From the New York Times:
“John McCain says he’s about change, too — except for economic policy, health care policy, tax policy, education policy, foreign policy and Karl Rove-style politics,” Mr. Obama told his supporters here. “That’s just calling the same thing something different.”
With a laugh, he added: “You can put lipstick on a pig; it’s still a pig. You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change; it’s still going to stink after eight years.”
How, exactly, is that a smear on Gov. Sarah Palin? When you chase windmills looking for offense, you only hurt your cause. Hillary Clinton—and her supporters—embarrassed true feminists everywhere with their constant claims of sexism where there was none. There were true instances, to be sure, but they were few and far between and most wound up being lost amid the storm of phony accusations. At the time I believed we were witnessing the low point of this election cycle.
I was wrong.
The McCain campaign has managed to lower that bar even further. The pig is John McCain’s policy, not his running mate. The fool is anyone who believes otherwise.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Sarah Palin and the End of the Line
Last night, Alaska Governor and McCain VP choice Sarah Palin took to the stage in St. Paul. It was a historic moment. For the very first time, a non-white/non-male had been nominated to a national ticket by the Republican Party. Her speech was the main event of the evening, and any reminiscence of the tepid applause given to Joe Lieberman the night before was gone. The room erupted for Sarah Palin.
The moment was historic for another reason as well. It marked the end of my interest in the 2008 Republican National Convention. The shameful parading of the Palin family, of the baby, of the pregnant daughter, of the "fiance", of the husband, was the final straw. You cannot cry that your family should be off limits and then parade them on national television for the world to see.
The picture last night spoke the thousand words that McCain's people had hoped it would. For all the talk of Sarah Palin's conservative credentials, what she brings most to this ticket is an illusion of victimhood. Any bit of skepticism is labeled as an attack, and the attacked must be sympathized with and defended.
Poor Sarah Palin. Why is the big bad eastern media establishment so mean to her? Why are they asking questions about her ties to radical Alaskan separatists? Why are they drudging up these stories of trooper firings and accusations of abuses of power? It must be sexism. Or maybe it is elitism.
No. It is journalism. The press these last few days has dug up Palin's past because that is their responsibility, just as it was John McCain's responsibility to know these skeletons before making his selection.
In a normal election year, these stories would have been enough to scare off any selection committee. But this is not a normal election year, and the great lesson of the Hillary Clinton campaign is that victimhood can be a great asset. John McCain has his victim, and the GOP has their unity.
For me, the image from last night that will always remain is that of the baby, Trig, being passed down the line of family and friends like a hot potato.
Here, hold Trig long enough for the camera to see and then pass him along. Make sure everybody gets a turn.
It was the very worst, and most blatant, display of cynical politics I have ever witnessed, and for me it marks the end of the line with this year's RNC. They do not deserve my attention, and tonight they will not have it.
The moment was historic for another reason as well. It marked the end of my interest in the 2008 Republican National Convention. The shameful parading of the Palin family, of the baby, of the pregnant daughter, of the "fiance", of the husband, was the final straw. You cannot cry that your family should be off limits and then parade them on national television for the world to see.
The picture last night spoke the thousand words that McCain's people had hoped it would. For all the talk of Sarah Palin's conservative credentials, what she brings most to this ticket is an illusion of victimhood. Any bit of skepticism is labeled as an attack, and the attacked must be sympathized with and defended.
Poor Sarah Palin. Why is the big bad eastern media establishment so mean to her? Why are they asking questions about her ties to radical Alaskan separatists? Why are they drudging up these stories of trooper firings and accusations of abuses of power? It must be sexism. Or maybe it is elitism.
No. It is journalism. The press these last few days has dug up Palin's past because that is their responsibility, just as it was John McCain's responsibility to know these skeletons before making his selection.
In a normal election year, these stories would have been enough to scare off any selection committee. But this is not a normal election year, and the great lesson of the Hillary Clinton campaign is that victimhood can be a great asset. John McCain has his victim, and the GOP has their unity.
For me, the image from last night that will always remain is that of the baby, Trig, being passed down the line of family and friends like a hot potato.
Here, hold Trig long enough for the camera to see and then pass him along. Make sure everybody gets a turn.
