PHILADELPHIA–The party for John McCain was at a very chic Asian restaurant with a massive 10-foot-high seated Buddha dominating one wall. Waiters and waitresses dressed in black circulated constantly offering delicacies on silver platters. It was all very, very civilized. (Read on.)

There are elements of fuzziness embedded in George W. Bush's pitch that he is a different kind of Republican, but there is no question that he's managing to put on a different kind of Republican National Convention. It's what Bush wants and it's what he's getting. (Read on.)

The last hour of Monday night's Republican National Convention proceedings made one thing perfectly clear: This is George W. Bush's Republican Party. Scripted carefully by the Bush campaign, the Philadelphia convention is intended above all to let voters get to know George W. Bush as a person. (Read on.)

The selection of Dick Cheney as George W. Bush's running mate was supposed to have a calming effect. Cheney, who arrived in town on Sunday–days ahead of the top of the ticket–was supposed to calm fears about Bush's lack of experience. Instead, Bush and his campaign have had to spend a great deal of time calming fears about Cheney, even among some in their own party. (Read on.)

As a rule, infomercials are not stirring television. They try to make us True Believers, but they are what they are: pretested, prepaid product ads. So, too, with the Republican convention, which will sell the party's compassionate vision through 1,000 pointed anecdotes. (Read on.)