What is it with McCain and those green backdrops?

McCain just said he couldn't wait till he gets to "introduce Palin to the Washington big spending crowd", but they're already fast friends. No state in the country receives more pork spending per capita than Alaska.

The backdrop now appears solid blue, but has an American flag in the wide shot.

My wife and I have been playing a drinking game based on "USA! USA!" chants and the term "my friends" ..... so looks like I won't be driving or operating any heavy machinery tonight.

This is a snoozer. The American people are smarter than anecdotes about supposed real people living in swing states.

Where are the new ideas? This is a speech that could have been given in 1996.

My token bipartisan comment of the night: it's hard not to like McCain's mom.

Posted by: Bob | Sep 4, 2008 7:38:56 PM

Livetrolling. Even better!

"We'll drill for more oil and we'll drill now!" Camera cuts to handmade "Environmentalists for McCain" sign. Oops.

"Drill baby drill?" Seriously? Shudder.

Obama had his biggest fundraising day yet after Palin's speech last night.

So did McCain.

Maybe people saw the True Value Hardware production values of this convention and felt kinda sorry for the campaign.

They're playing Heart's "Barracuda" as the outro music. More strnageness.

A big section of balloons is stuck in the rafters. Green screen, balloons stuck. Metaphor?

8:13 - The balloons finally fall!

Bob, Obama raised 10 million, RNC raised 1 million. I don't know, 10 million seems a little more impressive?

Maybe pissing of the Democratic base isn't such a good idea?

Andrea Mitchell looks like a five year old burried in a balloon pool at Chuck E. Cheese.

haha, you're cracking me up tonight. I want to know what you're drinking every time those words are said! Oops, I better stop typing, it's time to pray...

I love their digital fireworks.

Thanks. I really needed a laugh... it's been a bad day.

Now back to my job of pulling together the endorsements and money I need for Monday's voter pamphlet deadline...

Tom Ridge: "Democrat Congress....."

Someone needs to create a "What's my name?" PAC that automatically gives money against each Republican who says this on national television.

You might as well be liveblogging Obama-Biden with that observation. It's hardly unique to John McCain.

Straight from Obama's speech:

That's the promise we need to keep. That's the change we need right now. So let me spell out exactly what that change would mean if I am president. Change means a tax code that doesn't reward the lobbyists who wrote it, but the American workers and small businesses who deserve it. You know, unlike John McCain, I will stop giving tax breaks to corporations that ship jobs overseas, and I will start giving them to companies that create good jobs right here in America. I'll eliminate capital gains taxes for the small businesses and the start-ups that will create the high-wage, high-tech jobs of tomorrow. I will, listen now, cut taxes -- cut taxes -- for 95 percent of all working families. Because in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle-class. And for the sake of our economy, our security and the future of our planet, I will set a clear goal as president: In 10 years, we will finally end our dependence on oil from the Middle East. We will do this.

There are multiple policy points there, and that's just the beginning of the section of his speech on policy. There's a few dozen more paragraphs of policy points.

From Biden's speech:

Barack Obama's going to deliver that change, because, I want to tell you, Barack Obama will reform our tax code. He will cut taxes for 95 percent of the American people who draw a paycheck. That's the change we need. Barack Obama will transform the economy by making alternative energy a national priority and in the process creating 5 million new jobs and finally, finally freeing us from the grip of foreign oil. That's the change we need. Barack Obama knows that any country that out-teaches us today will out-compete us tomorrow. That's why he'll invest in the next generation of teachers and why he'll make college more affordable. That's the change we need. Barack Obama will bring down health care costs by $2,500 for the average family and, at long last, deliver affordable, accessible health care for every American. That's the change we need. Barack will put more cops on the street, put security back in Social Security, and he'll never, ever, ever give up until we achieve equal pay for women.

Same thing on this speech - it goes on for quite some time on policy points.

As my neighbor - who is not politically active - said the other night - at the DNC convention, she heard about what they're going to do. At the GOP convention, all she heard was bashing others and the past - nothing about what is going to be done.

