The others were getting cluttered. Durbin is introducing him now, then the video.
10:23 pm- So far, so good. This is going really well. Loved the 10% chance for change line.
BTW, mom made the NY Times.
10:32 pm- I told you all to have faith. Loved the celebrity jab.
10:33 pm- Tom Friedman is going to pop wood over this energy plan.
10:42 pm- Bring it on, McCain. “He says he will follow him to the gates of hell, but he will not even follow him to the cave where he lives.”
11:00 pm- That was a pretty damned fine speech. Matthews and Olberman are just embarassing themselves with the praise, though.
11:54 pm- The McCain campaign has no idea what hit them. Here is their response:
“Tonight, Americans witnessed a misleading speech that was so fundamentally at odds with the meager record of Barack Obama,” spokesman Tucker Bounds said. “When the temple comes down, the fireworks end, and the words are over, the facts remain: Senator Obama still has no record of bipartisanship, still opposes offshore drilling, still voted to raise taxes on those making just $42,000 per year, and still voted against funds for American troops in harm’s way. The fact remains: Barack Obama is still not ready to be President.”
Brokaw openly mocked them.
The best thing about the night- as the press is dissecting Obama’s masterful performance, I flipped to a panel on PBS about the speech. Dolores Kearns Goodwin was talking at length, in the shadow of the Obama speech, that McCain needs to show he can use a teleprompter.
They are so well and truly fucked, and they deserve it.
12:45 pm- I am still in the afterglow, and thought I would go for another trounce. Screw the foreplay, here is Pat Buchanan being positively effervescent about the speech:
zzyzx
NBC took a commercial break just as Dick Durbin was announced. Idiots.
In other news, WA Republican Dino Rossi is running ads trying to piggyback on Obama. Talk about giving up on the state.
NBC is treating this event like the Olympics. They’re going for the stories and ignoring the event.
Incertus
Damn. I have to pause it now because my g/f is on her way home from work and she’ll snatch off what few hairs are left on my head if I watch it without her.
RoonieRoo
Obligatory C-Span rules comment!
zzyzx
Any chance Sasha won’t be trying to run in 30 years?
Louise
I loved the way he said “Enough!”
He’s taking it to McCain. Finally. FINALLY.
Kevin
McCain is DOOMED.
AkaDad
Barack Obama has already created change in me. I heart this guy so much I’m now bi-sexual.
dr. bloor
Riverdaughter will be right there, spinning psychotic fantasies about how she stole the nomination from Chelsea.
Parenthetically, posting around here is getting to be like trying to buy a pound of Stilton in Monty Python’s Cheese Shoppe.
J. Michael Neal
Uh, oh. Barack is angry. I don’t think Republicans are going to like him when he is angry.
Krista
Well, after this speech, if anybody says they don’t know what his policies will be, we can tell them clearly to screw off. He’s giving some great specifics.
And he just challenged McCain to a debate about who’s ready to be CiC. w00t!
demimondian's ghost
Don’t say that! It’s bad news for Barack Obama.
JL
Great speech. BTW John Congrats to you and your mom for making the Times.
Louise
“John McCain says he’d follow Bin Laden to the gates of hell, but he won’t even follow him to the cave where he lives.”
As Jon Stewart would say, “Oh, SNAP!”
nightjar
Perfect. Just perfect. Took the fight straight to Magoo. Whoever wrote this speech hit every note. Every fucking one.
Delia
WIN of the evening.
Tweety’s discussing McSaint’s temperament with Williams & Brokaw, referring to the snappish interview in Time. They’re all agreeing that his temperament and judgment are now on the table.
Egilsson
Normally I’d add the “This is excellent news for McCain” quip that so amuses me, but I just can’t.
I love that Obama was up there kicking ass. There’s so much ass kicking due.
Better than I thought it would be, as good as I had hoped it would be.
EMPY
Tuned to fox to see the monkeys throwing poo.
Charles Craphammer (Krauthammer) is the biggest tool I have ever seen.
What Charles took from the speach:
His very first line, and I quote “Well, it was not at all a great speech, but it was exceedingly smart”
(smart = nerd for Chuck)
-Tonight he came down from the mountaintop.
(Code much assclown?)
-Obama learned from the “folly” of Berlin, which was before this speech. Berlin was a “parody” of earlier speech.
(Huge hit = folly?)
-Small business people will be scared because Obama just trotted out the standard, liberal anti-business tropes. He said he would close loopholes large corporations use to cheat and move jobs overseas.
(My small business shipped no jobs overseas and has no offshore tax free accounts. I ain’t scared)
-He talked about helping “workers” and not “entrepreneurs”.
(Um, dickhead, $150B for alternative energy investment and directly called on “entrepreneurs” and small business to tap that.)
-Not inspiring. At all. Standard liberal tripe. Not soaring, just I’m not Bush.
I am in dumbstruck awe! Charles, you are a master of your craft. At no time did you even come close to having a fact straight. You spun each and every point to be the opposite of what was said. You found despair and weakness in a well of Hope and Strength.
Fine work. Now go cry yourself to sleep.
Just Some Fuckhead
My wife and I celebrated our twenty year wedding anniversary today. Got married August 28, 1988. Can’t tell you what we did the last 19 anniversaries but we’ll always remember what we did this one. Wow. Just wow.
nightjar
Perfect. Just perfect. Took the fight straight to Magoo. Whoever wrote this speech hit every note. Every fucking one.
EMPY
Tuned to fox to see the monkeys throwing poo.
Charles Craphammer (Krauthammer) is the biggest tool I have ever seen.
What Charles took from the speach:
His very first line, and I quote “Well, it was not at all a great speech, but it was exceedingly smart”
(smart = nerd for Chuck)
-Tonight he came down from the mountaintop.
(Code much assclown?)
-Obama learned from the “folly” of Berlin, which was before this speech. Berlin was a “parody” of earlier speech.
(Huge hit = folly?)
-Small business people will be scared because Obama just trotted out the standard, liberal anti-business tropes. He said he would close loopholes large corporations use to cheat and move jobs overseas.
(My small business shipped no jobs overseas and has no offshore tax free accounts. I ain’t scared)
-He talked about helping “workers” and not “entrepreneurs”.
(Um, dickhead, $150B for alternative energy investment and directly called on “entrepreneurs” and small business to tap that.)
-Not inspiring. At all. Standard liberal tripe. Not soaring, just I’m not Bush.
I am in dumbstruck awe! Charles, you are a master of your craft. At no time did you even come close to having a fact straight. You spun each and every point to be the opposite of what was said. You found despair and weakness in a well of Hope and Strength.
Fine work. Now go cry yourself to sleep.
cleek
is this thing on?
i hope you get this working by election day.
Just Some Fuckhead
My wife and I celebrated our twenty year wedding anniversary today. Got married August 28, 1988. Can’t tell you what we did the last many anniversaries but we’ll always remember what we did this one. Wow. Just wow.
Narcissus
“I told you all to have faith”?
Weren’t you all Chicken Little like two weeks ago?
Amazing speech, though. Even gets praise from Pat Buchanan.
Delia
Wow. Pat Buchanan is raving about the speech. He and Rachel are becoming BFF.
Bostondreams
Wow. Pat Buchanan just praised the speech to high heaven and said it was not a typical liberal speech. I think Rachel Maddow is stunned.
Chris
Offtopic comment — I love this site, but it’s been crashing regularly now and was barely working tonight. Crossing my fingers that you can get the issues resolved by election day.
The Other Steve
Hey look. The AP just posted their analysis. Before the speech was even done.
And guess what? They think Obama failed.
br
I’m stunned. According to Buchanan “Best. Convention Speech. Ever.”
Maggie
It’s so great to have faith in someone and then watch them deliver even more than you hoped for.
JG, TX
Hell yeah! (Terrorist Fist Jab for You and You and You!)++
Jake
The AP headline is “Obama spares details, keeps up attacks.”
Ratfuckers.
Tim (The Other One)
I TOLD you it was time to kick an old man in the nuts.
Sen. McCain; you’ve just been kicked in the nuts and not by any surrogates !
(cross-posted from Sadly, No w/ apologies)
Halffasthero
I try like hell to avoid commenting (or posting) on any one speech. Lately I have been reluctant to comment at all, truth be known. The posters here are getting sharper and sharper.
