Last week's Republican National Convention sparked passionate debate over the qualifications and treatment of Sarah Palin as well as John McCain's poaching the message of "change" from the Democrats the week prior. Possibly lost in the shuffle was the relatively small amount of airplay given to the 9/11 attacks, especially when compared to how central a theme they were throughout the previous RNC held here in New York. Even Rudy Giuliani didn't spend a great deal of his speaking time hearkening back to 9/11 in comparison with his usual rhetoric. more ›

Time. Today, it was revealed the former NYC mayor would give the keynote on September 2 (here's a full list of speakers). A former senior adviser to Giuliani explained the strategy to the Observer, "The battleground is always in the middle, it's not the party regulars on the left or the right but smack dab in the center. Yes, Rudy will help with the independents, but he'll also rally the troops by his ability to get the convention rocking and rolling... There was nobody more conservative in the Republican race than Rudy Giuliani on taxes." Rudy is reportedly "honored." Well, we have two weeks to work on the Giuliani-at-RNC drinking game. more ›