I can’t help wondering if, on some level, it insults Geraldine Ferraro and the PUMA crowd to be so clearly shown how little respect John McCain and the Republican Party has for them. What McCain is saying with Palin is this: You are all so pathetic that you will vote for any woman I put out there, just because she is a woman. We’ll abolish Roe, send your sons and daughters to Iran, restart the Cold War, watch the economy continue to deteriorate, give tax relief to Big Oil, do nothing about the environment, and you’ll hold the door open for us and smile because I put a woman on my ticket.
The unfortunate truth is that some of them will. All that remains to be seen is how many, and will they be enough to swing this election.
Prediction for VP debates: The PUMAs will surface in the days before the Biden/Palin debate, warning Joe not to “bully” his opponent. And in the days following, regardless of what happens, they will push the argument that he did just that.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
John Kerry
Yes, the John Kerry speech last night was as good as advertised. You can watch it in its entirety below.
Kerry hammers the Republicans on Guantanamo, on torture, and on the failures of judgment, both home and abroad, which have plagued this administration since January of 2001. He should have been featured on every broadcast last night, not talked over by talking heads.
They give us Nancy Pelosi and Ed Rendell, but skip this?
Kerry hammers the Republicans on Guantanamo, on torture, and on the failures of judgment, both home and abroad, which have plagued this administration since January of 2001. He should have been featured on every broadcast last night, not talked over by talking heads.
They give us Nancy Pelosi and Ed Rendell, but skip this?
The DNC, Night 3: Bubba, Biden...and Barack?
Sure, I’ll have another. Why not?
7:05pm: The news has broken while America wrapped up the work day, commuted home, and ate dinner. Barack Obama has been officially nominated by this convention, with the roll call of states being cut short by Hillary Clinton’s call for a unanimous affirmation. This was probably another necessary step towards reconciliation, but it does continue the unfortunate trend of making the Clintons the stars of this show. And we haven’t even heard from Bill yet.
Meanwhile in the Bronx: Jason Bay doubles, scoring Dustin Pedroia and Big Papi. Red Sox lead 2-0 in the top of the 1st.
7:19: Senator Chuck Schumer of New York is on the convention floor with Andrea Miller. People don’t give Hillary enough credit, says Chuck, because she always does the right thing. Some people would have pouted and gone halfway, but not her. Speaking of pouting, replies Mitchell, what about Bill? And no, Senator, I have no interest in buying the Brooklyn Bridge. (OK, I made that last part up.)
7:22: Keith Olbermann reports that the former President Clinton, not to be confused with the former candidate Clinton, has been allotted ten minutes to speak. The bulk of his remarks, according to aides, are about the readiness of Barack Obama to lead this nation. We shall see.
7:26: Montana Senator Jon Tester has been traveling with Obama and arrived in Denver only today. Montana, for the first time in almost anyone’s memory, may actually be in play this time around. Both Bob Barr and Ron Paul will be on the ballot there, and that is bad news for John McCain. Three electoral votes don’t sound like much, but when you start playing with the electoral math they can swing the election one way or the other. McCain needs to hold onto states like Montana, just as Barack needs to repeat John Kerry’s feat of winning New Hampshire. The Electoral College…its FANtastic!
Meanwhile in the Bronx: Johnny Damon leads off for the Yankees and promptly strikes out. He is unhappy with that strike three call (to say the least) and the replay shows he may have had a point. Too bad, so sad. Next up is Derek Jeter who is robbed on a shot to right by a diving Jacoby Ellsbury. Already this doesn’t look like the Yankees night.
I’m so torn about what to watch. Knowing it would be tough, with hard decisions to be made, I opted to set up shop in my bedroom rather than the living room. This makes it much easier to flip around, sometimes even when the right moment doesn’t quite feel right at first. Case in point:
7:31: Norah! Hi baby. She makes the case that even Republicans are feeling pride in their country this day after having watched a black man become the nominee of a major political party. Pat Buchanan reports that this has been the most exciting campaign of his lifetime, and he heaps praise on Hillary. Buchanan throughout has been adamant that the roll call not be cut short, and now that is has he lashes out at the powers of both parties who feel they need to hide legitimate divisions within their ranks. Then we get a glimpse of why I’ve grown to love Pat:
“In 1996, a young delegate from Michigan told me that she had warned not to vote for me during the roll call, and warned that she would be thrown out of the convention and the party if she did. I said, listen, don’t ruin your life over this. She began to cry, I felt like crying…and later on I watched as she voted for me anyway. And you know what? They threw her out! It was wrong then and it is wrong now, in both parties. People’s voices should be heard.” Well said, even though I feel many of those voices we are talking about this time around are crazy.
7:53: Final Jeopardy: I wander through the house just in time to catch Final Jeopardy. We’ve added an extra level of fun to the game. Instead of just trying to come up with the answer, we try to come up with the answer during the break after Alex reads the category and before we see the clue. When you can do that then you know you are a trivia pro. Or just quite lucky. One of the two.
Tonight’s category is “U.S. Presidents”. I think about it for a moment, look at my roommate Nikki and say, “Teddy Roosevelt.” Alex appears again and reads the following:
“At aged 50, he was the youngest President to leave office.”
Bing, Bang, BOOM! I am a golden god.
Meanwhile in the Bronx: Kevin Youkilis hits into a double-play to end the top of the 3rd. Boston leads 2-1.
8:00pm: Jimmy Carter joins Chris and Keith, proclaiming himself “the world’s foremost expert on divided parties.” The conversation starts with his humble beginnings in a rural area of Georgia where the Carters were the only white family. We segue to this election, to racial tensions, and does Carter think the party can come together? (Yes.) Then it is on to FEMA, which Carter created (who knew?) and the prospects of Gustav becoming another Katrina. Says the former president, “Brownie is gone, and Bush’s other cronies are gone, so things should be better.” Let us hope.
Meanwhile in the Bronx: We’re tied at 2 in the bottom of the 4th inning. The Yankees have men on first and third, with two outs, and newly acquired “Pudge” Rodriguez at the plate. Pudge isn’t quite living up to that nickname since steroid testing came in. I wonder if the two are connected. Sox starter Paul Byrd gets him to pop out to end the inning.
8:27: Sirens erupt on the street behind MSNBC’s outdoor broadcast position just as the network cuts away to a clip of Melissa Etheridge covering Born in the USA. The sirens continue over the music, and the effect is quite surreal.
8:45: Hillary, Chelsea, and my drinking buddy Terry McAuliffe take their positions in the royal box. The drama is building for Bill.
Meanwhile in the Bronx: 4-2 Boston in the middle of the 5th. Paul Byrd has apparently complained to the umpires twice between innings about something going on behind home plate. Security has been alerted and Sox’ color man Jerry Remy surmises that someone might have a laser pointer. Ah, New York. Classy till the very end.
8:52: Rachel Maddow appears to argue that the unity issue was settled last night. Bill Clinton’s job tonight is to boost Obama and hit the GOP hard.
Everyone laughs at the idea that this speech will be limited to ten minutes. He may not even be warmed up by then.
8:59: The camera finds Jennifer Garner and Jessica Alba sitting side by side in the crowd. Mmm…Alias and the Dark Angel. The Republicans cannot compete with that kind of talent, Bo Derek or no Bo Derek.
9:00pm: And there is Bill.
Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow.
Yesterday’s gone.
Yesterday’s gone.
Remember when that song represented a fresh start after 12 years of Reagan and Bush? Now it signifies a final end to 16 years of the Clintons. Yesterday really is gone, Bill, and it ain’t coming back.
I’d be hard-pressed to give you another example of someone who has so completely shattered my perception of them in such a short period of time. I LOVED Bill Clinton at this same time a year ago. Now I cringe when he comes on screen.
The applause is both thunderous and endless. The crowd just will not stop. He loves it at first, but that slowly morphs into annoyance. “Y’all sit down; we gotta get on with the show here.”
Finally he does get going and delivers what I freely admit was a fucking awesome speech.
His trademark line, “My fellow Americans”, has been replaced by “My fellow Democrats.”
“I am here first to support Barack Obama, and second to warm up the crowd for Joe Biden.” He loves Joe Biden.
Onto the campaign, and while his candidate didn’t win, he is still so very proud of her. We get a shot of Hillary grinning from the royal box. Then we get a shot of Michelle Obama again being forced to put on a happy face while the Clintons celebrate themselves. Michelle really is the MVP thus far of this convention.
But then, to my shock, Bill reels it in and goes 110% for Barack Obama. “Hillary told us in no uncertain terms that she will do everything she can to help Barack Obama. That makes two of us. Actually, that makes 18 million of us.” The room erupts.
Bill has been all over the world, been a governor, a president, and a father, and through all that he has learned one thing: Barack Obama is the right man for this job. Wow, even I want to stand and cheer. We get another shot of Michelle, and this time the smile is genuine.
On Bush’s bumbling of Iraq and Afghanistan: “The world has always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power.” Goddamn this man can give a speech.
He lists off some of the GOP’s recent crimes and then closes with, “My fellow Democrats, America can do better than that, and Barack Obama will do better than that.”
Yep, that is why I loved the guy for all those years. Great job. I really didn’t think he had that kind of speech still in him, and even if he did, I never believed for a second in his desire to give it. I was wrong. Take your bow, Mr. President, you deserve it.
9:28: Tom Brokaw: “Elvis was back in the building tonight.”
Meanwhile in the Bronx: The Red Sox still lead 4-2 in the bottom of the 7th.
9:36: Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts is at the podium…and we go to commercial. What a difference four years makes.
Meanwhile in the Bronx: We’re now in the 8th inning with the score still 4-2. I just noticed that fat Bobby Bacala from The Sopranos is sitting behind home plate. Could that be what Byrd was pointing at? Probably not.
Jason Bay hits a ball to right field that Bobby Abreu plays into a triple. You really do have to love this Yankees team, especially if you are a Bostonian. Kevin Youkilis scores on the play to make it 5-2.