I have to say that this was easily one of the most impressive speeches I have ever heard. I was impressed by how good Hillary sounded and I thought that was going to be hard as hell to top because I felt she was that good.
Obama poured out a 55 gallon drum of whoop-ass on that stage tonight. If he doesn’t get a bounce in the polls from this then I don’t know what it takes.
And yes, hats off to McCain for that very gracious ad he put on.
Church Lady
EMPY, you tuned in to Fox too late. Bill Kristol was raving about the speech and even Fred Barnes praised it, after which my son had to pick me up off the floor. The only one that slammed it was Nina Easton, calling it basically the same old Democratic tripe.
Now, at K-Los House of Crazy, it was a different story.
Personally, I thought it was a really good speech.
Seanly
Great speech. Obama stated all the reasons why I am a strong & proud Democrat. I’m gonna give him some money.
I think Obama is gonna eat McCain alive in any debates. And what can any of the Republicans including McCain say next week to counter what has to be one of the great political speeches.
Also, kudos to the Democrats for being on message throughout the convention. A lot of different speakers hit the same points over & over. Then Obama hit or at least mentioned many of those in his speech. Great fucking work.
PS: Pleez let me post this time!
AkaDad
That speech was so good, he just won the endorsement from the National Association Of Racists.
Tim C.
It’s as if August was some kind of long dramatic sword fight between two gigantic warriors where one of them hacks and pounds away desperately at his opponent. And the opponent seems to tire and grow weary, being pushed back further and further. Then at the climax, the opponent drops the sword, pulls out a lightsaber and slices his rival in half.
That’s just what happened.
Adam
Perfect. Just perfect. Took the fight straight to Magoo. Whoever wrote this speech hit every note. Every fucking one.
That’s a joke, right? He writes his own speeches.
Jake
I read somewhere that Bill Kristol was blown away, which seems impossible. He said Obama met and exceeded expectations.
Go figure.
wasabi gasp
Perfect. Just perfect. Took the fight straight to Magoo. Whoever wrote this speech hit every note. Every fucking one.
(I’m pooped, so I just snatched nightjar’s comment. He had an extra one anyway.)
John O
This election is the biggest no-brainer since McGovern-Nixon.
Shit.
That was one heckuva speech. I love this guy, and I’m not even a Democrat. The man inspires me, and that is no small task.
Not just a home run, but a grand slam, all the way out of the stadium in a high-pressure situation. Obama can deliver the goods.
If this election is even close, I’ll be bummed out. The choice is clear, and I say this believing Obama can’t do shit about what we’ve become without just a whole bunch of help from…well, us.
Pelikan
I don’t know about you all, but I’m going to go help voters get to the polls in Michigan this November, Fuck MxyIQ and all of the rest of the naysayers, if this isn’t democracy done right, then I’ll probably never live to see it.
Jon H
You know what?
I’ve listened to two days’ worth of speeches.
TWO DAYS.
Without so much as a cringe.
After 8 years of Bush, it feels good.
zoe from pittsburgh
I thought it was a truckload of awesome. I’m glad to see that Obama really can bring it when it needs to be brought.
If I were McCain I’d be completely drunk by now.
Delia
Question is: does the AP writer even bother to listen to the speech or read it? Or does he just write the copy, since
heKarl Rove already knows what he wants it to say.Foxhunter
Krista, you have some work to do. See The Other Steve, Jake, et al.
Ratfuckers, indeed
Church Lady
Jesse Jackson is on MSNBC right now. Can’t someone please make him go away – you can barely understand a word he’s saying.
smiley
Dear Fuckheads,
Congrats.
smiley
BFR
I think there was a giant FU to Fox at the end of the speech. If you flipped back and forth between Fox and MSNBC, Fox was completely out of sequence – Brit Hume started speaking right as the fireworks went off (drowning him out & forcing him to stop talking) and then remained silent for quite some time after the MSNBC crowd had started speaking.
It really seemed to me that Fox was left out of the loop on the playbook – anyone else see that?
GSD
McCain’s Veep announcement will look small in comparison to the culimination of the Democratic convention.
McCain and the GOP still have faith in Karl Rove, who has taken the mantle of The Most Stupid Guy on the Fucking Planet from Doug Feith.
-GSD
GSD
McCain’s Veep announcement will look small in comparison to the culimination of the Democratic convention.
McCain and the GOP still have faith in Karl Rove, who has taken the mantle of The Most Stupid Guy on the Fucking Planet from Doug Feith.
-GSD
Alan
The more CNN and FNC play McCain’s ad the more trite and petty is sounds in the aftermath of Obama’s speech. Heh.
Delia
Chuck Todd was claiming the rethugs don’t know how to respond to the speech. Apparently they’re kind of stunned, Krauthammer & AP lies notwithstanding.
DonnaInMichigan
Obama, just opened one can of whoop ass on McCain.
The McCain campaign lame reply, shows that they didn’t know what has hit them.
Some Guy
zoe from pittsburgh writes:
“I thought it was a truckload of awesome.”
Love it and absolutely agree. As John updated, the Republicans are well and truly fucked. They will whine about Obama distorting his “true” record, try super extra special hard to portray him as an angry black man, and generally pretend the truckload of awesome was just a Tonka truck. But everyone but the bribed and the terminally stupid will now it is a lie.
zoe from pittsburgh
I liked the line about what the GOP’s “ownership society” truly means– it means “you’re on your own.”
Caltrop
I didn’t really like the speech that much, although I’m sure McCain’s will be awful. He didn’t do much for me with his appeals for socialism (more government involvement in the economy, education, etc.) I liked the spectacle more than the message (at least the socialist parts).
Jon H
“Chuck Todd was claiming the rethugs don’t know how to respond to the speech.”
Battle Stations! We’re at DEF-CON 5! This is not a drill! Break out the lime jello backdrop!
michelle
People like me — earning 45K — will finally get recognized. Unless you follow the Ross crap on ABC. i’m waiting for the same treatment for Republicans — unless it is a rehash of Delay and Abramoff. You know, without the arrest of a whitebread producer.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
Mondo congratulations to The Fuckheads!
From Dukakis looking like a fool riding in a tank, to McCain getting run over by a tank, that’s quite the journey in 20 years, huh?
Delia
Did you know John McCain was a POW? Quick! Time for a guided tour of the Hanoi Hilton.
oh really
Damn, I hope not. Won’t that mean urine tests for everyone?
I loved David Brooks on PBS. Obama disappointed. The speech just didn’t have it. I guess that means that Obama’s acceptance speech was good for McPOW. We can expect a 20-30 point bounce for McPOW as a direct result of Obama’s dismal failure.
Now, I realize that Barack’s performance paled in comparison with McPOW’s masterful, epic, dare I say POWerful performance in front of the Green Screen of death, but give the guy a break. After all, unlike McPOW, who had the pressure of speaking before a frenzied crowd of six or seven people, Obama had the onerous task of trying to deliver his speech and simultaneously pretend that someone was actually watching.
Worse still, Obama knew that he’d inevitably be compared to that Icon of Eloquence, the Wizard of Words, the Lord of Language…George W. Bush. It’s enough to make The Dark Knight speak in a falsetto.
I probably won’t tune in next week to watch McPOW give his acceptance speech…I doubt my heart could take it.
Jon H
I’m starting to suspect that McCain’s spokesman is actually named Tucker Max.
nightjar
I expect he has some help, But if he didn’t on this one, I’m
doublytriply impressed.J. Michael Neal
Keith Olbermann destroyed Charles Babington over it. He beat him with a lead pipe, and then laughed at him.
Actually, I think it was the other way around. He laughed at him, then beat him.
Studly Pantload
I noticed that when Obama’s speech was over, Bill and Hillary did not come out to douse him with a cooler of Gatorade and lift him on their shoulders. Clearly, the Clintons are continuing to undermine Obama’s candidacy.
OK, all seriousness aside, I was near floored with how strongly Obama took the fight to McCain. And yet he didn’t get dirty, and left himself all the room he needed to soar.
Oh, and not only were there *not* late afternoon/early evening thundershowers in Denver, tonight (the kind that are common in the summer and delayed my 7:00 pm flight out of there earlier this month by almost two hours), but I saw that the high today was a crowd-pleasing lower 70s rather than the usual, brutal 85-90 degrees that is the norm in late August.
