Tag: Live Blog

i’m posting out of order, but the lady sparkler and i went out to Manassas last night for barack obama’s final campaign rally, at the Prince William County Fairgrounds. (see the pictures on facebook, or check out the panorama above.)

i’ll have more thoughts later (ie. tomorrow) but the rally was spectacular. they estimated the crowd at 90,000 and i’d absolutely believe it. he’s every bit as charismatic as clinton (mr, not mrs, who i met in early 1992) but hopefully without the, er, prominent character flaws. the lady sparkler and i went to the rally on a complete whim, but it felt great to be there for (hopefully) a little bit of history.

we didn’t get back until just about 2am, so i am way too tired for coherent thought, much less coherent election night coverage … but we’ll see what happens as we get through the night.

i’m desperately trying to come up with something else to liveblog tonight, mainly because i am struggling to come up with anything original that i could possibly say during another ninety minutes of political discourse.

sure, mccain could come out with some kind of plan, and sure, obama could suddenly start spouting in arabic about the downfall of the great satan … but i am thinking the odds of this are a little low.

I will say that there has been a lot of ink floating around lately which seems to be setting up nicely for an Obama win. The most interesting are from (admittedly moderate) Conservatives such as David Brooks:

He’s phenomenally good at surrounding himself with a team,” Brooks said. “I disagree with them on most issues, but I am given a lot of comfort by the fact that the people he’s chosen are exactly the people I think most of us would want to choose if we were in his shoes.

… and Andrew Sullivan:

… McCain would have to concede that he didn’t vet her, made his decision impulsively based on no real knowledge of her, and that his first serious judgment as a presidential candidate was so monumentally irresponsible that it doesn’t just disqualify her for the vice-presidency. It disqualifies him for the presidency.

This story line is the most interesting to me, as someone who was on the hill during the later part of Gingrich’s Republican revolution. I can say, the prevailing wisdom was that we had seen the death-knell of modern American liberalism, and that people we’re hoping that the Conservative lock on the halls of power would only be a couple of decades long.

Sure, I’d take an Obama presidency in it’s own right, but just the possibility that we haven’t become a country of one permanent majority party is what’s making me feel warm and fuzzy right now.

final thoughts

the pundits are saying that mccain was great out of the gates (agree) that it was mccain’s best debate (agree) and it wasn’t obama’s best (agree) and that obama was on the defensive for the first third of the debate (agree).

but they are also saying that mccain let obama back in the debate by dwelling / looking emotionally disturbed by the ayers / john lewis thing (agree a hundred times over). mccain looked angry. obama looked like an academic. wonder how all this translated into the masses …

after the last debate, there was a lot of conversation about how mccain’s window was closing, and that this closing window means he would have to take larger risks (attacking obama) and those risks would have a greater chance of backfiring.

i certainly think that mccain has either slowed or stopped the hemorrhaging, but did he fundamentally change the course of the debate? dunno, but my guess is no. and i am certainly not going to loose any sleep about it.

speaking of which, good night. god bless. i’ll most likely kill you in the morning.

crap. there is a debate tonight, isn’t there. ugh.

final thoughts

The generational gap was more apparent tonight that it ever was before … and i’m guessing it was due to the absence of the podiums. McCain looked old, and the more he looks old, i think the more the rank and file Americans (who aren’t beguiled by Palin’s neocon-ly charms) bail on his campaign.

I’m glad the onslaught of personal attacks didn’t come … i think slinging mud would hurt both sides more than they’d help, because it causes the middle to stay home. We’ve had enough elections in recent memory that were about mobilizing the base, and that doesn’t help the national discourse by any means.

Yet again, I don’t there was anything here to change the conversation, and status quo favors the guy in the lead. My main concern is as it was after the very first one … Obama needs to start building up a lead, because once the white people are in the voting booth alone, all polls and predictions become bogus.

update: i just heard cnn’s republican and democratic analysts hand the election to obama (pending major implosion, etc). basically, the argument was that the things that mccain would need to do to take the lead are either too late (policy shift, separation from bush) or have too high a potential to backfire (personal attacks).

other interesting tidbit … in the initial poll, 50%+ thought that obama won (not news) but mccain’s unfavorable ratings are at 46%, while barack’s fell to 34% after the debate. if mccain is really 12% behind in unfavorables, there is no way he wins … you just can’t overcome a gap like that.

