5:38 Central Time: Just setting up the post, so you'll know I'm going to do this again. Don't expect much for another 2 hours.
6:44: I just recorded a new Bloggingheads, with lots of talk about the convention. Now, I have the time to watch some things. Pawlenty is coming up in the next hour. Brownback. Hmmm.
7:07: Barack Obama gives a good speech, but the best sermons are lived, says Tim Pawlenty. He's trying to get the chant going: "John McCain put our country first." That was a little cheesy. Ah, but it didn't last long.
7:24: Brownback calls McCain "a history maker and a history breaker." That sounds like a line for the Steve Carrell character on "The Office."
8:01: Lindsey Graham says that everyone knows the surge is working. "The only people who deny it are Barack Obama and his buddies at MoveOn.org." Why? Because the Obama campaign is built on losing in Iraq, Graham says. McCain pushed for the surge, pushed against Republicans. It was unpopular. "Some said it was political suicide." John McCain "stopped the Democratic Party from losing this war." Strong stuff. Excellently delivered.
8:10: A little film about Sarah Palin. Co-maverick. "When Alaska's maverick joined America's maverick, the world shook." Some lovely pictures of people and landscapes. I especially enjoyed the shot of shelves of cut up fish meat to illustrate "hard work."
8:23: "It's not about talking pretty; it's about talking straight," says Tom Ridge, putting a lot of effort into sounding tough. "Let's call this maverick forward."
8:35: A nice film about Cindy McCain. Good works. Loving mom. And.... drift racing!
8:43: Cindy is speaking. She says we feel Abraham Lincoln's hand tapping us on the shoulder, then pauses, and it takes way too long for the crowd to pick up the applause cue. She makes a nice contrast -- a good liberal/conservative contrast -- between being concerned about what people in other countries will think and being concerned about what our forefathers would think.
9:02: "Obama to Dispatch Female Surrogates" -- NYT headline.
9:04: Excellent film presentation of the story of John McCain. Most notable is the idea that he survived the Forrestal fire because there was a plan -- God isn't named outright -- for him to do something more. Nice but intimidating contributions from Mother McCain.
9:17: McCain's speech. It feels rote sometimes and has an actorly passion sometimes. "I hate war," woke me from one of my dozes. "I've never lived a day, in good times or bad, that I didn't thank God for the privilege.... I was blessed by misfortune." The speech felt very long and had its ups and downs. After many diverse phrases, he got it together over the idea of service and the slogan "Country First." He spoke clearly and well about his early life, as a cocky selfish man, and his transition to a man in love with his country. Now, I'm watching the final waving, with the family and Sarah Palin. Where are the balloons? I obsess over the balloons. What if they never fall? Obviously, there is a huge balloon snafu. Finally, balloons. Why were balloons important? Ah, why is a speech important? The big idea is John McCain's life, and somewhere along the way tonight that point was made. It was made over and over. It's now for us to decide if we want this man to lead us for the next 4 years.
September 4, 2008
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420 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 401 – 420 of 420Don't think I didn't catch that bullshit Michael_H.
The Giants suck eh.
The Giants suck huh.
THATS THE WORLD CHAMPION NEW YORK GIANTS DUDE!!!!!!!!!!!
And don't you forget it.
For at least 17 more games.
The hotshot individualist whose avarice eventually sends him to his lowest point, and takes on a new identity larger than his own.
John McCain is a 'Born Again' American.
*applause*
Wow, so true, bjk. Millions of words later on 4 channels, and that is the best conclusion I've read so far.
Whereas GW Bush's life was changed by Christ, and let's not diminish that (at least, I'm not vicious enough to), John McCain's personality was changed by America.
Hard-bitten cynics might be reading these words and scoff. But somewhere in those hearts of darkness, you know it's true.