You’d almost think that someone “up there” was smiling on this event…
Chris
.. . .’it’s time they owned up to their failures’
Great line. More please.
Just Some Fuckhead
I think the smartest thing Obama said was that Republicans keep trying to make it about him when it is about us. And he’s right. It’s about us being fed up with corrupt and incompetent rule. So when Republicans keep trying to make it about Obama, they don’t ever address the real issue: Americas deep deep unhappiness with Republicans.
If they figure out how to address that, perhaps with one of McCain’s legendary I-really-fucked-the-pooch-again-my-friends apologies, they might make some headway. Until that if and when, they’ve gotta cross their fingers and hope bigotry and electoral shenanigans can hold back the tide of inevitability.
Thanks Smiley.
skippy
most of the pundits on all 3 cable channels seemed to be impressed w/the speech. of course olbermann and matthews were fluffing obama all the way, but even all the folks on cnn liked it. even on faux news they wrapped up w/a montage of the whole convention highlights, w/o commentary or snark. quite classy for faux.
if i was any republican in the world tonite, i’d be pissing my pants.
gopher2b
I think the delay in McCain’s VP announcement occurred because everyone is turning it down.
Regarding their statement – they clearly wrote it before the speech. They had to go to bed early because, well, that’s what old people do.
Mwangangi
Obama beat the breaks off that bitch.
Studly Pantload
Skippy sez:
Actually, most of the Republicans I work with skipped the pants-wetting and have already gone straight to declaring they’re for Obama.
Ninerdave
That was all kinds of awesome. Really if Obama is not elected, this country deserves what it gets, which is probably going to be a bankrupt, smoldering pit.
Jon H
“if i was any republican in the world tonite, i’d be pissing my pants.”
Most of them wear depends anyway, so it’s cool.
Dreggas
AMERICA FUCK YEAH!
J. Michael Neal
The entire MSNBC crew is hammering the McCain campaign. I thought the speech was fantastic. More importantly, they are using it as a trigger to savage the Republicans.
Ninerdave
…then there’s Gustav.
Digital Amish
I want to wait a week and then hear Krauthammer, the AP hack or any of the other professional Gooper spinners compare it to McCains.
How many politicians do you know that could get 75 to 85 thousand people to wait several hours in a stadium to hear them speak? I doubt McCain could do it even if there was free beer and sausage.
gopher2b
MSNBC needs to put Dan Patrick on Olbermann’s show. He’s the only one who can control him. My god, he’s so obnoxious.
oh really
Rumor has it that McPOW is going to give his acceptance speech from Vietnam…lying on a replica of his bed in the Hanoi Hilton. It’s not that McPOW likes to talk about his experiences as a POW, but he feels the people of the United States deserve to see exactly why he dumped his first wife so he could marry someone so rich she could provide him with more houses than he could count.
Or maybe they’ll just build a Hanoi Hilton set in the Twin Cities. McPOW is kind of old to travel and Vietnam is a long, long way away (and a long, long time ago — so long it’s hard to imagine why anyone would think it was relevant to this election).
Unfortunately, watching and listening to McPOW give his speech will be a form of torture for any sane person unlucky enough to witness the event.
Even now, McPOW has 666 interior decorators trying to decide on the exact shade of green for his backdrop.
Finally, I heard the GOP plans to clear up the mystery next week by answering the question: JOHN McPOW — WAS HE REALLY A POW? I can hardly wait.
Jon H
A beating? I was a POW for 5 years and I never had a beating like this.
Delia
Well, that’s pretty much McCain’s campaign promise, so it’s all cool.
jcricket
I agree with everything everyone’s said – awesome speech, McCain’s hosed, this election is a no-brainer.
But I am continually fucking flabbergasted at those who earn $45k yet continue to trot out Republican economic frames. I regularly encounter people earning well under $100k saying (basically), “If we tax the people making $300k or more we will destroy the economy”. Even if we went back up to pre-Reagan levels of income taxation we would not erase the growing income inequality of the last 20 years. We wouldn’t even lower people’s net income to the same no-inflation-adjusted-growth the rest of us were experiencing.
Yet people believe a mild raise back to Clintonian levels of taxation for the people who are already wealthy and getting wealthier by the minute will “destroy the economy”.
Fucking morons will make this election closer than it should be. I hate them. More than the racists, bigots, homophobes and xenophobes. More than the Christianists and isolationists. I hate the idiotic middle and lower-middle class white people who vote for Republicans because they believe in the Republican economic policies. Remove that group from the Republican party and they would never win again.
Rome Again
Republicans – just a bunch of whiners.
Dreggas
He has a speech writer for proof-reading purposes. For the most part he writes it and the speech writer offers advice.
Jon H
“…then there’s Gustav.”
If there’s a God, Gustav will dissipate harmlessly off the coast of Louisiana after wiping out Haley Barbour’s new house, after which the GOP convention will be terrorized by a freak tornado and downpour of pigshit.
J. Michael Neal
That would be all of the few kinds of awesome that Obama didn’t just grab for himself.
Dreggas
WaPo saying the Repukes may postpone convention due to Gustav.
gopher2b
Dude, chill. Talk about missing the message of the night.
By your logic, people who make over $250k a year and vote for Obama are morons too.
capelza
Alrighty! I’ve caught the spirit…that sounds hokey, but watching tonight I looked around me at my beautiful Oregon and the things people take for granted here…the highways and bridges that FDR built..and I think of my grandparents, whose hard scrabble lives were eased by Social Security.
I think of JFK saying we’d go to the moon in 10 years and fuck if we didn’t! As one of the speechmakers said, there’s still an American flag up there.
And I even fondly remeber the Clinton years, which were damn fine, thank you very much and would have been much better if the GOP hadn’t spent the entire time trying to bring him down.
Then I think of the small minds that rule the GOP.
And finally, the Boss’s song gets used like it should!
Brian
A few thoughts:
1. Chuck Todd basically suggested that they were fucked as well. He said that the McCain campaign response could have been written before the speech was given and that it reflected that it hadn’t hit them. He said they didn’t realize what they were going to be up against. The look on Todd’s face seemed to reflect the defeat that McCain’s camp is facing. (On a separate note, while I don’t watch a lot of cable news, that guy is just so damn good. His presence alone is reason to watch NBC and MSNBC News.)
2. The speech was so absolutely incredible because it was seamless and eloquent but also very simple. It had a massive number of quotable lines, and to our benefit, the networks are playing the best ones in their clips. The one where Obama shouts “ENOUGH” might be the defining line of the campaign.
3. Yes, Matthews and Olbermann were gushing in their praise. But you could tell it wasn’t faint praise. You could tell that it was affecting their minds and their instincts. That’s how much of a success it was.
4. Maybe it’s because I’m a partisan Democrat, maybe it’s because I didn’t watch more than a few minutes of Fox News coverage, but what the hell was Nina Easton talking about when she said it was a typical big government liberal-style speech? It didn’t seem like anything of the sort.
5. I think Kevin Drum had it right that this makes McCain look very, very small. It’s not because he has a certain set of beliefs. It’s that he’s campaigning for president as if he has no appreciation for the scale of the issues. He’s an immature man running a very un-serious campaign. He looks like a child, while his competitor, three decades his junior, looks like an adult. He looks like a clown, while his opponent looks like a statesman. Short of announcing the cure for cancer in his speech, McCain is bound to look like a second-rate hack compared to Obama. It’s not simply because he’s not half the orator Obama is. It’s because the campaign he’s running reflects the nothingness that he offers.
cyntax
KO just announced that the WaPo is reporting that the Republicans are considering delaying the convention due to hurricane Gustav.
And I frickin’ loved that speech.
Delia
Um, KO’s just reporting a rumor from WaPo that the rethugs are thinking of postponing their convention, ostensibly because of Hurricane Gustav, but actually because they can’t compete with Obama.
J. Michael Neal
Please don’t. The Xcel is a great arena. Go with a plague.
Wini
I’m torn on the Pawlenty thing. Would suck because I won’t hear the end of it (Mpls resident), but I know what a loser he is and think he would be great for McSame. Tough call.
Studly Pantload
Ninerdave sez:
Olbermann’s reporting right now that the Republicans may postpone their own shindig due to Gustav.
But the schadenfreude (sp?) potential is too easily trumped by desperately not wanting the coastal SE US to suffer more Katrina-esque misery. A harsh landfall is more than enough no-win to go all around.
rob!
random thoughts:
Obama hit it out of the park so bad, the ball has yet to land.
