Live Blogging the Anti-Climax

Giants by 4.

Obama by 12 million.

And hope for a green background for McCain's speech.

I'm going with the Obama/Billo matchup with the Good Guy taking that one. 

McCain will be uncomfortable to watch with, as someone posted somewhere, "he makes those bracing smiles like he's trying to not rupture something."

Still wondering, with McCain's meltdown over Obama's popularity very obvious, how he will take to being totally overshadowed on his own ticket. Because you know when he talks to the press, its going to be all Palin, all the time. Stories will abound about how she is drawing bigger crowds then he is.

Emphasis on the old (all 72 years of it).

 

The Palin viewership numbers are a little worrying, but I think it shows that we still have a lot of work to do if we want to defeat the millions of fundamentalists who control our politics, our discourse, and our government. I'm in Michigan right now, but back home in South Dakota my mother said the ELCA Lutheran's weren't impressed with the catty, sarcastic and (I hate the word but it applies here) shrill tone of Palin's speech. Of course, Lutherans are among the most moderate Christians and a big reason why Obama will easily win Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota and even possibly my neighbor North Dakota.

Hopefully, voters are smart enough to see through Palin, but she seems eerily similar to Ronald Reagan in the fact that her corruption and attacks against the media seem to be helping her among certain subsets of the population. It all comes down to Independents, so I hope that they were largely turned off. Otherwise, we're going to have to double our efforts to beat the GOP base of 2004.

 

I have a question for either Al or some Field Hands here, though: I currently reside in Michigan, but I have SD registration. I'm hesitant to change it just because of this election, because my vote counts more in a small state, Tim Johnson needs my support for Senate, and I cling to the miniscule hope that Obama can pull it out in SD in the event of a landslide. And I don't think Michigan is quite as much of a swing state as people are claiming. But if you feel it is wiser to re-register here in MI, then tell me - I'm a bit torn.

 

Phew! Thanks for reading, Field Hands, keep it up Al, and let's all watch some Giants-Redskins tonight.

Oh dear lord, I don't know whether to roll my eyes or laugh at the whole 'town hall' thing. I guess we can say it isn't a surprise in that everyone knows what a bad orator he is and he'd only come off looking pretty weak next to both Palin and Obama, but I do hope people watching are smart enough to realise the whole thing is more staged managed than an RSC performance

 Catherine Cain on this one. Obama beats Billo!

+ I hope the NFL runs overtime.

via the Utah for Obama campaign to do GOTV in CO.
they say that transportation and housing will be hard to get, so if there is any field hand in Utah interested, we could organize to do this

Fired up...and ready to go!

My 2 cents (btw, did the cents sign get taken off the new keyboards? I guess so...) 

 Unless Tim Johnson REALLY needs your vote more than Obama needs yours, I would recommend switching to Michigan for these reasons:  1) I signed up to volunteer on weekend roadtrips from Illinois and I got sent to Michigan on the reply email today so that means they need people there and 2) your statement of "...in the event of a landslide...."   Well, then your South Dakota vote won't be as critical from a total EV count anyway!

If you decide to register in Michigan, what about making sure you get at least 10 new registrations in South Dakota to cover your non-vote there?

The higher the better.  It has most certainly led to increased volunteerism and donations from Democrats who watched, and chances are it sent Independents (like me here in swing state Virginia) to completely close the door on the McCain option. 

Indepedents mostly favor candidates who are reasonable and less concerned with partisanship, not necessarily candidates who are the most moderate on policy positions.  That's a large reason why Warner, Kaine, and Webb have won here.  I think it's also why Obama won so big here against Clinton.

But last night was a total display of unreasonable, immature, and bizarre behavior that will surely turn off a greater number of Independents. 

Hopefully a few million of us were witness.

South Dakota is in play--some polls put O-man ahead.  One vote is a much bigger deal in SD than in MI.  I say stay put.

Just MHO from AK, another red state we're trying to turn blue...