It was the very worst, and most blatant, display of cynical politics I have ever witnessed, and for me it marks the end of the line with this year's RNC. They do not deserve my attention, and tonight they will not have it.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
MoDo MoFo
Maureen Dowd is awesome:
"When you make a gimmicky pick of an unknown, without proper vetting, there’s bound to be a sticky press conference sooner or later. I watched it happen with Ferraro and Quayle, and I watched Mondale and Poppy Bush curdle with embarrassment but plow through.
The political unknowns, of course, want that tantalizing brass ring, so they’re not always completely forthcoming about their skeletons, if they’re lucky enough to be ineptly vetted. This is ironic, since the nominee who gets blindsided with these crises — Did McCain really know that this Palin reality show was about to pop and swallow his convention — is presenting them to voters as the most trustworthy people to inherit the nuclear codes.
Because Ferraro grabbed at the chance, without revealing to Mondale’s incompetent vetting team how damaging some of her husband’s financial imbroglios could be, she went from being a female icon to part of the reason it’s taken a quarter-century for another party to take a chance on a woman.
When McCain gets in trouble, he pulls out the P.O.W. card. Now Republicans are pulling out the sexist card.
Hillary cried sexism to cover up her incompetent management of her campaign, and now Republicans have picked up that trick. But when you use sexism as an across-the-board shield for any legitimate question, you only hurt women. And that’s just another splash of reality."
"When you make a gimmicky pick of an unknown, without proper vetting, there’s bound to be a sticky press conference sooner or later. I watched it happen with Ferraro and Quayle, and I watched Mondale and Poppy Bush curdle with embarrassment but plow through.
The political unknowns, of course, want that tantalizing brass ring, so they’re not always completely forthcoming about their skeletons, if they’re lucky enough to be ineptly vetted. This is ironic, since the nominee who gets blindsided with these crises — Did McCain really know that this Palin reality show was about to pop and swallow his convention — is presenting them to voters as the most trustworthy people to inherit the nuclear codes.
Because Ferraro grabbed at the chance, without revealing to Mondale’s incompetent vetting team how damaging some of her husband’s financial imbroglios could be, she went from being a female icon to part of the reason it’s taken a quarter-century for another party to take a chance on a woman.
When McCain gets in trouble, he pulls out the P.O.W. card. Now Republicans are pulling out the sexist card.
Hillary cried sexism to cover up her incompetent management of her campaign, and now Republicans have picked up that trick. But when you use sexism as an across-the-board shield for any legitimate question, you only hurt women. And that’s just another splash of reality."
The RNC: Madness in Minnesota
But first some bookkeeping:
Please accept my sincere apologies for the lack of coverage of the Democrats’ final night in Denver. Life intervened and I missed both Obama and Big Al enjoying their moments.
Do I regret it? No. I was burnt out and needed the night off.
As for the new 90210…wow. It was in fact as bad as many had imagined it would be. I cannot argue the point. But pilot episodes of eventually good shows are often brutal, so I will say the jury is still out.
And I do still love me some Jennie Garth.
Meanwhile in Minnesota:
The crew is spread out tonight. Chris Matthews is running the show in St. Paul while Keith Olbermann is at the anchor desk back in New York. Is this because of Gustav or the on-air tensions that arose last week in Denver? Vegas has the tension listed at 2-1. I’d take that bet.
8:35pm: Pat Buchanan argues that Barack Obama “likes the idea” of partial-birth abortion. Once McCain and Palin win, they will overturn Roe. “Then we’ll throw it back to the states and let’s get it on!” Pat is fired up—and clearly exhibiting every reason why so many people do hate him.
8:41: Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas stops by to tell us all about Sarah Palin. She is a breath of fresh air, a reformer from the Teddy Roosevelt mold. Oh, and her kid has Down syndrome. Wow. That was not subtle. I really do feel for each and every one of the Palin children. This is not their fault.
8:45: Cindy McCain has her adopted daughter with her in the balcony. This is notable because there is a video tribute to white people who adopt children of color and are not named Angelina Jolie playing on the big screen. Do you think that was planned? I’m shocked.