No rain = God Loves Democrats. Fuck you, Dobson.
Tom Brokaw is a total fucking hack, and I’ll bet my right nut (or my left) that his first quote after the speech (anybody catch it?) is a DOWNRIGHT FUCKING LIE.
As usual, Republican bloggers are pissing all over this. That’s because, post-speech, they’ve lost bladder control. That’s what happens when you’re in Full Panic Mode.
howlingfantods
If I were Matthews or Olbermann, I’d be embarrassing myself too. I try to resist this guy, since he’s the opposite of the kind of candidates I usually like (I like the red meat guys), but he still manages to get me.
Delia
Hmm. KO just reminded us with an almost straight face that James Dobson had publicly prayed for rain in Denver to wash out tonight’s event. (This just after the discussion of Hurricane Gustav.)
Also Tweety got a good one in. He and KO were discussing this postponement story with Howard Fineman. Tweety says to Howard with a straight face, “Is it true that the secret weapon the Republicans have been holding back is Tim Pawlenty?”
Bey
Capelza says
That’s a big step. It’s really difficult to let go of the distrust and cynicism that was the Nixon legacy. We’ve never really known a political climate that wasn’t poisoned in some way.
That’s what Obama does best. He makes it seem possible to regain that unique American optimism.
Just Some Fuckhead
Pat’s thinking.. I could have a post-career as a liberal hero.. they love me..
oh really
Hey, the news is out. HateState’s Erick Erickson has made the announcement. It’s Pawlenty (a name that begs to be used in bad puns). I guess that means the ticket will be:
McPOW/POWlenty
Note: Caution is advised. Don’t get your bumper stickers yet. EE has been known to be wrong — on everything.
nightjar
Christ, I hopes it’s Pawlenty. It’d be like Dan Quayle all over again. In the debate, Biden would chew him up at spit him out without mercy.
gbear
NOOOOOOO!! Half of St. Paul (myself included) took vacations next week so we didn’t have to be around for that wankfest. They can’t do this to us. ::sob::
Delia
Naww. Nobody wants another hurricane landfall. It’s only a gooper excuse. Obama stole their mojo and now they’re scared and they don’t know how to get it back. It’s the only game they know how to play, so all they can think of right now is “run away, run away.” Maybe they’ll think of something else tomorrow.
KRK
Booman has a good take on the GOP plans for a “simple, but classy” convention and their all-star lineup.
PC
Freepers aren’t event trying to hide it. Obama is an angry black man.
Studly Pantload
Brian sez (of Chuck Todd):
Don’t forget Rachel Maddow, who is *still* being underutilized (for the DNC), as she was for the live primary coverage, despite her now having her own show (IMHO).
And while I’ve been dismayed at the amount of on-air bickering between the resident grande-sized egos of MSNBC during the DNC, I have to give Olby this: When Brokaw stated that the wire-guided overhead camera at the stadium should be a concern for the Obama camp because it would feed into the conception that Obama was being presumptuous, Keith chimed in by asking, basically, how a stupid thing like that should in the hell feed into such a narrative, whereupon Brokaw quickly backpeddled and stated that that’s merely how the Republicans would try to frame it. (The assist going to Todd for pointing out that the overhead cam was the networks’ friggin’ idea, not the Obama folks’.)
Phoenix Woman
I was near floored with how strongly Obama took the fight to McCain. And yet he didn’t get dirty, and left himself all the room he needed to soar.
Obama is part Shaolin monk, part Air Jordan. His nastiest hits are the ones you never feel, or even notice. That is, until you look down at yourself and see the bleeding.
There is a reason that he has the famous photo from Ali-Liston #1 on his Senate office wall.
J. Michael Neal
This is why some of us live in a useful city, like Minneapolis. Don’t get lost trying to get out of town on that ridiculous maze you call a street system.
In how many cities do you get the intersection of 5th Street and 7th Street?
Kevin
Meanwhile, over on TalkLeft, BTD gives the speech an A+, but his readers are acting like semi- polite versions of the PUMA nutjobs.
rob!
Brokaw spouted nothing but Republican Talking Points tonight. Even (relative)new guy on the block Chuck Todd had to correct him. The man can go fuck himself.
Brian
“Don’t forget Rachel Maddow, who is still being underutilized (for the DNC), as she was for the live primary coverage, despite her now having her own show (IMHO).”
Oh, she’s good, but in a different way. I look at Todd like someone who doesn’t really seem to lean one way or another, at least none that I can remember. In other words, he is there for information and analysis, but in a way that proves valuable for pretty much anyone. Maddow’s a staunch liberal, and while I like her quite a bit, she serves a different, but equally important, role.
nightjar
Here’s a comment from the Freeper thread.
LOL. They are funny sonsabitches.
SGEW
The Magical Unity Pony has conquered Pat Buchanan. How can I react to this?
I think I’m starting to second-guess my long standing support (three years now) for Sen. Obama. A friend of mine used to make a joke that Obama was an alien/clone/robot/mutant (or something) because Barack seemed to be just too, too perfect. Too masterful. Too . . . good. And look out, ’cause when he was elected, he would reveal his Andromedean masters’ plan to harvest our eyeballs for their precious, precious fluids using his gamma-ray force fields and mind bullets.
Maybe my friend was right. If Obama can make Pat Buchanan get excited about an African-American Democratic candidate with a foreign-sounding name, what can the limits of his MUP-Power be? Will Ronald Reagan and Strom Thurmond rise from the grave, waving “Change We Can Believe In” signs? Will Jesus Christ, Santa Claus, and the Easter Bunny descend from the skies, cut a track with Will.I.Am, and post it on YouTube? Will the MSM give honest, unbiased political analysis? [Ok, that last one’s a little far-fetched, but you get the idea]
Frankly, it’s all starting to seem a tad . . . alarming.
(Also: I shall miss my deeply held cynicism once Pres. Obama restores my hope for the future and pride in my country by being a decent human being whilst simultaneously practicing politics at the highest level. I almost think that having my eyeballs sucked out by rampaging zombie aliens would come as a kind of relief.)
[P.S.: snark]
CaseyL
Pawlenty? You mean, “The guy who vetoed the funding for infrastructure a year before the I-35 bridge collapsed and killed a bunch of people” Pawlenty? That Pawlenty?
The Pawlenty who not only personifies the GOP “Fuck the little people” attitude towards citizens, but has an actual body count to go with it?
He’s gonna be McCain’s running mate?
Holy Jesus in a taco shell. I might have to start believing in God.
Conservatively Liberal
Happy 20th Anniversary Mr. & Mrs. Fuckhead! Twenty years sure flies by, eh? Congratulations and may you have many many more.
Ours is September 27th, and it will be our 22nd. I’ll remember the 5th, 10th, 15th and 20th because we each take turns to see who can outdo the other. It makes it easier and more interesting. The rest of the time we just have a nice dinner out because we tired of the gift thing long ago.
I keep saying I will post a pic of us on our many motorcycle trips, so here ya go. This was us at Cape Arago, Oregon in July.
Regarding the speech, Obama did not let anyone down and I will bet he left more than a few people astounded and speechless. This night kicked ass, no two ways about it. It has to be the best convention I have ever witnessed, and I am glad to have witnessed history in the making. I want this guy to be our president! During his speech, our daughter said ‘After eight years of listening to an idiot who can’t complete a sentence, it’s nice to listen to someone speaking intelligently’.
Sanity is slowly returning to places like TalkLeft, which shows that Hillary and Bill delivered. I am glad to see that happening. From this point on, the naysayers and dead-enders are irrelevant. They don’t matter because they have their own reason not to support Obama, and it ain’t hard to guess what it is.
I just donated again via John’s ActBlue page because now is time to send positive support to let Obama know he has cinched it handily. If there is anyone in the Democratic party who is going to hand the Republicans their asses this fall, I believe that Obama and Biden will do it.
Damn this is turning out to be one interesting election!
zzyzx
I don’t see any way that they can delay it, just due to logistics.
Monday – Labor Day
Tuesday – Hurricane coverage
Wednesday – Cleanup coverage
Thursday – Opening day of the NFL season
I don’t see how the Republicans get a bounce out of their convention with that schedule.
