Tuesday Night Convention Thread

by: Chris Bowers

Tue Aug 26, 2008 at 20:00


This is an open thread for the second night of speeches at the convention. Some important items to keep in mind:

  • The "Democrats Divided" narrative is the favorite of the news networks, but it is, of course, completely fabricated. Clinton has helped raise millions for Democrats, done numerous campaign stops, and sent dozens of staffers to his campaign. While white Democrats are the only group where Obama is clearly under-performing compared to Gore and Kerry, it is hard to imagine that is Hillary Clinton's fault. This is because Obama is under-performing among all types of white Democrats--including young white Democrats, liberal white Democrats, and wealthy white Democrats--not just the older white working class. It would be nice if, in a search to satisfy their insatiable lust for zombie "Democrats divided" narratives, that new networks would at least, for once, be accurate about the way that Democrats are dvidied.

  • Twenty-two million tuned into Michelle Obama's speech last night. This is an improvement over the 18 million who tuned into the first day of the 2004 Democratic convention. That is a very good thing, and we might very well see a bounce as a result.

  • I am expecting a very good speech from Clinton tonight. The national journal blogger's poll shows that I am not alone. At this point, I think that Hillary has become a better speaker than Bill. I bet she tears McCain a new one, and the clips of her doing so are replayed endlessly for the next 24 hours.

Enjoy the speeches. I will update after Clinton is done talking.  

Chris Bowers :: Tuesday Night Convention Thread

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Tuesday Night Convention Thread | 121 comments
Are you happier with the tone so far tonight Chris? (0.00 / 0)

The speeches have been harder-hitting tonight (4.00 / 3)

 Ed Rendell, of all people, eviscerated John McCain on energy. Cecile Richards all but called McCain a misogynist. (I wish Hillary would do just that.) Rahm Emanuel did his bit. Things seem a bit more focused tonight, and that's progress.

 The only problem is that they remain ISSUE attacks, and we need some CHARACTER attacks. Because that's ALL we're getting from the Republicans in Minneapolis.

 Oh boy, here comes Steny Hoyer. Talk about a buzzkill...  

"We judge ourselves by our ideals; others by their actions. It is a great convenience." -- Howard Zinn

You don't think they'll attack on taxes? (0.00 / 0)
"Surrendering" in Iraq? Killing babies in the womb?
[ Parent ]
Those will be framed as character issues... (4.00 / 3)
"Surrender" = No patriotism... traitorous..

Infanticide = No morals... etc.

Make no mistake, these are character assaults.

Taxes will be one of the only issue attacks, but will probably also become a character attack somehow... "Celebrities don't have to worry about taxes."  Yeah, ridiculous for Mr 7-home McCain, but don't think they won't play that card (as they already are in commercials).

[ Parent ]
I actually thought Rendell's speech was bad... (4.00 / 1)
I expected better from him... He also wasn't really captivating the audience, as there was a lot of side-noise.

Something I'm noticing... they're attacking the last 8 years, but they're not doing a good job linking it to McCain or even Republicans. It's kind of ridiculous, but I think these speeches would've been better in 2004.

Ahh, here we go.. Hoyer... starting to make the links.

But, where are the new lines of attacks?  Mockery?  Etc... Where's the housing stuff, or heck, I know this is sort of "taboo" to these people, but how about getting a veteran up there to talk about how McCain is denigrating his and other's POW experience by using it for every excuse?  Now THAT would get some talking heads to explode...

[ Parent ]
National security is tomorrow night (0.00 / 0)

[ Parent ]
You think someone will mention POWs? (4.00 / 1)
I think they'll be too scared to do it... We shall see.
[ Parent ]
Bad sign (0.00 / 0)
If national security is tomorrow night, then when the hell are they going to talk about McCain's houses?
[ Parent ]
Hoyer did (0.00 / 0)
Anyway, I'm skeptical there is much if any traction in it.
[ Parent ]
Only way there's traction is (4.00 / 1)
if we keep beating it into the media hole so that it's a message that comes out of the night. One mention ain't gonna do it.