9:43: Drudge is reporting (or, more accurately, linking to somebody else’s report) that John McCain has settled on his VP selection, that he will notify that person tomorrow, and that the public announcement will come Friday at 11am. Mitt Romney seems to be the odds on favorite, but Tim Pawlenty, Governor of Minnesota, and Joe Lieberman, Jackass of Connecticut, are in the mix as well. The wild card seems to be Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson of Texas. At this point she almost seems likely. What better way to woo the PUMA crowd than with a woman?
Meanwhile in the Bronx: We’re still in the 8th, but the Red Sox now lead 7-2. The bases are loaded with one out and Dustin Pedroia at the plate. The crowd in Yankee Stadium, most of whom paid big bucks for tickets, is completely deflated. The rush to beat the traffic is going to start any minute.
GRAND SLAM! 11-2 Boston leads. You really could almost sense that coming. And there goes the crowd. Thanks for coming!
10:05: I flip back just in time to catch Mike Murphy, former Republican strategist and one of the token right-wingers at MSNBC, taunting the crowd by announcing that he is sure both Bill and Hillary are going to quietly vote for John McCain. He may or may not be correct, but it really is just salt in the wound at this point anyway. The crowd is pissed, Murphy is giddy, and it leads to this:
Matthews: “Mike, where in sane America would you find an audience to agree with you?”
Keith (clearly agitated): “Wrap him up already!”
Next week in St. Paul is going to be great TV.
Meanwhile in the Bronx: Somehow the Yankees got out of the inning, but A-Rod grounds out again for out number three and the Sox are coming back up.
10:14: Norah O’Donnell is talking up John Kerry’s speech. Andrew Sullivan is doing the same online. Wish I’d seen it.
10:17: We cut back to the podium because Beau Biden is about to introduce his father, but unless Beau is a large black woman then something is wrong. Nope, her name is Quincy Lucas and she is placing Biden’s name into nomination for Vice President. Nancy Pelosi appears to call for the vote, and she again adds nothing to the proceedings. But the deed is done, and Joe Biden is the nominee.
Video Tribute! You know, in its own way, the story of Joe Biden is every bit as compelling as the story of Barack Obama. I think what we’ve learned tonight is that both Bill Clinton and Jim Viall love Joe Biden.
Meanwhile in the Bronx: Sox win! 11-3 is your final score.
10:23: There is Beau Biden. Did you know he is the Attorney General of Delaware? Neither did I, but come to think of it, why would we?
After the accident that took his mother and sister and injured him and his brother, his father refused to go to Washington to be sworn in. “Delaware can get another senator, but my children cannot get another father.” OK, it’s getting a little dusty in here again.
10:28: Joe! He is still fighting back tears, just like last night. I’m getting the sense that is just his way, and it makes me like the guy even more.
BREAKING NEWS: The Obama motorcade just drove by the MSNBC broadcast location heading in the general direction of the Pepsi Center. You could clearly see him waving to the crowd through the window. OK, that was awesome.
Is the nominee about to make an unscheduled appearance?
Joe Biden is thanking the crowd—AND John Kerry. Shit, what did I miss? Should I be watching CNN?
“Since I have never been called a man of few words, let me say it as simply as I can: Yes. Yes, I accept your nomination to be Vice President.”
He reminisces about his dad and points to his mom up in the balcony. Things are getting dustier and dustier. She used to tell him to bloody the bully’s nose so that he could walk down the street with his head held high. We see mom saying, “That’s true” to the person beside her. Classic.
And then we hear about the long train ride back to Delaware that Joe Biden takes every night. The houses pass by the window and he can imagine the conversations inside. The war, the price of gas, the price of heating oil, the price of food. These are the real concerns of Americans. And Barack Obama can help.
Great line: “The future that George…I mean John McCain will give us is more of the same.”
Biden is not nearly as smooth a speaker as Bill Clinton, but every word he says comes across as completely heartfelt and honest. That is his strength.
His is joined onstage by wife Jill, who announces that she has a surprise for him.
The equation is simple: Barack Obama = Bedlam. The crowd goes absolutely crazy. This is great to see after three straight nights of the Clinton show.
“Now you know why I am so proud to have Joe Biden, and Jill Biden, and Beau Biden, and Mama Biden, and the whole Biden clan on my side.”
He praises Michelle, and thanks both Bill and Hillary. Now it is the Clintons’ turn to wear phony smiles. This was not part of the plan, and you can see it on Hillary’s face. Bill, of course, hides it better.
This was a brilliant move on the part of the Obama campaign. By appearing the way he did, unannounced and without warning, he took back this convention from the Clintons. Barack Obama reminded everyone who is the true star of this show—and who truly won that primary fight. The Clintons may or may not be planning for 2012, but the Democratic Party is planning for November.
Back tomorrow, when this show moves outside.
7:05pm: The news has broken while America wrapped up the work day, commuted home, and ate dinner. Barack Obama has been officially nominated by this convention, with the roll call of states being cut short by Hillary Clinton’s call for a unanimous affirmation. This was probably another necessary step towards reconciliation, but it does continue the unfortunate trend of making the Clintons the stars of this show. And we haven’t even heard from Bill yet.
Meanwhile in the Bronx: Jason Bay doubles, scoring Dustin Pedroia and Big Papi. Red Sox lead 2-0 in the top of the 1st.
7:19: Senator Chuck Schumer of New York is on the convention floor with Andrea Miller. People don’t give Hillary enough credit, says Chuck, because she always does the right thing. Some people would have pouted and gone halfway, but not her. Speaking of pouting, replies Mitchell, what about Bill? And no, Senator, I have no interest in buying the Brooklyn Bridge. (OK, I made that last part up.)
7:22: Keith Olbermann reports that the former President Clinton, not to be confused with the former candidate Clinton, has been allotted ten minutes to speak. The bulk of his remarks, according to aides, are about the readiness of Barack Obama to lead this nation. We shall see.
7:26: Montana Senator Jon Tester has been traveling with Obama and arrived in Denver only today. Montana, for the first time in almost anyone’s memory, may actually be in play this time around. Both Bob Barr and Ron Paul will be on the ballot there, and that is bad news for John McCain. Three electoral votes don’t sound like much, but when you start playing with the electoral math they can swing the election one way or the other. McCain needs to hold onto states like Montana, just as Barack needs to repeat John Kerry’s feat of winning New Hampshire. The Electoral College…its FANtastic!
Meanwhile in the Bronx: Johnny Damon leads off for the Yankees and promptly strikes out. He is unhappy with that strike three call (to say the least) and the replay shows he may have had a point. Too bad, so sad. Next up is Derek Jeter who is robbed on a shot to right by a diving Jacoby Ellsbury. Already this doesn’t look like the Yankees night.
I’m so torn about what to watch. Knowing it would be tough, with hard decisions to be made, I opted to set up shop in my bedroom rather than the living room. This makes it much easier to flip around, sometimes even when the right moment doesn’t quite feel right at first. Case in point:
7:31: Norah! Hi baby. She makes the case that even Republicans are feeling pride in their country this day after having watched a black man become the nominee of a major political party. Pat Buchanan reports that this has been the most exciting campaign of his lifetime, and he heaps praise on Hillary. Buchanan throughout has been adamant that the roll call not be cut short, and now that is has he lashes out at the powers of both parties who feel they need to hide legitimate divisions within their ranks. Then we get a glimpse of why I’ve grown to love Pat:
“In 1996, a young delegate from Michigan told me that she had warned not to vote for me during the roll call, and warned that she would be thrown out of the convention and the party if she did. I said, listen, don’t ruin your life over this. She began to cry, I felt like crying…and later on I watched as she voted for me anyway. And you know what? They threw her out! It was wrong then and it is wrong now, in both parties. People’s voices should be heard.” Well said, even though I feel many of those voices we are talking about this time around are crazy.
7:53: Final Jeopardy: I wander through the house just in time to catch Final Jeopardy. We’ve added an extra level of fun to the game. Instead of just trying to come up with the answer, we try to come up with the answer during the break after Alex reads the category and before we see the clue. When you can do that then you know you are a trivia pro. Or just quite lucky. One of the two.
Tonight’s category is “U.S. Presidents”. I think about it for a moment, look at my roommate Nikki and say, “Teddy Roosevelt.” Alex appears again and reads the following:
“At aged 50, he was the youngest President to leave office.”
Bing, Bang, BOOM! I am a golden god.
Meanwhile in the Bronx: Kevin Youkilis hits into a double-play to end the top of the 3rd. Boston leads 2-1.
8:00pm: Jimmy Carter joins Chris and Keith, proclaiming himself “the world’s foremost expert on divided parties.” The conversation starts with his humble beginnings in a rural area of Georgia where the Carters were the only white family. We segue to this election, to racial tensions, and does Carter think the party can come together? (Yes.) Then it is on to FEMA, which Carter created (who knew?) and the prospects of Gustav becoming another Katrina. Says the former president, “Brownie is gone, and Bush’s other cronies are gone, so things should be better.” Let us hope.
Meanwhile in the Bronx: We’re tied at 2 in the bottom of the 4th inning. The Yankees have men on first and third, with two outs, and newly acquired “Pudge” Rodriguez at the plate. Pudge isn’t quite living up to that nickname since steroid testing came in. I wonder if the two are connected. Sox starter Paul Byrd gets him to pop out to end the inning.
8:27: Sirens erupt on the street behind MSNBC’s outdoor broadcast position just as the network cuts away to a clip of Melissa Etheridge covering Born in the USA. The sirens continue over the music, and the effect is quite surreal.
8:45: Hillary, Chelsea, and my drinking buddy Terry McAuliffe take their positions in the royal box. The drama is building for Bill.
Meanwhile in the Bronx: 4-2 Boston in the middle of the 5th. Paul Byrd has apparently complained to the umpires twice between innings about something going on behind home plate. Security has been alerted and Sox’ color man Jerry Remy surmises that someone might have a laser pointer. Ah, New York. Classy till the very end.
