As the twin human interest hurricanes of Gustav and Bristol Palin’s pregnancy dissipate, the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., is returning to normal. This is the kickoff to a presidential election, not a preview of a daytime talk show, remember?
As Washington Independent columnist Charles Morris notes, presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, now scheduled to arrive in Minnesota tomorrow, will accept the nomination of a party deeply split between libertarian and big-business impulses. McCain is trying to straddle the gap.
On the one hand, McCain “broke ranks with the party’s libertarian wing by producing a housing rescue plan much like the one sponsored by Rep. Barney Frank, the ultra-liberal Massachusetts Democrat,” Morris writes.  On the other hand, “the core of the platform is that the government will be starved of financial oxygen.”
Morris explores “the split between the two hemispheres of the Republican brain” here.