How many times did the republicans call Kerry a flip flopper or mention the war funding vote during their convention?

[ Parent ]
It was beaten for days and was drowned out by Biden and... (0.00 / 0)
...the obsession of the media on the "division" in the party. Also there were apparently focus groups showing people didn't care.  
[ Parent ]
It doesn't matter what focus groups said (4.00 / 2)
You have got to develop a character attack that makes McCain unacceptable.

And saying that it was drowned out by Biden and the media proves the point! You have to keep saying it to get it into the narrative. You have to keep it up so that McCain becomes a joke on late night TV and an object of derision.

McCain needs to be turned into George H.W. Bush, also a war hero, but also a rich patrician who got defined as an out of touch rich guy who couldn't or wouldn't empathize with what was going on with average americans.

I don't understand why Democrats are always so timid about making these attacks.

[ Parent ]
The point I was making was they did keep saying it (0.00 / 0)
But it was still drowned out. The media has moved on.
[ Parent ]
But they didn't (0.00 / 0)
They stopped talking about it after Biden made the kitchen table comment, which was still heavily covered in the media.

I think it's OK they didn't talk about it last night, but there's no reason that the only person mentioning so far tonight is the woman from North Carolina, who while a wonderful and sweet person, is in no position to deliver a vicious character assault. That's kind of the main job of politicians.

[ Parent ]
Fair enough (0.00 / 0)
I still think it has limited traction though. No matter how much they talk about it. Now, McCain not understanding the economy is another matter. There definitely should be more of that.
[ Parent ]
I think they should link them together (0.00 / 0)
along with his age.
[ Parent ]
Cite? (0.00 / 0)
IIRC ... it depended on how you framed it .. which of course is everything .. besides ... you need to connect it to how much he pays the hired help(butlers ... servants .. whatever) .. because that's like a quarter million right there
[ Parent ]
Cite the focus groups? (0.00 / 0)
It was Frank Luntz and a Dem pollster whose name I can't remember. The groups were shown the Obama ads and the McCain Rezko ads and people weren't moved by the anti-McCain stuff but responded negatively to Rezko.
[ Parent ]
It was beaten for days and was drowned out by Biden and... (0.00 / 0)
...the obsession of the media on the "division" in the party. Also there were apparently focus groups showing people didn't care.  
[ Parent ]
Wow, this person is a terrible speaker... (0.00 / 0)
She's literally just reading her speech from a piece of paper...

Honestly, couldn't they start lining up all the heaviest hitters together for, say, the 8 PM EDT+ timeslots, and put these people earlier on in the day?  Is that the wrong strategy?  More people are probably tuning in now...

But they didn't want to have Clarke! (0.00 / 0)
Reading from a paper obviously is much better than hitting McCain hard. It's too early to tell, but I worry that this convention is seriously on the wrong track.
[ Parent ]
Exaggerated, not fabricated (0.00 / 0)
"The "Democrats Divided" narrative is the favorite of the news networks, but it is, of course, completely fabricated."
Polls show less Dems holding a positive view of their candidate (72% or so) than Republicans ((in the 80s). In another poll, about one third of Clinton supporters stated they will vote for McCain. So, there is a divide inside the Dem party. And, as usual, the networks exploit that fact and exaggerate its magnitude and impact in order to hype up their reporting. Utterly irresponsible, but then, those effing media pundits have always shown more concern about the Nielsen ratings than about the future of the US.
Sorry, but, it IS Clinton's fault... (4.00 / 1)
...she extended the primary longer than it should have, she lied to her supporters saying they had a chance when they didn't, and she's the one who initiated the scorched earth strategy against Obama...

Gee, I wonder why her supporters are still bitter...  Had this contest ended at the end of February, as it should have, there wouldn't be a divided party at all....

Now, there is division... not a lot of it, but enough to make the race closer than it should be.

REID: Voting against us was never part of our arrangement!
SPECTER: I am altering the deal! Pray I don't alter it any further!
REID: This deal keeps getting worse all the time!