9pm: Olbermann checks in to update us on the night’s schedule. President Bush is in, via closed circuit from the White House, and Rudy Giuliani is out. A hellish trifecta lay ahead: Bush, Fred Thompson, and Joe Lieberman. I really should be drinking.
Tom Ridge: Sarah Palin will help us in states like New Hampshire, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. I run through a list of snippy comebacks in my head before realizing he is probably right. These are exactly the states where the PUMAs will do the most damage.
Matthews: Admit it; this selection was all about Hillary Clinton.
Ridge, with a coy smile: No…
The bad moon continues to rise.
9:05: Former President and First Lady George and Barbara Bush appear on the convention floor before taking their seats. He looks very old. She looks exactly the same.
9:09: Utah Senator Orrin Hatch got tears in his eyes when he realized the Republican Party was going to put the first woman into the White House. And the media needs to back off, because women are UNHAPPY! We know he means it because tonight he has forgone the trademark bowtie. Hatch…unplugged!
With the senator is McCain strategist Carly Fiorina, herself notable for recently holding a clandestine meeting with several key supporters of Hillary Clinton, among them the once and future candidate’s brother. I was under the impression the meeting took place in Pennsylvania, but Fiorina seems to indicate that it was actually Ohio. Her smugness in this interview is infuriating. Why am I not drinking?
9:14: Tom Brokaw and Chuck Todd discuss the first President Bush, and I’m reminded of something I heard former Massachusetts Governor and vanquished presidential candidate Michael Dukakis say a few weeks ago:
“You know, this really is all my fault. If I had only beaten the old man then no one would have ever heard of the son and we wouldn’t be in this mess. I am so sorry.”
Well, Mike…you fucking should be.
9:19: Chuck Todd notes the strange of absence of Jeb Bush at this convention. “If his last name wasn’t Bush, he would be on this ticket.” Interesting. I think we are all happier that he is not, with the possible exception of Bristol Palin.
9:37: Lt. Dan Taylor, aka actor Gary Sinise, narrates a video tribute to a fallen Navy SEAL and Medal of Honor winner whose name I miss each time it is said. This is a much darker theme than anything we saw in Denver. The SEALs in attendance get a well-deserved standing ovation. Then the Medal of Honor winners get their own round of applause. The GOP’s dominance of the military is on display here.
Um, this can’t be the way they are going to segue to President Bush, can it? Are we going to get a picture from the one day he showed up for duty with the Texas Air National Guard? The SEALs deserve better than that.
9:44: No, there is the First Lady to introduce hubby. Keith points out that it has been decades since a sitting president failed to appear at his party’s convention. I completely understand why Bush skipped out, but the fact will always be that had he paid this kind of attention to Katrina, he could have gone to the party in Minnesota. Nothing he does now is going to reverse that. And great job, Brownie.
Laura Bush lets us know that John McCain is a war hero and Sarah Palin is a proven executive and true reformer. Really? I hadn’t heard that. This seems like a good time to review the Republican talking points for St. Paul:
John McCain is a former POW.
John McCain is a war hero.
John McCain is a maverick reformer with a history of results.
Sarah Palin is a proven executive with real experience.
Sarah Palin comes from a good family that has the same problems all families have.
Sarah Palin is a reformer with a history of results.
If we were playing a drinking game and sipping each time one of these lines was spoken, we would be hammered right now. No, that isn’t quite true. We would have been hammered hours ago. By now we would be passed out.
Laura Bush has a detached manner of speaking that is reminiscent of Nancy Pelosi, and that is not a good thing. With Laura it is the smile that is plastic. With Nancy, it is the whole face.
Taken at face value, her remarks are all about the amazingly strong women of the Republican Party. Women like Sarah Palin who…
…wait for it…
…is a proven executive with real experience, and a reformer with a history of results. But what is actually being discussed is the division within the Democratic Party. Every time the theme of women comes up in St. Paul that is what is really being talked about. The women, the women, the women, and then we somehow finally segue to the President. I heard it live and am still not really sure quite how got there.
9:53: Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States! Live, via satellite.
John McCain is a great American (and in 5…4…3…2…1) a true war hero. Again, I had no idea.