8:52: Rachel Maddow appears to argue that the unity issue was settled last night. Bill Clinton’s job tonight is to boost Obama and hit the GOP hard.
Everyone laughs at the idea that this speech will be limited to ten minutes. He may not even be warmed up by then.
8:59: The camera finds Jennifer Garner and Jessica Alba sitting side by side in the crowd. Mmm…Alias and the Dark Angel. The Republicans cannot compete with that kind of talent, Bo Derek or no Bo Derek.
9:00pm: And there is Bill.
Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow.
Yesterday’s gone.
Yesterday’s gone.
Remember when that song represented a fresh start after 12 years of Reagan and Bush? Now it signifies a final end to 16 years of the Clintons. Yesterday really is gone, Bill, and it ain’t coming back.
I’d be hard-pressed to give you another example of someone who has so completely shattered my perception of them in such a short period of time. I LOVED Bill Clinton at this same time a year ago. Now I cringe when he comes on screen.
The applause is both thunderous and endless. The crowd just will not stop. He loves it at first, but that slowly morphs into annoyance. “Y’all sit down; we gotta get on with the show here.”
Finally he does get going and delivers what I freely admit was a fucking awesome speech.
His trademark line, “My fellow Americans”, has been replaced by “My fellow Democrats.”
“I am here first to support Barack Obama, and second to warm up the crowd for Joe Biden.” He loves Joe Biden.
Onto the campaign, and while his candidate didn’t win, he is still so very proud of her. We get a shot of Hillary grinning from the royal box. Then we get a shot of Michelle Obama again being forced to put on a happy face while the Clintons celebrate themselves. Michelle really is the MVP thus far of this convention.
But then, to my shock, Bill reels it in and goes 110% for Barack Obama. “Hillary told us in no uncertain terms that she will do everything she can to help Barack Obama. That makes two of us. Actually, that makes 18 million of us.” The room erupts.
Bill has been all over the world, been a governor, a president, and a father, and through all that he has learned one thing: Barack Obama is the right man for this job. Wow, even I want to stand and cheer. We get another shot of Michelle, and this time the smile is genuine.
On Bush’s bumbling of Iraq and Afghanistan: “The world has always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power.” Goddamn this man can give a speech.
He lists off some of the GOP’s recent crimes and then closes with, “My fellow Democrats, America can do better than that, and Barack Obama will do better than that.”
Yep, that is why I loved the guy for all those years. Great job. I really didn’t think he had that kind of speech still in him, and even if he did, I never believed for a second in his desire to give it. I was wrong. Take your bow, Mr. President, you deserve it.
9:28: Tom Brokaw: “Elvis was back in the building tonight.”
Meanwhile in the Bronx: The Red Sox still lead 4-2 in the bottom of the 7th.
9:36: Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts is at the podium…and we go to commercial. What a difference four years makes.
Meanwhile in the Bronx: We’re now in the 8th inning with the score still 4-2. I just noticed that fat Bobby Bacala from The Sopranos is sitting behind home plate. Could that be what Byrd was pointing at? Probably not.
Jason Bay hits a ball to right field that Bobby Abreu plays into a triple. You really do have to love this Yankees team, especially if you are a Bostonian. Kevin Youkilis scores on the play to make it 5-2.
9:43: Drudge is reporting (or, more accurately, linking to somebody else’s report) that John McCain has settled on his VP selection, that he will notify that person tomorrow, and that the public announcement will come Friday at 11am. Mitt Romney seems to be the odds on favorite, but Tim Pawlenty, Governor of Minnesota, and Joe Lieberman, Jackass of Connecticut, are in the mix as well. The wild card seems to be Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson of Texas. At this point she almost seems likely. What better way to woo the PUMA crowd than with a woman?
Meanwhile in the Bronx: We’re still in the 8th, but the Red Sox now lead 7-2. The bases are loaded with one out and Dustin Pedroia at the plate. The crowd in Yankee Stadium, most of whom paid big bucks for tickets, is completely deflated. The rush to beat the traffic is going to start any minute.
GRAND SLAM! 11-2 Boston leads. You really could almost sense that coming. And there goes the crowd. Thanks for coming!
10:05: I flip back just in time to catch Mike Murphy, former Republican strategist and one of the token right-wingers at MSNBC, taunting the crowd by announcing that he is sure both Bill and Hillary are going to quietly vote for John McCain. He may or may not be correct, but it really is just salt in the wound at this point anyway. The crowd is pissed, Murphy is giddy, and it leads to this:
Matthews: “Mike, where in sane America would you find an audience to agree with you?”
Keith (clearly agitated): “Wrap him up already!”
Next week in St. Paul is going to be great TV.
Meanwhile in the Bronx: Somehow the Yankees got out of the inning, but A-Rod grounds out again for out number three and the Sox are coming back up.
10:14: Norah O’Donnell is talking up John Kerry’s speech. Andrew Sullivan is doing the same online. Wish I’d seen it.
10:17: We cut back to the podium because Beau Biden is about to introduce his father, but unless Beau is a large black woman then something is wrong. Nope, her name is Quincy Lucas and she is placing Biden’s name into nomination for Vice President. Nancy Pelosi appears to call for the vote, and she again adds nothing to the proceedings. But the deed is done, and Joe Biden is the nominee.
Video Tribute! You know, in its own way, the story of Joe Biden is every bit as compelling as the story of Barack Obama. I think what we’ve learned tonight is that both Bill Clinton and Jim Viall love Joe Biden.
Meanwhile in the Bronx: Sox win! 11-3 is your final score.
10:23: There is Beau Biden. Did you know he is the Attorney General of Delaware? Neither did I, but come to think of it, why would we?
After the accident that took his mother and sister and injured him and his brother, his father refused to go to Washington to be sworn in. “Delaware can get another senator, but my children cannot get another father.” OK, it’s getting a little dusty in here again.
10:28: Joe! He is still fighting back tears, just like last night. I’m getting the sense that is just his way, and it makes me like the guy even more.
BREAKING NEWS: The Obama motorcade just drove by the MSNBC broadcast location heading in the general direction of the Pepsi Center. You could clearly see him waving to the crowd through the window. OK, that was awesome.
Is the nominee about to make an unscheduled appearance?
Joe Biden is thanking the crowd—AND John Kerry. Shit, what did I miss? Should I be watching CNN?
“Since I have never been called a man of few words, let me say it as simply as I can: Yes. Yes, I accept your nomination to be Vice President.”
He reminisces about his dad and points to his mom up in the balcony. Things are getting dustier and dustier. She used to tell him to bloody the bully’s nose so that he could walk down the street with his head held high. We see mom saying, “That’s true” to the person beside her. Classic.
And then we hear about the long train ride back to Delaware that Joe Biden takes every night. The houses pass by the window and he can imagine the conversations inside. The war, the price of gas, the price of heating oil, the price of food. These are the real concerns of Americans. And Barack Obama can help.
Great line: “The future that George…I mean John McCain will give us is more of the same.”
Biden is not nearly as smooth a speaker as Bill Clinton, but every word he says comes across as completely heartfelt and honest. That is his strength.
His is joined onstage by wife Jill, who announces that she has a surprise for him.
The equation is simple: Barack Obama = Bedlam. The crowd goes absolutely crazy. This is great to see after three straight nights of the Clinton show.
“Now you know why I am so proud to have Joe Biden, and Jill Biden, and Beau Biden, and Mama Biden, and the whole Biden clan on my side.”
He praises Michelle, and thanks both Bill and Hillary. Now it is the Clintons’ turn to wear phony smiles. This was not part of the plan, and you can see it on Hillary’s face. Bill, of course, hides it better.
This was a brilliant move on the part of the Obama campaign. By appearing the way he did, unannounced and without warning, he took back this convention from the Clintons. Barack Obama reminded everyone who is the true star of this show—and who truly won that primary fight. The Clintons may or may not be planning for 2012, but the Democratic Party is planning for November.
Back tomorrow, when this show moves outside.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
The DNC, Night 2: The Hillary Show
And…we’re back.
7:10pm: Joe Scarborough checks in to report David Axelrod and the Obama people have indeed seen Hillary’s speech, and they couldn’t be happier. Also, the word is that the Clintons have become much more cooperative over the last 12-24 hours. I remain dubious.
Meanwhile in the Bronx: In a bit of scheduling hell, the Red Sox have traveled to Yankee Stadium for what may be the final time before the “House That Ruth Built” is demolished. It will take all of my remote control skills to keep up with happenings both in the Bronx and in Denver over these next three nights, but I feel up to the challenge.
Andy Pettite gives up back to back walks, putting Youkilis and Papi on first and second respectively with two outs. New local hero Jason Bay, AKA the Guy Who Replaced Manny, steps in.
Bay runs the count full before popping out to end the inning. Ugh.
We move to the bottom of the 1st, and my man Tim Wakefield is back on the mound for the Sox after a stint on the DL!
Johnny Damon hits a leadoff homerun for the Yankees. Crap.
I flip around a bit before catching A-Rod striking out to end the inning.
7:27: Pennsylvania Governor and Clintonista Ed Rendell is next up to speak in Denver. Rendell made waves earlier today for comparing Obama to Adlai Stevenson. Now, Stevenson is looked up to around this blog, but in most places he is remembered primarily for being the guy who lost the presidential election to Eisenhower. Twice. Not the best comparison Rendell could have made, and suspicions continue to mount that there are forces in Denver aligning against the nominee.
Rendell hits some high notes in his speech, reminiscing about the price of gas eight years ago ($1.50!) and informing us that the only thing green about John McCain’s energy policy is tax relief for Big Oil. I chuckle at both of these lines, but the room is dead and you have to wonder if the hall is half empty. It’s like a boxing match in Vegas, with all the high rollers waiting till the very last minute before the main event to appear. And the main event tonight is, of course, Hillary Clinton.
7:36: Chris Matthews wonders why there has been no mention from the podium thus far of Dick Cheney. “He is the least popular American of the last hundred years. You’d think somebody would come up with a one-liner about him.” Good point.