Clinton supporters are bitter because of people like you (4.00 / 1)
Or do you think you're helping to unite the party by still playing the same old propaganda song fo the Obama camp? Yes, there's a divide, and it's because people like you can't acknoledge that they didn't win big, but barely made it. Less arrogance, less bragging and less ridiculing the losers would help a lot in healing the rift. If you can't manage that, you shouldn't point fingers at bitter Clinton supporters.
[ Parent ]
Who's ridiculing Clinton supporters... (4.00 / 1)
...of course they are bitter... they were given a false line after February, "Yes, we can still win this thing."  Chuck Todd said yesterday, that Hillary only had a 10% chance of winning and only with blowouts in Ohio and Texas...  The campaign knew this... Wolfson himself said the same thing...

Hell, I'd be bitter, too...

...and that's not propaganda song... that's plain hard facts...  Obama won a 90% probability of clinching the majority of the pledged delegates in February...

Stats, not propaganda...

Water under the bridge....

What do you want?  The Clinton supporters say that we "aren't doing enough?" What does that mean?  What do you want?  Specifics?

I don't expect an answer... we never get one to that question...

REID: Voting against us was never part of our arrangement!
SPECTER: I am altering the deal! Pray I don't alter it any further!
REID: This deal keeps getting worse all the time!

[ Parent ]
I think it's usually an apology... (4.00 / 1)
But of course, I'm not sure what we're apologizing for.
[ Parent ]
Anybody else notice the acoustics seem bad? (4.00 / 1)
Seems like all the side chatter drowns out the speakers too much. Makes it hard to concentrate on the speakers and seem like nobody is paying attention.

Maybe they should tell all the delegates to shut up while people are speaking.

Yes, yes, yes (0.00 / 0)
Last night the background chatter was very distracting. For example, when Jim Leach spoke, he seemed distressed by the inattentive audience. Gosh, when a Republican comes to endorse, you'd think the delegates would pay close attention! At least, the Mayor of Fairbanks North Borough, also a Republican, was able to speak over the rumble.

At last: here's a woman from North Carolina speaking about McCain's seven homes and how his election would continue the Bush disaster!

[ Parent ]
Seriously (4.00 / 1)
You can bet all the republicans were in rapt attention when Zell Miller spoke in 2004.

That woman was a sweetheart. But again, why is SHE delivering the housing assault? It's great she said it, but so should everyone else!

[ Parent ]
noticed (0.00 / 0)
I've noticed that too...When I hear the speech, the sound just doesn't sound right..The chatter I hear in the background is very annoying.
[ Parent ]
"We can't afford more of the same" (0.00 / 0)
Seems like they have decided on a slogan.
??? Hey, didn't I just invent that like one hour ago? (0.00 / 0)
Somewhere in another thread. My idea was:
'Can your family afford McCainonomics?'
Uh, Matt, Chris, if the Dems want to hire me as a slogan inventer, pls give'em my email address, ok?
:D
[ Parent ]
You should sue (0.00 / 0)

[ Parent ]
Isn't that pretty much every year's slogan? (0.00 / 0)
What was 2004?  Wasn't it that we couldn't afford 4 more years of Bush?
[ Parent ]
"More of the same from John McCain" (4.00 / 1)

 Whether she realized it or not, Nydia Velazquez just uttered a great refrain there.  

"We judge ourselves by our ideals; others by their actions. It is a great convenience." -- Howard Zinn
[ Parent ]
Steny did a good job... (4.00 / 7)

 ...pretending to be a Democrat for the night.

 I shudder as to how he'll make up for it when Congress gets back in session...  

"We judge ourselves by our ideals; others by their actions. It is a great convenience." -- Howard Zinn

Oh god.... Sebelius really -is- a dreadful speaker, isn't she?? (4.00 / 2)
I was kind of rooting for her for VP, but this makes me question my own sanity.  What blandness!  What monotony!  What self-aware whiny one-liner delivery!  

