RNC Wrap-up, Day 2

Arnold, the Bush sisters, voting machines, Kerry Campaign shakeup rumours, criticism of RNC bloggers, and censorship of Supreme Court decisions were on the minds of bloggers today as the second day of the Republican National Convention wrapped up.

  • Arnold's speech polarizing California governor Arnold Schwartzenegger provoked strong reactions from both Liberals and Conservatives. Lots of conservative bloggers swelled with pride at Arnold's speech, according to the Technorati Conservative Politics Attention Index™, such as Jay Reding, who wrote, "His story of living under the shadow of Communism is an important reminder of why America is still admired across the globe." Technorati's Liberal Politics Attention Index™ showed liberal bloggers reacting strongly to Arnold's jabs at Democrats: Luis Poza wrote of the Governor's speech, "full of sound and fury and signifying nothing".
  • The Bush sisters Jenna and Barbara Bush's speech provoked jeers from authoritative liberal bloggers, and Conservatives largely remained silent on the speech. Keith Berry wrote, "Up until now, I've never really felt bad for anybody with the last name Bush, but watching the Bush twins at the GOP Convention was was just so sad I was nearly brought to tears. It was a train-wreck. An honest to God train-wreck." On Dummocrats.com, a conservative blog, James K. Hat wrote, "This convention has been great so far. (Edit - great until the Bush daughters spoke... what in the world was that?)", and the Washingon Monthly rreports on other conservative reactions.
  • Revelations on an easy way to hack voting machines made their way through the blogosphere today, in this article on Bev Harris' blackboxvoting.com, noting that the Diebold GEMS central tabulator, used in many over 30 states, contains a stunning security hole.
  • Kerry campaign shakeup rumours Mickey Kaus reports on the rumours, starting in the Washington Prowler, that Kerry will shake up his campaign staff. This was later covered by MSNBC, and CNN.
  • Blogger's Corner events, and critiques General Tommy Franks came by the bloggers' area at the RNC for a photo opportunity, and while there announced his support for President bush, a prelude to his more official annoucenet on Sean Hannity's radio show. Salon.com publishes a biting article on the actions of the RNC credentialed bloggers.
  • Redactions of Supreme Court decisions in Patriot Act suit?The Memory Hole reports on the "blacking out" of passages quoting US Supreme Court decisions in the ACLU's suit against the Justice department. This could be a breaking story in tomorrows news.