I’ve been looking to avoid this evening since I heard the veep nominations…

The expectations for Palin are so low, that if she strings two coherent sentences together she wins. If Biden crushes her, she wins. If the moderator asks her hard questions, she wins. If she shows up with a star-spangled swimsuit and poses with a gun, she wins.

To quote the pimply faced boy from the Simpsons: this is only going to end in tears.

a couple more thoughts after the debate … it’s fascinating the sea change we have seen in regards to women and their roll in society. i’m sincerely happy that a woman can go into a veep debate with a folksy, soccer mom schtick and hold her own against opposition in a power suit.

let’s be honest, if geraldine ferraro went for this approach 24 years ago, she would have been run off the ticket on a rail.

to me, this election was all fun and games until tonight. honestly, i suspect i could live under a McCain administration … even if i would prefer pre-2001 as opposed to this particular incarnation. but, imho, the country just can’t survive even two years of a Palin administration.

the way she looks down on intellect, forces herself to be colloquial, follows her politico-driven script, her obviously ultra-conservative credentials … that’s just a continuation of the bush approach which has proven bankrupt.

that’s it for me. i’m (right now) going to go donate a lot of money to the Obama campaign, and go to bed to get the nightmares over with.

Guess who live blogged the debate tonight? Tonight’s coverage came from waaaay out in suburban Maryland — home of the very mighty baby boig. Also, in case you missed it, I live blogged that joint appearance by Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton on Saturday night two weeks back.

thoughts from the debate

a couple thoughts from the drive home

first, i liked how approachable obama seemed … he had a “kitchen table” schtick about him, and it think that will serve him well. it’s not him at his most eloquent, but i think everybody is expecting a good state of the union already. it’s still a question of if you want to drink beer with him, and the debate was a personal win for him here.

second, that stupid audience reaction graph seemed to map indies and dems very closely together, with repubs more often swinging the opposite way. if that graph has value, which is a bold assumption, then this correlation is a very, very good sign for Obama. actually, anecdotally, i’d say that the three lines were more “together” when barack was speaking, and a little more separated when mccain was speaking. that could be good, too.

finally, a Conservative commentator (not sure who) mentioned that foreign policy and national security are the bread and butter issues for McCain, and that if he doesn’t score in this debate, he probably isn’t going to score at any debate. Now, call the debate how you will, but i don’t think anyone is saying that McCain did any better than “holding his own” … so, that could be good, too.

well, good night! god bless you … and god bless the united states of america.

p.s. i want you to know i did this whole thing from a couch using my iPhone. come on in, my friends … drink the kool-aid. the water is *mighty* fine.

so, i not going to watch the whole Repub convention (a man can only take so much), so it’s just Wednesday and Thursday this time around. To be fair, i wasn’t going to watch any of it … but i have to say that I think the nomination of Palin for Veep (or Trophy Veep, or VPILF, depending) is a masterwork. the dems are in real trouble on this one, and i hope she’s not the harbinger of the apocalypse for their ticket.

Also, in full disclosure, I must confess that I am not live-blogging this, but instead “tivo-blogging” this … on wednesday night, the lady sparkler and I had to decide between going to RFK to watch D.C. United win its 12th major championship, or stay home and bear witness to the coming apocalypse. it didn’t turn out to be as hard of a decision as i’d have thought.

UPDATE: I was going to try and tivo-blog both nights right now… but my weak psyche just can’t take another three hours on top of what i’ve already endured. You’re on your own until the weekend when i’ll plow through the final night.

UPDATE #2: It’s two weeks later, and the last night of the convention is still untouched on my Tivo. I’m beginning to question my dedication to this effort …

UPDATE #3: It took three-odd weeks to gain the courage to finish the repub convention. Boy, the things that I do for my loyal readers … all three of you.