Meanwhile in the Bronx: We have BREAKING NEWS! To the surprise of exactly no one, JD Drew has been placed on the DL just in time for the stretch run. Remember kids, no one is better at getting out of games than good ol’ JD.
The Sox tied the game at 1 while Rendell was speaking, so I have one more reason to dislike the Governor of Pennsylvania.
7:47: Former Clinton staffer Lisa Caputo laughs off Chris Matthews’ assertion that the Clintons could be plotting for 2012 as ridiculous. After all, Hillary has been campaigning for Obama since June! Um…well…yes, but wouldn’t it be fair to say, Lisa, that her campaigning has had just a wee bit to do with paying down the ridiculous campaign debt she ran up after the race was more or less over? Just a wee bit? You think? Maybe?
Meanwhile in the Bronx: A-Rod grounds into a double-play to end the 3rd inning. Boston now leads 3-2.
8pm: Chris Matthews compares the Obama/Clinton tension to the problems in Northern Ireland. Keith Olbermann channels Ted Theodore Logan, urging everyone to pretty much be excellent to each other. (I’m paraphrasing, but that is damn close to what he said.)
I’m not sure who initially raised it, but an interesting conversation arises about how little power Hillary may even have to turn back the tide of anger in her supporters. She spent months pretending she had been slighted, pretending that the nomination had been wrongfully taken away, pretending that Obama was not qualified—and her people believed every word of it. Even is she comes around 180 degrees now on every point, will it be enough to bring her diehards back into the party fold? Maybe not.
8:24: Howard Fineman reports on the situation surrounding the convention roll call vote. Hillary’s vocal minority of supporters are adamant that the roll call must be held, in its entirety, “for the sake of history.” Fineman also lets us know that the bulk of Clinton’s remarks tonight will be about herself, her campaign, and her place in history. She should be attacking McCain—not setting herself up for 2012.
No one proves their detractors right quite like Hillary Clinton.
8:28: Terry McAuliffe appears for an interview and, as is usual, that is my cue to pour a cocktail.
8:35: We’re back. Is there a name for orange vodka and ginger ale? If not then I am officially submitting “Jimmy V” for approval.
“What’ll you have?”
“Um…gimme a Jimmy V.”
I like it.
Meanwhile in the Bronx: The Sox are up 6-3 in the 5th inning. Should I be paying more attention to this game? I feel perhaps I should be. A-Rod pops out with men on first and second, AND THE BOO BIRDS ARE OUT IN NEW YORK! It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. Really.
8:46: I’ll admit it: All the hype and spin about tonight is slowly burning me out. I’d be happier in bed. Happier, yes, but less fulfilled. So I suffer on for you, dear reader!
8:52: Rachel Maddow opines, “If Hillary Clinton is going to stand up for women and for feminism then she needs to condemn these ads from John McCain in which he is clearly using her.” (Me nodding.)
Pat Buchanan retorts, “If she is serious about helping Obama get elected then she will gut McCain from the podium tonight. I don’t think it happens.” (The nodding slowly morphs into a disgusted shaking of the head.)
9:07: The marathon coverage is taking its toll. Matthews and Olbermann are bickering at each other on live TV. That was both ugly and embarrassing. Poor Steny Hoyer, Majority Leader of the House, is forced to sit by and watch this spectacle unfold while he waits to be interviewed. Moving on…
9:11: Andrea Mitchell interviews Virginia Governor and VP shortlister Tim Kaine. Yep, still wouldn’t know Tim Kaine if he walked into the room. Joe Biden was a much better choice.
9:19: Much to my horror, Spike Lee appears on the convention floor. He is described as “a keen observer of race relations” and lets us know that he himself is only five generations removed from being a slave. The t-shirt of Obama dunking a basketball over John McCain is a nice touch.
Meanwhile in the Bronx: Boston leads New York 7-3 in the bottom of the 7th inning.
9:29: Pennsylvania Senator (and pro-lifer) Bob Casey appears at the podium. Casey, to put it gently, is a bland speaker. He does manage to get the crowd to chant “four more months” in reference to George Bush, which is impressive.
Chris Matthews: “People are paying attention now. It takes a while to get them interested, but if the price of gas gets out of control, or there is a questionable war, or the country is being led by a clown, then people get interested.” Wow. How this same crew will be able to cover the GOP next week is beyond me.
Meanwhile in the Bronx: I flip back just in time to see A-Rod hit into another double-play, this one induced by my boy Justin Masterson! The score is still 7-3.
9:41: Former Virginia Governor and current candidate for US Senate Mark Warner appears onstage. Warner has set a new record for length of time spent as the “next big thing” without ever having taken a shot at being the “big thing”. His window might very well be closing. If he isn’t sworn in as a senator in January then it is officially closed.
And we quickly learn the problem with Warner: He can’t hold his audience. Most of the crowd in Denver is looking for Hillary, and I’m flipping back to the game. (Still 7-3)
10:15: The countdown is on. The video tribute! The speech! NEXT!
Meanwhile in the Bronx: It is all over at Yankee Stadium. Sox win, Sox win, Sox win!
10:31: Bill Richardson stops by to let us know that the party is fine, there are no divisions…but, no, he hasn’t spoken to Bill Clinton and he’s pretty sure that the former president is still royally pissed. OK then.
10:35: A great shot of Michelle Obama and Joe Biden greeting Jimmy Carter in the balcony. This is juxtaposed against Bill Clinton swooping in like Caesar to the imperial box. It is clear on this night that there are two parties right now, the legitimate one led by Barack Obama and something much darker and uglier led by the Clintons.
10:38: The video tribute begins. My notes on it are quite thin. In fact they are non-existent. I’m not quite sure why. Obviously, nothing of importance happened.
10:42: Finally, there she is, clad in an orange pantsuit and greeted by thunderous applause. This is Hillary’s big moment…a full two nights before she had hoped it would occur. So sad…
MSNBC finds a shot of a Clinton supporter with her sign held upside down. We go back to her three separate times.
Bill Clinton mouths, “I love you.” Awww.
She trots out the unity card early, telling the audience, “Barack Obama is my candidate and he MUST be our next president!” To her credit, it sounded convincing.
She pays tribute to the murdered Arkansas Democratic Party Chairman, Bill Gwatney, and to the late Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, one of her most ardent supporters. This was classy and well done.
Onto policy, and this speech becomes more about what she wants to do than about her as a person or candidate. But, she makes it sound like Obama will sign her healthcare bill into law. That is a pipe dream.
Clinton compliments Michelle Obama, and the camera finds Michelle in the audience, doing her very best to flash a convincing smile. (She pulls it off.)
She wraps up by noting, “It is fitting that George Bush and John McCain will be in the Twin Cities next week, because they are awful hard to tell apart!” Kick, wham, stunner.
11:08: Keith Olbermann announces, “Grand slam.” He’s right. That was one hell of a speech. Clinton did a masterful job of delivering it, too. I don’t think she said enough to defuse the tensions swirling around this convention, but what she did say sounded genuine.
What didn’t she say? She never came out and said that Barack Obama was ready to be President of the United States. That should have been a focal point, the focal point, and its omission is glaring.
Bedtime. Until tomorrow…
7:10pm: Joe Scarborough checks in to report David Axelrod and the Obama people have indeed seen Hillary’s speech, and they couldn’t be happier. Also, the word is that the Clintons have become much more cooperative over the last 12-24 hours. I remain dubious.
Meanwhile in the Bronx: In a bit of scheduling hell, the Red Sox have traveled to Yankee Stadium for what may be the final time before the “House That Ruth Built” is demolished. It will take all of my remote control skills to keep up with happenings both in the Bronx and in Denver over these next three nights, but I feel up to the challenge.
Andy Pettite gives up back to back walks, putting Youkilis and Papi on first and second respectively with two outs. New local hero Jason Bay, AKA the Guy Who Replaced Manny, steps in.
Bay runs the count full before popping out to end the inning. Ugh.
We move to the bottom of the 1st, and my man Tim Wakefield is back on the mound for the Sox after a stint on the DL!
Johnny Damon hits a leadoff homerun for the Yankees. Crap.
I flip around a bit before catching A-Rod striking out to end the inning.
7:27: Pennsylvania Governor and Clintonista Ed Rendell is next up to speak in Denver. Rendell made waves earlier today for comparing Obama to Adlai Stevenson. Now, Stevenson is looked up to around this blog, but in most places he is remembered primarily for being the guy who lost the presidential election to Eisenhower. Twice. Not the best comparison Rendell could have made, and suspicions continue to mount that there are forces in Denver aligning against the nominee.
Rendell hits some high notes in his speech, reminiscing about the price of gas eight years ago ($1.50!) and informing us that the only thing green about John McCain’s energy policy is tax relief for Big Oil. I chuckle at both of these lines, but the room is dead and you have to wonder if the hall is half empty. It’s like a boxing match in Vegas, with all the high rollers waiting till the very last minute before the main event to appear. And the main event tonight is, of course, Hillary Clinton.
7:36: Chris Matthews wonders why there has been no mention from the podium thus far of Dick Cheney. “He is the least popular American of the last hundred years. You’d think somebody would come up with a one-liner about him.” Good point.
Meanwhile in the Bronx: We have BREAKING NEWS! To the surprise of exactly no one, JD Drew has been placed on the DL just in time for the stretch run. Remember kids, no one is better at getting out of games than good ol’ JD.
The Sox tied the game at 1 while Rendell was speaking, so I have one more reason to dislike the Governor of Pennsylvania.
7:47: Former Clinton staffer Lisa Caputo laughs off Chris Matthews’ assertion that the Clintons could be plotting for 2012 as ridiculous. After all, Hillary has been campaigning for Obama since June! Um…well…yes, but wouldn’t it be fair to say, Lisa, that her campaigning has had just a wee bit to do with paying down the ridiculous campaign debt she ran up after the race was more or less over? Just a wee bit? You think? Maybe?
Meanwhile in the Bronx: A-Rod grounds into a double-play to end the 3rd inning. Boston now leads 3-2.