But from my anecdotal evidence I think that far more people that watched Obama were supporters (or undecideds), whereas I think the "unknown celebrity" factor pushed Palin's numbers full of lovers, haters, gawkers and whatnot.  Since no one has seen Palin speak before (an AMAZING reality) I think there was a lot of interest, whereas Obama is pretty familiar at this point.  I know on many right-wing sites I saw the "I didn't watch Obama's speech but here's what I think..." but pretty much everybody following this election watched Palin.

 

 

As James Haygood mentioned, I think that the high viewership of Palin's speech was probably result of curiousity across the country.  Jury is still out as to whether her speech impacted anyone's vote -- positively or negatively.

I will share, however, that my 70 year old mom called me today to let me know that a fairly outspoken Republican classmate of hers from the 50's, who lives in AZ, told her that he may actually pull the lever for a Democratic Presidential candidate for the first time in his life thanks to McCain's choice of Palin.  Knowing this person and his politics for a long time, I was stunned!  Hope it happens and that it's not an isolated incident.

Just saw my first one driving home, and it HAD to be a do it yourself job, because I can't believe the McCain campaign would put out something like I just saw. The format was like this.

                                  McCain

                            PALIN  

I cannot not do justice to how tiny the McCain name was and how BIG the Palin name was.

It should be noted that a good chunk of Palin's huge ratings were brought about simply out of curiosity. No one knows anything about her! She's a phantom being treated like a long-established politician.

And I still think it's creepy that the Republican party has connected with this candidate in six days. Am I alone there? I think the Republicans broke the Pam Anderson/Tommy Lee courtship record.

The large viewer audience for Palin is probably another disaster. Rather than inspire, she incited. Fence sitters with a reasonable fondness for fairness and curiosity about what exactly McCain /Palin will do about the pressing messes in the economy and elsewhere aren't likely to get much inspiration from a catty snide fest notable for its utter lack of anything useful. It was loaded with noise and signal was non existent.

Looking at the Markets, 1 more day like today will break all the support levels that have held. Dow will fall below 11,000 and the S&P will fall below 1200.

Then from Robert Shiller of the Case/Shiller Home price index we have these points:

• Home price declines are already approaching those in the Great Depression, when they plunged 30% during the 1930s. With prices already down almost 20%, it's not a stretch to think we might exceed that drop this time around.
• There are about 10 million homeowners whose debt is higher than their home value, which has broad implications for how Americans feel about their wealth and spending habits (read: more pressure on consumer spending).

This underscores the GOP tone deafness to (or desperate attempt to sandbag) just how damaged the economy really is.

These market slides vaporize wealth and how has your 401k been performing lately.

There is so much fraud and rot still buried in the financial sector that a

 

Isn't it obvious that these ratings don't include the millions of young people who watched the DNC and Obama's speech live on the internet?

...1000 point drop in the dow between now and 11/4 is not unlikely.

(sorry to dangle, I got distracted)

 

SO that is everyday reality for increasing numbers of citizens. The house you bought for 300k is now worth 250k and your exploding Adjustable Rate Mortgage is about to skyrocket. Your credit cards are all maxxed. The return of a strong dollar has at least eased the galloping inflation of late spring/early summer but the fundamentals suck and will only get worse.

just in case there are any chicken little's concerned about that new cbs poll being touted at TPM by that Eric K. Here is the skinny on that, from a commenter at 538----

"Here are the numbers from the last CBS poll - the one that showed Obama +8 from August 29 - 31.

UNWEIGHTED WEIGHTED
Total Republicans 247 229
Total Democrats 310 308
Total Independents 318 337
Total Registered Voters 781 743

My point is, they went from a match-up of 30.8% (R) to 41.4% (D) to a match-up of 31.1% (R) to 34.9% (D). And then they wrote that this showed that Obama's 8-point lead evaporated from last weekend! Now, are you going to tell me that's not comparing apples and horse apples?"