Delia
Here’s the Republican analyst on CNN who thought Obama’s speech was so good. Very interesting analysis
Jon H
“Obama is part Shaolin monk, part Air Jordan”
Remember the scene in Iron Man where the F-22s are trying to dogfight with Iron Man but they don’t even know what he is, and then they lose him, but really he’s clinging to the bottom of one of the jets?
The GOP are flying the F-22s. Obama is Iron Man. The GOP doesn’t even know where he is.
dwightkschrute
Obama has now closed within 5 home runs of Hank Aaron
Conservatively Liberal
Have you heard that McCain used to be a POW?
I have heard it Pawlenty of times, and I don’t want to hear about it again!
Delia
Well, the slogans just write themselves.
PAWLENTY: Would You Buy A Used Bridge From This Man?
Jon H
John McCain – Paul Anka
That’s a hell of a ticket there.
KRK
Top of that list being that there wouldn’t be a venue anymore. (Hope the Xcel Center got a deposit.)
Brett
You guys should go read David Brooks’ column over at the New York Times. The bitterness is so strong you could probably use it to wash your laundry.
You know what? I HOPE that McCain picks Pawlenty. Every day until the Vice Presidential Debate would seem like a day too long.
Beej
WOW! Just WOW! The first nomination acceptance speech I ever heard was JFK’s in 1960. It has long been considered one of the greatest ever (remember the New Frontier theme?).
This one topped it.
CaseyL
And his theme song could be “Bridge
OverUnder Troubled Waters”Delia
David Brooks has jumped the shark and should probably have his word processor taken away.
Badtux
Or perhaps those of us who are more affluent realize that the days of being able to outsource our profits to Thailand and Malaysia are coming to a close now that oil has risen to the point that it makes imports more expensive. Peak Oil changes everything. The only way to survive it is by a total overhaul of the infrastructure of America — its transportation system, its educational system, its energy system — to create a smarter, more efficient, more productive America. That will require taxes. I will end up paying more of those taxes. So it goes. If you taxed me by an extra $500 per month, I’d still have plenty of money, so (shrug). The question in the end is: Am I an American? Do I want what’s best for America? Or am I un-American, someone who wants only what’s best for me and f**k America? The answer to that question isn’t necessary an either/or — if America turns into Mexico North, it’s not likely to be a very good for me either.
– Badtux the Affluent Penguin
Chum
Whoever it is – is now roadkill.
Ninerdave
Josh has a clip of a GOP operative and outside advisor to the campaign saying:
Studly Pantload
Pheonix Woman sez:
And there’s a reason why I have that photo (that is, of Obama with the Ali photo behind him) on my own cubicle wall.
Well, on a wall my Republican co-workers can’t see (no use alarming them unduly).
rachel
Yeah. For example: a mass outbreak of the trots caused by an e. coli contamination that the FDA didn’t have the resources to detect early enough due to Republican budget cuts.
oh really
Well, obviously you haven’t checked your laughable misperceptions with David Brooks.
On PBS, Michael Beschloss said he thought Obama had topped Kennedy. Then, Brooks explained reality for everyone who thought (THOUGHT…the audacity!!) the speech was good (never mind great).
Now, I just read “A Speech to the Delegates” by David Brooks. A remarkable column. I can only assume Brooks couldn’t hear the speech — given where his head must have been. One of the worst columns ever by any pundit.
sarsipius
JG, your geek humor does not go unnoticed.
jg_points++
terrorist_fist_jab++
Ninerdave
I’ve been in the bag for Obama since, well Dodd left the race, hardcore into the bag. I know he’s a politician, and his FISA vote was really, really disappointing. I’m also as cynical as the next guy about politicians
However, when he says, he wants to change America, and given his background as a community organizer, I actually believe him.
AnneLaurie
… because, Goddess forbid, if the evening news shows us more pictures of people fleeing the devastation of their homes & lives, the mean desperate Repub-con attempts at humor are going to look even more clueless and repulsive. After the 2004 Purple-Heart-Bandaids fiasco, I’m fully expecting some of the Jolly GOP Delegates to show up in blackface.
And I know it’s not meteorologically possible, but I’m making myself happy imagining that Gustav makes landfall over a certain Crawford pig farm.
Phoebe
All I could think was, holy shit, and fuck yeah. And the “Eight is Enough” reference made me fold right in half.
Big E
well….
at last….. a DEM who can put his leg knee deep up a Repub’s ass, and look good doing it !
MSNBC was pretty damn funny…… the ‘serious’ panel groovin’ to Stevie Wonder,
Pat Buchanan wearing SHADES….. that,.. was hilarious
All the talking heads were pretty stunned by the speech
Martin
Congrats. Wife and I have our 15th in a few weeks.
After tonight, I’m quite positive I’ll be celebrating my 40th birthday with the election of a Democratic president. Prepare for Martin +40.
debrazza
Now for the bad news: this just ensures that the Rev. Wright ad we’ve been expecting will come a lot sooner.
Delia
Ya know, you watch that clip of Pat Buchanan rhapsodizing over the speech. I swear, Rachel and Gene are just sitting back looking stunned, like they’re thinking “Who is this guy and where did he come from?”
Who would have ever though Pat Buchanan would have been more capable of growth than David Brooks?
oh really
Now, that would be good news for McCain. Maybe they should consider a private affair, you know, just the family. That way he won’t risk knocking Americans dead with his rhetorical prowess.
Jon H
“Yeah. For example: a mass outbreak of the trots caused by an e. coli contamination that the FDA didn’t have the resources to detect early enough due to Republican budget cuts.”
Actually, I’m surprised the GOP is even willing to congregate in an arena. Even though they’re Christians, you’d think they’d fear the possible karmic blowback from Katrina.
It’d be such a shame if they were all trapped inside there for a few days, until the food ran out and the toilets filled up.
Jon H
Did Michael D ever get his signs?
The Obama website has freely downloadable art (bitmap or pdf) of all kinds of signs, buttons, logos, flyers, etc.
http://www.barackobama.com/downloads/
You should be able to get those printed up at any Kinkos.
gopher2b
I agree with you. I was pointing out how wrong that dude is. If Obama is elected, my taxes will go up about $15-20k per year. I know (i.e. work for) people who will pay 100s of thousands of dollars more in income taxes under Obama and they have been trying to get him elected to President since 2006. People understand what is at stake.
He’s good people. I knew it when I saw him debate Keyes as a “nobody.” I watched a debate on a local channel on some random channel the summer of ’03 because I was curious. After the debate, I recall thinking how good it would be if this guy became President one day. It’s very cool to live in Chicago and feel so close to the guy and knowing that we knew this long befo’ y’all (so there…j/k)
One last thought – during the whole speech, all I could think of was his grandmother. Can you imagine what it must be like to be her tonight watching that speech after raising him. You think when he was born, she ever thought he would grow up to be President. I would have loved to have been a fly in that room.
gbear
It keeps the riff-raff out.
Jon H
“It keeps the riff-raff out.”
I thought that’s what Garrison Keillor’s for.
Shouting at the Rain
My favorite line from The Speech:
It’s not because John McCain doesn’t care. It’s because John McCain doesn’t get it.
I don’t know how long I’ve waited to hear a Democrat unapologetically tell it exactly how it is. Too gd long, that’s for sure….
gbear
The most common Pawlenty bumper sticker in MN reads ‘Trouble in the Land of Pawlenty’.
Martin
Bring it. That dog won’t hunt after tonight. The GOP is over-reaching and the undecided voters will increasingly reject that effort. Unfortunately for the GOP, it’s their only hope, so they have to do it anyway. It’ll get nastier.
gopher2b
A few other thoughts after watching the whole thing again
(1) i love how happy Biden is – you know he’s thinking “I’m on the Obama train bitches…..woooo…..hoooo”
(2) Obama seemed truly humbled tonight. There were a few times he appeared to be almost emotional.
(3) Michelle keeps getting better.
(4) The set looked far more like the Hall of Presidents at Epcot than a Greek or Roman stadium
(5) We owe so much to the Secret Service agents that are protecting him. This is the first time in my adult life that I even care if they show up for work. I really, truly fear for this country if anything happens to him. It will put us back 75 years.
(6) the Clinton no-show had to be one of the most classless acts I’ve ever seen
John Cole
The Clinton no-show was the CLASSIEST thing they have done. It was by design, because they wanted Obama center stage. Carville urged Bill to not even go. The Clintons deserve mad props for this. Can you imagine what the media coverage would have been like if she was there, with them zooming in to analyze her facial expressions all through the god damned speech?
