Well, I'm still half wobbly from being up well past my bedtime with you guys, but I have to say it was worth it, no?

And I get the sense, at least from rumbling around in the comments with everyone, that you all do, too.

There's something tangible in the air right now - something so strong, vibrant, glowing, and downright cheerful you feel like you can reach into the TV or puter screen and just grab it. Schmaybe give it a bear hug, it's so welcome a sensation.

I don't know how to describe it. There's a bounce in everyone's step, there's a singular gleam in their eye, and there's a sense of community and shared purpose - a goal - that I have never before seen. 

Republicans are truly living Ronald Reagan's most practical axiom for surviving as a party.

“The person who agrees with you 80 percent of the time is a friend and an ally – not a 20 percent traitor.”

It's a miracle, and look at what it's wrought - what has so far been quite the most extraordinary and uplifting political convention in my lifetime. I know from what I read in the comments last night that you all seem to be feeling the same way.

So many moments in tears, so many American moments to be proud of.

As you can imagine, I was completely undone by the Abbey Gate Gold Star families. But it wasn't only their honored places on the podium and their stories - it was the people in that room. When tens of thousands of AMERICANS spontaneously lifted their voices in honor, reverence, remembrance, and love, repeating those precious names from the floor as they were read.

Dear God - what a breathtaking, heart-stopping exchange.

Even the most jaded of network correspondents couldn't help but be moved. As Terry Moran describes what he experienced, it is probably the most eloquent he's ever been in his life.

ABC's @TerryMoran on the Gold Star families at #RNC2024: "David, I'm not sure I've ever experienced anything like that at a convention. The connection between this crowd and those family members of the fallen. It was just absolutely extraordinary. The emotions, the call and… pic.twitter.com/Nr8pTUT6mu

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 18, 2024

The power of the moment was such that, as one wag listening on X said:

Yeah.

Now think about what Democrats and their supporters in the streets and on university campuses have been chanting and repeating since October 7.

The contrast could not be more clear.

Let's not forget there are detractors. "Names" with their noses out of joint. 

There have been some notable sourpusses snarking and moaning about the virtual love fest.

Marc Short, Pence's Chief of Staff, was quoted as saying about the RNC, “I think what we’re witnessing now is a full on frontal assault on conservatism."
Translation: the neocons and war pimps have been kicked to the curb. Thank God!

— Glenn Jacobs (@GlennJacobsTN) July 18, 2024

If you combine that with other former "big name" establishment Republicans who are absent (looking at YOU Romney/Ryan *spits*)... 

https://t.co/sXizIJoQma pic.twitter.com/G6PsGwvx4d

— tree hugging s*ster 🎃 (@WelbornBeege) July 17, 2024

...it may well be the signal that the party faithful have finally broken the purity and chastity chains imposed by generations of GOP brahmins who all belonged physically and mentally to the "we do things a certain way" country club set.

Real Republicans - the people in those seats and in flyover country who work the polls and bang doors and make phone calls and who vote faithfully for change that never happened - are finished with continually being gentrified losers. They are the ones being scorched as the country goes down in flames around them.

You can't have a big tent if you tie down the flap. https://t.co/NShnDKNg4b

— tree hugging s*ster 🎃 (@WelbornBeege) July 16, 2024

The tone of this convention fairly sings that the Republican Party has thrown open the tent flap. The formerly staid and corporate entity is now waving to all the regular folks in the caste system who were once held outside, telling them they now have a place inside and are welcome if only they'll check it out.

The contrast between the two parties couldn't be starker. The bouncing, effervescent, positive ebullience of the GOP vice the unhinged vitriol and hate spewing DNA that permeates Democrats and progressives right down to the lone man on the street.

Don't ever let politics turn you into this. It's better to step away entirely than let it drive you to behave like this in public. https://t.co/qeb8y0vwpl

— John Hawkins (@johnhawkinsrwn) July 18, 2024

Until this week, my yardstick for the best convention ever was the 1992 DNC, also held in July of that year. Set smack dab in the middle of New York City and choreographed to the nth degree, that was the coronation ceremony for Bill Clinton. It was as masterful and cheerful a couple of days as anything the country had seen in quite a while. Of course, it didn't hurt that Willy Jeff had his Hollywood friends produce the incredibly effective biographical "The Man From Hope" to formally introduce the candidate. And that year, Democrats also went with a more centrist message - a positive one in the middle of a recession and inflationary cycle.

The next month, the RNC in Houston looked like a snarling, angry disaster by comparison. Pat Buchanan was on the warpath from day one, declaring, literally, a "culture war" in a 35-minute-long, angry harangue, and it went downhill from there. The mood was just bitter and dark, dark, dark.

I foresee next month's DNC unfolding as an exponential expansion of darkness sprinkled with...jeez. I don't even want to go there.

But it was easy to see why Clinton won. And I have never forgotten that.

You can't beat hope. 

You can't beat the American spirit - you feed it. Americans feed on challenge and promise. 

And decency. We are, at heart, compassionate, decent people who are fiercely independent but there in an instant to help those who truly need it.

Acknowledge who and what's wrong, but show so much of what's right. Then show us where and how we're going to straighten things out.

Celebrate who we are.

That's precisely what this RNC is doing with these wonderful "every guy" speakers we can all relate to. Even with our own Vice Presidential nominee's story.

BY GOD, ONLY IN AMERICA, AND BE PROUD OF IT

This RNC, so far, has been brilliant in its pacing, its messaging, and its appeal to ALL Americans.

Tonight's main event, with a remarkably emotional, subdued, and thoughtful former President Trump as the centerpiece - only days removed from an attempt on his life - should really be something.

You can't beat hope, and you can't beat Americans when they are filled with joy and promise.

It's downright contagious.