I have been recounting the monumental motor trip two 80 plus year olds took to visit along the way to check out the progress of our first great grand-daughter.  There was so much to report on the state of the nation which just sat there waiting for hurricanes and the Olympics to be topped off by the National Conventions of the Democrats and Republicans.

My thought is that the Democrats did a workmanlike job of putting together a loquacious orator with an experienced pol and a convention that really seemed to be the real thing with the undercurrent of resentment of Hillary being upstaged and dismissed though she was gracious and tried to put animosity aside and pushed for much needed unity for the disparate Democratic factions.

The Republicans have a different problem.  The national party is divided over the failure of the Bush Administration, THE wars and the lack of solutions to the economy dragging along with its dependence on oil.  The sun shines despites weather here on earth and the wind blows more or less predictably and that tide rolls in an out with great regularity.  Yet the Republicans want to dig offshore much to the displeasure of the American public which wants cheap fuel, no pollution and for that to happen right now.

Ms Palin’s speech was creditable which she delivered with the practice of a beauty queen that she once was accepting the crown for nothing more than having the best looks and curves around.  What I didn’t like was how good she looked in a bikini (that e-mail has made its rounds) holding a rifle in an “I’m good and ready” pose.  That will probably change a lot of minds of the non-thinking public of the male derivative.

This Convention period and the jabbing and throwing punches that follows will disclose a lot of “stuff” that will surprise a lot of us but will do little to change minds that were made up a long time ago.  I am glad to see that the delegations that were disowned and disqualified for beginning too early or leaving out the name of one of the principal are now back in sort of full strength after the sad behavior of the national parties.

The cheap shot that I took earlier in this essay is over and I’d like to come back to reality by saying that if I could, I surely would do that trip up to see an innocent little girl who is the fourth generation of Carol’s line, all over again.  May we live so long – to see Democrats in power and us with the strength to go forth once more.