ET)

I think the speech has lost some steam, here. It's nattered out a bit.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 11:12:02 pm ET)

I'd agree. Pacing isn't everything, but it sure matters after about twenty minutes.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 11:12:33 pm ET)

I would've cut about 5 minutes. Of course, I've been told that since so few people watch these things in full, the key is to get in as many good lines as possible, so they're chopped up and distributed far and wide.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 11:13:02 pm ET)

The 10-second local news nuggets matter more than the speech as a whole thing, as a live event.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 11:13:07 pm ET)

Only five minutes? You're being generous. He just had a relatively flat seven or eight minutes.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 11:13:51 pm ET)

You're right about the local nuggets, for all speeches other than those of the candidates.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 11:14:17 pm ET)

Again: One of the pillars of support for global terrorism is anti-Americanism. Bush has been recklessly shoring up that pillar with concrete and I-beams.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 11:15:23 pm ET)

This isn't a liberal talking, either – I don't think America can or will ever by universally loved. But any foreign policy realist would agree that we've been pouring kerosine on the fires of anti-Western feeling.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 11:15:34 pm ET)

You're quite right that there has been some unnecessary swagger (Rumsfeld especially). But on the question of acting: We simply had to do so.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 11:16:30 pm ET)

We certainly had to act. I whole heartedly agree. Thus, Afghanistan was a very necessary war. But the capturing of Al Qaeda and successful rebuilding of Afghanistan was necessary, too.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 11:16:50 pm ET)

Interesting point: Rudy is obviously running overtime (primetime ends at 11:00pm, Eastern). Who would ever have thought that it would be the Democrats who run a disciplined convention and the Republicans who lose control of their schedule?

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 11:17:31 pm ET)

I wonder if the networks are sticking with it. Hard to tell from my little C-SPAN window on my Macintosh...

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 11:17:55 pm ET)

C-SPAN? You and me both.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 11:18:30 pm ET)

There's something bracing about inhaling straight, unfiltered democracy, sans filter.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 11:18:39 pm ET)

Gee, even the delegates are looking deflated. Does Rudy sense that he's losing his audience?

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 11:19:09 pm ET)

Well then, let's join in a bipartisan salute to...Brian Lamb. What a great journalist, no?

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 11:19:09 pm ET)

I think he does. I think he's speeding up a bit.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 11:19:53 pm ET)

Exactly right. He's moving faster, speaking with greater urgency. Sorry to say it, but he's just hustling his way to the end.

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 11:20:12 pm ET)

To Brian Lamb! A great man, with a great network, and a great book program. Which is ending, regrettably.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 11:20:38 pm ET)

Yes, isn't that heartbreaking! What will we do without Booknotes?

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 11:20:43 pm ET)

Question for you: Does a sloppy, endless Rudy speech hurt the convention at all?

James Norton (Mon. 8/30, 11:21:17 pm ET)

And God bless the end of that speech.

Peter Robinson (Mon. 8/30, 11:22:11 pm ET)

Yeah, it hurts, but only a little: As you pointed out earlier, it's the sound bites that matter. Over and out, James.And back at ya tomorrow.

Josh Burek (Mon. 8/30, 11:22:51 pm ET)

Thanks, Peter and James, for your fast typing and quick thinking. We'll look forward to your real-time repartee again tomorrow night, when we tune in to watch Arnold Schwarzenegger.