RNC open thread, Joementum edition

I don't plan on liveblogging Day 2 (really Day 1, for all practical intents and purposes) of the Republican National Convention tonight. There's no partisan intent to this decision -- nor am I trying to dodge the awkwardness of live-blogging Lieberman, I swear! :) -- I'm just really busy tonight, and don't have time to devote to a full-fledged liveblog. I'll be at least half-watching the convention, and might post a thought or two, but that's about it.

Anyway, feel free to leave your thoughts in comments on this open thread.

P.S. If there's a full state-by-state roll call tomorrow, I'll almost certainly liveblog it; I love the roll call! And I will definitely have a liveblog Thursday night for McCain's acceptance speech, probably with a live-chat feature, like I did for Obama's speech last week. That was fun.

UPDATE: OMG, the president just said "Angry Left"! LOL!!

UPDATE 2: TNR's David Kusnet writes:

For a disliked party with a despised president but a widely admired nominee, the Republicans took the only realistic rhetorical avenue: Reduce the entire presidential campaign to biography (see Jonathan Cohn for more on this), run away from partisan labels, and bludgeon the opposing candidate with ... patriotism and nonpartisanship.

So it was that President Bush, speaking in the slot that the Democrats usually reserve for Dennis Kucinich, praised McCain not only for his heroism but also for having disagreed with him. Speaking by satellite for eight minutes, the President mostly sounded presidential, with the glaring exception of one of the most demagogically divisive lines ever spoken by a chief executive from a White House podium: “If the Hanoi Hilton could not break John McCain's resolve to do what is best for his country, you can be sure the angry left never will.” Somewhere in the executive mansion, a portrait of Richard Nixon was smiling.

Heh. Indeed.

FWIW, my viewing of the first (real) night of the Republican Convention definitely had an impact on this still-undecided voter: it pushed me closer and closer to deciding in Obama's favor, once and for all. Much as the netroots (a.k.a. the angry left) turned me off to liberalism from 2002-2006, conservatives themselves are turning me off to conservatism in 2008. Explaining my thought process in detail is another post for another day, but suffice it to say, if the Republicans keep it up, I may be donating money to Obama's campaign by the end of the week. My "lean" is getting stronger and stronger.