If I hear one more person say or write about what a great speech we heard last night, I'll send them a copy of "The Emperor Wears No Clothes." A series of one-liners does not constitute a speech. Twenty minutes of back to back soundbites is no substitute for narrative, structure, respect for one's audience not to mention policy or issues or anything of substance, including anything that might tell us something about the speaker we hadn't already heard in her just-commenced 15 minutes of fame. Was there a theme? A beginning, a middle, an end? I heard sameness throughout as if I could have exited or entered the speech at any point or even run the sentences in reverse order and it wouldn't have mattered. What an insult to an audience's intelligence. 

A weaving together of history or context or some glimpse of a future we could all share? I think not only of Senator Obama's delivery but the content and structure, momentum and flow of his speeches and wonder how anyone could rave about what we heard last night. Forget the nasty tone or the ear-grating pitch. Who would prefer to hear that for the next 8 years rather than the warm voice of Joe Biden, speaking to us with respect and good humor? Who would prefer endless repetitions of "my friends, my friends" rather than Barack Obama's heartening baritone reminding us where we've been, where we might go, and where we are? 

James Haygood,

 

re: "...even run the sentences in reverse order and it wouldn't have mattered. What an insult to an audience's intelligence. "

 

Haha, the Palindrone!

The Obama campaign reported today that since Palin's speech last night, they've raised 8 million dollars from 160,000 donors.  In the same time, the RNC has raised 1 million dollars.  See what all of that grassroots, community organizing gets you, Sarah?

BTW, the fundraising numbers were reported by The Atlantic.

And on a side note, did anyone hear the Republican Congressman that called Barack and Michelle uppity?  When a reporter gave him a chance to back off the statement by asking, "Uppity?" he replied, "Yeah, uppity."  It's nice to see that the Repubs are doing away with all the euphemisms and just being blatantly racist.  Interestingly, Obama's campaign responded without even mentioning race.  They simply said, "The Republicans are throwing stones from one of their candidate's eight glass houses."  I love how the Obama campaign refuses to take the bait.

Cindy McCain's outfit Tuesday cost more than $300,000

Her earrings alone cost more than most people's houses:

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/politics/2008/09/cindy-mccains-300000-o...

KD

@ Blue SD:

Well, I admit I don't know as much about South Dakota for 2008, but Michigan needs EVERY VOTE!

There are a lot of Republicans here, and an anti-gay proposal passed a couple of years ago because of them. (Yeech!!!)  an anti-affirmative action proposal passed, too...(Yeech again!!)

Obama has made great strides in Michigan, even the western part, but Michigan is much more, dare I say, racist than people want to admit.

Do what you think is best...maybe Al can help out here, but Michigan is more Republican party than Democratic party outside of Detroit.

Of course, my beloved "Jenny from the block", Democratic Governor Jennifer Granholm did herself proud in her hearings to oust the now-former Mayor of Detroit.  Even Senator Obama said that the Mayor had to resign--especially because it was not good for Obama here in Michigan--and it finally happened today without the Governor having to complete her hearings.

But it will still be a fight...

 

waterprise2 AKA Pam

Liberal with a Capital L!

 

Some great lines in here.

and all over a lot of blogs today:

"Jesus was a community organizer. Pontius Pilate was a governor."

 

waterprise2 AKA Pam

Liberal with a Capital L!

 

Re: Speech Nielson numbers above, I think there are a lot of eyes on Palin now that will drop off soon.  She's new, people want to check her out.  Obama's numbers are solid.  My impression.

The Palin bio video that got bumped because Guiliani went long here.

Opneing line: "Mother.  Moosehunter.  Maverick."

I shit you not.

Is John Madden more powerful than John McCain?