8pm: Chris Matthews compares the Obama/Clinton tension to the problems in Northern Ireland. Keith Olbermann channels Ted Theodore Logan, urging everyone to pretty much be excellent to each other. (I’m paraphrasing, but that is damn close to what he said.)
I’m not sure who initially raised it, but an interesting conversation arises about how little power Hillary may even have to turn back the tide of anger in her supporters. She spent months pretending she had been slighted, pretending that the nomination had been wrongfully taken away, pretending that Obama was not qualified—and her people believed every word of it. Even is she comes around 180 degrees now on every point, will it be enough to bring her diehards back into the party fold? Maybe not.
8:24: Howard Fineman reports on the situation surrounding the convention roll call vote. Hillary’s vocal minority of supporters are adamant that the roll call must be held, in its entirety, “for the sake of history.” Fineman also lets us know that the bulk of Clinton’s remarks tonight will be about herself, her campaign, and her place in history. She should be attacking McCain—not setting herself up for 2012.
No one proves their detractors right quite like Hillary Clinton.
8:28: Terry McAuliffe appears for an interview and, as is usual, that is my cue to pour a cocktail.
8:35: We’re back. Is there a name for orange vodka and ginger ale? If not then I am officially submitting “Jimmy V” for approval.
“What’ll you have?”
“Um…gimme a Jimmy V.”
I like it.
Meanwhile in the Bronx: The Sox are up 6-3 in the 5th inning. Should I be paying more attention to this game? I feel perhaps I should be. A-Rod pops out with men on first and second, AND THE BOO BIRDS ARE OUT IN NEW YORK! It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. Really.
8:46: I’ll admit it: All the hype and spin about tonight is slowly burning me out. I’d be happier in bed. Happier, yes, but less fulfilled. So I suffer on for you, dear reader!
8:52: Rachel Maddow opines, “If Hillary Clinton is going to stand up for women and for feminism then she needs to condemn these ads from John McCain in which he is clearly using her.” (Me nodding.)
Pat Buchanan retorts, “If she is serious about helping Obama get elected then she will gut McCain from the podium tonight. I don’t think it happens.” (The nodding slowly morphs into a disgusted shaking of the head.)
9:07: The marathon coverage is taking its toll. Matthews and Olbermann are bickering at each other on live TV. That was both ugly and embarrassing. Poor Steny Hoyer, Majority Leader of the House, is forced to sit by and watch this spectacle unfold while he waits to be interviewed. Moving on…
9:11: Andrea Mitchell interviews Virginia Governor and VP shortlister Tim Kaine. Yep, still wouldn’t know Tim Kaine if he walked into the room. Joe Biden was a much better choice.
9:19: Much to my horror, Spike Lee appears on the convention floor. He is described as “a keen observer of race relations” and lets us know that he himself is only five generations removed from being a slave. The t-shirt of Obama dunking a basketball over John McCain is a nice touch.
Meanwhile in the Bronx: Boston leads New York 7-3 in the bottom of the 7th inning.
9:29: Pennsylvania Senator (and pro-lifer) Bob Casey appears at the podium. Casey, to put it gently, is a bland speaker. He does manage to get the crowd to chant “four more months” in reference to George Bush, which is impressive.
Chris Matthews: “People are paying attention now. It takes a while to get them interested, but if the price of gas gets out of control, or there is a questionable war, or the country is being led by a clown, then people get interested.” Wow. How this same crew will be able to cover the GOP next week is beyond me.
Meanwhile in the Bronx: I flip back just in time to see A-Rod hit into another double-play, this one induced by my boy Justin Masterson! The score is still 7-3.
9:41: Former Virginia Governor and current candidate for US Senate Mark Warner appears onstage. Warner has set a new record for length of time spent as the “next big thing” without ever having taken a shot at being the “big thing”. His window might very well be closing. If he isn’t sworn in as a senator in January then it is officially closed.
And we quickly learn the problem with Warner: He can’t hold his audience. Most of the crowd in Denver is looking for Hillary, and I’m flipping back to the game. (Still 7-3)
10:15: The countdown is on. The video tribute! The speech! NEXT!
Meanwhile in the Bronx: It is all over at Yankee Stadium. Sox win, Sox win, Sox win!
10:31: Bill Richardson stops by to let us know that the party is fine, there are no divisions…but, no, he hasn’t spoken to Bill Clinton and he’s pretty sure that the former president is still royally pissed. OK then.
10:35: A great shot of Michelle Obama and Joe Biden greeting Jimmy Carter in the balcony. This is juxtaposed against Bill Clinton swooping in like Caesar to the imperial box. It is clear on this night that there are two parties right now, the legitimate one led by Barack Obama and something much darker and uglier led by the Clintons.
10:38: The video tribute begins. My notes on it are quite thin. In fact they are non-existent. I’m not quite sure why. Obviously, nothing of importance happened.
10:42: Finally, there she is, clad in an orange pantsuit and greeted by thunderous applause. This is Hillary’s big moment…a full two nights before she had hoped it would occur. So sad…
MSNBC finds a shot of a Clinton supporter with her sign held upside down. We go back to her three separate times.
Bill Clinton mouths, “I love you.” Awww.
She trots out the unity card early, telling the audience, “Barack Obama is my candidate and he MUST be our next president!” To her credit, it sounded convincing.
She pays tribute to the murdered Arkansas Democratic Party Chairman, Bill Gwatney, and to the late Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, one of her most ardent supporters. This was classy and well done.
Onto policy, and this speech becomes more about what she wants to do than about her as a person or candidate. But, she makes it sound like Obama will sign her healthcare bill into law. That is a pipe dream.
Clinton compliments Michelle Obama, and the camera finds Michelle in the audience, doing her very best to flash a convincing smile. (She pulls it off.)
She wraps up by noting, “It is fitting that George Bush and John McCain will be in the Twin Cities next week, because they are awful hard to tell apart!” Kick, wham, stunner.
11:08: Keith Olbermann announces, “Grand slam.” He’s right. That was one hell of a speech. Clinton did a masterful job of delivering it, too. I don’t think she said enough to defuse the tensions swirling around this convention, but what she did say sounded genuine.
What didn’t she say? She never came out and said that Barack Obama was ready to be President of the United States. That should have been a focal point, the focal point, and its omission is glaring.
Bedtime. Until tomorrow…
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
"Support" from Bubba
"Suppose you're a voter, and you'e got candidate x and candidate y. Candidate x agrees with you on everything, but you don't think that candidate can deliver on anything at all. Candidate y you agree with on about half the issues, but he can deliver. Which candidate are you going to vote for?"
A pause, and then:
"This has nothing to do with what is going on now."
-William Jefferson Clinton, August 26th, 2008
It is 7pm here in the east, and word is that neither Hillary's speech tonight nor Bill's speech tomorrow have been vetted by the Obama campaign. The Clintons have proven, repeatedly, that they cannot be trusted. There is no reason to believe they will do anything to change that perception over the next two nights.
A pause, and then:
"This has nothing to do with what is going on now."
-William Jefferson Clinton, August 26th, 2008
It is 7pm here in the east, and word is that neither Hillary's speech tonight nor Bill's speech tomorrow have been vetted by the Obama campaign. The Clintons have proven, repeatedly, that they cannot be trusted. There is no reason to believe they will do anything to change that perception over the next two nights.
The DNC: Opening Night
7pm: We are LIVE from Denver! MSNBC literally has a cast of thousands on hand to bring you the very best in liberally-slanted convention coverage. Joining us tonight are Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, Tom Brokaw, Chuck Todd, Rachel Maddow, Ann Curry, the beautiful and talented Norah O’Donnell, Luke Russert, and former Tennessee Congressman Harold Ford Jr. Special guest stars Joseph Scarborough and Patrick Buchanan as the token conservatives. With the right-wingers at Fox News still dominating the ratings battle, who is to say where the middle really lies?
We begin with Chris Matthews introducing us to the PUMA crowd, which at first sounds like an exciting new term for cougars. But no, PUMA stands for Party Unity My Ass, and you can guess who these people have come to Denver to support. Matthews reports, “These whackos are claiming that Obama is a registered Muslim, whatever the hell that means.”
We quickly go to a break, most likely to save Matthews from yet another round of phony-feminist protest, and return with Luke Russert. Luke has been brought in to report on the youth vote, but his appearance serves as a constant hat tip to his father. I spend the entire segment reminiscing about why Tim Russert was the very best at what he did, and when Keith Olbermann kicks us over to a smiling Tom Brokaw he adds, “I know why you are smiling. Me too.” These next two months are going to be a constant reminder of what we have all lost.
8:09pm: Chuck Todd checks in to get us ready for Nancy Pelosi. The Speaker was allegedly neutral throughout the primary, but her display of neutrality was believable to exactly no one. Todd describes the long history of problems Pelosi has had with the Clintons. It goes back to Bill’s administration, NAFTA, China, and the first couple’s propensity for blaming Congress when it suited them.
8:12pm: She is at the podium, but there is no sound. (This will be a problem throughout the night, but luckily this is the only speech that is affected.) Olbermann kills time, and then we join the speaker just in time to hear her praise the historic campaign of Senator Clinton. There are some faint boos from the crowd. The booing will help no one. My thoughts on Hillary are well known, but if heaping undeserved praise on her will help bring the whackos back into the fold then it is the right way to go.
Pelosi strikes me, as she always does, as being one or two steps removed from a Saturday Night Live parody. The sunken eyes, the lifted cheeks, the plastic smile…there is a Joan Rivers quality to her that defies belief. No one can really look like this, so who is wearing the costume? This is not a good thing.
She hammers away at Bush, reminding the audience of the Clinton surplus that was squandered by the Republicans and turned into a record deficit. You have to think that is the way to victory. Who can honestly say they are better off today than they were eight years ago? Not many, short of the Exxon crowd Bush and Cheney have been serving for years.
Pelosi wraps up by calling Barack Obama a “21st century patriot.” I don’t know quite what that means, but it sounds good and it helps her close out an otherwise weak speech on a strong note.
