Update: The bad reviews are universal. Worse than bad. They made a sex joke about their grandmother? Even the conservative press is appalled. Send them off to graduate school (not Iraq, we should be asking people to come home from there, not to go there.)

************************

Amy Sullivan and Kevin Drum at Washington Monthly say the Bush daughters were a bust. So did the Fox News commentators tonight.

Even Conservatives Hated Them....The verdict from the Fox News crew on Jenna, Barbara, and Laura is not good.
Bill Kristol: "The last half hour did not help, as far as I can tell, Bush's campaign for reelection."
Mort Kondracke: "Those two girls were ditzes. I'm surprised they were allowed on the program."
Fred Barnes: "I think she [Laura] had no place up there or the daughters either....Their mother said they'll be pursuing their own careers. I would advise them to look in some field other than comedy."

So do the TalkLeft commenters in the open thread on tonight's speeches. One wrote:

Did anyone watch John Kerry's speech today? Both Fox News and MSNBC played it live...I think for the duration. It was long. He promised veterans he'd protect their rights when they came home. No fire though. He needs to ratch it up a notch or two.

Finally, this morning, the Dems have been getting some rebuttal air time. Their rapid response team is beginning to show up on Fox and MSNBC. Where has it been so far? I commented on this last night while watching Hardball. So did Daily Kos. Better late than never, but they have a lot of catching up to do.

This morning a handful of Act Up protesters got floor passes and inside the Garden to wave some signs on the floor. The RNC officials looked baffled. The protesters were quickly jumped on --actually it looked on tv like people were swatting at them like flies--and tv news reports some have been "detained" by authorities.

If you have more details, please put them in the comments.

As an aside, Jerome Armstrong from MY DD got a press pass for a few hours yesterday and listened to the speeches. He sounds disgusted with the Republicans. Go read.

Glenn Kessler of The Washington Post analyzes Guliani's peech and its attacks on Kerry and finds them misleading because they were taken out of context.

Michael Scherer in Mother Jones hits what's missing from the Republican Convention and Madison Square Garden--

There's something missing from this convention. Call it energy, spirit. Call it people....There's an aura of weirdness about this convention. It's different from last month's Democratic show in Boston.

How so?

On the first night in Boston, Bill Clinton had sucked every bit of air out of the FleetCenter. The journalists packed their risers; the nosebleed seats overflowed. You couldn't carry on a conversation. It was an early climax, not topped by either Kerry or Edwards, but it set the tone for the four days.

I agree with Scherer's description of the Fleet Center, so I have no reason to doubt his description of the Garden. I can say that outside the vicinity of the Garden, New York seems like a shadow of its normal self. Traffic isn't bad. I went from midtown to SoHo tonight in almost no time. SoHo had street parking available. There are no hordes of people, and that has included my trips to the Upper West Side, Upper East Side, midtown and Hell's Kitchen.

While there are plenty of tourists in Times Square, they don't seem connected to the convention. They seem mostly interested in eating their ice cream cones. All over town, looking inside restaurant windows, I've seen plenty of empty tables. Glancing up the avenues in the late afternoon and early evening, it seems most taxis have their "available" lights on.

There's still two days to go, so I don't want to proclaim New York a snooze yet, but I have to say, it's leaning that way.

New York police report that 1,000 protesters were arrested Tuesday:

Nearly 1,000 protesters were arrested across Manhattan on Tuesday as swarms of activists massed in the streets for marches to the site of the Republican convention - by far the biggest day of arrests since the demonstrations began last week.

There were no immediate reports of violence, but police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said officers showed "great restraint in the face of relentless provocation" by the protesters.

No violence? Then why were they arrested? Wasn't it just last week Mayor Bloomberg was offering shopping discounts to non-violent protesters as a welcoming gesture?

Heightened security against the protests has turned Manhattan into a crazy-quilt of barriers, heavily armed police and street-corner activists.....Outside the New York Public Library, in the streets near the famed Herald Square and at the site of the fallen World Trade Center, demonstrators pointed themselves toward Madison Square Garden and promised to get their message across that they want President Bush out of office.

On the library's stone steps, hundreds of protesters gathered for the march. Verbal confrontations erupted as police moved them away from the library's front door and wrapped the block in orange netting, and about 75 people were taken into custody before the crowd thinned out.

Hardball tonight --it's impossible to distinguish between the journalists and the Republican strategists--and there's no one providing balance. What's up with that? It's David Gregory, Howard Feineman, Christy Whitman and an unknown woman.

Live--a protest disrupts the Hardball set, the police chase the protester right through the broadcast set--MSNBC switches to the Garden.

Turned over to Fox News and the reporter is covering John Kerry's movements and the French journalists. Good for them.

There was a protest at Fox News today and it got a little out of hand with the arrest of Medea Benjamin. Atrios went but didn't have a camera.

Update: Some country singer named Larry Gatlin is on Hardball now making a total a** of himself. He 's talking about shopping at Saks. He just asked the passersby to be quiet because they're on television. What on earth is he doing on a political show? The guy should stick to crooning, assuming he's any good at that. Who's next, the Osmonds?

Why did a 21 yeear old student from Yale get arrested and charged with assaulting a federal officer for shouting an anti-war slogan?

A 21-year-old Yale student, posing as a volunteer at the Republican National Convention, got within 10 feet of Vice President Dick Cheney and shouted anti-war statements before being dragged away, authorities said Tuesday.

Secret Service Agent Shannon Zeigler said Cheney "was never in any harm or danger" during the incident Monday night in Madison Square Garden. The suspect, Thomas Frampton, was charged with assaulting federal officers and impeding the operation of the Secret Service.

A few days ago Bush said we can't win the war on terror. Now he says we can. Flip-Flop. Drip. Drop.

And Bush may be losing support with undecided voters.

AP-Ipsos polling shows that persuadable voters are more disappointed than others with Bush's job performance. Their negative views track almost every issue, from Bush's handling of the war in Iraq to his foreign policies, the economy and domestic initiatives. Nearly seven in 10 of them believe the country is headed on the wrong track. They're eager for a new direction, even in a time of war, if Kerry can convince them that it's safe to change.

Did anyone notice that none of the Republicans discussed domestic issues last night? Sidney Blumenthal did, and writes in Salon about the strange omission and the repackaging of Giuliani and McCain.

Here's tonight's hot Republican event tickets:

• Texas delegates groove to the Fabulous Thunderbirds at BB King's Blues Club & Grill (237 W. 42nd St., 8-11 p.m.)
• The Distilled Spirits Council, Weekly Standard, The Economist and Roll Call fete Bill Frist at the New York Yacht Club (37 W. 44th St., 9:30 p.m. - 1:30 a.m.)
• Oscar de la Hoya, Alex Rodriguez and Rafael Palmeiro are expected for the Gran Fiesta Salsa Party at the Rainbow Room (30 Rockefeller Plaza, 11 p.m. - 2 a.m.)
• The Warehouse party resumes at the Tunnel Nightclub (220 12th St., 10 p.m. - 3 a.m.)

[Via National Journal]

What is driving actor Ron Silver in his support for Bush? I can't figure it out. I've always thought him to be bright, articulate and talented. He used to be a liberal. He supported human rights. Now he's a war monger who drools over Bush.

I wish he'd get back on the right side. If you missed his speech last night, here are his prepared remarks.