By Chris Chase

Tonight might prove whether the NFL really is the most important institution in America. The Redskins/Giants kick-off the NFL season this evening at 7:00 p.m. ET, with John McCain scheduled to give his nominating speech at the Republican National Convention at 10:00 p.m. ET. The three-hour gap isn't a coincidence as months ago the NFL moved up the start of the season opener in order to accommodate McCain's address. But NFL games routinely last longer than three hours. What happens if the NFC East battle is still raging when McCain is preparing to take the stage? Which of our country's sacred institutions will prove more important: The NFL or our electoral process?

Both NBC and McCain's camp are keeping mum on the subject (doubtlessly hoping that ignoring the potential conflict will make it go away), but chances are that if the game goes long, the Republican nominee will delay the speech and wait for the game to end. Since NBC is legally required to show the entirety of the NFL game, they can't cut over to McCain even if they wanted to.

And as McCain needs NBC to show his talk (6.1 million watched Barack Obama give his acceptance speech on the network last week) and also would like at least some of the 20+ million who watched the game to catch a little bit too, it's a no-brainer. Delaying the speech if the game goes long makes sense -- even if it is weird that the most important speech of a presidential nominee's lifetime could be delayed by Eli Manning and Kid Bro Sweets. But what are the odds that a speech delay even happens?

With kickoff scheduled for 7:07 p.m. tomorrow night, the 'Skins and Giants will have a little less than three hours to finish before McCain's speech. That's possible, of course, but by no means a sure thing. Last year the same two teams played at Giants Stadium in an NBC primetime telecast and the game took 3:14. And that was just an ordinary game. If tonight's contest sees multiple challenges, injuries and/or overtime, it could feasibly run until 10:30. McCain might be able to wait until 10:15, but if it gets much later than that, he'll probably have to deliver his speech with NBC or not. If McCain loses the crucial Manning family demographic this November, we'll know why.

Thanks: I missed that. Palindrone. Yes.

James, that is beautiful. I wish they aired it.

Can't wait for Tina Fey this Saturday night, hosting SNL.

Gee, I wonder why she is hosting....hmmmm.....

Let's hope the losing Redskins fans (Virginia!) project all their anger and dissapointment onto McCain's lovely visage.

(PS read this diary over on Kos of a personal story of one Virginia repubs conversion to vote for Obama after last nights speech.  My gut tells me there are a lot of this category of repubs in VA - especially the military vote)

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/4/14305/31500/400/557927

KD

Please liveblog it.  I can't, but I wanna know how it goes.

http://www.socialworkblog.org/pressroom/index.php/2008/09/04/social-work...

Hi, Al. What a pleasure to have you blogging a US presidential campaign again!

One question/comment (actually inspired by your previous post on Palin's speech):

Many pundits have pointed out that exciting a diminished base is not going to win the election for the Republicans, but I haven't heard much on the obvious follow-up: so what are they up to really?

Trying not to underestimate the opposition, I have to assume that they see little chance of winning this election, and so I wonder if they are simply looking forward four years, doing what they can to shore up the base for a future campaign. Are Schmidt et al essentially trying to inoculate supporters from a newly emboldened press, a progressive government, possible prosecutions and revelations of more Bush administration malfeasance, and a resurgence of science and reason in our schools and our public discourse?

I'm not discounting some kind of crazy Hail Mary effort to win, but the rhetoric from the convention makes more sense to me as an exhortation to "keep the faith while we retreat, regroup and ready a counterattack, and don't believe anything you see or hear in the meantime".

Actually, it just occurs to me that they are also laying the groundwork for four years of "resistance" and harassment.

Thanks for all you're doing.

robert e

I guess they got the memo about the ugly green background of days past.

They have chosen a hideous yellow background. lmao....

Robert E - I understand the logic, but the prize - the White House and all the concentrated executive power therein - is too big for any side to write off the election quite yet.

60 days is a long time in politics. Things can happen. Scandals can break. Wars can be started. I think McCain is playing for keeps, and just figured that he had to do something drastic to shake up what had been a lethargic campaign. So he went with the "three point shot" that some of us had hoped Obama would do with the VP pick.