You guys really got to get better about your attacks. With Wikipedia, copies of speeches available online, etc., it is so easy to debunk this stuff.

"Pry your hands of the keyboard and get out of the basement and see what it is outside the vacumm called blogging."

Apparently there are charmers such as yourself to meet.

I actually have to work to support myself.

Maybe one day you'll forget how many houses you own.

OK, I'm watching this on DVR - and I'm stuck rewinding over and over and over at roughly 7:36 p.m.

Would someone - perhaps a pro-McCain troll - explain what the frak this means?

"We believe everyone has something to contribute and deserves the opportunity to reach their God-given potential from the boy whose descendants arrived on the Mayflower to ..."

OK, the Mayflower arrived in North American in 1620. So, the boy whose descendants arrived then would have to have been born sometime in the 16th century - or earlier.

I knew McCain was old, but really? He's fighting for the right of some 16th century British kid to contribute to our country?

And no, this wasn't a delivery mistake. It was in the prepared text. This was on purpose.

Is it just me, or does this crowd seem particularly unenthused?

Lots of golf-clapping, bored faces, and the random "USA! USA!" chant just to liven things up (kinda like the GOP version of a wave at a football game.)

K--

You can be born today and your descendants may still have arrived on the Mayflower. It's short-hand for privilege. It was also a throw-away line in the forgettable 1991 John Cusack movie, True Colors.

Can someone please get Bill a tissue ? Vile ?

Bill writes: "I would like to be able sit on ass all day, getting fat eating doritoes and acting like a know-it-all but unlike I actually have to work to support myself. Get a life losers. " Pot, meet kettle.

It would be your ancestors who arrived on the Mayflower, not your descendants.

Yes, of course. Ancestors. Forebears. Nice catch.

At 7:57, he tells his story about his two cellmates in the POW camp saved his life.

Seems odd to me that he didn't learn a lesson that we're all in this together, that when the chips are down, we need each other. We can't survive alone.

How does he wind up a conservative after that experience? I just don't get it.

It would be your ancestors who arrived on the Mayflower, not your descendants.

Exactly. It was in the prepared text. Bizarre. (Especially after all the advance chatter by the talking heads about how fantastic his speechwriter, Mark Salter, is.)

Yea, I had to go and read it for myself. Way too funny.

Apparently "Barracuda" was Palin's nickname in highschool.

I was mostly ignoring Bill's whingeing until it occurred to me that they're an instructive metaphor. The modern GOP has built its power (such as it was) on the foundations of lies and personal attacks--pretty brutal, ugly stuff. Whenever anyone called them on it, they said, effectively, "suck it up, politics ain't for the wimpy." But the reality is that no one whines more than a Republican, especially in this cycle. It has now become sport for Chris Matthews to demand evidence whenever a Republican expresses outrage at some perceived attack (there is none).

Bill, earlier in the thread, writes "I would like to be able sit on ass all day, getting fat eating doritoes and acting like a know-it-all but unlike I actually have to work to support myself. Get a life losers. Pry your hands of the keyboard and get out of the basement and see what it is outside the vacumm called blogging."

This is in response, apparently, to my post, which has as far as I can tell no personal attacks on McCain. (I did praise him personally: "The truth is that McCain's narrative is incredibly compelling. No one should take this away from him. Everyone can take pride in his service.")

No one responds to him, except Dena, yet he writes an offended response. Cripes.

Ah, thanks Katy. And thanks for the song title Jeff, I couldn't remember it. Since she graduated in 1982, there might be a direct connection to the nickname.

Of course, Heart came from Canada. Is getting to use it at the RNC another benefit of NAFTA?

And bill wins the best-in-show Republitroll prize for unselfconscious self-referential irony:

No, you rather be in the black hole called blogging bashing others who don't agree with you, insulting each other and general being downright nasty. I guess that is par for the course when you are accountable to no one. You can say whatever you want however vile and hurtful and suffer no consequences.

Would someone - perhaps a pro-McCain troll - explain what the frak this means?