You have this assbackwards.
J. Michael Neal
That’s true. The Republicans will probably get lost leaving their hotels.
Delia
Don’t have to put it in terms of karma to establish that the Universe is going to settle accounts with this fools. A quick trip through the googles turned up
“. . . they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same.” (Job 4:8).
and
“…whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” (Galatians 6:7)
They most certainly should avoid arenas. But apparently they were having trouble filling theirs in any case.
Martin
Well, in my quite Catholic Irish family, my aunt got pregnant by a black guy just a few years after Obama was born. The family wasn’t unsupportive, but wasn’t exactly supportive either. As a result, a whole branch of my family moved away from the core and to the most liberal place they could. My guess is that at the time, my grandmother simply hoped that my cousin wouldn’t tear the family apart. But if you consider that Obama was born before Civil Rights, before Selma, before ‘I Have a Dream’, it’s simply phenomenal that he’s here today, and I’m sure his grandmother never thought it was possible at the time.
Ninerdave
I know it’s fun to hate Chris Matthews, but I’ve always liked himm. His randomness, his whatever on the top of his head is what comes out of his mouth, his entire lack of a social filter. It is fun to watch him when he’s in or near the crowd.
zuzu's petals
I flipped over to Fox after awhile watching Matthews and Olberman get all goofy happy…and there was little pinch-faced Krauthammer, literally sniffing his disdain.
He actually looks pained when he talks. Is it something physical or is he just an anal-retentive jerk?
zuzu's petals
I heard that Hillary was there, but … no camera shots.
Pooh
Buchanan has always been a pretty sharp and fair analyst in my experience. His policy preferences are horrid, but that’s another issue.
slip
zuzu, go to sleep. your petals will be there when you wake up in the morning. as for krauthammer, it is something physical, though i imagine the anal bit would the reason as well.
tom.a
This is kind of random, but Brian Williams has giant hands! He also has a weird man-love for the Russert family but I’m assuming all mnbcs flacks have a lot of russert love, and rightly so for them.
All that aside, great speech, classy, direct, moving and I see no possible way McCain will be able to deliver a sharp and effective rebuttal without looking like an absolute fool or an absolute fake.
Ninerdave
SATSQ
gopher2b
The entire premise that because the Clintons are in audience, the guy giving a speech in front of 80,000 people is going to have difficulty being the center of attention is assbackwards.
LanceThruster
Say what you will about Buchanan, his vison of a non-imperialist America is in the spirit of George Washington’s prescient warnings against foreign entanglements.
Ninerdave
I’ve called it out here a few times. His AmCon mag is the only, as far as I know truly conservative mag in existence. Agree or disagree with him, it’s a good read for anyone serious about listening to the other side.
Hell, they published Kwiatkowski before most of the liberal media had heard of her.
oh really
Out of morbid curiosity (like not being able to keep oneself from looking at the two-headed baby) I stopped by to see what LarryMoeCurly Johnson’s pathetic NoQuarter had to say about the speech. After reading the first paragraph of a post by SusanUnPC, I could go no further:
“Astute commentary” by Krauthammer? Holy Shit!
Giving Hilary’s stump speech, but not as well?
HRC gave a good speech the other night, but is there anyone who honestly believes she can deliver a speech as well as Obama? I think she’s better than he is in debates, but giving a prepared speech? There is no comparison.
“Because she truly cares about everyday Americans.”
That was it. I couldn’t take any more. There is no anti-psychotic in the world powerful enough to have any effect on SusanUnPC. Even when Obama does something right, it’s only because he’s copying Hillary (talk about a cult of personality).
Ninerdave
The wingnuts are more lucid than the deadenders. Funny that…
Rome Again
Hillary’s stump speech and Obama’s acceptance speech would both be very similar because they both bring up the issues and the truth about what’s been going on for the last eight years; signifying only that Hillary is still a Democrat and understands the same reality Obama understands (and many of us here understand) but McSpooge and his deluded followers can never understand.
Rome Again
SusanUNPC is about electing personalities, not issues. She probably has a huge collection of People Magazine with an exclusive shelf of their Most Beautiful People issues kept under lock and key.
Brett
I don’t think Krauthammer has taken a shit since the end of the Cold War. It would certainly explain a few things.
Conservatively Liberal
In all of the talking about the Repubs moving their convention dates, I have not heard anyone speculate if it could be a good excuse to put some distance between the Ron Paul and the GOP events. It would not look good to have as many (or more) people at the RP event as the GOP event. Throw the impending hurricane in the mix and it looks pretty bleak on the right.
Either way, next week is shaping up to be a crapfest for the republicans.
LanceThruster
Ninerdave – THX for the Kwiatkowski piece.
Good stuff.
zuzu's petals
Watch him be accused of plagiarizing Aaron Sorkin on that one:
zuzu's petals
Crimeny, now I feel bad for commenting on his pained appearance:
Still a jerk, though.
searp
I told my daughter 6 months ago that Obama would destroy McCain, if only on the visual comparison.
McCain is going to look like a cranky retiree, and the public will not make a cranky retiree President.
Xenos
Krauthammer is a truly awful human being. Forget his disability – there is nothing ennobling about it, nothing heroic. He could be an animated head in a jar, and he would still be a smug sociopath who giggles at cruelty and fantasizes about war. The man belongs in an institution.
The Dude Abides
Apparently Sarah Palin’s plane has arrived in an airport outside of Dayton. They’re going crazy at the Palin for VP website, starting on the second page of comments.
http://palinforvp.blogspot.com/
oh really
No problem. The West St. Paul Elk’s Lodge should be free next week. I’m sure it could accommodate the crowd.
Xenos, for shame! I don’t really disagree with anything you wrote, but c’mon, you’re way too easy on him. The guy is always in the running for worst human being ever. Sure, his wheel chair and lack of a nuclear arsenal have probably kept him from running up the kind of mass murder tally he dreamed of as a kid, but that’s no reason to let him off with such a little tap on the knuckles.
He’s the kind of person who would be the founder of an organization called “The Society for the Prevention of Kindness to Anyone” or the kind of “mensch” who would argue that we shouldn’t destroy the last of the smallpox virus, because you never know when we might want to use it on some poor undeveloped country that had the effrontery to say the USA might be wrong about some insignificant issue.
Generally, I don’t go in for hyperbolizing about fascists, but in Krauthammer’s case (we don’t call him Krauthimmler for no reason) I don’t think it’s possible.
searp
Bbbbuuuttt he’s not that awesome! Your eyes are deceiving you! Vote for the old guy!
Yeah, right.
Conservatively Liberal
That ratfucker myiq2xu GoatBoy posted his vapid analysis of the situation at Cornfluence and it is a riotous celebration of his special kind of insanity:
I heard the plotting and planning began just after Barack was born.
GoatBoy just leaves that hanging out there with nothing to back it up, but I guess the PUMA peons are used to filling in the blanks themselves.
GoatBoy never wanted Hillary (or Edwards) to win, he has wanted Obama to lose. He is more than happy to wallow in the pig shit with the racists at Propping Up McCain’s Ass because he feels right at home with them.
The crap he writes isn’t worth printing out and wiping my ass with. It would be a waste of shit.
oh really
Oh, yeah. Dover Bitch’s post-speech analysis (as seen on Hullabaloo) is worth 10,000 words.
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/
Scroll down (if necessary); you’ll know it when you see it.
DBrown
Pat Buchanan loved Obama’s speech?! That says a lot. Oberman was almost speechless over the fact Buchanan loved the speech – shit, McSame the Insane is in trouble when a real rightwinger conser has to side with a democrat … simply amazing.
Balconespolitics
I’m thinking David Brooks will wake up, see his column in print, and wish there was a 72-hour manditory waiting period before his stuff gets printed.
Everyone has at one time or another written something out of frustration or anger that they see the next day and think “oh shit, did I say that?”
But most of us just have our brainfarts on the intertubes. David Brooks just took his dump on the OpEd pages of the NY Times, to have it printed on millions of sheets of paper and preserved for eternity. I can’t imagine he’s very proud of it about now.
zzyzx
Errrrr….. ummmmm…. click on the picture to enlarge it…. something wrong there?
oh really
Man, some people will believe anything they’re told.