Remember: McCain was considered down and out in July 2007, with zero chance to win the nomination. He's somebody that is comfortable playing from behind. And he clearly wants it.

We are all going to have to hold tight to deal with Chicken Littles.  Nominees nearly always get a bounce, so is is extremely likely that McCain will get one. And then the anxiety level will go way up among some.

Personally, I'm just back from phonebanking. One person, a senior, told me that she switched from Republican to Democrat because the Republicans messed up so bad. "Maybe it doesn't make sense to switch at my age," she said. "But I just had to do it."

Where you register to vote is not a matter of discretion. To my knowledge, although the specific statutes vary, state law requires that you register where you reside (for some value of "reside"), and you can't reside in two places at once. And yes, in the real world snowbirds from New York do have dual registrations in south Florida so they can vote wherever they are at the time, and students stay registered at home in order to keep cheap car insurance rates even though they are living in a dorm in another state, and all kinds of other reasons why people don't follow the law deliberately as opposed to inadvertently. But it says here, just don't go there. Register where you reside.

"Falsely attesting or being attested for is registration fraud and is a class "D" felony, punishable by a fine of up to $7500 and up to 5 years in prison. Registration fraud also includes falsely registering to vote, attempting to falsely register to vote, and registering to vote in more than one precinct." http://www.sos.state.ia.us/Elections/VoterInformation/VoterRegistration....

Al,

Gov. Palin seems less like a 3 point shot and more like a full court desperation heave.  Clearly, McCain wants to win, but his gang that can't shoot straight won't even stick with a cohesive strategy.  Rove was so effective because he would pick a smear and then just drive it home over and over and over again.  McCain, on the other hand, seems to change his line of attack every other day.

I really think what this boils down to is that the McCain campaign knows they can't win on the issues, so they're trying to turn the campaign into one long distraction.  Obama, to his credit, is not taking the bait.  He continues to talk about issues and substance.  Some of his supporters keep screaming that he needs to take the gloves off, but that's exactly what they want.  McCain can't make himself the "change" candidate, so he's trying to make Obama another "more of the same" candidate.  I guess the thinking is that if both Obama and McCain are seen as more of the same, maybe McCain will eke out a win because he seems like less of a risk.

are currently disappointing me.

And Al, Redskins Nation stretches from Southern Maryland through DC and VA and all the way down to North Carolina. Of course, we have to also deal with those lost Cowboy fans that we find around here, too.

Has the Obama interview happened yet? Not sure if I can take watching O'Reilly.

I am glad you posted the link to the Social Workers outrage regarding community organizing.  I had a conversation with a co-worker today who was a social worker that specialized in community organization.  She spent some time in Africa.  I love her.  She is a great woman and a great attorney.  She was also a Hillary supporter.  She is horrified at the Republicans sneering at community organization.

I think that the RNC did all of us a favor with their cheap shots at community organizing.  They reinvigorated us to do what we know we must do.  Oh, and Al has to.  Oh, and Obama.  Oh, and all of those activists that came before them.  Shout out to Markos too.

Anyway, it has made our mission even more important.  We have to stay focused on the ground and keep our eye on the ball.

BTW, I lived in "Chicago" (Gary, Indiana) in the 60's.  I was in grade school but I remember the turmoil.  My mom was an activist and got arrested in 1968.  So, in honor of her, teach your children.  Thanks mom.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbWofsY_rFE&feature=related

 

 Barack is doing great! Billo just said he'd go with him?

Btw, I can not believe I am actually watching Faux News. :O

Ok, what a bunch of crap! The interview will be stretched out over several days.

Read this post, and I'm just trying to tell folks - keep the eyes open

Ready for extra-innings in November?

 

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/4/18742/15752/919/586909

 

 

Is there a feed on the web anywhere that anyone knows? I can't find it.

