Oh, my goodness: what to say? I know that a main goal of a political convention, now that the candidate is selected beforehand, is to throw red meat to the faithful. And the Democrats did their own attacking in Denver. But the Republican convention has turned into a snarly, name-calling affair. And I assume that this is just a taste of things to come.

We got a good look at Sarah Palin last night, and she enthusiastically lived up to her "barracuda" nickname. Her speechwriter had written a good speech - and yes, those were a speechwriters' words, not her own - and she gave a great delivery.

For Democrats as well as Republicans, it's common for speechwriters to handle this task, so there's no fault there. But Palin's speechwriter seemed to have relished in his search for insults. And she, one assumes, was perfectly happy to shout them out.

"I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer - except that you have actual responsibilities." (Roar from the crowd.)

"When the cloud of rhetoric has passed, when the roar of the crowd fades away, when the stadium lights go out, and those Styrofoam Greek columns are hauled back to some studio lot...." (Roar from the crowd.)

She joined in with other convention speakers in emphasizing John McCain's herosim in Vietnam, and in trying to paint Barack Obama as an unpatriotic coward. "Al Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America," she said, "and he's worried that someone won't read them their rights."

Along with the insults, there were lies - among them, that Obama wants to raise taxes. He does, of course: on the wealthiest Americans. The rest of us will get a tax cut. But now the vice-presidential candidate of the party that has catered to the wealthy, to big oil, to big agribusiness is posing as the friend of the small farmer, the gas-station owner, the hard-working middle-class American.

After the Republicans' convention closes tonight, McCain and Palin will hit the road. And based on what we've seen, rather than addressing the nation's needs - rather than putting country first - both of them will try to terrify Americans into electing them.

What we are learning about John McCain is that he's not the ethical politician we thought he was. We still have a lot to learn about Sarah Palin. But this we already know: she has fabricated and exaggerated part of her history as a reformer. She wanted books banned at her town library and fired the librarian who refused to do it. She thinks God approves of the war in Iraq (and of the gas pipeline in Alaska). She's a hockey mom. And she's a fiery public speaker.

We also know that she's mean.

We have meanness in a vice president right now. John McCain wants to extend that run.