The crowd is definitely subdued here. It might be the fact that he is onscreen rather than in person, or it might just be that after eight years of this guy even the Republicans have had enough. When you are talking about “tax relief” and “drilling” and still only getting muted applause from this crowd then things must be really, really, REALLY bad.
10pm: The networks cut in and anchors at NBC, ABC, and CBS all talk over the President. Olbermann laughs. So does Viall.
10:04: And now…a tribute to Ronald Reagan. Ugh.
10:07: Alright, I must now warn you. I’m really not sure I can do this tonight. Joe Lieberman is still a long way off and someone just claimed that Ronald Reagan “saved our century”. WTF? And when did Joe Lieberman become a headlining act, anyway?
10:08: Fred Thompson of Tennessee is at the podium, and he is greeted by more muted applause. This is unbecoming of an actor from Law and Order, and would never happen to the late Jerry Orbach.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Fred Thomson is a good actor, has a great voice, but was a terrible candidate. Just awful. And speeches like this are the reason why. Well, speeches like this and a lack of any real desire to campaign. That didn’t help.
But this just might be Fred at his best—or at least his best since The Hunt for Red October. He is finally fired up. The delivery is great. The deep voice with the southern twang lends itself to speechmaking. It sounds like he should be reading Cicero or narrating on the Discovery Channel.
But he’s not. He’s reading a prepared political speech, and the shine wears off as soon as we listen to the words. “Give me some Sarah Palin of the establishment in Washington any day!” Um…your party has controlled the White House for the last eight years, and congress for six of those eight years. (Remember, Fred, you were there.) What establishment are you talking about exactly?
Another Teddy Roosevelt reference goes by and I begin to wonder what that is all about. Is the GOP always touting Teddy as a hero? I’ve never noticed before. And what is this about “the draining of the swamp”? That is at least the third time we’ve heard that. Every speech tonight has contained the same talking points. Remarkable. And then, as if on cue:
“John McCain is a war hero.” (And in 5…4…3…2…1) “And, he’s a former POW.”
At that point I stop listening. Thompson drones on and on while I download some Pearl Jam and again contemplate a drink.
10:23: “Now, being a POW doesn’t qualify you to be president. But it does show character.” Absolutely, yes, a thousand times, yes. It absolutely shows character, and McCain is an amazing man for having survived that experience and thrived afterwards. But it has also become his first response to every issue, and its value is cheapened with every gratuitous usage. People who believe this is not the same John McCain we saw in 2000 are not wrong. The McCain back then didn’t lean on this like a crutch.
The crowd is chanting something that sounds like, “Beat LA! Beat LA!” Sorry, folks, Larry Bird is not walking through that door. (Hi, God? It’s me, Jim. Please don’t let Larry Bird walk through that door. Please?)
10:36: Olbermann: “That speech was akin to lining John McCain up next to a flag and a gun.” Indeed. Thompson apparently went long, because we are moving on with almost no down time.
10:39: Finally, Joe Lieberman has come back to St. Paul. The applause is some of the weakest we have heard all night, and that is saying something.
We begin with Gustav. “My friends, it shouldn’t take a hurricane to bring us together.” Actually, Joe, it took you selling out your party and country for Israel. But I digress.
He talks about George Washington warning against loyalty to any one political party. He does not follow up with Washington also warning against foolish military excursions in foreign lands.
We get a shot of Newt Gingrich smiling and laughing on the convention floor. What the hell am I watching?
OH! It is “USA, USA” they are chanting. That makes sense. If there were more than a few dozen voices, that might have been clear.
I lose track of the number of times that Lieberman refers to himself as a Democrat. This is news in and of itself because Lieberman has been an independent since 2006, when Democrats in Connecticut widely supported his primary opponent. It was only thanks to his new friends in the GOP that he returned to Washington.
Now he praises Bill Clinton. The response is as icy as you would expect.
Onto Governor Sarah Palin. She is a…
…wait for it…
…wait for it…
…wait for it…
…reformer! AND she gets results.
Iraq. The War on Terror. Iraq. The Middle East. Iraq. I have heard not a single mention of Afghanistan tonight. Are they even admitting that we are still fighting on two fronts? If America gives these fools four more years then we have no one to blame but ourselves. Lieberman is still talking, but I’ve had more than enough.
