Listening to the speeches of Sen. John McWayne and Giuliani is quite an experience. If I can find a device that would block the words "freedom" and "liberty" from my radios and TV, I would buy it and install instantly. What a vapid word it has become; the word "potato" carries more meaning to me these days. Sen. McWayne talked about war (and promised future wars) with such enthusiasm and zest. And the crowd cheered; actually cheered. He invoked the Republican formula in this election: you are "safer but not safe," i.e. so Bush has done a great job, but we want you to be scared. Because fear is an instrument in this presidential campaign, the success of which requires a permanent state of popular fears and apprehension. Only years from now will these schemes ("miscalculations" Bush has called them) be exposed, and by then nobody would care. His reference to Iraq would have been adequate had it been given prior to the execution of war, and the subsequent occupation. It ignored the simple facts: that it turned out that 1) Iraqis do NOT want the US (or Macedonia) ; 2) that Iraq has NOT been liberated; 3) and that the place is a bloody mess for all with more foreign fighters and Al-Qa`idah influence than existed prior to war. (Not to mention that Saddam's brutal henchmen are back in power, including the car bomber prime minister). But these are details that would distract from the patriotic festivities. Giuliani's speech was the quintessential vulgar jingoism that you would expect from him, and he for sure would not miss taking digs at Arabs (Palestinians in particular). As I had said earlier, the election season is over. Bush has won a while back. His rival is a lousy campaigner who does not 1) engage in the nasty and dirty campaigning that are necessary in US (and other) politics; and 2) he also does not know who he is. Giuliani was right in pointing out the dramatic shift in Kerry's position on the racist Israeli separation wall. (Giuliani also made it a point to tell the audience that Kerry spoke his words to an Arab-American audience). And at the end, Giuliani--appealing to Christian Taliban in the audience--talked about Christian victims of Sudanese government without mentioning the pagan and Muslims victims. The Sudanese government's bloody record of oppression in South and Dharfur include those victims who do not belong to the "right religion."