Beavis and not Beavis

Arent the twins cute? It was such a joy to watch them comport themselves with such grace. No it was a trainwreck, So was the "softball game" introduction gimmick. With stumblebum fumbling his words amidst a backdrop of a softball game wherein all of the batters wore the number 43. They shared their version of the hamster story, lets just say "the hamster didn't make it" in yet another shameless attempt to mock Kerry. This convention is all highschool all the time. With regard to the twins I'll let Steve Gilliard take care of the details.

Seriously, I know I beat up on them, but I find them kind of sad.

It's so clear that they have real, ongoing, issues with their parents. They both love and deeply resent their father. Because they so don't care about the campaign. They do what they are told and that's it. Jenna is clearly headed towards rehab, but Not Jenna isn't much better off. Every time I see her, I get the feeling she'd be happier as an editorial assistant at Harper Collins, and living in a studio apartment.

Jenna is so angry at her dad it almost radiates off her body. The boozing, the alleged abortions, all of it designed to get daddy's attention and it fails..

For some reason, I think Jeb has a much better relationship with his kids, even with Noelle's drug habit. George P. Bush seems to be a much happier, more centered person than Bush's girls. Not that it's ideal, I don't think the Bush men are great with kids at all, but I think the Bush twins are very unhappy girls.

It's unfair to compare them to the Kerry girls, who are much more accomplished and slightly older. But when you compare them to Cate Edwards, it's just sad. She seems not only happy to work for her father, but she's poised and intelligent.

The Bush girls are smart, but they are just going through the motions. Why else bring up curfew? They're 22, old enough to get a beer or volunteer for Iraq. Curfew is for teenage girls, not adults.

Yet, the family, as well as the campaign, seems intent on treating them like teenagers who haven't quite graduated yet.

And they are completely indifferent at how angry their socialite lifestyle makes people. Kids their age are being maimed for life in Iraq. Jessica Lynch was crippled for life at 21. The average age of an infantry platoon leader is 23. So why do the Bush girls act like newly liberated teenagers?

The party of the stern father figure wants to infantilize anything they can get there hands on. Mature adults who think on their own are anathema to the foundation of Republican groupthink.