New York Senator Chuck Schumer joins us from the convention floor where he is stationed with the New York delegation. “We were big time for her, and we are still big time for her.” A beat passes and then, “No, what I mean to say is that we were big time for her, but now we are big time for him.” OK.
8:33pm: Jimmy Carter and wife Rosalyn are onstage. There are some waves, a few handshakes…and then they are off. No speech? WTF?
Ann Curry pounces for an interview, and Carter informs us of what we all know. “Clearly, many of the Clinton people have not made up their minds.” But they will, and the former president assures us that this is not the same as the Gerald Ford/Ronald Reagan fight from 1976. That may be true, but is it the same as the Jimmy Carter/Ted Kennedy fight from four years later? We shall see. The time for Curry to follow up with that question is not now, moments before a tribute to the cancer-stricken senior senator from Massachusetts, but it does loom over this entire convention.
8:45pm: I do love me some Norah O’Donnell.
Have you seen the McCain ad featuring the former Clinton supporter who now plans to vote Republican for the first time in her life? Rachel Maddow informs us that a press conference in Denver earlier that day, this poor fool (my words) claimed that it was OK for prochoice Dems to vote for McCain because he supports Roe v. Wade and would oppose its reversal! This, of course, is completely untrue. “You cannot argue with this kind of post-rational thinking,” says Maddow. And she is right. Who will these people blame when four years of John McCain results in a Supreme Court that does make abortion a crime? Will they look to themselves? Somehow I doubt it.
8:53pm: Joe Biden can be seen with his wife and grandkids at the back of the hall. The scene is very tender, loving, and it gives me one more reason to like the guy. He has already brought more to this ticket than John Edwards did in 2004.
That reminds me, John Edwards is completely missing in action here. He may not even be in Denver. What is worse for John is that he isn’t even really missed. The party marches on as if he was never there.
9pm: OK, I’ll admit: I love the NBC political theme music. It gets me all warm and fuzzy inside.
9:15pm: Caroline Kennedy is onstage to introduce the tribute to Uncle Teddy. Leaders like Barack Obama and Ted Kennedy come alone once or twice a generation, she tells us, but always when we need them. If you are on Medicare, Ted Kennedy is your senator. If you received a raise of the federal minimum wage, Ted Kennedy is your senator. Caroline fights back a few tears and delivers one hell of a speech, on the whole. Nancy Pelosi could take a lesson from her.
The video begins, and there is Ted Kennedy in Hyannisport, on his boat, in his office. He’s been fighting for universal healthcare all his life. A grieving father fights back tears as he tells us about the senator calling hearings and getting our troops the body armor that would have saved his sons life. Powerful stuff.
9:30: And there is the man himself! He doesn’t look bad given everything that has happened, just slightly weaker and with clouded eyes. Teddy speaks of unity between races, genders, and orientations—with the subtext being the party itself. Onto Iraq, a mistake from the beginning, and the country needs a Commander in Chief that will not commit brave Americans to a mistake, only to a worthy mission in the right place at the right time. The hall is rocking for this.
The camera cuts back to Joe Biden, who looks almost as if he is about to cry. Keep it together Joe. Any tears caught on camera will be in a Republican attack ad by sunrise.
Chris Matthews: “At the risk of being criticized, again, for saying something emotional about this country, I feel something when our leaders speak about unity between white and black, male and female, and gay and straight.” I do too, Chris. Especially when they mean it.
9:52pm: Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd appears to heap praise on Kennedy. He wasn’t due to arrive in Denver until Wednesday but came early when he learned Ted was going to speak.
As this celebration plays out, I realize that for the first time tonight the conversation is about something other than the Clintons. This is good for Obama, for sure, but also good for the Democratic Party as a whole. Whether you love them or not, the Kennedy family touches something deep inside us all. Three brothers prematurely struck down in various service to this country, and a fourth brother, unprepared and ill-equipped, left to carry on in their stead. In Teddy we are seeing something we never have before: a Kennedy brother growing old. That this is happening at the same time an heir-apparent has appeared on the political scene is almost poetic.
No, it isn’t getting dusty in here…but it is close.
BREAKING NEWS: John McCain, in a surprise to no one, has replied to a question from Jay Leno about the number of houses he owns with an anecdote about being a POW. This has now crossed the line into crazy, and at some point you do have to hope it blows up in his face. McCain has all my respect for surviving that ordeal—I cannot stress that strongly enough, all my respect—but at the end of the day it does not in any way qualify him to be President of the United States. Yet the beat goes on, and each and every question, regardless of content, goes back to Hanoi. He is becoming a self-parody.
10:30pm: “My name is Craig Robinson, and Michelle Obama is my little sister.” So begins the introduction of the candidate’s wife. This is a big speech, one that too much will be made of if it goes bad and not enough if it goes good. The deck is almost stacked.
Time passes…
My notes are shoddy, because the fact is that I am simply blown away by Michelle Obama. Without doubt, she gave what was the best speech of the night. She tells us of her childhood, of growing up with a father stricken by MS. She describes Barack driving them and their newborn daughter home from the hospital ten years ago, barely creeping over ten miles per hour.
For the first time I notice what a beautiful woman she is.
Again, Joe Biden looks like he might cry.
Michelle wraps up with the perfect closing line given all that has happened, “That is why I love my country.”
Boom. She nailed that speech.
The night wraps up with an appearance on camera by Barack and an adorable interplay between the father and his youngest daughter. Keith Olbermann exclaims that this could not have gone better for them, and he is absolutely right. Chris Matthews waxes poetic about never thinking he would see something like this in his lifetime, and how proud he is of his country. He, too, is absolutely right.
Night one was a complete success. The specter of the Clintons looms large for Tuesday and Wednesday, but Monday night in Denver was as good as it gets.
Until tomorrow…
We begin with Chris Matthews introducing us to the PUMA crowd, which at first sounds like an exciting new term for cougars. But no, PUMA stands for Party Unity My Ass, and you can guess who these people have come to Denver to support. Matthews reports, “These whackos are claiming that Obama is a registered Muslim, whatever the hell that means.”
We quickly go to a break, most likely to save Matthews from yet another round of phony-feminist protest, and return with Luke Russert. Luke has been brought in to report on the youth vote, but his appearance serves as a constant hat tip to his father. I spend the entire segment reminiscing about why Tim Russert was the very best at what he did, and when Keith Olbermann kicks us over to a smiling Tom Brokaw he adds, “I know why you are smiling. Me too.” These next two months are going to be a constant reminder of what we have all lost.
8:09pm: Chuck Todd checks in to get us ready for Nancy Pelosi. The Speaker was allegedly neutral throughout the primary, but her display of neutrality was believable to exactly no one. Todd describes the long history of problems Pelosi has had with the Clintons. It goes back to Bill’s administration, NAFTA, China, and the first couple’s propensity for blaming Congress when it suited them.
8:12pm: She is at the podium, but there is no sound. (This will be a problem throughout the night, but luckily this is the only speech that is affected.) Olbermann kills time, and then we join the speaker just in time to hear her praise the historic campaign of Senator Clinton. There are some faint boos from the crowd. The booing will help no one. My thoughts on Hillary are well known, but if heaping undeserved praise on her will help bring the whackos back into the fold then it is the right way to go.
Pelosi strikes me, as she always does, as being one or two steps removed from a Saturday Night Live parody. The sunken eyes, the lifted cheeks, the plastic smile…there is a Joan Rivers quality to her that defies belief. No one can really look like this, so who is wearing the costume? This is not a good thing.
She hammers away at Bush, reminding the audience of the Clinton surplus that was squandered by the Republicans and turned into a record deficit. You have to think that is the way to victory. Who can honestly say they are better off today than they were eight years ago? Not many, short of the Exxon crowd Bush and Cheney have been serving for years.
Pelosi wraps up by calling Barack Obama a “21st century patriot.” I don’t know quite what that means, but it sounds good and it helps her close out an otherwise weak speech on a strong note.
New York Senator Chuck Schumer joins us from the convention floor where he is stationed with the New York delegation. “We were big time for her, and we are still big time for her.” A beat passes and then, “No, what I mean to say is that we were big time for her, but now we are big time for him.” OK.
8:33pm: Jimmy Carter and wife Rosalyn are onstage. There are some waves, a few handshakes…and then they are off. No speech? WTF?
Ann Curry pounces for an interview, and Carter informs us of what we all know. “Clearly, many of the Clinton people have not made up their minds.” But they will, and the former president assures us that this is not the same as the Gerald Ford/Ronald Reagan fight from 1976. That may be true, but is it the same as the Jimmy Carter/Ted Kennedy fight from four years later? We shall see. The time for Curry to follow up with that question is not now, moments before a tribute to the cancer-stricken senior senator from Massachusetts, but it does loom over this entire convention.
8:45pm: I do love me some Norah O’Donnell.
Have you seen the McCain ad featuring the former Clinton supporter who now plans to vote Republican for the first time in her life? Rachel Maddow informs us that a press conference in Denver earlier that day, this poor fool (my words) claimed that it was OK for prochoice Dems to vote for McCain because he supports Roe v. Wade and would oppose its reversal! This, of course, is completely untrue. “You cannot argue with this kind of post-rational thinking,” says Maddow. And she is right. Who will these people blame when four years of John McCain results in a Supreme Court that does make abortion a crime? Will they look to themselves? Somehow I doubt it.
8:53pm: Joe Biden can be seen with his wife and grandkids at the back of the hall. The scene is very tender, loving, and it gives me one more reason to like the guy. He has already brought more to this ticket than John Edwards did in 2004.
That reminds me, John Edwards is completely missing in action here. He may not even be in Denver. What is worse for John is that he isn’t even really missed. The party marches on as if he was never there.
9pm: OK, I’ll admit: I love the NBC political theme music. It gets me all warm and fuzzy inside.
