Which Convention Has She Been Watching?

This is from yesterday. Michelle Obama, in an interview with PBS during the convention:

[Obama] is less concerned about trying to tear down his opponent and more concerned about laying out and having a real conversation about the issues that people are facing on the ground.

And I think that, you know, we get used to the red meat. And if you don't hand out the red meat, then somehow you're lacking. But politics doesn't have to just be about red meat.

Talking with friends tonight who are much more moderate than I am, they were telling me how taken back they were by how negative what they've seen of the convention has been.

There has been plenty of tear-down-McCain "red meat." The capstone of Pelosi's opening speech was her tirade that began with "Republicans say John McCain has experience. We say John McCain has the experience of being wrong" and ended with "Barack Obama is right and John McCain is wrong. Very, very wrong."

"Very very wrong"!? That's not just negative and red meat, but juvenile.

Or, there's Kathleen Sebelius's speech. I used to have a lot of respect for Sebelius. Although she's someone I disagree with strongly, I always thought she was the kind of person that would keep a debate on the issues and avoid making "low blows," but in her speech she delivered this distasteful gem:

Barack Obama has a plan to save the dream of homeownership for families who've lost their homes or fear they can never afford one—unlike John McCain, who has so many he can't keep track of them all.

I'm sure you remember a girl from Kansas who said there's no place like home. Well, in John McCain's version, there's no place like home. And a home. And home. And home.

Obama's convention: keeping it to the issues. Avoiding red meat.