The plot began BEFORE Obama was born.
Remind me to go update Wackypedia on this.
rachel
I see that they weren’t paying attention in English class. ò_ó
oh really
Oh, those pesky ‘postrophes [sic].
Lynn Truss in “Eats, Shoots & Leaves” devotes considerable attention to apostrophe problems. While I was reading “Eats, Shoots & Leaves,” I was also reading “Blue Latitudes” by Tony Horwitz, and he told the story of a commemorative plaque he saw during his travels. Horwitz writes:
Imagine what might have happened if Penis hadn’t landed.
oh really
The other thing wrong with the pen — and this is far worse than the apostrophe — there is no mention of McPOW’s 40+ years as a POW. What’s up with that?
Why is it that even his supporters don’t show proper respect for the man?
Mary
You know, I wouldn’t be shocked if Palin was the VP pick, too. All of last night’s leaking from the usual suspects would have been a deliberate setup in order to maximize the shock and awe of today’s event.
McCain will lose with a safe choice like Pawlenty. He will get some votes from a good chunk of conservative and low-information moderate women with Palin. Enough to win? I don’t know, but he would get a hell of a media attention and perhaps even praise from the tire-swingers. And expect some of the PUMAs he’s already used to be absolutely delighted that this is yet more proof that Obama is scared of strong women and McCain isn’t.
Of course, those reports of her plane arrival could just be wrong, eh?
DBrown
So McCain has TV spot that says about Obama:
“Too often the achievements of our opponents go unnoticed. So I wanted to stop and say, Congratulations. How perfect that your nomination would come on this historic day. Tomorrow, we’ll be back at it. But tonight, Senator, job well done.”
WTF? McCain being a good guy? McCain showing class? Amazing – did he stop the rove whisper for a while and become himself … get some honor and backbone back? Amazing – next, someone will tell me cheney stop drinking human blood and bush said something that was both true and intelligent …
Mary
And Pat Buchanan on MSNBC is now talking up Palin. Shit.
Krista
Bwah-ha-ha! Love it!
And I have to say that last night was the very first time in my life that I have watched the entire speech by a Dem nominee. I was absolutely riveted. Every last word just made so much goddamn sense.
I’m agnostic — I haven’t prayed since I was a kid. But I am seriously tempted to get down on my knees and beg whatever deity is up there for Barack Obama to succeed and to come to no harm.
Mary
(They’re talking about Mitts, too. I’m telling myself that McCain hasn’t chosen her, but she will be speaking there in support of the ticket in order to make the event look like less of a sausage fest.)
Mary
Pawlenty got the call, says MSNBC: he’s not the guy.
cleek
no. and no. he’s trying to steal some of Obama’s thunder.
if i wanted to compliment you on your great achievement, i’d call you on the phone, or write a letter. i wouldn’t buy airtime and hope you stumbled across it while you were watching coverage of your own speech. this was about McCain saying “LOOOK AT ME!!! I’M NICE!!! DON’T BE MEAN TO NICE OL JOHN MCCAIN!!!”
fuck that wizened old colostomy bag
liberal
gopher2b wrote,
Some get it, but many wealthy folk don’t.
As my old man wrote, McThug is so dangerous, it’s a goddamn outrage the Establishment is even allowing him to run.
DBrown
Lets see – rightwing religious loonies pray for rain and Obama gets clear sky’s and perfect weather. Meanwhile a major and dangerous storm is brewing and threatens to hit the US just as Bush will give his talk to the repubics … is God telling us something after all?
Napoleon
Page 2, today’s USA Today has an article at the top of the page headlined “Carter: McCain milking POW status.”
God I love Carter. He just gives it to McCain.
TR
Agreed. They clearly handed the reins of the party over to the new guy.
Neal
Agreed. I didn’t realize it til watching it…the media played up the “snub”. Once I was watching it I thought to myself how this was the first night that they weren’t cutting to the Clintons every few minutes…it really was his night.
jake
And the fReichtards will declare Buchannan a closet liberal in 5…4…3…
Only if your some sort of elitist Grammar Nazi.
OMG that’s awesome.
Mary
And apparently Mitts won’t be in Dayton today, either.
Palin flight path?
She’s not VP material, especially for such an old guy, but if it is her, expect media hysteria for days. Fuck.
The Thinking Man's Mel Torme
Dunno if it was here or elsewhere that I read it, but wasn’t there some discussion as to whether or not this ad actually ran on paid teevee time, as opposed to just being shown ad nauseam by the MSM kool kidz?
georgia pig
That was like watching Tiger Woods win his first Masters. It leaves you saying to yourself “did I just see that?” Reading David Brooks and Krauthammer reminds me of all the old farts saying “yeah, he just eagled a 600 yard par five, but he’s no Jack Nicklaus or Arnold Palmer.” Christ, I loved Arnie and Jack, but Arnie had a swing like a rusty gate and Jack needed to push away from the table a little more often.
Hell if I know whether Obama can pull off any of the stuff he talked about last night, but Tweety, of all people, nailed it by saying sometimes you just have to pull up stakes and take a big chance when things are as fucked up as they have been over the last several years. You look for the strongest horse you can find, saddle up and move out.
We may look back and realize that the real race was between Obama and Hillary, and that McCain is irrelevant. Maybe the ol’ Maverick will surprise us, and I wouldn’t take anything for granted, but I think he may be out of his league. His only hope may to basically dump the Republican party, i.e., the 90% Obama was talking about, which I don’t think he is capable of doing.
Jorge
OK – I’m seriously damaging my Christian walk here but…
Governor Palin, I wouldn’t vote for her, but I’d do her…
cleek
of course he can. The Base isn’t going to vote for anyone but McCain. he can run to the center (flip, yet again) while feeding The Base enough bullshit rumor emails to keep them too scared to sit it out or vote for Obama. the only risk is that the press might not see such a move as mavericky – but that’s a pretty slight rick.
Michael Lee White
Anyone see my passport? I think I dropped it somewhere.
georgia pig
One more thing, if Palin is picked as the VP candidate, that will be another “cottage cheese in the lime jello salad” moment for McCain. Palin is a fucking nobody and is already in trouble in Alaska. This will come across as a pure gimmick, a token female, as it makes no sense in any other way. McCain has some shitty choices available, but Mittens would work out better for him. After watching the convention, it’s become crystal clear that the Dems have built a deep bench, and the Republicans are the Washington Nationals.
Jon H
” It would not look good to have as many (or more) people at the RP event as the GOP event. Throw the impending hurricane in the mix and it looks pretty bleak on the right.”
It’s pretty much a no-win situation for the GOP. If they postpone the convention, the Ron Paul people probably won’t, and there’ll be a bunch of news people in St. Paul with nothing to do but cover the RP event.
The Thinking Man's Mel Torme
Christ, I’m glad someone smarter than me finally said it.
oh really
I expect McCain to pick a woman.
It’s the perfect way to go after the “disaffected” female vote. The media will hype the choice of a woman like it’s the second coming. And Biden will look pretty boring and conventional by comparison. Palin might not enjoy a debate with Biden, but I would expect the spin to favor her — the better Biden does, the more of a bully he’ll be. Winning a debate these days is mostly spin and perception.
If it’s Palin, there should be lots of weaknesses to go after. Kay Bailey H. would be better positioned in terms of age. Neither would deliver much electorally.
Carly F. will have business cred, since being successful is less important that getting a great severance package.
And then there is always the sleeper candidate…Paris H.
cleek
MSNBC says Romney’s not going to be in Ohio for the VP announcement.
georgia pig
cleek, I see your point, but I don’t see how you can drive GOTV with that. Not everyone gets the emails, and they don’t believe you won’t sell them out after you’re elected.
cleek
also, today is McCain’s 72nd birthday.
Jon H
Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin of South Dakota is a Democrat, six years younger than Palin, and definitely hotter.
Jorge
A MILF you can believe in
harlana pepper
How can Dukakis, in retrospect, look like a fool when we’ll always have a Mission Accomplished codpiece? It was the beginning of the spinning. And it sounds like Obama may have poked a big hole in that cowardly strategy. If Buchanan can be ‘effervescent’ – shit, anything can happen!!
georgia pig
Re women VP candidates, Hutchinson can’t stand McCain (remember, he’s an asshole) and Fiorina has a mixed record and is pro-birth control. I hope he picks Palin, because Biden will be sweet as pie with her, like she’s his granddaughter.
cleek
and now MSNBC says Palin is going to be in Alaska unveiling the new state quarter today. so, probably not her.