Please accept my sincere apologies for the lack of coverage of the Democrats’ final night in Denver. Life intervened and I missed both Obama and Big Al enjoying their moments.
Do I regret it? No. I was burnt out and needed the night off.
As for the new 90210…wow. It was in fact as bad as many had imagined it would be. I cannot argue the point. But pilot episodes of eventually good shows are often brutal, so I will say the jury is still out.
And I do still love me some Jennie Garth.
Meanwhile in Minnesota:
The crew is spread out tonight. Chris Matthews is running the show in St. Paul while Keith Olbermann is at the anchor desk back in New York. Is this because of Gustav or the on-air tensions that arose last week in Denver? Vegas has the tension listed at 2-1. I’d take that bet.
8:35pm: Pat Buchanan argues that Barack Obama “likes the idea” of partial-birth abortion. Once McCain and Palin win, they will overturn Roe. “Then we’ll throw it back to the states and let’s get it on!” Pat is fired up—and clearly exhibiting every reason why so many people do hate him.
8:41: Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas stops by to tell us all about Sarah Palin. She is a breath of fresh air, a reformer from the Teddy Roosevelt mold. Oh, and her kid has Down syndrome. Wow. That was not subtle. I really do feel for each and every one of the Palin children. This is not their fault.
8:45: Cindy McCain has her adopted daughter with her in the balcony. This is notable because there is a video tribute to white people who adopt children of color and are not named Angelina Jolie playing on the big screen. Do you think that was planned? I’m shocked.
9pm: Olbermann checks in to update us on the night’s schedule. President Bush is in, via closed circuit from the White House, and Rudy Giuliani is out. A hellish trifecta lay ahead: Bush, Fred Thompson, and Joe Lieberman. I really should be drinking.
Tom Ridge: Sarah Palin will help us in states like New Hampshire, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. I run through a list of snippy comebacks in my head before realizing he is probably right. These are exactly the states where the PUMAs will do the most damage.
Matthews: Admit it; this selection was all about Hillary Clinton.
Ridge, with a coy smile: No…
The bad moon continues to rise.
9:05: Former President and First Lady George and Barbara Bush appear on the convention floor before taking their seats. He looks very old. She looks exactly the same.
9:09: Utah Senator Orrin Hatch got tears in his eyes when he realized the Republican Party was going to put the first woman into the White House. And the media needs to back off, because women are UNHAPPY! We know he means it because tonight he has forgone the trademark bowtie. Hatch…unplugged!
With the senator is McCain strategist Carly Fiorina, herself notable for recently holding a clandestine meeting with several key supporters of Hillary Clinton, among them the once and future candidate’s brother. I was under the impression the meeting took place in Pennsylvania, but Fiorina seems to indicate that it was actually Ohio. Her smugness in this interview is infuriating. Why am I not drinking?
9:14: Tom Brokaw and Chuck Todd discuss the first President Bush, and I’m reminded of something I heard former Massachusetts Governor and vanquished presidential candidate Michael Dukakis say a few weeks ago:
“You know, this really is all my fault. If I had only beaten the old man then no one would have ever heard of the son and we wouldn’t be in this mess. I am so sorry.”
Well, Mike…you fucking should be.
9:19: Chuck Todd notes the strange of absence of Jeb Bush at this convention. “If his last name wasn’t Bush, he would be on this ticket.” Interesting. I think we are all happier that he is not, with the possible exception of Bristol Palin.
9:37: Lt. Dan Taylor, aka actor Gary Sinise, narrates a video tribute to a fallen Navy SEAL and Medal of Honor winner whose name I miss each time it is said. This is a much darker theme than anything we saw in Denver. The SEALs in attendance get a well-deserved standing ovation. Then the Medal of Honor winners get their own round of applause. The GOP’s dominance of the military is on display here.
Um, this can’t be the way they are going to segue to President Bush, can it? Are we going to get a picture from the one day he showed up for duty with the Texas Air National Guard? The SEALs deserve better than that.