Random thoughts below.

thursday night

wednesday night

8:17 pm	parade of female ceo’s (meg whitman, carly fiorina) testifying.
8:26 pm	michael steele is no baptist preacher, but holding his own. “we need someone who won’t play to the public applause.”
8:28 pm	beautifully framed argument against affirmative action: “the ideal of a color blind society is worth fighting for … because each man, woman, and child is an individual, and not the member of a hyphenated class or group.”
8:29 pm	good god, did steele really say “drill, baby, drill. and drill now.”
8:30 pm	omg. the crowd is now chanting “drill, baby, drill.” i’m not kidding. i swear, they are actually doing it. oh, god .. and there are signs, signs that say “drill now.”
8:31 pm	btw, the republicans get the call and response thing. steele’s use of “do you want to put your country first” was exactly how it should be done.
8:34 pm	damn. if i was african-american, i would have some poignant things to say about mr. steele’s position visa vis our shared ethnic background.
8:35 pm	“the only label that counts isn’t partisan, but ‘American.’”
8:36 pm	romney is up. oh, my.
8:37 pm	“For decades, the Washington sun has been rising in the east – Washington has been looking to the eastern elites, to the editorial pages of the Times and the Post, and to the broadcasters from the coast. If America really wants change, it’s time to look for the sun in the west, cause it’s about to rise and shine from Arizona and Alaska! “
8:40 pm	Oh, my. He’s not kidding when he says … “Is a Supreme Court liberal or conservative that awards Guantanamo terrorists with constitution rights? It’s liberal!”
8:41 pm	“Liberals would replace opportunity with dependency on government largesse. They grow government and raise taxes to put more people on Medicaid, to take work requirements out of welfare, and to grow the ranks of those who pay no taxes at all. Dependency is death to initiative, risk-taking and opportunity … It’s time for the party of big ideas, not the party of Big Brother!”
8:43 pm	I hate to be naive, but could we at least kind of not lie about your opponent’s positions? “Democrats want to use the slowdown as an excuse to do what their special interests are always begging for: higher taxes, bigger government and less trade with other nations.”
8:44 pm	Ouch: “And I have one more recommendation for energy conservation – let’s keep Al Gore’s private jet on the ground!”
8:45 pm	Well, good news if we elect McCain … “radical violent Islam is evil, and he will defeat it!” I was so worried … can we sue for false advertising if it turns out he can’t do it?
8:46 pm	Ooooff: “There’s never been a day where i haven’t been proud to be an American.”
8:48 pm	That speech was amazing. Who abducted Mitt Romney and replaced his brain with Newt Gingrich’s? I think he just staked out the Conservative right for 2012.
8:52 pm	I’m starting to get nervous. Sick to my stomach, but nervous.
8:57 pm	mike huckabee. he just called McCain his “second” choice for the nomination (behind himself, of course).
8:58 pm	Just thanked the “elite media” for unifying the republican party behind McCain and Palin.
9:01 pm	First props to Obama for being the “person of color” nominee.
9:04 pm	Good message point. “Barack Obama’s excellent adventure to Europe took his campaign for change to hundreds of thousands of people who don’t even vote or pay taxes here.”
9:08 pm	Biggest applause line of the night: “I’m not a Republican because I grew up rich, but because I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life poor, waiting for the government to rescue me.” It’s going to take a long time for Dems to shake this image in middle America.
9:14 pm	Good line from Gov. Linda Lingle of Hawaii about the authenticity of Palin: “She will not be trying to reinvent herself during this campaign! She is who she is.” They are just daring the opposition to take her head on … sheesh.
9:18 pm	This is going to be tough … i the Dems don’t take Palin on, she gets a free pass. If the Dems do, then they are beating up on a girl. We are so screwed.
9:22 pm	Oh, God. Someone get Mrs. McCain a gay man. I didn’t know they *made* dresses in that color of florescent green. That being said, it’s the only thing that could have topped her gold dress that looked like it was made out of my grandmother’s drapes.
9:32 pm	Rudolpho Giuliani. Can you imagine his career if it weren’t for September 11th? I’m pretty sure, he wouldn’t be speaking at the Convention, that’s fer dern shure.
9:34 pm	He’s started off being quite conciliatory, but I can just feel the wheels getting ready to fall off the rationality bus.
9:36 pm	Another refrain the party is obviously pushing: “America comes first.” Fascinating in the number of nuances you can read into that.
9:37 pm	Sure Giuliani can rip on Obama’s Harvard education, but he’s ripping on him for being a community organizer?!?
9:38 pm	Did Obama really vote present at 100+ State Leg votes? “For president of the United States, it’s not good enough to be present.”
9:39 pm	Giuliani doesn’t know how good of a speech he has. He keeps looking surprised at each of the reactions he gets.
9:41 pm	Giuliani is such a good old boy. Audience is eating up all the condescension. Is the key to Conservatism about the promise that one day you might get the chance to be a good old boy?
