Broder: “What is beyond question is that he has turned out to be a very consequential president, an outsider who has not hesitated to challenge conventional Washington ways of thinking.”

Newsweek: “He partied hard, then dried out and found a fierce determination. How George Bush was saved – and never looked back.”

For the last several years, I’ve always felt that my own biggest flaw when it comes to leadership was my unwillingness to party hard enough. Beer bonging always gave me that bloated feeling. But I knew then, and I certainly realize now, that I should’ve fought through the discomfort.

New York Magazine has an interesting selection of poll numbers comparing how New Yorkers feel about people, places and things as compared with the GOP delegates who have pulled into town.

It’s very interesting to see how far off the delegates are when it comes to questions regarding New York and New Yorkers. It’s even more interesting that the natives are even more far off the mark on the same questions.

The W Post has a pretty cool convention diary tht uses old school stylings with today’s technology. Pretty cool.

Tonight is a pivotal night at the Republican Convention as two of the Party’s representatives with the most throw among mainstreamers from both sides will take to the stage. Both John McCain and Rudy Giuliani should prove to be effective spokespeople for W and company. But neither of them could be taking the stage without at least a few negative vibes. After all, they both have sharp disagreements with the administration and the Party platform, and these differences are even more dramatic when you bring the delegates into the mix. This theme will of course continue throughout the week as the moderates are paraded across the stage to give a compassionate face to an extreme platform. Let’s put it this way, competition for the best actor Tony Award will be stiff this year (and Arnold will have to stretch a whole lot more than he did when playing Conan the Barbarian).

And all of this brings up an incredibly important question. If you’re trying to put a moderate face on today’s Republican Party, then why wouldn’t you be featuring the world’s most popular (and until recently, trusted) moderate Republican on the planet? Has the Bush administration soiled Colin Powell too much?

On Meet the Press, Tim Russert confronted Rudy with just a few of the dramatic differences between his Party and his own politics. The platform supports (among other things): A constitutional ban on all abortions, a constitutional ban on gay marriages and no benefits for gay couples, severe limits on stem cell research and gun control non-laws that are in direct opposition to what Giuliani thinks makes sense.

In short, you’ve got a guy who lives, eats, drinks and breathes New York addressing an arena filled with people who would rather be anywhere else.

During the MTP interview, Rudy did a fairly good job defending these differences although he slipped into Republican media training mode on a couple of occasions: He complained that Russert was asking him these questions and not asking the same questions of Democrats who also have differences among Party members. (Well, first, Dem differences aren’t nearly as overwhelming and second, you’re being interviewed, you’re speaking in primetime, and it’s the Republican Convention this week!). Rudy then reminded Russert that W is the first president ever to support stem cell research at all. Man, I can take that kind of nonsense from the First Lady, but how did they get Rudy to parrot this kind of nonsense?

The ability to effectively smooth out of these differences will make or break the convention. Expect both Giuliani and McCain to focus almost exclusively on the war on terror. And expect them both to be sizing each other up throughout the evening. Because if W doesn’t win in November, guys like John and Rudy will be fighting for the heart and soul of their Party instead of just providing its friendly facade.

The White House has finally come up with the twisted deceptions and familiar wordplay that will be central during the campaign’s stretch run. You really have to give these guys credit. If you buy the language they use, they get your vote. If you don’t, you still get a pretty good laugh out of it.

Take a look at these outtakes from the interview W did with Time.

On what he’s learned:

“Washington is a much more bitter, ugly place, dominated by special interests, than I ever envisioned. I was surprised.”

Do you absolutely love this crap or what? This is guy whose father was the president, folks. And he was surprised by Washington? He (and his Rovian minions) sure got used to that evil Washington in a hurry. Somehow, our downhome dude from Crawford managed to be the most Washingtonian of any candidate in recent history. This would be like Boss Tweed complaining that he was shocked by how tough New York politics can be. It’s so ridiculous, but they still use the line.

On Iraq (and the hint of a mistake):

“Had we had to do it over again, we would look at the consequences of catastrophic success – being so successful so fast that an enemy that should have surrendered or been done in escaped and lived to fight another day.”

So there you have it. That’s the mistake admission we’ve been waiting for. Bush was too successful and it screwed things up a bit.

The Bush White House could reframe premature ejaculation as a case of being too efficient.