DBrown
But McCain needs to be VERY careful; first the tugs have to show up and THAT is an issue if McInsane drifts to the middle. Also, Rove who is now McPow’s brain would go batshit if McMuddle trys something that stupid. If as in the Apollo 13 movie “Power is everything” holds, then turn out is everything for McSame.
Jorge
Maybe it is Joe…
oh really
Of course, Palin has been governor for almost two years (maybe putting her time in office in nano-seconds will make it sound more substantial), which makes her infinitely more qualified than Obama to be president should 472-year-old John McPOW succumb during his first term.
Come to think of it, Palin is the perfect Republican pick. It wouldn’t be truly Republican without a heavy dose of hypocrisy.
Louise
Palin is a smart choice, at least in terms of wooing the media. She also has the “reformer” brand, which McCain may have felt fading (justifiably).
Damn it. This shouldn’t even be a contest. What is wrong with people?
Jon H
Maybe it’s Whitman.
Though her experience is a little weak. Before running a big garage sale and becoming a billionaire, she was in charge of Mr Potatohead.
Jon H
“Maybe it is Joe…”
Maybe it is. That’d explain the Friday announcement rather than Saturday, when Joe doesn’t use technology.
georgia pig
Oh, please let it be Joementum, because Joementum will meet JoeBridgeAbutment (Biden). Nothing like a good car wreck for entertainment value.
4tehlulz
You know a campaign’s been dissed when someone decides state quarter > VP in someone’s priorities.
Have any of the
stalkersmedia reported on the whereabouts of Holy Joe and Jesus Crist?Mary
I’m still on pins and needles about Palin and the media orgasm that will follow. Note that while Mitts and Pawlenty were declared definitely out of contention, all they’re saying is that Palin will be in Alaska today. No denial that she’ll be in Ohio, no denial that’s she’s the pick. With the time difference, she could put in an appearance in Dayton, then fly back before the day is over on the west coast.
PeterJ
How hard is it for a rich McCain supporter to hire a plane? All to muddle up and create more talk…
I’m guessing he’ll pick Cindy. She is going to want something for bankrolling him…
McCain ’08 – Keep it in the family
The Other Steve
John McCain’s VP pick is SOOOOO SECRET! Even John McCain has not been told who it is. :-)
oh really
He’s been told, but he’s forgotten.
DBrown
In Slate today, a reporter said:
” There were around a dozen reporters at the White House morning briefing yesterday, and one said he finds it amazing there are 15,000 people with media credentials in Denver. “Here they are, covering the process of selecting the president,” a CBS News radio reporter said, “and nobody is covering the actual president!”
Tells you what the real media thinks of bush and what the media believes Obama really means.
PeterJ
Actually they have told him, multiple times. But since he only forgets who it was three hours later, they’ve stopped.
4tehlulz
Cheney. For Ultimate Trolling.
Punchy
Johnny….can we PLEASE get a new damn thread? Or will that break the website again?
smiley
No one’s talking about Jindal. I predict Portman.
DBrown
Shit – if I get that damn screen of death again I may have to go to a wing nut site for my news …
TheFountainHead
Seconded.
August J. Pollak
ABC says Palin’s in Alaska, which as of 9 AM when it was reported is physically impossible for a flight to Ohio by noon.
Unless it’s Ridge, at least one major news net is completely wrong.
I want it to be Palin so bad. See, nothing will motivate millions of angry Hillary voters to vote GOP like a younger, prettier, less-qualified woman getting the promotion Hillary didn’t. Yep.
Punchy
/rubs eyes, looks again
What? Seriously? This is hot to you?
Face
How does McCane run a campy based soley on how inexperienced Barry is, only to pick some unknown chick with zilch experience from an unknown state not even connected to the mainland?
What, was the vice chancellor of Regent Uni unavailable? Did Box Turtle Ben turn him down?
Fuck, why not just pick Elmo? He’s WAY more popular and will force thousands of parents to choose between the McCain/Elmo ticket or a crying, upset child.
Jon H
“What? Seriously? This is hot to you?”
How about this one?
The hairstyle she has now isn’t as cute as the one she used to have.
cleek
Palin looks like Tina Fey.
so, that’d be good for 30 Rock.
Jon H
Palin’s like a less-attractive, less-sophisticated version of Tina Fey.
Svensker
Fox is all over the Palin is the VP thing. If it is her, I’d say it’s genius. Cuts into Obama’s change thing very well, visually. And while she is an evangelical Christian, she’s very reasonable. Doesn’t personally believe in gay marriage but thinks it isn’t right to deny visitation rights and benefits to gay partners. Is against abortion, and carried to term her own Down Syndrome child. Fired a buncha Republicans in Alaska who were trading favors with Big Oil. She seems like a classic old fashioned conservative, instead of a Big Government Repuke. Plus she’s very attractive. My husband, who has always hated McCain but isn’t too hot for Obama, was saying “hmmmmm” with Palin in the mix. Hopefully, the hub is just an oddball (I mean more than usual).
cleek
i’m a little bummed it’s not Pawlenty.
i was looking forward to calling him “corny, mushy, and cheesy” for the next 8 weeks.
oh really
Ordinarily, I’d agree. But the really angry Hillary voters are not exactly rational. Punishing Obama is what counts. So, if Obama had chosen a Democratic analog of Palin (if there were such a thing) they would have gone ballistic.
But if McCain adds a woman to his ticket, that could be all the HRC dead-enders need to convince them to vote for Gramps. At the very least, they will use the choice of a woman (should that happen) to prove just how much Obama hates women.
Jon H
“Cuts into Obama’s change thing very well, visually. ”
But destroys McCain’s arguments that Obama isn’t ready to be commander in chief.
jcricket
How was I wrong? My point is that within the 95% of people who make under the level where Obama is going to raise taxes (in other words, those people for whom their taxes would go down under Obama) there are those are still “worried” about the poor, poor millionaires and how raising their taxes somewhat will kill the economy.
Even if (and this isn’t the case), everyone about $250k voted against Obama purely for selfish short-term pocketbook reasons, Obama would still win if the under $250ks voted their pocket books.
I was merely expressing that lower and lower-middle class whites who vote Republican not for social issues, but for economic ones, are freaking morons.
I’m one of those who is OK with higher taxes, and am in a bracket most likely to see higher taxes in both my lifetime and the not-to-distant future. I own a big house, make a bunch of dough, etc. I don’t love tax complexity, but I recognize that the kind of society I want to see (good safety net, great schools, infrastructure I can rely on) requires government revenue, which comes from taxes. And we can either be regressive or progressive in taxation, so I choose the latter, even if it means more money from my pocket.
As I also pointed out, the economy (right now) is such that the gains for the upper 5% are outpacing the gains for the lower 95%, to a level that even the raise in taxation back to Clinton levels wouldn’t erase. In other words, raise my taxes 9%, I’ll still end up with more money than before.
This whole Republican concept that raising the top marginal rate from 31% to 39% is going to keep people from trying to make an additional $100k because they’ll only net $61k instead of $70k is just bollocks.
Poopyman
Just did a little looking around on Gov. Palin. Back in April of this year she gave birth to her 5th child, and he has Down Syndrome. This has got to have a big impact on her decision. I seriously doubt she’d take the gig.
jcricket
Yes, let’s not forget Mr. Keating 5, cheated on his disabled first wife, can’t remember how many houses he has and won’t release his 100-millioniare-wife’s tax returns would be picking someone who is under investigation herself
And the Pawlenty guy from Minnesota will remind everyone of our crumbling infrastructure that is a result of chronic underfunding due to the Norquist-wing of the Republican party. I think that wing has reached is natural conclusion, at least as far as most Americans are concerned.
Poopyman
… So naturally I turn to Kos and see that CNN has confirmed it’s Palin.
Hmmmm.
Beej
Delia,
It’s not that Pat Buchanan has grown, it’s that he is one of the few commentators who has that old school quality known as “distance”. He was a speechwriter. He knows how to back away from his own emotions and preconceptions about a speech and analyze how it played to the intended audience. It used to be that journalists had this ability too. Too bad it’s mostly gone.
SmilingPolitely
National enquirer