Hell looks an awful lot like the Republican convention | John Doyle
http://tinyurl.com/5z3cu
“Tuesday evening it was Arnold Schwarzenegger telling implausible stories about the Soviet menace in the Austria of his boyhood, and extolling the United States as if it was the only country with jobs, business opportunity and freedom of the press. Austria is now a member country of the European Union, with better guarantees on health care and wages than any state in America. Nobody mentioned that. Then came the Bush twins. The twins were on-stage, giggling and making a joke of their wealth, ignorance and indolence. On Wednesday morning, when MSNBC reviewed the twins’ appearance, a gossip columnist from a New York paper was interviewed about their fabulous partying. You could feel the envy in the attitude of the reporters. Next came their mom, Laura Bush. To underline the success of her husband’s policies, she cited ‘the only woman to own a tow-truck company in all of Iowa.’ Lady, women all over the world have been owning and running businesses for decades. Your country is no beacon of hope in that regard. Not that anyone among the TV reporters and analysts was going to say that.”

Twin Terrors | Julia Turner
http://www.slate.com/id/2106067/
“Sure, the girls threw in some praise for their dad. But mostly, they congratulated themselves on their momentous decision to campaign for him. ‘Jenna and I are NOT very political,’ Barbara said, with the odd bursts of emphasis that she and Jenna employed throughout the night. ‘But we love our dad TOO much to stand back and watch from the sidelines.’ […] To be fair, the twins almost certainly didn’t write this dreck. And the material they were given was unusually difficult: What kind of speechwriter, assigned to come up with something for two novices to deliver on live television, writes a joke-laden address that requires the comedic timing of a late-night talk show host? ”

[answer:Karen Hughes]-TC