9:43 pm	Best line yet (despite the poor delivery): “They would have you believe that this election is about change versus more of the same, but that’s really a false choice, because there’s good change and bad change. Because change is not a destination, just as hope is not a strategy.”
9:44 pm	“Drill, baby, drill” again. Is this a NIMBY thing? Repubs live in middle america, so they don’t care about drilling so long as it’s off the coasts of the Blue states?
9:47 pm	“For four days in Denver, the Democrats were afraid to use the words ‘Islamic terrorism.’ I think they believe it will insult someone. Please tell me, who are they insulting if they say ‘Islamic terrorism’? They are insulting terrorists.”
9:50 pm	“And I believe, ladies and gentlemen, when they gave up on Iraq, they had given up on America.”
9:52 pm	Israelies and Palestinians aren’t “morally equivalent” and some United Nations bashing. [Insert punchline here.]
9:53 pm	At least they recognize the problem: “Like Ronald Reagan, John McCain will enlarge our party, open it up to lots of new people.” [emphasis added mine.]
9:55 pm	Oiiff, that hurts: “She’s already had more executive experience than the entire Democratic ticket combined.”
9:57 pm	“One final point. And how — how dare they question whether Sarah Palin has enough time to spend with her children and be vice president. How dare they do that.” Who did this? Someone tell me the name of the Democrat who did this?!? Speeches should require footnotes.
10:00 pm	More awful delivery, but good lines: “We’re the party that has expanded freedom from the very beginning, from ending slavery to making certain that people have freedom here and abroad … And we’re the party — and we’re the party that unapologetically believes in America’s success, a shining city on a hill, a beacon of freedom that inspires the world. That’s what our party is dedicated to.”
10:02 pm	Here come Palin, and she’s a’ wearin’ pink. Or is that a light taupe? Or is that lavender? Why the h-e-double-hockey-sticks did they put her in something that is even allowing me to think about this …
10:05 pm	Palin’s son (who’s service is being trotted out again) is deploying, to Iraq, on September 11th. There is no way we can win an election against these people.
10:06 pm	I’m going to hell, but i am not sure i can support a woman for elected office who named her children Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper, and Trig.
10:08 pm	At least her flaunting of her special needs baby was a *little* less crass.
10:13 pm	More community organizer bashing, “I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities.” I just don’t get it …
10:18 pm	This little gem is the byte I woke up to this morning on NPR (and my day never recovered): “Here’s a little newsflash for those reporters and commentators: I’m not going to Washington to seek their good opinion. I’m going to Washington to serve the people of this great country.”
10:23 pm	Much better response to drilling (and certainly more subtle) than I had expected: “Our opponents say again and again that drilling will not solve all of America’s energy problems, as if we didn’t know that already. But the fact that drilling, though, won’t solve every problem is no excuse to do nothing at all.”
10:26 pm	More ouch: “But listening to him speak, it’s easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or even a reform, not even in the State Senate.”
10:28 pm	More comments I’d like to see the footnotes for: “America needs more energy; our opponent is against producing it. Victory in Iraq is finally in sight, and he wants to forfeit. Terrorist states are seeking nuclear weapons without delay; he wants to meet them without preconditions.”
10:30 pm	She is trying incredibly hard to make McCain the candidate of change … “In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers, and then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change.”
10:32 pm	I’m running out of nice things to say. “And though both Senator Obama and Senator Biden have been going on lately about how they’re always, quote, ‘fighting for you,’ let us face the matter squarely … There is only one man in this election who has ever really fought for you in places where winning means survival and defeat means death. And that man is John McCain.
10:33 pm	Another knock on community organizing.
10:34 pm	Apparently, It doesn’t count if you aren’t being shot at by foreigners: “And though both Senator Obama and Senator Biden have been going on lately about how they’re always, quote, ‘fighting for you,’ let us face the matter squarely … There is only one man in this election who has ever really fought for you in places where winning means survival and defeat means death. And that man is John McCain.”
10:38 pm	Objectively, a good speech … but I see the strength as energizing the base. Very aggressive against Obama, and (obviously) very positive about McCain, but I don’t think it will turn the undecided and there was very little on policy. There was a lot of mocking and condescension, and I don’t see how that grabs the independent, undecided middle.
10:49 pm	The more I think about this, there is no way she pulls disaffected dems. Big pull for the heartland, tho, but I don’t know how much of the heartland they didn’t already have.
10:55 pm	Gawd, I’m depressed.

