Republicans grab golden moment to push Bush re-election hopes

ALL the Republican convention in Manhattan was short of this week was a guest appearance by the eccentric former priest Neil Horan.

What may have deterred him, after his Olympian performance in Athens was that he probably reckoned there would be wackier people than he at the convention of the Grand Old Party. Given that they were there to rubber-stamp George W Bush as their presidential nominee once again, and predictably did, he was right to give it a skip.

Whatever about being on a mental plane slightly higher than your average Republican (the American variety, not the domestic strain) the reverend would comfortably have been a soulmate with many of the delegates.