OK, the Mayflower arrived in North American in 1620. So, the boy whose descendants arrived then would have to have been born sometime in the 16th century - or earlier.

Okay, you caught us. It's our "Back to the Future" strategy. We figure the only way to beat global warming and save social security without ruining the economy or raising taxes is to get time to run backward.

I can't believe McCain let this slip out! I guess a 72-year-old presidential candidate is a security risk after all.

Poor impulse control on my part.

Buchanon called it an "ace" and said it "makes for a real contest" Of course his own party said the Obama campaign was going negative by referencing Buchanon's endorsement of Palin. Poor guy just can't catch a break.

From TMZ.com:"

"Republicans Lack Heart! Posted Sep 5th 2008 8:00AM by TMZ Staff Ann vand Nancy Wilson are pissed at the Republican Party and hae fired off a cease and desist letter to the McCain/Palin campaign. Specifically, the Heart women are upset that the GOP has used their classic "Barracuda" as a theme song for Sarah Palin. TMZ obtained a statement from Heart's rep, who says "The Republican campaign did not ask for permission to use the song, nor would they have been granted that permission." The statement goes on: "We have asked the Republican campaign publicly not to use our music. We hope our wishes will be honored." We're told Ann was watching TV today and heard the song at the convention when Palin was touted. UPDATE: Twenty minutes after we posted this story, the GOP ended the evening after McCain's speech with the song, "Barracuda."

Yes, yes, McCain has been pretty supportive of Bush. But BUSH/MCCAIN? Alworth REALLY sounds like a Democratic Party shill when he uses that term!

Yes, my paycheck, funneled from Saudi nationals through the Obama campaign to me, is in the bank!

Actually, the point is that McCain is running away from Bush's record and purports to be a "reformer," yet as a member of the majority under Bush, he did little to rouse his party into reform. It's fair play to pin the GOP's record to a man who supported Bush, voted with him, and stumped for his re-election. Doesn't make you a shill, just sentient.

Great comment Agave King.

UPO: According to Wikipedia, Sly Stone "apparently" is something of a recluse but still alive.

Heart's objections reprise Bruce Springsteen's objections to R use of "Born in the U.S.A.", though I can't recall if he got legalistic about it.

Johnnie, Obama wasn't a community organizer for ACORN. According to Wikipedia:

After four years in New York City, Obama moved to Chicago to work as a community organizer for three years from June 1985 to May 1988 as director of the Developing Communities Project (DCP), a church-based community organization originally comprising eight Catholic parishes in Greater Roseland (Roseland, West Pullman, and Riverdale) on Chicago's far South Side. During his three years as the DCP's director, its staff grew from 1 to 13 and its annual budget grew from $70,000 to $400,000, with accomplishments including helping set up a job training program, a college preparatory tutoring program, and a tenants' rights organization in Altgeld Gardens. Obama also worked as a consultant and instructor for the Gamaliel Foundation, a community organizing institute

It appears that he was a community organizer for the Roman Catholic Church. (Hat tip to Jenni Simonis at BlogforOregon.

In fact many ministers, priests, rabbis and other religious leaders work as or work closely with community organizers (including my mother's cousin's husband, who was a community organizing Lutheran pastor in Chicago before eventually becoming chaplain for Gettysburg College, the priest of the Episcopal church in Dorchester MA where my mother worked with community organizers in forming a day-care center as part of Boston College graduate program in Community Social Psychology in the 1960s).

The protestors in the convention were reportedly an anti-war Iraq veteran, whose party affiliation I don't know, and members of CodePink for Peace, who also have protested at Congressional hearings being run by Democrats and quite specifically have targeted Democratic congressional leadership for their failure to follow up on the anti-war promises of the 2006 election, took part in demonstrations at the Democratic convention, and are critical of Barack Obama's position envisioning protracted U.S. presence in Iraq and escalation in Afghanistan. While I don't know for sure, I strongly doubt that Medea Benjamin (on of the RNC protestors) is a Democrat.