for some reason, i got a hankering this weekend to watch the dem’s convention … i also got a notion to do a triathlon, oddly enough, but that sounds much harder. maybe i’ll stick with politics for now, even though this certainly violates my prohibition on paying attention to the news.

thursday night

6:45 pm	early start … and only CNN is covering so far. (resisting the urge to put my foot through the television.)
6:55 pm	tee-hee! gold medal winning u.s. olympic gymnast shawn johnson led the pledge of allegiance today. i don’t know why that makes me giggle, but it does.
7:04 pm	why couldn’t they have put civil rights legend rep. john lewis in prime time when someone would have seen him?
7:11 pm	and while we are asking stupid questions, what are the odds that obama’s acceptance speech would fall on the anniversary of the day m.l.k. gave his “i have a dream” speech?
7:18 pm	i just saw michael dukakis! no tank or helmet, tho. (booooo!)
7:20 pm	i hope u2 is getting royalties for each time “beautiful day” is played at the convention. they’d be like bajilionaires or something.
7:36 pm	oh, will.i.am. what have thou wrought?
7:42 pm	sheryl crow? dear god. i never thought i would say this … but i’d like a little more substance, and a little less wolf blitzer dancing.
7:50 pm	make. the. pain. go. away.
7:58 pm	“i cann seee cleeeeearly nowww the raiiiiiin has gonnnnne.”
8:00 pm	whew, pbs.
8:10 pm	i love when pols wave to the audience as if to recognize their cheers, but with no actual cheering … udall just left the stage as if he had sacked rome, and all to the sounds of crickets chirping.
8:19 pm	bill richardson looks, dare i say, statesman-like? well, except for the ferret that appears to have attacked his neck.
8:26 pm	we’ve got to lose this “take america back” message … too confusing from a party that keeps talking about moving us forward.
8:38 pm	the baylor bears are loosing (shocked, i say, shocked!) on the other tuner. no option but to watch stevie wonder.
8:46 pm	i *swear* i just saw Jin-Soo Kwon from Lost.
8:52 pm	gore got a great speech, but has the personality of a wooden plank. there was a glimmer there around the environment, but he couldn’t spin it into the traditional platform issues.
8:56 pm	jeez, al. slow down …
8:58 pm	al needs to go back to being an elder climate statesman … ugh.
9:07 pm	i know that michael mcdonald has a “core demographic” but i’m damned if i can figure out who that would be.
9:17 pm	an eisenhower at the dem convention? i can’t *wait* to see who the repubs dig up for theirs …
9:22 pm	you know, i’d think eisenhower and the generals were good enough to really make a difference … if i thought any undecideds were actually watching this convention.
9:30 pm	(yawn) isn’t someone important supposed to be speaking tonight? i want ice cream. speaking of, do you think that the ballpark vendors are working tonight? i’m guessing veggie burgers, freedom fries, and tofu ice cream. no! sushi, fruit smoothies and an organic espresso bar.
9:36 pm	okay, disadvantaged soccer mom just went off on “what has george bush done for me” and all i could think of was “ask not what your country can do for you…” jeez, i’m slipping into the abyss.
9:38 pm	now *there* is the message we want: “i voted for nixon, reagan, bush and bush — but i can’t afford four more years…”
9:44 pm	those average joes just changed the convention … who ever found them, wow. authentic. completely unforced. life just doesn’t get better than a crowd of 70,000 people chanting the name of someone they just met for the first time.
9:47 pm	the lady sparkler just finished her puzzle.
9:52 pm	watch out, folks. pbs commentator david brooks has started drinking the kool-aid.
9:59 pm	dick durbin is such a happy man. joey biden was just a happy man. *everyone* is happy, and (most importantly) not faking it. who’s party is this again?
10:08 pm	is this what 1960 was like?
10:09 pm	… well, except the sixties probably had less u2.
10:13 pm	wide shot of the stadium, at capacity, with flashbulbs popping. awesomeness.
10:19 pm	“That’s why I stand here tonight. Because for two hundred and thirty two years, at each moment when that promise was in jeopardy, ordinary men and women — students and soldiers, farmers and teachers, nurses and janitors — found the courage to keep it alive.”
10:21 pm	the convention is using the words “democrat” and “republican” too much. it’s got to turn away some centrists and moderates …
10:25 pm	okay, barack. we get it. time to stop going after McCain’s plans and start laying out your own …
10:33 pm	Better, thank you: “That’s the promise of America — the idea that we are responsible for ourselves, but that we also rise or fall as one nation; the fundamental belief that I am my brother’s keeper…”
10:38 pm	No taxes: check. Energy independance: check. National service and higher education: check, check.
10:42 pm	Damn, he’s good. And he’s just getting warmed up. “We must also admit that programs alone can’t replace parents; that government can’t turn off the television and make a child do her homework; that fathers must take more responsibility for providing the love and guidance their children need.”
10:44 pm	The national security parts were, quite literally, perfect. “You don’t defeat a terrorist network that operates in eighty countries by occupying Iraq. You don’t protect Israel and deter Iran just by talking tough in Washington. You can’t truly stand up for Georgia when you’ve strained our oldest alliances.”
10:46 pm	Keeps coming … “We are the party of Roosevelt. We are the party of Kennedy. So don’t tell me that Democrats won’t defend this country. Don’t tell me that Democrats won’t keep us safe.”
10:48 pm	Is the crowd chanting “USA, USA”? … I don’t think I have *ever* heard that one at a convention. “And I will restore our moral standing, so that America is once again that last, best hope for all who are called to the cause of freedom, who long for lives of peace, and who yearn for a better future.”
10:52 pm	“I realize that I am not the likeliest candidate for this office. I don’t fit the typical pedigree, and I haven’t spent my career in the halls of Washington. But I stand before you tonight because all across America something is stirring. What the nay-sayers don’t understand is that this election has never been about me. It’s been about you.”
10:57 pm	Unreal. I have no words. Crazy good.
11:01 pm	Big wins: going to be harder to cast him as soft, or as an aloof eastern liberal intellectual, and he made a solid play for the center.
11:11 pm	You know, he might just pull this off.