Ah well.  

She seemed to absolutely hate (0.00 / 0)
to have to deliver the McCain house line.

Why not give it to someone else then who can actually give a partisan speech?

[ Parent ]
Sad but true. (0.00 / 0)


Montani semper liberi
[ Parent ]
I think we can all be glad (4.00 / 4)
that Obama did not pick Kathleen Sebelius as his running mate.
Agreed (0.00 / 0)

[ Parent ]
Sebelius put me to sleep (0.00 / 0)

 Content-wise, her speech was excellent. But put some fire into it, please!  

"We judge ourselves by our ideals; others by their actions. It is a great convenience." -- Howard Zinn
Yeah what was up with that? (0.00 / 0)
Why not let Rahm or Fast Eddie give that speech?

Or here's an idea, how about you let Sebelius do the town hall questions and then let Sherrod Brown and Jennifer Granholm deliver the populist character attacks?

[ Parent ]
Very strange decision (4.00 / 1)
Her appeal is bringing people together and they get her to deliver an attack speech? Odd. Exactly why you shouldn't expect much anti-McCain stuff from Warner - he just wouldn't be comfortable doing it.
[ Parent ]
I keep comparing her speech (4.00 / 2)
to Ann Richards in 1992 (or was it 1988?). Now she knew how to blow the roof off the house.  
[ Parent ]
'88 (4.00 / 1)
Zell Miller was '92. Shudder.
[ Parent ]
What is it with the constant reference to the candidate as "Barack Obama"? (0.00 / 0)
There may be a transatlantic difference in etiquette here, but I've always been under the impression that whereas you may use someone's full name the first time you mention them, once there is no potential for confusion, you refer to them by either their first name (if you know them well) or their surname (if you don't).

All this constant reference to "Barack Obama" rather than "Barack" or "Obama" just sounds weird. Are there two Obamas on the November ballot or something?

Forgotten Countries - a foreign policy-focused blog

It's a transatlantic thing (0.00 / 0)
Very common over here in politics for some reason.  
[ Parent ]
Fair enough (0.00 / 0)
Having been born into this world with the name Edward Carlsson Browne, I may be more sensitive to this than others.

Forgotten Countries - a foreign policy-focused blog
[ Parent ]
Using only the last name... (0.00 / 0)
would be impolite when the person you're talking about is present. German Social Democrats would be using the first name, older or more traditional members would say comrade Obama, but I guess the US Dems have a different tradition.
[ Parent ]
it'd be (0.00 / 0)
Brother Obama in the church hall or the union hall.
[ Parent ]
But English grammar is different (0.00 / 0)
We lack a different form for second person plural, so we have no polite address like "vous" (I have no idea what the German is, sorry).

I've heard "comrade" used before, but only in far left circles, because of the communist connotations.

I hadn't thought of the idea that using only the surname might be perceived to be impolite. I don't think the same thing would automatically apply in English, but it would depend on context and whether it was deliberately formal. This gets into the very basic material of language and dialect that normally gets elided over.

Forgotten Countries - a foreign policy-focused blog

[ Parent ]
Not exactly "comrade", but "Genosse" (0.00 / 0)
"comrade" was just the closest translation I could find. But it's not exact, since they other way round, "kamerad" is the closest translation of "comrade", but that's used almost exclusively in the military. "Genosse" is the civilian counterpart, and, yes, it has this brotherly touch.

It's usage, of course, comes from the early days of the workers movement, when the first political oriented groups were founded in 1863 and 1869 and merged in 1875. Those times in the early days of industrialisation were very harsh for ordinary workers, who could barely make a living under extremely hard circumstances, and so those who joined together to fight for better conditions were a very close knit community. Must have been about the same in the industrialized areas of the US, afaik (and even more so in the UK, of course).

Btw, imho one interesting difference between most European countries and the US is that here left wing parties, consisting largely of union members, grew so strong that they became a political force in the parliaments, while in the US, the Dems absorbed most of the political interested workers, leaving only fringe groups outside, not numerous enough to gain real political influence. So, the workers movement background is much stronger for European Social Democrats, and that may explain mayn of the differences.

