Things I don't understand about American politics:

1. Why do presidential candidates' families need to be so visible? Why are
people entitled, or even required, to give a speech at a party convention
just because they happen to be related to a candidate?

2. A lot of the commentary I'm seeing about the Republican convention says
they're trying to shift to the centre, but there's concern that the more
right-wing neocons will feel alienated. Why are they concerned about that?
Who else do they think the neocons are going to vote for? It seems to me
that if all the parties are to the left of you, you don't really have any
choice but to vote for the right-most party.

3. There seem to be some people saying that John Kerry was not entitled to
protest the Vietnam war. But it's a fact of public record that he was in
the Vietnam war. If fighting in combat in a war doesn't give a person the
right to protest that war, by those people's standards, what does?