wednesday night

8:01 pm	hillary moving to accept the nomination of barack obama by acclamation is a *really* nice touch. bravo, hillary (and her handlers), bravo.
8:08 pm	this notion of energy independence as an imperative to cut funding for “the terrorists” is a fascinating theme for the convention, and not one i was really expecting.
8:16 pm	the lady sparkler has given up and is doing a puzzle.
8:26 pm	why does Rep. Patrick Murphy have a men’s choir of secret service agents standing behind him?
8:37 pm	evan bayh?!? i *love* people named Evan … they are so smart, and handsome.
8:40 pm	note to senator bayh: if you are going to do an audience refrain, you need to wait for the audience.
8:43 pm	if i think evan is sexy, does that make me a monosexual?
8:45 pm	“We can no longer be divided into red states and blue states but must stand united as 50 red, white and blue states.” (groan…)
8:53 pm	in the movie of life, the Honorable Jack Reed (D-RI) would be played by William H. Macy.
9:02 pm	here he comes … jesus, bill. don’t screw up.
9:06 pm	four minute standing ovation. wow, we have a *very* short memory … has everyone forgotten the last 12 months?
9:11 pm	it’s like watching the Prodigal Son come home. jeez, he just exudes charisma.
9:12 pm	“Barack has the curiosity that every President needs.” wow, bill. now that you mention it, i think you needed a little less curiosity …
9:15 pm	“The world is always more impressed by the power of our example, than the example of our power.” Oh, Bill. I want to bear your children … hold me.
9:24 pm	*i love you, Bill!* i’m sorry i ever doubted you … take me back. please, take me back. (call me!)
9:35 pm	if we are dragging out john kerry, can michael dukakis be far behind? (ooo, and in his tank and helmet, please.)
9:39 pm	Is it just me, or does Kerry look positively gleeful to be asked to portray McCain as a flip-flopper? “Before he debates Barack Obama, John McCain should finish the debate with himself.”
9:43 pm	Did they just bring out Barack Obama’s white uncle?!? Oh no they didn’t!
9:47 pm	Note to Senator Kerry: Dude! Where was this four years ago? If you had showed this much spine in 2004, we’d be having a very different convention right now.
9:59 pm	Palace intrigue? How funny would it be if Bill Richardson got bumped because Bill Clinton went 10 minutes too long.
10:04 pm	Quite a short film from Spielberg and Tom Hanks. Worth watching if they post it.
10:20 pm	Joe Biden’s dad told him that the reason we fall down is to learn to pick ourselves back up. I think that means he is Batman.
10:31 pm	For the record, I had no idea Joe Biden wrote the Violence Against Women Act. Now, I did know that he called Slobodan Milosevic a war criminal to his face …
10:35 pm	Get Grandma Biden’s face on a stuffed animal. Cutest. Celebrity Grandma. Ever. (Except for that “bloody the bully’s nose” story. Little scary.)
10:44 pm	Does anybody get it? If you do an audience refrain, you *must* wait for the audience. Come on, people. Please.
10:52 pm	Joey is going to be quite the pit bull. Between that and the international affairs background, Biden’s shaping up quite nicely. Wish he brought more than three electoral votes, tho.