You are a brave soul.  I can't watch it so instead I have the Colbert Report on.  I would watch the football game and had it on earlier but I am more of a College football fan.  Go Sooners.  :-)

Please post more as to what is going on.  Thanks!!!

make it closer

sorry Al, we need the rating for McSame to be down, so the media narrative about who is boss on that cursed ticket will start :)

"By very measure, my speaking cadence is painfully slow!"

"This week, Anbar province was turned over to the Iraqis"

and it was a change in tactics, using community organizing in Iraq, that made it possible. But we hate community organizers.

I have decided that pigs can fly.

 How To Keep People From Voting: Make The System As Complicated As Possible  Please read this!

I really believe that voter suppression will take place this year and do hope we fieldhands stay on top of these stories.

loyalties. country. men and women in uniform. 

(it's. taking. so. long. for. each. and. every. single. word. to. emerge.)

Joe Lieberman is a traitor. 

 Lindsey Graham, I had to turn off the volume. It sounds much better that way.

Did we set up the rule for drinking game? "Heroes" is on the list, right? As is "victory"

btw, Graham said something about not acknowledging success of the troops. Bad timing, what with the Billo interview.

Iraq: Rule of Law wins over rule of guns. Pro-choice in Iraq, but not in the U.S.

"I'm not saying Barack Obama doesn't care. he just doesn't get it."

(now where have I heard that before?)

BTW, in light of this kinda thing, going onto Billo is pretty damn canny and savvy on Barack Obama's part. Fox viewers get the prebuttal. Oh, they're lying about him.

that Hizzoner talked all over last night. NPR cuts into these things in order to interview other peeps on the floor.

No other comments? From no one? huh? Tap tap tap. Is this thing on?

Screaming woo hoo and Hey! An unscripted moment.

I don't usually encourage people to "freep" online polls, but this one is actually relevant - CNN is asking visitors whether a small town mayor or a community organizer is better experience for the White House - get over to the front page and show them that community organizers do real, critical work that directly helps millions of people.

 

http://www.cnn.com

Too bad I didn't stick around for that "He's no wimp" comment. Mostly I just find Bill O'Reilly to be amusing, because there's no way I can take him seriously, but after a half hour of him I couldn't watch anymore.

I think Obama did well. He was very patient and even, and clear on his views. I knew he'd be fine. But he's a brave soul.

Did anyone else catch that moment when he told that commentator (I think her first name was Megan?) to let him know the next time she was going to the grocery store so he could help her with her groceries? Was that a wtf moment for anyone else?

I mean...I get my blood boiling just from the transcripts

Wow! I never knew that. Not after Fred talked about it. Not after all the other people talked about it. John McCain's war wounds and ordeals discussed in great detail. 

Oops, my bad. The interview is with a fellow POW. (Tom Moh or Mow) Pass. Okay.

 

 Katie Halper where are you? 

Ok, if I am going to actually try to watch this, I gonna have to drink with you Susan. Drinking to Victory, Heroes, POW.Obama too. They seem to mention him more than John McDraft!

What is the 9/11 video they showed that everyone is talking about?  Did any field hands see it?

KD

That's what the signs say. OMG. What celebrities.

Now... Tom Ridge. "I speak to you as one friend about another" (he didn't say "my friends" ... that comes later)

No hooch in the house. Just had late lunch.

...jokes that only we thought funny."

Hey, didja hear the one about the Arabian horses that drowned in the Katrina flood? Naaah, didn't think so.

 Not a good thing! Oh well, I'll play alone and enjoy reading your comments..

KD- Didn't see the 9/11 video, was watching BillO.

how can we win? strategized, etc.

"Where some people see defeat, JM pursues victory" 

still trying to parse the Veep pick in light of that. sigh.

What I wanna know is, why aren't we discussing the Minnesota Twins?

 You'll have to drink without me.

I got kinda sick when they used 9/11 footage to bring their message home.

I turned it off. They disgust me.

oppose us"

Okay, okay. But I wonder about Al Qaeda's own bring it on... to entrap the US into a war and bankrupt the nation in the process. I'm sure that Johnny Mac has caught the attention of AQ. 