Descendants are people who share a common ancestry. Ancestors are those individuals from whom you descend -- your parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and so on. Interchangeable, no?

No. Descendants descend from ancestors. Ancestors do not descend from descendants. Not interchangeable.

If we fix the diction error Senator McCain's speechwriters imposed on him (presumably) you are right on the substance of what he meant, which I applaud. But of course when the senator "got burned" for his stance, it was mostly from conservatives, who accused him of being liberal.

In a quiet way, without taking on the term, McCain here in part is defending the children some conservatives deride as "anchor babies."

How descendants become ancestors:

I'm My Own Grandpa Music & lyrics by Dwight Latham and Moe Jaffe Originally recorded 1947 by Lonzo and Oscar Also performed by Jerry Garcia and David Grisman

Oh, many, many years ago
When I was twenty-three
I was married to a widow
Who was pretty as can be
This widow had a grown-up daughter
Who had hair of red
My father fell in love with her
And soon the two were wed

This made my dad my son-in-law
And changed my very life
For my daughter was my mother
'Cause she was my father's wife
To complicate the matter
Though it really brought me joy
I soon became the father
Of a bouncing baby boy

This little baby then became
A brother-in-law to Dad
And so became my uncle
Though it made me very sad
For if he was my uncle
Then that also made him brother
Of the widow's grown-up daughter
WHo of course is my step-mother

Chorus
I'm my own grandpa
I'm my own grandpa
It sounds funny I know
But it really is so
Oh, I'm my own grandpa

My father's wife then had a son
Who kept them on the run
And he became my grandchild
For he was my daughter's son
My wife is now my mother's mother
And it makes me blue
Because although she is my wife
She's my grandmother too

Now if my wife is my grandmother
Then I'm her grandchild
And every time I think of it
It nearly drives me wild
For now I have become
The strangest case you ever saw
As husband of my grandma
I am my own grandpa

[chorus]

The Roman Catholic Church doesn't hire "Community Organizers". Parishes may fund projects but they dont' "work" for Roman Catholic Church. Please don't try and use the Roman Catholic Church as a way to mainstream his organizational ties/thoughts (Alinsky). Especially since his positions on abortion contradicts the teachings of the Church.

WADR--this is a distinction without a difference.

Individual Catholic churches/parishes hire folks to do work and organization in communities. They work hand-in-glove with the priests and other church workers. That is the essence of "community organizer" that's being referred to here. Whether its comfortable for those trying to make excuses for Palin or not--that's reality.

To say that the Church doesn't hire community organizers is like saying that U.S. government isn't responsible for the Blackwater contractors who do bad shit in Iraq--because the U.S. Government says they don't believe in doing bad shit in Iraq. Its nice lip service, but bears no resemblance to reality.

Johnnie, I was not trying to say that Obama was Catholic or has the imprimatur of the Catholic Church. You are quite right that Obama's position on abortion & birth control is in deep conflict with Catholic doctrine.

You made an unfounded statement about Obama, however, which was that he worked for ACORN. The evidence is that he did not.

Now you are trying to wiggle out of that by invoking Saul Alinsky. However, the Alinsky tradition is only one of those that relate to the idea of community organizing. Others relate to the settlement house tradition. Another would be the Catholic Worker tradition initiated by Dorothy Day, which I think sometimes was in tension with the church hierarchy at different times and places.

The idea of community organizing for community development was used a good deal by USAID internationally during the 1950s and 1960s, clearly influencing the formation of the Peace Corps as well. Neither of those uses were Alinskyian.

At any rate, the point is that Obama worked for a project that was contracted for by a number of Catholic parishes, not for ACORN. He worked directly for the contracting organization, not directly for the Church -- but the money came from the parishes it appears. Whether or not the contracting organization was Alinskyian I don't know for certain, although a friend who was active in Chicago around that time leads me to think not. In any case you haven't provided any reason to think they were.

You want to say Obama worked for ACORN so you can smear him with the scandals at the top of that organization's national structure. It isn't true and it doesn't wash.