The SPD being a party proud of its tradition still uses this form of address, even though it's on the decline nowadays since the new focus on the middle class.

As for the German equivalent of "vous", it's "Sie" (customary with a capital S), used in polite addressing both in the second person singular and plural (which makes it a bit confusing for foreigners), but in the SPD it's custom to use the more fraternal "du".

[ Parent ]
Ah, another grammar point I forgot (0.00 / 0)
I was always taught to use the second person plural when addessing an elder, but I forgot that political parties of the left tend to use second person singular instead.

Thanks for the discussion, anyway. Anything that stops my knowledge of foreign languages haemhorraging is a good thing.

Forgotten Countries - a foreign policy-focused blog

[ Parent ]
It's just fun to say (0.00 / 0)
Barack Obama Barack Obama Barack Obama  
[ Parent ]
here's a tip to the DNC (0.00 / 0)
If you want people to watch your videos, don't ask them to download software first.  It also makes it harder for the videos to become viral.
Apparently... (4.00 / 1)

 ...the professional concern trolls on CNN (Carville and Begala) are STILL complaining that McCain isn't being attacked. (I refuse to watch CNN, but that's what others are reporting.)

 The thing is, McCain HAS been attacked today. Repeatedly, and sometimes even forcefully.

 So this means that either (a) Clinton intends to go after McCain tonight, seeing that her two biggest surrogates are urging the Dems to do just that, or (b) Clinton won't lay a glove on McCain, and Carville and Begala will be revealed as two complete, unvarnished tools.

 I hope it's (a), but I fear it's (b).  

"We judge ourselves by our ideals; others by their actions. It is a great convenience." -- Howard Zinn

Well (a) would seem more likely then (0.00 / 0)
They had a point last night. Maybe they are watching a re-run.
[ Parent ]
yeah, there's been some good lines (4.00 / 2)
Rahm:


You know, President Bush inherited the strongest economy in history and a huge budget surplus. He inherited an economy that created 23 million new jobs. I'm a little surprised. You would think the one thing President Bush was good at was inheriting things. Instead he turned a $236 billion surplus into a record deficit and added nearly $4 trillion in new debt. That's the one thing we can say about George Bush: Mr. President, we will be forever in your debt.

Xavier Becerra:


Yet after eight years of failed economic policies-policies Senator McCain has promised to continue-so many of these folks are feeling invisible and insecure. Over the past eight years, family incomes have dropped $1,000. In just the last six months, 460,000 people have lost their jobs. More than a million family homes are in foreclosure. Record deficit- record and growing debt. Republican fiscal policy-the "gift" that keeps on giving!

If that's what Republicans mean by con-serv-atism, then we'll have no more of the con that they're serving! That's why we need Barack Obama. Because he'll take on the naysayers and the special interests. He'll fight for the forgotten middle class.


[ Parent ]
Well I'll be... (4.00 / 2)
Leave it to Casey to actually stick it to Bush/McCain.

"Four more months!"  

Someone said that earlier (0.00 / 0)
Napolitano? She was good by the way.
[ Parent ]
Yeah she was pretty good (0.00 / 0)
Much more dynamic than I remembered her being anyway.  
[ Parent ]
I saw her... (4.00 / 1)
She was decent, I thought Casey was better though.
[ Parent ]
He's actually got some pretty good political chops (0.00 / 0)
He's probably not quite as good as Warner on the stump but he might be more effective in terms of landing partisan hits.

Of course he couldn't be keynoter because of his stance on abortion, but at least he did hit all the right notes in a fairly prominent speaking position.

Did they show his speech on the cable networks or were they talking over him (I was watching on c-span)?

[ Parent ]
Nice line from Casey (4.00 / 4)

 "McCain's not a maverick, he's a sidekick!"  

