American Legion

Please, please, put any drinks down on the table, stop munching on breakfast and keep the keyboard safe as you peruse the program of the Republican National Convention.

The press release just hit my inbox and it's a laugh-fest.

John McCain is cranking up his attacks on Obama's internationalist approach to foreign policy by giving a speech today that hits Obama for not giving America enough credit for winning the Cold War -- which according to McCain reveals that Obama has confidence in himself but not in his country.

McCain's argument -- to be delivered at 1 P.M. at the 90th Annual American Legion National Convention in Phoenix, Arizona -- is based on some rather aggressive parsing of what Obama actually said. McCain is faulting Obama for saying in his Berlin speech that the Cold War proved that there's "no challenge too great for a world that stands as one."

The problem with Obama's formulation, in McCain's view, is that it doesn't hog enough credit for America. McCain alludes to this and to Obama's self-confidence in order to push the memes that Obama is too puffed-up for his own good and harbors views of our great land that are suspect in some way. Here's what McCain says in the prepared excerpts:

Tonight: Hillary's Big Speech
Hillary Clinton will be giving her much-anticipated convention speech tonight, in which she rallies her own supporters to Barack Obama's candidacy. Expect Hillary to talk about the values her campaign stood for, and how Barack Obama will uphold those ideals and John McCain opposes them -- but expect the press to scrutinize it endlessly for some sort of hidden message or insufficient enthusiasm.

Obama In Missouri Today
Barack Obama is in Kansas City today, with an event scheduled to begin at 12:15 p.m. ET. Obama is touring targeted swing states before he officially accepts the Democratic nomination in Denver -- he was in Iowa yesterday, is in Missouri today, and will be in Montana tomorrow.

McCain In Arizona And California Today
John McCain is campaigning today in states that aren't expected to be closely contested. First he's addressing the American Legion convention in Phoenix, Arizona, scheduled for 1 p.m. ET, and then he will travel to California, with a scheduled arrival in San Diego at 8:45 ET.

Al-Jazeera is an Arabic news service that broadcasts to over 100 million households across the world. During the DNC Al-Jazeera will broadcast from the patio of the Buffalo Rose Bar at the corner of 12th Street and Washington Ave. in Golden. According to the Rocky Mountain News:

When Al-Jazeera comes to Colorado to cover the Democratic National Convention this month, it will use Golden as the backdrop to show the Arab world what life is like in a typical U.S. town. "It's a great opportunity to share a slice of life in small-town America in the midst of an engaging Democratic process," Golden Mayor Jacob Smith said. "I'm sure we'll learn a lot in the process, and so will Arabs about us." http://www.rockymountainnews.c...

Unfortunately, Al-Jazeera's millions of viewers across the globe may get a lesson in small town backwardness. According to Channel 7:

The city manager in Golden on Friday revoked an invitation he had made to the Al Jazeera English television network. The manager invited the network to interview people during a barbecue at his home the week of the Democratic National Convention. His intent was to show that neighbors can disagree politically while still working together.