Todays editorial in the Inquirer needs to be parsed for the sheer partisanship it conveys:

Just like the Democrats' bash in Boston, the Republican National Convention, opening in New York City tomorrow, will be largely about making a sale to a small but pivotal group of customers.
The customers are the undecided voters in up-for-grabs states in the election. Most of them are moderates, in their views and in their tastes in political rhetoric. For a White House and Congress that have been as hard-line conservative as any in living memory, this could be a hard sell.

Hard-line conservative? I think not. Paleo-conservatives, of which I am not, are disappointed by the centrist policies of the administration. This administration is more neo-conservative, of which I am.

But the Grand Old Party has some top-notch salesmen lined up for prime time - well-respected leaders such as former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Sen. John McCain of Arizona. In a little return twist on Ronald Reagan Jr.'s speech in Boston, the Republicans have chosen as their keynote speaker a maverick Democrat, Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia.
Their job will be to convince undecided voters that President Bush and the GOP still host a Big Tent - a party in which moderates can have a voice and a vote.

Why anyone would buy that line is hard to figure, based on the evidence of the last four years.
From limiting stem-cell research to cutting taxes at a record pace, from rolling back environmental regulations to appointing strict constructionist federal judges, Bush has pursued most of the fond dreams of the conservative agenda.
His vision for America is resolute and sincerely held; what it is not is moderate. The pendulum has swung about as far to the right as it can go, with the conservatives in the House providing the steady push.

That pendulum is approaching the far-right end of the spectrum, you know almost fascist. I like the way they just throw out "From limiting stem-cell research to cutting taxes at a record pace, from rolling back environmental regulations to appointing strict constructionist federal judges" as if it's 100% truth without any specific examples. Yeah, it's been that Republican led congress that has been railroading a whole bunch of Rehnquist clones through the house and senate.

Yet, don't discount President Bush's ability to make the sale. Four years ago in Philadelpia, in a brilliant acceptance speech, he promised the nation "compassionate" conservatism. Many swing voters flocked to that banner - particularly when it was waved by a candidate of such sunny mien and mild rhetoric.
In practice, though, most of the items on his "compassionate" list got only lip service (education reform being the big exception). The conservative priorities, by contrast, got decisive action.
Dedicated conservatives run the show in Washington, but don't expect to see much of key players such as House Majority Leader Tom DeLay or Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum on prime-time TV this week.
That brings up an interesting point. The real struggle inside the GOP - one convention viewers won't get a whiff of if Bush strategist Karl Rove has his way - is not between conservatives and the party's rag-tag moderates. It's between the Bush team and congressional conservatives who feel the President isn't conservative enough.
"I would rather we have at least a couple of prominent conservatives getting some air time," said Rep. Pat Toomey of Allentown, himself a prominent conservative. "It's the President's call. I don't think anybody's being misled."

That's a classic twist, Bush is only appeasing his conservative puppet masters but it's still not right-wing enough. If the Inquirer editorial board writes that the pendulum is way to the right and the evil conservatives are trying to push it farther in that direction, that would mean Nazism I guess. Sieg Heil! (BTW, Russert just smacked Hillary for calling Bill Frist an extremist)

The Democrats, too, tried to paper over their most liberal voices and dissent at their convention in Boston.
The difference is that the liberal wing that was told to pipe down in Boston does not in fact control the Democrats' agenda. If it did, Bush would not have been able to win approval in the narrowly divided Senate for his mammoth tax cuts or his blank check for war with Iraq.
In New York, the people kept behind the curtain will be the ones who'll really call the shots if the GOP keeps the White House and Congress.

The most liberal voice of dissent is their candidate. Kerry had the most liberal voting record in the senate. The donkey's had Michael Moore in the VIP box for the convention for cripes sake, who is more liberal that that idiot?

On the domestic side, Bush needs to fill in an agenda for a second term that, so far, is mostly blank. His explanations for how he'll tame the huge deficits that have grown on his watch have been evasive. Absent wildly robust economic growth, that would have to involve either huge program cuts or reversal of tax cuts.
Bush's proposals to turn more of the burden of health care and retirement security over to individual saving accounts is an indirect acknowledgement that crushing deficits limit the government's ability to deliver on old promises.

No, healthcare and retirement security are being looked at in a new light, not as entitlements, which have been proven to not work, but a newer differing way. The old "third rail of politics" issues are on the table for discussion and it scares the hell out of liberals.

For a president who came to Washington four years ago preaching fiscal discipline, the ledger so far is profoundly discouraging.

I can just say this; September 11, 2001.

A final note, about Bush and the GOP returning to ground zero. They have every right to pay homage to the victims of Sept. 11, 2001, and to remind audiences of what is regarded as Bush's "finest hour" at the wreckage of the Twin Towers. But neither political party holds the deed to ground zero, and any attempt to pretend otherwise would dishonor the families who have sacrificed so much.

The Republicans will honor the victims and their families with the same dignity that the Dems did. However, the country will have to think about and remember 9-11 and will decide who they want to run the country during this crucial time in our history.