"We judge ourselves by our ideals; others by their actions. It is a great convenience." -- Howard Zinn
I'm not good with photoshop... (4.00 / 1)
But can someone whip up one with Maybe Batman and Robin using the Bat Bike with a sidecar... replace Batman's face with Bush and Robin's with McCain... instant viral classic!
[ Parent ]
You know... (0.00 / 0)

 ...I think I'm going to retire before Hillary comes up.

 I'm getting a bad, bad feeling that she's just going to leave us all very, very cold. And I don't want to go to bed pissed off.

 I hope I'm wrong.  

"We judge ourselves by our ideals; others by their actions. It is a great convenience." -- Howard Zinn

I like Mark Warner and all... (0.00 / 0)
...But, man, he's no Barack Obama.
I'm now wondering (0.00 / 0)
If the keynote was designed to be a flop.  Warner is clearly not the right speaker to deliver a stirring address, so I have to wonder if not overshadowing Hillary was part of the plan.

We'll know in an hour, but methinks she is the real keynote, but she wasn't billed as such.

If he resonates for Barack only in Virginia (4.00 / 2)
Then he did his job.
[ Parent ]
With that speech? (0.00 / 0)
It was terrible.  Not a single uplifting moment or memorable line.  


[ Parent ]
They love him back home (0.00 / 0)
Every little helps.
[ Parent ]
Probably pretty good (0.00 / 0)
with the exurban suburbany types in Loudon County.
[ Parent ]
I didn't think he was a flop... (0.00 / 0)
He wasn't bad, actually... Obviously more positive than negative, but I think he actually had some pretty good parts in there.

Whether it's effective or not... I have no clue.

[ Parent ]
consider the bar (4.00 / 1)
In a list of the top 100 American political speeches, we have Barbara Jordan's 1976 Keynote at #5 and Cuomo's 1984 keynote at #11.

That is the standard to measure this speech against.  Warner's speech could have been any regular DNC address.

The way to tell if a keynote is a failure is that no one will be talking about this speech tomorrow, never mind years from now.

[ Parent ]
Where's Obama's? (0.00 / 0)
That would probably be considered the best, no?  He's the nominee just 4 years later...
[ Parent ]
20th century (0.00 / 0)
Is where they cut it off.  In any case Obama's speech was not the best political speech of all time.  See the list, it's got the "I have a dream" and "nothing to fear but fear" plus "ask not" all on there.

[ Parent ]
Ahh.. (0.00 / 0)
Thought you were referring to convention speeches for some reason.. my bad.
[ Parent ]
This Must Have Been Deliberate (0.00 / 0)
It's so sub-par as a keynote speech, it seems obvious to me that it was intentionally chosen not to compete with Hillary, and to stroke some Virginia ego.  Which it did.

Which, of course, shows how terribly out of position the whole Dem line-up is at this point in time.

Schweitzer was the one to keynote, at least from what we've seen so far.

"You know what they say -- those of us who fail history... doomed to repeat it in summer school." -- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 3

[ Parent ]
At the 1996 (0.00 / 0)
Convention, Bayh was the Keynote speaker.  But they decided to highlight Hillary, so she was given the bulk of prime time.  When she finished, about 1/3 of the hall left, and Bayh gave the keynote to empty seats and he wasn't in prime time.

The Indiana delegation (which I was sitting next too) was furious.

Same thing is going to happen tonight.

[ Parent ]
disappointing (4.00 / 1)
I was really disappointed with Warner's speech...Enough of the post-partisan crap, this isn't going to win us this election. Do we really think the republicans are gonna be talking all nice next week? No,, they'll be hammering Obama left and right. Warner had a shot to do it, and he mostly blew it.
That's Mark Warner (0.00 / 0)
Were you expecting something else? Was never gonna happen. Plenty good stuff elsewhere tonight. Strickland was good. Deval Patrick ain't too bad either.
[ Parent ]
Good line by Strickland (4.00 / 2)
paraphrasing: "They used to say the first President Bush was born on third base and thought he hit a triple. After inheriting a huge budget surplus, George W. Bush was born on third base ... and then he stole second!"

