frankie's Journal: In Keeping With Tradition...

...the Bush administration tells yet another bold-faced lie.

" In keeping with tradition, Cabinet officials do not speak at the conventions"

Aha. This clearly explains why Bush Sr Cabinet Secretary Lamar Alexander spoke at the 1992 Republican Convention, and why Bush Jr Cabinet Secretary Rod Paige will speak at this year's Republican convention. Sheesh, they aren't even trying to get their stories straight.

Meanwhile, the big media meekly parrot this "tradition" meme. Gotta love that vast left-wing conspiracy.

[Addendum]: Cabinet Secretaries usually don't speak at nominating conventions, but there's a much more Occam reason than "tradition". People are selected to speak at the conventions because:

1. they provide external reinforcement of the candidates' own statements,
   and/or
2. they are "rising stars" for future elections.

Most Secretaries fit neither of these roles, hence they don't get picked as convention speakers. Simple calculation. [/Addendum]

Sigh. I used to admire Colin Powell. From 1999 through the summer of 2003, if Colin had run for the Presidency, I gladly would have taken unpaid leave from my job to campaign for him full-time. Instead he continues to fall on his sword for Bush, over and over and over again. What a waste of loyalty. I'd love to read his memoirs in a few years ... assuming there's still a habitable planet left by then.

Lack of scope

[Mike Hawk]

Man you've totally forgotten about the issues. Is the discrepency over RNC tradition so bad that its allowed you to justify the fact that your candidates entire political history is based on lies? Why does Kerry need to issue preemptive C&D letters to broadcasters discouraging them from running ads from veterans? I've been tellin ya all along that your boy has been lying about what happened in Vietnam. Just because HE shot a fleeing vietnamese teenager doesnt mean this was typical of the soldiers th

voice mail

[frankie]

Mike, please answer my questions from my past several journals.