9:44: No, there is the First Lady to introduce hubby. Keith points out that it has been decades since a sitting president failed to appear at his party’s convention. I completely understand why Bush skipped out, but the fact will always be that had he paid this kind of attention to Katrina, he could have gone to the party in Minnesota. Nothing he does now is going to reverse that. And great job, Brownie.
Laura Bush lets us know that John McCain is a war hero and Sarah Palin is a proven executive and true reformer. Really? I hadn’t heard that. This seems like a good time to review the Republican talking points for St. Paul:
John McCain is a former POW.
John McCain is a war hero.
John McCain is a maverick reformer with a history of results.
Sarah Palin is a proven executive with real experience.
Sarah Palin comes from a good family that has the same problems all families have.
Sarah Palin is a reformer with a history of results.
If we were playing a drinking game and sipping each time one of these lines was spoken, we would be hammered right now. No, that isn’t quite true. We would have been hammered hours ago. By now we would be passed out.
Laura Bush has a detached manner of speaking that is reminiscent of Nancy Pelosi, and that is not a good thing. With Laura it is the smile that is plastic. With Nancy, it is the whole face.
Taken at face value, her remarks are all about the amazingly strong women of the Republican Party. Women like Sarah Palin who…
…wait for it…
…is a proven executive with real experience, and a reformer with a history of results. But what is actually being discussed is the division within the Democratic Party. Every time the theme of women comes up in St. Paul that is what is really being talked about. The women, the women, the women, and then we somehow finally segue to the President. I heard it live and am still not really sure quite how got there.
9:53: Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States! Live, via satellite.
John McCain is a great American (and in 5…4…3…2…1) a true war hero. Again, I had no idea.
The crowd is definitely subdued here. It might be the fact that he is onscreen rather than in person, or it might just be that after eight years of this guy even the Republicans have had enough. When you are talking about “tax relief” and “drilling” and still only getting muted applause from this crowd then things must be really, really, REALLY bad.
10pm: The networks cut in and anchors at NBC, ABC, and CBS all talk over the President. Olbermann laughs. So does Viall.
10:04: And now…a tribute to Ronald Reagan. Ugh.
10:07: Alright, I must now warn you. I’m really not sure I can do this tonight. Joe Lieberman is still a long way off and someone just claimed that Ronald Reagan “saved our century”. WTF? And when did Joe Lieberman become a headlining act, anyway?
10:08: Fred Thompson of Tennessee is at the podium, and he is greeted by more muted applause. This is unbecoming of an actor from Law and Order, and would never happen to the late Jerry Orbach.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Fred Thomson is a good actor, has a great voice, but was a terrible candidate. Just awful. And speeches like this are the reason why. Well, speeches like this and a lack of any real desire to campaign. That didn’t help.
But this just might be Fred at his best—or at least his best since The Hunt for Red October. He is finally fired up. The delivery is great. The deep voice with the southern twang lends itself to speechmaking. It sounds like he should be reading Cicero or narrating on the Discovery Channel.
But he’s not. He’s reading a prepared political speech, and the shine wears off as soon as we listen to the words. “Give me some Sarah Palin of the establishment in Washington any day!” Um…your party has controlled the White House for the last eight years, and congress for six of those eight years. (Remember, Fred, you were there.) What establishment are you talking about exactly?
Another Teddy Roosevelt reference goes by and I begin to wonder what that is all about. Is the GOP always touting Teddy as a hero? I’ve never noticed before. And what is this about “the draining of the swamp”? That is at least the third time we’ve heard that. Every speech tonight has contained the same talking points. Remarkable. And then, as if on cue:
“John McCain is a war hero.” (And in 5…4…3…2…1) “And, he’s a former POW.”
At that point I stop listening. Thompson drones on and on while I download some Pearl Jam and again contemplate a drink.
10:23: “Now, being a POW doesn’t qualify you to be president. But it does show character.” Absolutely, yes, a thousand times, yes. It absolutely shows character, and McCain is an amazing man for having survived that experience and thrived afterwards. But it has also become his first response to every issue, and its value is cheapened with every gratuitous usage. People who believe this is not the same John McCain we saw in 2000 are not wrong. The McCain back then didn’t lean on this like a crutch.
The crowd is chanting something that sounds like, “Beat LA! Beat LA!” Sorry, folks, Larry Bird is not walking through that door. (Hi, God? It’s me, Jim. Please don’t let Larry Bird walk through that door. Please?)
