The GOP in NYC: Day 3

Day 2 Recap:

- Der Governator (looking ever more plasticized) trotted out his stale "girlie-man" line and name-checked Richard Nixon(!) in his speech extolling the virtues of George Bush, while Maria Shriver looked on, and Joe, Jack, and Bobby rolled over in their graves.

- Laura Bush tried her best to put a compassionate face on her husband the "wartime president," and the Bush twins sobered up long enough to deliver a few flaccid jokes at their own expense.

- Sen. Elizabeth Dole threw some red meat to the right wing by defending the GOP's anti-abortion and anti-gay platform planks, and Sen. Bill Frist attempted to put a fancy dress on the pig that is the unpopular Republican opposition to stem cell research.

- President Bush tried to put the kibosh on the terror war flip-flop flap by telling Rush Limbaugh that he "probably needed to be more articulate". Well, yes.

Day 3 Preview:

- Turncoat Democratic senator Zell Miller delivers the keynote speech, in which he will claim that the Democratic Party, not he, has lost touch with reality. He will also claim, apparently with a straight face, that he is still a Democrat, born and bred (Dixiecrat is more like it).

- Dick Cheney brings his sneer to the Garden to fire up the party faithful by taking John Kerry to the woodshed. Just once, LAist longs to hear Mr. Cheney say "Smithers, release the hounds."

- All eyes are on the Kerry campaign as word of a power struggle bubbled up through the blogosphere. Apparently Dems are concerned that the campaign is adrift. Wait, you mean it's not good to spend three weeks of your campaign dancing to the other side's music?

Also: Is John Kerry blowing it? Can he win? You tell us.