In the spotlight

Kris Kobach got his big opportunity to address the Republican National Convention today and if you blinked, you missed it.

His campaign said he would be one of a "handful" of congressional candidates to speak, and he was...if you consider 24 a "handful." (To be fair, one of the two dozen speakers in his group was running for Puerto Rico delegate, but that post is in the House.)

By our count, Kobach said 122 words -- almost a quarter of them were used to criticize Congressman Moore (though not by name.) Some version of "terrorist" appeared four times in less than 30 seconds...we haven't seen a single word uttered that often in such a short period since The Smurfs went off the air.

Kobach said he "took concrete steps to fight terrorism" ...but apparently not concrete enough, because he also says we're still "at risk."

Kobach said he "saw how effective the National Guard can be in protecting our borders against terrorist infiltration" ...but apparently not so effective as to cause the Republican House, Republican Senate, and Republican President to pass his idea to deploy the military to the border (we assume it is just the Mexican border, but he isn't clear.)

Plus using the National Guard to defend the American border is a little difficult when they're currently being strained by the need to defend another border.

Also, Rep. Jim Kolbe, a Republican who represents a district in Arizona that borders Mexico and who focuses on border defense, doesn't think posting the military on the border would work, though some fervent Kobach supporters will likely discount his views because he's -- shhhh -- gay.

Kobach continued to claim Moore is weak on defense, even saying his votes put "American citizens at risk." He must not mean Moore's votes for more Customs agents, border security equipment, and other border defenses.

Maybe if we spent more money on Kobach's other pet project -- space-based missile defense -- that'll stop the terrorists...oh, wait...