As PBS wrapped up, David Brooks concluded by saying this convention showed a party of “muscular centrism,” and now the Republicans will have to display a “muscular centrism” of its own. Yuck. It just sounds silly, like “muscular mushiness.” This was still a liberal convention, with a liberal platform, with a set of delegates who hated the Iraq war almost unanimously, with a set of speakers who said Sweden-style health care is a sacred right. Don’t buy the “centrist” jive.

I’ve heard lots of people (including David) picking up on the theme now that it’s very risky for Team Bush to attack Kerry now because he put a let’s-be-positive hex on it. Oh please. Should we go back and rerun the Kerry primary ads to see how positive he was?