10:58 pm	Awwww. And the DNC even sought fit to invite the nominee. Isn’t that sweet?
11:01 pm	All joking aside, I love it when the families crash the podium. If only they could select slightly less obvious music than “We are Family.”

tuesday night

8:01 pm	first sign tonight is going to have a much different tone, from Gov. David Patterson of New York: “If McCain is the answer, the question must be ridiculous.”
8:15 pm	second sign tonight is going to have a much different tone, from Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland: “Eight years [after the start of the Bush administration], what do they have to show for it? Surpluses squandered, our national reputation tattered, jobs lost.”
8:24 pm	anna berger (Change To Win, SEIU) should be harnessed as a military weapon … her voice could shatter reinforced steel.
8:51 pm	is a mayor of fairbanks, alaska *really* the best republican the dem’s could dig up? (update: he’s actually the mayor of a borough of fairbanks, not even fairbanks proper…)
9:06 pm	Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (of Kansas) ain’t all that. She makes McCain look like a Baptist preacher. No way she makes national office, and would have been a *horrid* veep.
9:17 pm	Another refrain of “We can’t afford more of the same…” I’m sensing a theme, here. Not terribly original, but a theme none-the-less.
9:26 pm	It just dawned on me … Joe Biden is from Scranton, Pennsylvania. Dunder Mifflin is in Scranton, Pennsylvania. I’ve never seen Joe Biden and Andy Bernard in the same room. Coincidence?
9:42 pm	If Mark Warner’s jaw was any more square and rugged, it would be classified as a mountain range.
9:50 pm	Nominee for quote of the day: “When we look around today, we see … an energy policy that says let’s borrow money from China to buy oil from countries that don’t like us.”
9:52 pm	Now, *there* is the theme they need to keep hitting: “This election isn’t about liberal vs. conservative. It’s not about left vs. right. It’s about the future vs. the past.”
9:59 pm	Who wrote Warner’s speech? Damn, brother should get a raise …
10:11 pm	Gov. Deval Patrick (D-MA) just gave the third “shout out” of the Convention. We need to stop it with the “shout outs.” Pols just shouldn’t try to get “jiggy” wit da “lingo.”
10:21 pm	Is everyone on the planet from the southside of Chicago?!?
10:33 pm	The world needs more Brian Schweitzer’s in specific, and bolo ties in general.
10:37 pm	BWAHAHAH! The Hillary tribute video just featured Bill Clinton, and the only caption said “Hillary’s Husband.” Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
10:41 pm	I’ve loved Chelsea ever since that MTV inaugural ball where she gushed over Michael Stipe and 10,000 Maniacs.
10:42 pm	the lady sparkler is certain that Hillary’s had (at least one) face lift.
10:52 pm	Hillary just thanked “everyone in the 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the territories.” Damn it, D.C. get’s no love. *No* love at all.
10:58 pm	I (mostly) get the Hillary thing now. Once she got out of the thank you’s and into her stump speech, she became quite a speaker … and very eloquently told her supporters to stop yammering and get in line.

