Night Two

Tonight was liberal night at the Democratic National Convention.  Those featured leading up to the keynote speakers included Ted Kennedy, Charlie Rangel, Tom Daschle, and Jesse Jackson.  Then came Bill Bradley (out of place among the hardcore liberals) who gave a good speech, after which I tuned out.

The turn back to liberalism has a couple of possible explanations.  One, it could be necessitated by the fact that Gore currently is winning under 80% of his Democratic base, whereas Bush is winning 95% of his own Republican base.  Two, it could be a result of Democratic leaders actually believing that liberalism is a winning ideology -- and there being no moderate Democrats with sufficient standing to keep them from effectively committing electoral suicide.  Whatever the explanation, I think it only spells trouble for Gore.  I'm admittedly partisan, so perhaps my partisanship has gotten the best of my analysis.  It remains interesting to watch.

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I need a vacation.  Maybe a backpacking trip.  I'm not sure what exactly.  But I definitely need a break from traffic, DSL not working, computers breaking down, computers that suck at work, demands on my time, traffic, lack of progress on the dissertation, not being able to sleep, wondering what is going to break next, getting sick at inopportune times (yeah, I know, WHEN is an opportune time to get sick?), traffic, people who can't think getting in my way, cleaning the apartment, liberals, laundry, ridiculous electric bills, traffic, you get the idea.