10:36: Olbermann: “That speech was akin to lining John McCain up next to a flag and a gun.” Indeed. Thompson apparently went long, because we are moving on with almost no down time.
10:39: Finally, Joe Lieberman has come back to St. Paul. The applause is some of the weakest we have heard all night, and that is saying something.
We begin with Gustav. “My friends, it shouldn’t take a hurricane to bring us together.” Actually, Joe, it took you selling out your party and country for Israel. But I digress.
He talks about George Washington warning against loyalty to any one political party. He does not follow up with Washington also warning against foolish military excursions in foreign lands.
We get a shot of Newt Gingrich smiling and laughing on the convention floor. What the hell am I watching?
OH! It is “USA, USA” they are chanting. That makes sense. If there were more than a few dozen voices, that might have been clear.
I lose track of the number of times that Lieberman refers to himself as a Democrat. This is news in and of itself because Lieberman has been an independent since 2006, when Democrats in Connecticut widely supported his primary opponent. It was only thanks to his new friends in the GOP that he returned to Washington.
Now he praises Bill Clinton. The response is as icy as you would expect.
Onto Governor Sarah Palin. She is a…
…wait for it…
…wait for it…
…wait for it…
…reformer! AND she gets results.
Iraq. The War on Terror. Iraq. The Middle East. Iraq. I have heard not a single mention of Afghanistan tonight. Are they even admitting that we are still fighting on two fronts? If America gives these fools four more years then we have no one to blame but ourselves. Lieberman is still talking, but I’ve had more than enough.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Although
They are doing a damn good job of making it look like they did not vet her at all. It becomes more convincing with each passing moment, in fact, but I remain unconvinced.
As always, I could be wrong.
As always, I could be wrong.
To The Democrats
There is a bumpy road ahead and you should tread carefully.
It is almost beyond belief to think skilled Republican politicos selected a VP for John McCain with so little vetting. It makes for a good story and a better laugh, yes, but it simply cannot be true. They may have not known the number and depth of these Palin “scandals”, but they did know they existed—and they chose her anyway.
Why, you ask?
Because today Sarah Palin is under attack from both the Democratic Party and the media, and with each shot (cheap or legitimate) she takes, she is further transformed into the role the McCain campaign had in mind for her.
The victim.
The Palin nomination was always about the PUMAs first and foremost, and any casting of the governor in this light helps that cause. Soon her defenders will come out of the woodwork—many from within the Democratic Party itself—and the GOP will sit back and laugh.
It is already working. My own heart breaks for a 17 year old girl who first wound up pregnant and then five months later watched in horror as that pregnancy became a national news story. This girl’s life is none of our business, and it should have no baring on this contest between Barack Obama and John McCain.
Today the firestorm is fierce, but temporary. If Sarah Palin survives St. Paul and remains on the ballot, come November she will be an asset to the ticket. For all the wrong reasons, to be sure, but an asset nonetheless.
It is almost beyond belief to think skilled Republican politicos selected a VP for John McCain with so little vetting. It makes for a good story and a better laugh, yes, but it simply cannot be true. They may have not known the number and depth of these Palin “scandals”, but they did know they existed—and they chose her anyway.
Why, you ask?
Because today Sarah Palin is under attack from both the Democratic Party and the media, and with each shot (cheap or legitimate) she takes, she is further transformed into the role the McCain campaign had in mind for her.
The victim.
The Palin nomination was always about the PUMAs first and foremost, and any casting of the governor in this light helps that cause. Soon her defenders will come out of the woodwork—many from within the Democratic Party itself—and the GOP will sit back and laugh.
It is already working. My own heart breaks for a 17 year old girl who first wound up pregnant and then five months later watched in horror as that pregnancy became a national news story. This girl’s life is none of our business, and it should have no baring on this contest between Barack Obama and John McCain.
Today the firestorm is fierce, but temporary. If Sarah Palin survives St. Paul and remains on the ballot, come November she will be an asset to the ticket. For all the wrong reasons, to be sure, but an asset nonetheless.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Yay! A Woman!
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.
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.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
