McCAIN: PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE MISERABLE FAILURE WHO SPOKE LAST NIGHT

A few weeks ago I read that Team McCain's plan for George W. Bush at the Republican convention is to have him speak on the first night. That was presented as a way to put a few days' distance between Bush's speech and McCain's. I hadn't quite focused on the fact that, as William Kristol points out in today's New York Times, that means the speech will be on Labor Day night, when (although Kristol doesn't say this) most Americans will be too preoccupied with the last hours of the holiday (evening traffic, cheap-beer-and-burger dyspepsia) to pay Bush much mind.

But Kristol tells us that the McCain people are really determined to keep you from noticing the Bush speech, although, again, Kristol doesn't put it quite that way. Here's what he says about McCain's VP pick:

...the current inclination is to wait until after Labor Day weekend, which ends with President Bush's speech Monday, the first night of the G.O.P. convention. Then the McCain camp would hope to seize attention Tuesday with the V.P. announcement.

And keep TV news clips of Bush down to an absolute minimum.

Unpopular president? What unpopular president?