It's about talking straight. (If only Johnny Mac would, you know. He's changed so much. Flippity Floppity Flew)

[btw. Any discussion of anything relating to actual, you know ISSUES? or policy? Anything more than hagiography?]

red and blue, but red white and blue."

pwned, Ridge! Barack went there 4 years ago.

Now we're doing a chat of "That's John McCain"

Ridge's cheerleader score: Difficulty: 4.6, Execution: 4.75

John McCain better be sweatin'.  Tom Ridge is having tele-prompter issues.  It's happened before at this convention.  McCain must be aware. BRING PAPER!

 What hypocrisy! Great catch Al!

(must. resist. obstetrician. thoughts. must. not. go. there.)

End of Ridge. Continue chant: That's John McCain.

Video: Cindy McCain. NPR talking heads chatter w/ one another.

OMG!!! "let's listen in!" NPR lurves them some Cindy. Maybe she's an NPR donor?

You must be the only one with enough stomach to watch this stuff.  Thanks for keeping us informed!

from Dr. Seuss to Beervertisement! 

"She got all the attention of her father" (sigh. we did read the story of half sis. oops. Family. off limits.)

[Cindy went to USC. Humming the USC Trojan fight song]

JOhn told her he was 37 (40+), and she told him she was 27 (23) It was Lies at First Sight.

What a bad examples. Discussion about Beer and lying about age?!?! connect the dots, people. And THIS is the party of high upstanding moral values? There's gonna be a run on liquor stores w/ fake IDs. You heard it here first.

Isn't the guy narrating the Cindy McCain video right now the same guy who does the Bud commercials?

oooh. background music goes through key change. You know, the floating and elevation.

Teeeeheeeee :)

So no visuals. But I can just see the visuals when they did the music key change. It was some kind of a nature scene. I bet you. I double-dog bet you. (oops)

Wow, that "Cindy Lou Hears a Who" video was so fabulously bizarre. (I'm updating in the post above, with more thoughts.)

than being a mother.

OMG. she mentions ppl leaving their homes due to weather. devastation. OMG. Who knew??? [edit: after all the red meat last night, and someone saying that SP's intro didn't have a nod at all to national events, am shocked and awed and frankly relieved to hear it[

ColbertNation mighta helped them in the making of their video. 

 in that audience makes me cringe. Sickening that women would go for the policies of the 18th century.

 Did she just say that? WTF? Isn't that called community organizing?

...women have sought a husband.... wondering what kind of father that man would be.

What a dull speech. What's she reading, "my pet goat"?

Because Obama's not worthy. Only John is.

John, John John.

Marsha Cindy, Cindy, Cindy.

Has anyone else noticed how many people speech here who start every other sentence with "I know"?

 I really did. but. i. can't. do. it. I will drink less and spend the evening much happier with the tv OFF!

but those aren't my words. some other random thoughts:

* I don't want to be showered by John McCain's love

* Meg Ryan wants her hair back.

* The poor children would like their drugs back.

* like "shaking things up" in marrying me while being already married.

 

 

Cindy: "a basketballing, pistol packing mother of five for vice president"

 

Can we just settle this contest on the court, then?

OMG. she mentioned basketball shooting. BREAKING news. There's gonna be an Obama/Sarah hoops game on the courts. 

John has shaken things up as he usually does. [weird delivery of that line]

Johnny Mac: Build concensus. (Last night did not happen. You did not see anything divisive last night. You will look at world through our rose colored eyes)

OMG: "I think John was a HERO in Vietnam" HERO. drain the glass!

(I'm just pretending to be drinking)

There are 37 Africian Americans represented at the Rep. convention. So far, during Cindy McCain's talk, we've spotted five of them. So that's nearly 14 percent. We're shooting for 50 plus 1.....

So your comparison is not off the mark.

Cindy is seriously creeping me out.

This is surely a liability.

Too much like community organizing, that.

Fail.