"I think the economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage country is impeccable and we should face up to that."
-Lawrence Summers
When It's Too Scripted... (0.00 / 0)
...the MSM will invent these little controversies and make mountains out of molehills.  Honest, I think the scripting has gone too far.  The more the Obama Campaign tries to script it, the more we hear yet again about PUMAs.  Maybe Hillary will close the door on the storyline.
Schweitzer should have had the keynote (4.00 / 1)
Same kind of words, completely different presentation. Not that the name matters I suppose.
Schweitzer Should Be the VP (0.00 / 0)
Seriously.
[ Parent ]
My thoughts exactly.. (0.00 / 0)
After seeing him talk... Wow.

Though we haven't seen Biden yet.  I think he'll be good too.

[ Parent ]
He was my choice (0.00 / 0)

 Middle-aged white bubba from a rugged he-man red state. But a real progressive at heart. A Washington outsider.

 That said, I'm happy with Biden.  

"We judge ourselves by our ideals; others by their actions. It is a great convenience." -- Howard Zinn

[ Parent ]
Go Schweitzer! (4.00 / 1)
And fuck you MSNBC for not showing his speech.

"Don't hate the media, become the media" -Jello Biafra
Palm of his hand (4.00 / 1)
The guy is a legend.
[ Parent ]
Wow... (4.00 / 1)
....just wow! I've watched a handful of his speeches, but NOTHING like this. Hitting McCain, talking up Obama, riling up the crowd....just fantastic. He is having so much damn fun.

"Don't hate the media, become the media" -Jello Biafra
[ Parent ]
good thing (0.00 / 0)
they're third place in cable.

I think all the broadcast networks showed it.

[ Parent ]
Nope... (0.00 / 0)
None of the networks carried it.. I think CNN had it and I didn't check Fox.
[ Parent ]
ah (0.00 / 0)
my friend saw he it. He thought it was on CBS, but maybe he was watching CNN.
[ Parent ]
Good line from Schweitzer (4.00 / 3)
"If you drilled in all of John McCain's backyards, even the ones he doesn't know he has..."

LOL.

Schweitzer burning down the house (4.00 / 1)
Wow, fantastic.  Too bad the networks aren't covering this.
Schweitzer owns that stage! (4.00 / 1)
I guess he's used to herding things!
Anyone else nervous about Hillary's speech? (0.00 / 0)
A good speech won't do this. An endorsement of Obama won't cut it. She needs to... do something amazing.  

"Don't hate the media, become the media" -Jello Biafra
Did Obama just win Montana? (4.00 / 1)

Messiah watch? (0.00 / 0)
Hillary video is using "Are You Gonna Go My Way" as background music.  

"I have come, to save the day
I am the chosen, I'm the one."

whose idea were these mccain placards? (0.00 / 0)
you have to read them to understand that they're actually anti-mccain.  couldn't they have come up wtih something that wasn't in red and that didn't have mccain written on it without strongly negative words?

yours,
the peanut gallery :)

"Hillary's Husband" (4.00 / 1)
Really? Lol!
Who was that guy? (0.00 / 0)
Do you think he's interested in politics?
[ Parent ]
Great video... (0.00 / 0)
I would've voted for the woman in that video.
"No Way, No How, No McCain" (4.00 / 1)
Good stuff.  She's gettin' it done.
Monica where are you? (0.00 / 0)
Bill Clinton appeared to undermine Sen. Barack Obama again Tuesday.

The former president, speaking in Denver, posed a hypothetical question in which he seemed to suggest that that the Democratic Party was making a mistake in choosing Obama as its presidential nominee.

He said: "Suppose you're a voter, and you've 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?"