9:15pm: Caroline Kennedy is onstage to introduce the tribute to Uncle Teddy. Leaders like Barack Obama and Ted Kennedy come alone once or twice a generation, she tells us, but always when we need them. If you are on Medicare, Ted Kennedy is your senator. If you received a raise of the federal minimum wage, Ted Kennedy is your senator. Caroline fights back a few tears and delivers one hell of a speech, on the whole. Nancy Pelosi could take a lesson from her.
The video begins, and there is Ted Kennedy in Hyannisport, on his boat, in his office. He’s been fighting for universal healthcare all his life. A grieving father fights back tears as he tells us about the senator calling hearings and getting our troops the body armor that would have saved his sons life. Powerful stuff.
9:30: And there is the man himself! He doesn’t look bad given everything that has happened, just slightly weaker and with clouded eyes. Teddy speaks of unity between races, genders, and orientations—with the subtext being the party itself. Onto Iraq, a mistake from the beginning, and the country needs a Commander in Chief that will not commit brave Americans to a mistake, only to a worthy mission in the right place at the right time. The hall is rocking for this.
The camera cuts back to Joe Biden, who looks almost as if he is about to cry. Keep it together Joe. Any tears caught on camera will be in a Republican attack ad by sunrise.
Chris Matthews: “At the risk of being criticized, again, for saying something emotional about this country, I feel something when our leaders speak about unity between white and black, male and female, and gay and straight.” I do too, Chris. Especially when they mean it.
9:52pm: Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd appears to heap praise on Kennedy. He wasn’t due to arrive in Denver until Wednesday but came early when he learned Ted was going to speak.
As this celebration plays out, I realize that for the first time tonight the conversation is about something other than the Clintons. This is good for Obama, for sure, but also good for the Democratic Party as a whole. Whether you love them or not, the Kennedy family touches something deep inside us all. Three brothers prematurely struck down in various service to this country, and a fourth brother, unprepared and ill-equipped, left to carry on in their stead. In Teddy we are seeing something we never have before: a Kennedy brother growing old. That this is happening at the same time an heir-apparent has appeared on the political scene is almost poetic.
No, it isn’t getting dusty in here…but it is close.
BREAKING NEWS: John McCain, in a surprise to no one, has replied to a question from Jay Leno about the number of houses he owns with an anecdote about being a POW. This has now crossed the line into crazy, and at some point you do have to hope it blows up in his face. McCain has all my respect for surviving that ordeal—I cannot stress that strongly enough, all my respect—but at the end of the day it does not in any way qualify him to be President of the United States. Yet the beat goes on, and each and every question, regardless of content, goes back to Hanoi. He is becoming a self-parody.
10:30pm: “My name is Craig Robinson, and Michelle Obama is my little sister.” So begins the introduction of the candidate’s wife. This is a big speech, one that too much will be made of if it goes bad and not enough if it goes good. The deck is almost stacked.
Time passes…
My notes are shoddy, because the fact is that I am simply blown away by Michelle Obama. Without doubt, she gave what was the best speech of the night. She tells us of her childhood, of growing up with a father stricken by MS. She describes Barack driving them and their newborn daughter home from the hospital ten years ago, barely creeping over ten miles per hour.
For the first time I notice what a beautiful woman she is.
Again, Joe Biden looks like he might cry.
Michelle wraps up with the perfect closing line given all that has happened, “That is why I love my country.”
Boom. She nailed that speech.
The night wraps up with an appearance on camera by Barack and an adorable interplay between the father and his youngest daughter. Keith Olbermann exclaims that this could not have gone better for them, and he is absolutely right. Chris Matthews waxes poetic about never thinking he would see something like this in his lifetime, and how proud he is of his country. He, too, is absolutely right.
Night one was a complete success. The specter of the Clintons looms large for Tuesday and Wednesday, but Monday night in Denver was as good as it gets.
Until tomorrow…
Monday, August 25, 2008
90210: There When You Need It
Face it: These next two weeks are going to be full of politics.
Ted Kennedy returns to the public stage tonight in Denver.
Hillary Clinton reprises her role as the victim while refusing to release her delegates tomorrow.
Bill Clinton praises Hillary and finds a way to take at least one subtle shot at the nominee on Wednesday.
Barack Obama’s formal nomination under the stars at Invesco Field happens Thursday.
John McCain announces his pick for VP on Friday.
And, finally, the GOP descends on St. Paul next week for its own dog, pony and phony patriotism show.
That sure is a lot for any of us to keep up with, and during times such as these it is important to take a moment to reflect on all the good things in life. These are the things that make us smile, that make us laugh, and that sometimes even make us cry. With that in mind, I invite you to read all about the new Beverly Hills 90210 here.
I do (still) love me some Jennie Garth.
Ted Kennedy returns to the public stage tonight in Denver.
Hillary Clinton reprises her role as the victim while refusing to release her delegates tomorrow.
Bill Clinton praises Hillary and finds a way to take at least one subtle shot at the nominee on Wednesday.
Barack Obama’s formal nomination under the stars at Invesco Field happens Thursday.
John McCain announces his pick for VP on Friday.
And, finally, the GOP descends on St. Paul next week for its own dog, pony and phony patriotism show.
That sure is a lot for any of us to keep up with, and during times such as these it is important to take a moment to reflect on all the good things in life. These are the things that make us smile, that make us laugh, and that sometimes even make us cry. With that in mind, I invite you to read all about the new Beverly Hills 90210 here.
I do (still) love me some Jennie Garth.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
The Announcement
As I’ve written before, I like Joe Biden. I think he is the best choice for VP, an experienced and seasoned politician who excels at foreign policy and one-liners. Biden will be the favorite going into the vice presidential debate regardless of who McCain picks—and especially so if that pick is Mitt Romney. Obama made the right choice in an instance where the field was heavy with wrong ones. He vetted the best people in Bayh, Kaine, and Sebelius, all of whom would have been quality additions, while choosing to ignore Clinton, who would have been a disaster.
But that said…
This announcement was botched. So much was made of the text message system, but in the end it got in the way of common sense.
Originally it looked like a brilliant piece of marketing. Even through yesterday, when there were millions of Americans checking their cell phones for clues and updates, even then it looked like it would be a success.
Then 5pm came, and America went home, turned on the Olympics, packed for the beach, and got drunk. No announcement came. Matt Drudge filled the void with a phony report that Bayh was the pick and bumper stickers were being printed. Andrea Mitchell shot that down on NBC and pointed to Biden as the likely choice. Still, there was nothing official from Obama and the country went to bed not knowing for sure who it would be.
By morning the news was hours old. The campaign, for some inexplicable reason, after weeks of hyping the text message system, chose to send that text in the middle of the night.
Maybe it woke you up. Maybe it didn’t.
Yesterday I thought releasing this information on a Friday evening was the worst possible time. I was wrong. Releasing it in the middle of the night to a sleeping nation was much worse.
But that said…
This announcement was botched. So much was made of the text message system, but in the end it got in the way of common sense.
Originally it looked like a brilliant piece of marketing. Even through yesterday, when there were millions of Americans checking their cell phones for clues and updates, even then it looked like it would be a success.
Then 5pm came, and America went home, turned on the Olympics, packed for the beach, and got drunk. No announcement came. Matt Drudge filled the void with a phony report that Bayh was the pick and bumper stickers were being printed. Andrea Mitchell shot that down on NBC and pointed to Biden as the likely choice. Still, there was nothing official from Obama and the country went to bed not knowing for sure who it would be.
By morning the news was hours old. The campaign, for some inexplicable reason, after weeks of hyping the text message system, chose to send that text in the middle of the night.
Maybe it woke you up. Maybe it didn’t.
Yesterday I thought releasing this information on a Friday evening was the worst possible time. I was wrong. Releasing it in the middle of the night to a sleeping nation was much worse.
Friday, August 22, 2008
6:12pm
From Drudge:
"KMBC's Micheal Mahoney reports a company in Kansas City, which specializes in political literature, has been printing Obama-Bayh material... MORE... Gill Studios, would not confirm information about the material. They would not deny it either. At least three sources close to the plant's operations reported the Obama-Bayh material was being produced..."
"KMBC's Micheal Mahoney reports a company in Kansas City, which specializes in political literature, has been printing Obama-Bayh material... MORE... Gill Studios, would not confirm information about the material. They would not deny it either. At least three sources close to the plant's operations reported the Obama-Bayh material was being produced..."
The Sound Of Silence
5pm here in the east and still nothing in the way of an announcement from the campaign. I cannot stress enough how strange I find the timing of all this to be. Half the country is heading off for the weekend and the other half is watching the Olympics. A Friday night is no time to make an announcement like this.
Why the delay? What is the thinking here?
Has something happened? Could choice number 1 have said no at the last minute?
Tick-tock...
Tick-tock...
Tick-tock...
Why the delay? What is the thinking here?
Has something happened? Could choice number 1 have said no at the last minute?
Tick-tock...
Tick-tock...
Tick-tock...
The Virginian
A confession regarding Governor Tim Kaine of Virginia:
I really do not know much about him. There. I said it.
I do like that he hails from what very well may be a purple state. Red Virginia has been sliding towards blue for years now, and the presence of its governor on the ticket may be enough to make the transformation complete-at least this time around.
That said, Kaine is pretty much an unknown to me. Except, of course, for the fact that he too is not Hillary Clinton.
I really do not know much about him. There. I said it.
I do like that he hails from what very well may be a purple state. Red Virginia has been sliding towards blue for years now, and the presence of its governor on the ticket may be enough to make the transformation complete-at least this time around.
That said, Kaine is pretty much an unknown to me. Except, of course, for the fact that he too is not Hillary Clinton.
The Lady From Kansas
Things I like about Governor Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas:
1) Much like Evan Bayh, Sebelius is a Democrat from a red state. I don’t think her presence on the ticket would be enough to turn Kansas blue, but it certainly couldn’t hurt in that regard.
2) Sebelius gave what I felt was a great response to Bush’s State of the Union speech back in January. She was an interesting choice that night and it kicked off instant speculation that she would be on the short list.
3) Also like Bayh, Sebelius is a fresh, new face. Voters would be meeting her for the first time.
