The McCain Show

Earlier, I wrote about the script for the Democrats' weeklong infomercial, so here is a similar report about the Republicans.

The most controversial (in some quarters) part of the plan is the speech by that kinda-sorta-Democrat, Senator Joe Lieberman.

Another sensitive issue is the appearance of President Bush. He will speak on the opening night of the convention. The last two times when a president was not seeking reelection (Clinton in 2000 and Reagan in 1988), the outgoing president followed a similar schedule, speaking early in the convention week, and then stepping back so as not to steal the limelight from the new nominee. In 1968, however, lame-duck President Lyndon Johnson stayed away from his party's convention entirely.

Despite the controversies surrounding Bush, he seems to have remained relatively popular among hard-core Republicans. Johnson, by contrast, would probably not have been greeted cordially by the many antiwar delegates at the 1968 Democratic convention.