Then, perhaps mindful of how his off-the-cuff remarks might be taken, Clinton added after a pause: "This has nothing to do with what's going on now."

right !!!

this is the real keynote. (4.00 / 1)
Hillary is delivering.
Did Obama just win the election? (0.00 / 0)
Hillary for President 2016!
Great speech... (0.00 / 0)
She did a great job.  I have no idea how it will be taken by her supporters and others... Because honestly, I don't even get how this election is close now.  But hopefully, good things.
OK, I watched Hillary after all (4.00 / 1)

 She was very good. I think she helped, overall. My one quibble was that quote about McCain being "honorable" and "her friend". You can't give that bastard an inch...

 But she did go after McCain -- maybe not quite as much as I would have liked, but that's just me -- and she was completely unequivocal in her support for Barack, Michelle, and Joe Biden.

 I'm glad I stayed up. NOW I have to crash. Good night, everyone.

 

"We judge ourselves by our ideals; others by their actions. It is a great convenience." -- Howard Zinn

The balance she struck (0.00 / 0)
Generally speaking, I could have used some more McCain-bashing too, but this speech was about getting her supporters behind Obama--this was THE MOMENT where she absolutely had to deliver them to Obama to the absolute best of her ability.  And when it comes to knowing how to reach her supporters and how best to lead them, I completely trust her sense of exactly how much McCain-hitting was the right amount.
[ Parent ]
Agreed... (0.00 / 0)
I think she hit McCain where it counted... had good lines, and basically challenged her supporters "Is this what you really want?"

If there's no bounce from this, we're dead.  But this was a fantastic speech... I have to imagine we get something out of it.

[ Parent ]
That was awesome (4.00 / 1)
Man, when she's got it, she's GOT IT, doesn't she?

Nothing fake about how Obama is now her BFF or whatever, but it was all about channeling everything her supporters saw in her into supporting him.  You supported me because of this, that, and the other thing, so now you need to support Obama because he'll deliver those things for you.  

If anyone who supported her is still wavering on Obama after that speech, then they're way too far gone for anyone to ever reach them.  

that was a good speech (0.00 / 0)
i'm a little worried about how "keep on going" is going to be taken by diehard Clinton supporters, but that was a good speech.
If by "diehard" you mean "PUMA"... (0.00 / 0)
...then I wouldn't worry. This speech isn't for them. It is for rational Obama hold-outs who needed to be convinced by the woman herself. A lot of them probably just were.  

"Don't hate the media, become the media" -Jello Biafra
[ Parent ]
The rational ones understand it (0.00 / 0)
She was saying, "by working hard for Obama like you worked for me, you won't be wasting your time or betraying your support for me, you'll be getting someone who can deliver what I promised to deliver to you."  
[ Parent ]
This was a good night (0.00 / 0)
Lots of good attacks on McCain, Warner for Virginia, Schweitzer being Schweitzer and Hillary pulling out all the stops. If this doesn't move the polls then nothing will.  
Hillary was Great, But . . . . (0.00 / 0)
Hillary gave a great speech.  But when you write that "Hillary has become a better speaker than Bill", that is like the thirteenth chime of a clock -- it not only discredits that utterance, but all that proceed it.  I've heard them both lately.  No way she's the better of the two.  He may take a dive for her to look good, although I doubt it, but he is still the best Democratic speech given alive.  Period.  Bar none.  
All the Schweitzer Fans are Vindicated (0.00 / 0)
He was amazing! :)  I almost wish he could have been the VP pick (not unhappy with Biden - just loved Schweitzer)!

I gotta say - Obama has his work cut out for him.  Between Michelle, Kucinich, Schweitzer, and the grand lady herself, Mrs. Clinton - we're only two days in - and wow wow wow!

(BTW, I missed most of this, cuz I had to visit my dad in the hospital.  But from what I read - we dodged a bullet with Sebelius, huh?)

QT

Visit the Obama Project


WindOnWater.net



Sebelius (0.00 / 0)
Sure did. Stunk out the place. Decent content, terrible presentation.
[ Parent ]
Didn't see it (0.00 / 0)
I was watching MSNBC who decided to use the time to complain that the Democrats weren't attacking McCain.  Sounds like they should have shown the speech.
[ Parent ]
Tuesday Night Convention Thread | 121 comments
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