Jack Abramoff releasing a book next month titled, get this, "The Perfect Villain: John McCain and the Demonization of Lobbyist Jack Abramoff,"

AP story

Hilarious!  This is all about Cindy.  I love it.

She's a saint.

ROFLOL.

. . . 

Ernestine: You. Are. My. Hero.

[Hero! Drain another glass! Even if virtual booze! Like mine]

Has anyone speaking yet tonight mentioned any actual political issue?  Just wondering if they are planning to go 0-for-the-convention in that department.

Now she's rescuing children from landmines and cluster ordinance.  Too bad her husband opposes banning them.

OT: There is a birthday party in the fieldhands forum

OT: 4TH QTR: GIANTS 16, REDSKINS 7

.... is a pitbull with lipstick, what is Cindy McCain?

That might have been the oddest speech I've ever heard....I'm still trying to figure out her point(s).

Off Topic and On Topic have the same initials! haha

Straight talk. That's how McCain won the Vietnam war.

ties in nicely with the line, "IF you want some straight talk about [the country? forgot exact words], then take a close look at John McCain"

Abramoff is that straight talk? I mean, he's a pled-guilty criminal, but he's been doing lots of straight talk to others in the justice department.

Chuck Berry....

QUICK. Did McCain clear music playing rights w/ the estate of Chuck Berry?

and campaign plane supplier.

He said he'd endosrse after the conventions.  "After the conventions" begins tomorrow morning.

Imminent Colin Powell endoresment of Obama, anyone?

The perfect way to step on McTenCribs' speech tonight, returning the favorite for his VP-pick anouncemenet last Friday to step on Obama's speech....

Waiting for the football game to be over....

I'm pretty sure I heard Romney yesterday about grounding private jets, and now.....? Nevermind.

Susan - He owns a blues club in St. Louis.

Everyone - New thread up to blog the McCain speech (and which I begin perturbed by this use of "Johnny B. Goode", too.)

That song is so old that the copyrights probably have expired already.

Will we get to listen to the audio of the Johnny Mac video? And will we finally learn the secret to this man's life, that he's a, you know, well, he's a P.O.W.?

 

Interview w/ someone else NPR... Comment re: signs here in arena, they're "faux-naive", but are "mass produced." (Can you say Astroturf? Sure, I knew you could)

There's a tongue that extends into the audience.

Killer! Fashion Show!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

started w/ POW and father, etc. congressman, senator.

"Some call him hot-headed. Some call him names that can't be repeated here." (I gotta say, they're not flinching from some of the, well, salacious things about Johnny Mac. Fred and the exotic dancer. Lying about age. etc. I like it.)

"...4 more years in hell"

which is what we'll have if we elect John Same as Bush McCain

n/t

How did the green background come back?

 

Oh, it's the lawn.  The building looks... french?  Queue which home is that, etc.

Green corn field... then blank blue screen?  I think the photo album crashed his server.

I so appreciate this site.  It's keeping me sane.  I'd love to know what folks here think of Lakoff's piece on Palin.  I think he's onto something about the importance of symbolic language, and that you can't rely on policy language alone.  Here's the link:

http://files.tikkun.org/current/article.php?story=20080904070242463&mode=print

 

Al, Thanks for the reminder that it's too early to count anyone out (what is the opposite of a "chicken little"? "Hare brain"? There are lots of us, too). Not that I'm feeling anywhere near complacent. Having mulled it over, though, I don't see that it makes too much difference tactically whether the R's are going for the ugly win or the scorched-earth retreat. Divisive demagoguery and victimology seems to be the game plan, and trying to bait the other side into fighting in the gutter mud. Those tactics may well work on chicken littles and hare brains alike. And no doubt Rove et al will work hard to create or leverage any doubts or glitches around the election into controversies, whether to scratch out a win or to taint a Democratic victory. I'm heartened by the fact that the Obama campaign shows no sign of flinching or taking the bait. -- robert e