Oh, me. So now we have new qualifications for our presidents: they must be war heroes, and they must have executive experience.

Fred Thompson used much of his Republican Convention speech last night to lay out, in detail, the horrors of McCain's captivity during the Vietnam War. No one disputes McCain's courage or his loyalty. But by hammering away on those themes, Republicans imply that Obama is neither - and that war heroism eclipses every other qualification for the presidency. They would not make the same case, of course, had any of McCain's primary opponents become the Republican nominee.

(I thought it was a hoot to have Thompson back in the spotlight. McCain's campaign has tried hard to portray Obama as a "celebrity." Thompson, of course, campaigned for the presidency with little to recommend him except his celebrity status as an actor on "Law and Order.")

Thompson talked about the importance of Sarah Palin's executive experience. I'm not sure how much credit we should give her for being mayor of a town with a population of less than 10,000. But she has certainly gotten executive experience as governor of her state for the past 20 months. Barack Obama was silly to take that bait and try to compare his experience running his own campaign.

If executive experience is more important than legislative experience, though, why should anyone vote for John McCain? Why didn't the Republicans nominate a governor? (And by the way: we have a president whose experience was as a governor, not a legislator. Fat lot of good that has done us.) 

Also speaking last night was the increasingly interesting Joe Lieberman. I seldom agree with him, but I've thought he was honest. And it doesn't bother me that he signed up to give a Republican convention speech endorsing John McCain. He thinks McCain would be the better president, and he's entitled to his opinion. He damages his credibility, though, with lies about Obama's record. Obama "hasn't reached across party lines to get anything significant done"? Lieberman might ask some of the Republican senators who have praised Obama's work. Obama voted to cut off funding for the war in Iraq? He did not.

All of this is pointless, of course. The country has four honorable people running for its two highest offices. Name calling and muscle flexing get us nowhere. And they use up valuable time that ought to be devoted to more important matters: the problems the country faces, and how the candidates will help us solve them.