TiVo crapped out. Youtube “live-blogging” now; this is getting ghetto. Here we go again.
1:10 President Bill Clinton gets the longest ovation of any speaker yet. Its so out of control he’s actually urging people to stop. “Y’all sit down, we gotta get on with the show here!”
4:42 “In the end, my candidate didn’t win.” Oh yeah, great job Bill, that’ll unite them. Really helping your cause here.
5:52 Finally indicates he’s supporting Obama and makes a half-hearted plea to persuade her supporters.
7:20 Bill really does do that ‘bite the upper lip thing,’ which made Darrell Hammond famous on SNL.
8:41 Explicitly refutes his previous claim that Obama was perhaps not ready to be president. This is something Hillary was expected to do, but ultimately did not (Hi, I’m 3 a.m. attack ad, please address me).
10:56 “Barack Obama is ready to lead and restore American leadership in the world. … Barack Obama is ready to be President of the United States.” Highlights the ills he expects Obama to remedy; sounds like a enumeration of the policies he addressed in his presidency.
13:18 “When he cannot convert our adversaries into partners, he will stand up to them.”
14:30 Best quote of the night. “People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than the example of our power.” Beeeeeeaautiful.
15:56 “I will never forget the parents of children with autism and other serious conditions, who told me on the campaign trail, that they couldn’t afford healthcare and couldn’t qualify their children on medicaid unless they quit their job and starve or got a divorce. Are these the family values the Republicans are so proud of?” Oh god, FINALLY. The Dems have a much more favorable public opinion than the Republicans. Why have they shied away from that? They have to continue to reinforce the differences between the two parties.
17:40 Platitudes for McCain’s military service.
18:40 More Republican p0wnage. Oh yes. “Its [the Republican] philosophy the American people never actually had a chance to see, in action, fully, until 2001 when the Republicans finally gained control of both the White House and the Congress. Then we saw what would happen to America. If the policies they had talked for decades actually were implemented. And look what happened.”
20:09 “They actually want us to reward them for the last eight years by giving them four more. … Thanks but no thanks.” These are the type of comments that will hit Americans hard. Interpret and verbalize what their actions would mean if they voted, once again, for a Republican. Outstanding.
23:45 This truly lived up to its billing. The strength of the speech is surely going to help Barack along way, much more than Hillary’s could have. Extremely well measured delineations of the two parties and their legacies.
Remember when Dems couldnt shut Kerry up fast enough? Lets see if he can redeem himself.
1:10 Like fiftieth “Freudian” slip of the tongue when referring to John McCain as “Bush.” Really reflects their strategy to call a McCain presidency a “third-Bush presidency.”
3:14 “We must listen and lead by example. Because even a country as powerful as the united states needs some friends in this world.” First time someone has included this in their speech. Thank you.
4:14 Everyone is a friend of McCain. Really? “For those who still believe in a myth of a maverick instead of a reality of a politician, I say lets compare Senator McCain to Candidate McCain.” Oh yeah, here we fucking go. I’ve always said I liked McCain when he was just the Senator of Arizona. Campaign reform, reduced pork barreling, amnesty for illegal immigrants. He once had scruples but gave them up to the Republican party. Remember, he was LOATHED by conservatives even once he had become the presumptive Republican nominee; there is a reason.
4:22 Outlines the shifts in position on: war-time tax cuts (once calling them “irresponsible”), climate change, immigration. “Talk about being for it, before you’re against it. … Before he ever debates Barack Obama, John McCain should finish the debate with himself.” Zing!
5:32 Cites the Rove tactics of smear and fear, once repudiated by McCain during the 2000 primary elections against Bush, are now embraced by Candidate McCain. Kerry is now the new master flip flop caller-outer.
Biden’s formal nomination is spear-headed by a video from Steven Spielberg and narrated by Tom Hanks. Really well done – how predictable.
0:00 Introduced by Biden’s son Beau. He’s the Attorney General in Delaware, who is going to Iraq because he’s also a captain in the U.S. National Reserve. Senator Biden actually grew up with a speech impediment; you never would have known.
6:02 This is a speech to introduce himself to the American public. A middle class grinder. “When I got knocked down by guys bigger than me, and this is the God’s truth, she sent me back out and said ‘Bloody their noses so you can walk down the street the next day.” Biden: violent adolescence, mother approved.
8:20 Reiterates the ills of middle-class America with problems “as ordinary as they are profound.”
9:38 Another Bush-McCain “Freudian slip.” How about “I didn’t rehearse my lines.”
12:59 “I’ve seen Barack touch people.” Uh huh… ahem… probably a poor choice of words.
16:11 FINALLY, someone said it and stopped letting McCain rest on his laurels. “These times require more than a good solider, they require a wise leader.”
23:52 Not bad, but not a whole lot either.
25:16 Barack cameo! Oh wow, almost tongued Jill Biden. Nothing wrong with that 
.
And in accordance with my pledge-to-myself-that-I-can-choose-to-rescind-anytime to be tough on the Democrats and liberals, let me just say liberal, political pundit darling Rachel Maddow is a psycho woman. This is why mainstream media, be it liberal (MSNBC) or retarded (FOX News), is maddening to watch.
Upon hearing that the McCain campaign is going to ‘leak’ his nomination for VP, she was stunted with befuddlement and nonsensically asked “imagine picking the man who was governor of Minnesota during the Minneapolis bridge collapse on the date that is the anniversary of Katrina making landfall… you gotta acknowledge the symbolic power of that date, that setting, and that guy.” Pat Buchanan, that crickity, out of place, and reliably crazy curmudgeon called upon the seldom used power of reason to refute it as “cooky.” Reminds me of:
Oh my god, watching that again just made me want to hurt something. Please folks, for your own sake, stick to your local PBS station.
Update: In covering Biden’s speech, I forgot to add some additional thoughts about John Kerry’s speech. Much to my chagrin, Michael Cohen has already highlighted the most salient moments in today’s New York Times. Particularly, this quote:
How insulting to suggest that those who question the mission, question the troops. How pathetic to suggest that those who question a failed policy, doubt America itself. How desperate to tell the son of a single mother who chose community service over money and privilege that he doesn’t put America first.
For me, it was like expelling a cancer that grew and festered with every Fox News telecast. That single quote should remind us all of the repugnance of spin and its incongruence to the selection of our leaders.