monday night

6:45 pm	just started watching coverage on CNN.
6:48 pm	egads, it’s wolf blitzer! just stopped watching CNN. starting to watch “Family Guy” instead until convention coverage starts on PBS.
8:05 pm	i think that Jim Lehrer just referred to the next president of the united states as “beru.” as in, “aunt beru” from star wars. i don’t think that can be a good thing.
8:22 pm	early nomination for the most awkward moment of the convention: jimmy carter walks on stage, waves, walks off stage. you’d think if we trusted him with control of the nuclear football for four years, the dem’s would trusted him with a microphone for four minutes.
8:33 pm	second nomination for most awkward moment of the convention: somebody tell me why barack’s sister (Maya Soetero-Ng) wasn’t allowed to read her speech before she gave it.
8:49 pm	god, i love Jesse Jackson, Jr. now, only if his daddy would shut up.
8:54 pm	oh, that’s why carter wasn’t given a microphone … when asked by lehrer if obama had enough experience, carter said barack had more experience than he did when he was elected (ooof).
9:16 pm	carolyn kennedy taking the stage to the tune of “sweet carolyn.” i should be horrified by the cliche, but instead i’m getting my red sox garb.
9:17 pm	oh, god. why are they showing the kennedy’s at play on their yacht? are we trying to steal mccain’s $5-million-or-less middle class voters? let’s put him in a golf cart next, to seal the deal.
9:27 pm	ha! there’s the golf cart.
9:33 pm	damn, teddy looks and sounds good. can’t we find just one of the next generation of the kennedy clan who is fit for public office?
10:04 pm	jim leach. glad he’s a republican. glad he supports obama. but, he sounds like kermit the frog.
10:12 pm	nominee for the soundbite of the evening from Leach: “This is not a time for politics as usual or for run-of-the-mill politicians. Little is riskier to the national interest than more of the same.”
10:21 pm	second nominee for the soundbite of the evening goes to Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri: “we’re not a red state. we’re not a blue state. we’re a united state.” (groan…)
10:29 pm	the lady sparkler is crying watching the michelle obama tribute video.
10:37 pm	the lady sparkler thinks michelle looks good. i’m a little nervous about her condi rice inspired hair cut.
10:45 pm	the lady sparkler is interested that “they” didn’t put michelle in a suit. i’m thinking she’s spoken in front of a crowd once or twice before …
10:46 pm	michelle spoke of military families saying grace with an empty place at the table for their deployed family. she’s gooood.
10:47 pm	… and *then* a shout out to hillary clinton. damn, that girl is crazy good.
10:52 pm	she’s got the entire audience in tears. i wish i had something snide to say, but i’m coming up a bit short … where is Cindy “20 year old face, 80 year old neck” McCain when you need her.
10:58 pm	one more nomination for most awkward moment of the convention: the satellite cameo by barack with his family. i know it was supposed to be cute, but *awkward*.

man, i shouldn’t have watched … now i’m going to be really bummed when the republican machine rip the obama campaign to shreds.