4) She too is not Hillary Clinton.
1) Much like Evan Bayh, Sebelius is a Democrat from a red state. I don’t think her presence on the ticket would be enough to turn Kansas blue, but it certainly couldn’t hurt in that regard.
2) Sebelius gave what I felt was a great response to Bush’s State of the Union speech back in January. She was an interesting choice that night and it kicked off instant speculation that she would be on the short list.
3) Also like Bayh, Sebelius is a fresh, new face. Voters would be meeting her for the first time.
4) She too is not Hillary Clinton.
The New Front Runner?
Things I like about Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana:
1) He is a Democrat from a red state. I recently had a chance to drive across Indiana, and there wasn’t much to see. Farms, fields, and the occasional Peyton Manning jersey. It is the picture of red America. That Bayh could win there says something about what he brings to the table.
2) That this particular red state borders Illinois is also a plus. Could an Obama/Bayh ticket squeak out a win? Probably not likely, but definitely possible.
3) Bayh is a fresh face, someone that most people won’t have made their minds up about yet. He would look damn good as the heir-apparent in 8 years.
4) Bayh, much like Joe Biden, is also not Hillary Clinton.
1) He is a Democrat from a red state. I recently had a chance to drive across Indiana, and there wasn’t much to see. Farms, fields, and the occasional Peyton Manning jersey. It is the picture of red America. That Bayh could win there says something about what he brings to the table.
2) That this particular red state borders Illinois is also a plus. Could an Obama/Bayh ticket squeak out a win? Probably not likely, but definitely possible.
3) Bayh is a fresh face, someone that most people won’t have made their minds up about yet. He would look damn good as the heir-apparent in 8 years.
4) Bayh, much like Joe Biden, is also not Hillary Clinton.
Question
My question is this:
Why is Team Obama waiting until Friday or Saturday to make the announcement that they hope will dominate the next few news cycles? A weekend announcement is known as “throwing out the trash.” It is when you announce what you hope no one will notice—and over the summer, during the last few weeks of the vacation season—there are fewer people than usual paying attention.
This announcement should have come midday yesterday. The delay is puzzling.
Why is Team Obama waiting until Friday or Saturday to make the announcement that they hope will dominate the next few news cycles? A weekend announcement is known as “throwing out the trash.” It is when you announce what you hope no one will notice—and over the summer, during the last few weeks of the vacation season—there are fewer people than usual paying attention.
This announcement should have come midday yesterday. The delay is puzzling.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
The Front Runner
Things I like about Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware:
1) He is both funny and fierce. Biden was a highlight of the early presidential debates.
2) He is sharp on foreign affairs. Biden not only knows what he is talking about, he knows that he knows. There is no stumbling over words or struggling for answers. Of all the candidates running this time around, across both parties, Biden gave the answers that most made sense when the topic was the rest of the world.
3) He is familiar. Joe, it seems, has been running for president almost as long as I have been alive. Familiarity sometimes breeds contempt, but not on this occasion. Joe grows on you.
4) He is not Hillary Clinton. Thank you, thank you, and thank you.
1) He is both funny and fierce. Biden was a highlight of the early presidential debates.
2) He is sharp on foreign affairs. Biden not only knows what he is talking about, he knows that he knows. There is no stumbling over words or struggling for answers. Of all the candidates running this time around, across both parties, Biden gave the answers that most made sense when the topic was the rest of the world.
3) He is familiar. Joe, it seems, has been running for president almost as long as I have been alive. Familiarity sometimes breeds contempt, but not on this occasion. Joe grows on you.
4) He is not Hillary Clinton. Thank you, thank you, and thank you.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Joe
I like Joe Biden. Obama could do much, much worse.
And he still might, because this could all be a misdirection play. We shall see.
And he still might, because this could all be a misdirection play. We shall see.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Thursday, August 7, 2008
J-E-T-S
And now that he is a member of the New York Jets, Brett Favre is an even BIGGER jackass. Who woulda thunk that possible?
His legacy, which was shaky at best, is gone forever. People forget, but the "great" Brett Favre won as many Super Bowls as Jim McMahon and Trent Dilfer. Too many times when it mattered most he came up short. There is nothing Montana, Aikman, or Brady-like about him.
Now he has forced his way off the team that willingly put up with his retirement/non-retirement drama for years--at the expense of their own future. He abandoned the fans in Wisconsin who loved and supported and defended him--even when it looked this time last year like he had come back just to chase Dan Marino's records. This is how Brett Favre should be remembered.
Welcome to New York, Brett. Now nobody can complain when I boo your sorry ass.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Travel Plans
The day looks like this:
A car to a bus to my office. From my office, a train to another train to another bus to the airport. From there, a plane to Chicago and, finally, another car.
Whew!
A car to a bus to my office. From my office, a train to another train to another bus to the airport. From there, a plane to Chicago and, finally, another car.
Whew!
Monday, August 4, 2008
A Night At The Opera
Eddie Vedder descended on the stunningly-beautiful Boston Opera House this past weekend, and seeing the lead singer of Pearl Jam onstage alone was a treat none of us could pass up—despite not knowing quite what to expect. We were not disappointed.
The sellout crowd was an interesting mix of the rich, the famous, and the not-so-much. Liberal icon Howard Zinn was there. So was Bill Saggio. There were even rumors of a clandestinely-clad Theo Epstein. Truly the best and the brightest of what Boston has to offer. That is, at least as far as the second show on Saturday is concerned. Friday’s opening performance was marred by large contingents of drunken frat boys and massholes, yelling out requests and commenting at will. The singer, to his credit, took it in stride, telling the audience “I figured we’d make it to New York before the drunken assholes showed up.”
Vedder, in kicking off only his second solo tour, gave a performance Saturday night that no one could find fault with. The 26-song set list featured a few from Pearl Jam, several from the Into the Wild soundtrack, and an assortment of covers. Highlights included a mandolin-only performance of Man of the Hour and a masterful rendition of Bob Dylan’s Masters of War, a song Eddie Vedder is quickly claiming as his own. (Check out this performance and tell me that statement is not true.) ARC, an entirely vocal performance using a voice-loop machine, needs to be seen to be believed and shows just how good Vedder is at what he does.
We expected the music to be great, and it was. What we didn’t quite expect was how funny Vedder turned out to be. Before launching into James Taylor’s Millworker, he delivered a hilarious monologue on why James Taylor “is a badass.” He chastised the crowd for not being able to tell the difference between a ukulele and a mandolin, but then admitted that he “really couldn’t play the fuckin’ thing anyway.”
No Eddie Vedder performance would be complete without a little politics thrown in. He (sarcastically) congratulated Exxon on their record-breaking profits, noting that they were a company that obviously doesn’t believe in passing the savings on to the consumer. Vedder has long been a critic of the Iraq War, and he shared the story a paralyzed veteran, urging those in the crowd to write him letters of support before launching into the protest song No More.
Strangely enough it was politics that brought about one of the evening’s funniest moments. Coming back for his encore, Eddie explained that he had come to realize that while it is OK for everyone to have strong feelings and opinions, artists did need to keep those opinions to themselves and not try to influence their fans with them. As he spoke, two stagehands ran behind him carrying a giant Barack Obama banner. Even the Republicans in the crowd had to laugh at that.
This was a fantastic show that we all left knowing we were lucky to have seen. Tickets sold out quickly, but we were able to pick up some fairly priced seats through a reseller just days before the show. The tour heads to New York City tonight, and then to Newark, Montreal, Toronto, Washington, DC and Milwaukee before wrapping up in Chicago. Do not miss your chance to see it.
The sellout crowd was an interesting mix of the rich, the famous, and the not-so-much. Liberal icon Howard Zinn was there. So was Bill Saggio. There were even rumors of a clandestinely-clad Theo Epstein. Truly the best and the brightest of what Boston has to offer. That is, at least as far as the second show on Saturday is concerned. Friday’s opening performance was marred by large contingents of drunken frat boys and massholes, yelling out requests and commenting at will. The singer, to his credit, took it in stride, telling the audience “I figured we’d make it to New York before the drunken assholes showed up.”
Vedder, in kicking off only his second solo tour, gave a performance Saturday night that no one could find fault with. The 26-song set list featured a few from Pearl Jam, several from the Into the Wild soundtrack, and an assortment of covers. Highlights included a mandolin-only performance of Man of the Hour and a masterful rendition of Bob Dylan’s Masters of War, a song Eddie Vedder is quickly claiming as his own. (Check out this performance and tell me that statement is not true.) ARC, an entirely vocal performance using a voice-loop machine, needs to be seen to be believed and shows just how good Vedder is at what he does.
We expected the music to be great, and it was. What we didn’t quite expect was how funny Vedder turned out to be. Before launching into James Taylor’s Millworker, he delivered a hilarious monologue on why James Taylor “is a badass.” He chastised the crowd for not being able to tell the difference between a ukulele and a mandolin, but then admitted that he “really couldn’t play the fuckin’ thing anyway.”
No Eddie Vedder performance would be complete without a little politics thrown in. He (sarcastically) congratulated Exxon on their record-breaking profits, noting that they were a company that obviously doesn’t believe in passing the savings on to the consumer. Vedder has long been a critic of the Iraq War, and he shared the story a paralyzed veteran, urging those in the crowd to write him letters of support before launching into the protest song No More.
Strangely enough it was politics that brought about one of the evening’s funniest moments. Coming back for his encore, Eddie explained that he had come to realize that while it is OK for everyone to have strong feelings and opinions, artists did need to keep those opinions to themselves and not try to influence their fans with them. As he spoke, two stagehands ran behind him carrying a giant Barack Obama banner. Even the Republicans in the crowd had to laugh at that.
This was a fantastic show that we all left knowing we were lucky to have seen. Tickets sold out quickly, but we were able to pick up some fairly priced seats through a reseller just days before the show. The tour heads to New York City tonight, and then to Newark, Montreal, Toronto, Washington, DC and Milwaukee before wrapping up in Chicago. Do not miss your chance to see it.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
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