Cheers,
Victoria
Brent wrote:
I didn't expect a lump in my throat, but my neighbor, a very likable Democart, actually wiped away tears after McCain said "and they broke me". He's still an Obama guy, but I think a lot of Americans are just like my neighbor - and I predict that many will be moved enough by McCain tonight to truly consider McCain/Palin in November.
I'm getting this vibe about tonight's speech, especially Cindy's and specifically, John McCain's.
It was like hearing FDR give a fireside chat, and you can almost imagine the people listening to it back then (people who were a little less cynical than we are, still thinking the US President was a kind of avuncular figure and not the sack of partisan manure he's become after LBJ) leaning into the radio, hearing an old guy tell a tale we've all heard a million times before, and still finding a truth which grips us for a second until, pfft, it's gone.
This is why human beings invented the ceremonial. Shared events and rituals make this world seem less random.
john stodel, don't forget the Gang of 14 business. there are still plenty of righties who refuse to vote for McCain this year because of that. god forbid that people in congress should compromise to get important work done. I really don't imagine that Obama has the "moderation" or balls to do something like that.
p.rich said: In their shallow desperation it's all they know how to do, and the enabling masses will follow along like the sheep they are.
Yes, but is there no link between "they" and the "enabling masses"? This gets to a point I was trying to make to Simon threads ago about resonance, about the mechanism of how a message promulgated by a few connects with the many.
I think the dynamics are different this time, at least more than last time. I know I'm vague and have no crystal ball, but only faith.
THE WORLD CHAMPION NEW YORK GIANTS
You mean the Jersey Giants, right? They play in Jersey. (see here):
http://www.lilpeckerspoultry.com/06-28-07_1135.jpg
For those of you tired of McCain's war stories, try a little Sarah.
Barracuda Visits Our Troops In Kuwait
I'm guessing that Gotcha-Mike-Dukakis moment won't be happenin' this year.
Thanks for the thread, fellas. Long time reader, first time poster. I particularly enjoyed the parts where AlphaLiberal kept on shouting at a brick wall.
Usually I love Insty's comments, but in describing his negative opinion of the McCain video, he said that both Ann and Megan McArdle liked it.
"Maybe it was designed for women?"
Oy, Glenn. That's way too facile for you.
Spengler is brutal:
Obama will spend the rest of his life wondering why he rejected the obvious road to victory, that is, choosing Hillary Clinton as his vice presidential nominee. However reluctantly, Clinton would have had to accept. McCain's choice of vice presidential candidate made obvious after the fact what the party professionals felt in their fingertips at the stadium extravaganza yesterday: rejecting Clinton in favor of the colorless, unpopular, tangle-tongued Washington perennial Joe Biden was a statement of weakness. McCain's selection was a statement of strength. America's voters will forgive many things in a politician, including sexual misconduct, but they will not forgive weakness.
Burn!
If a community organizer isn't someone "defend(ing) the rights of the oppressed," or getting involved to correct the mistakes of government, what is it?
Well, Michael, that's what we're trying to figure out here.
It's now for us to decide if we want this man to lead us for the next 4 years.
I can't think of an election that hasn't been about voting against somebody.
Usually it's the guy you heard last.
This election is an exception. Obama is so awful that it would actually be hard for McCain to screw it up.
As long as he stays away from immigration and clean government trumps free speech for the duration.
Before we get all misty eyed over community organizers, by all means read Saul Alinski's rules for radicals. At its inception, community organization was designed to use the masses to bring about revolution--Has nothing to do with healing the sick etc---thats what altruism and volunteerism is for.
Community Organizers started out as radicals. Never forget that. They violated Kant's dictum and treated people as means, not as ends.
A community organizer is someone with a good education who receives grant money from government and business to preach the beauty of Marxism to people who just need a job.
There are no quantifiable standards by which a community organizer's success can measured, except for the prominence of 'community organizer' on one's resume, the price of the house one can afford while 'organizing', and the thickness of the list of names acquired for use later in the organizer's career.
Michael H: considering Chicago's death rate for the summer was higher than Baghdad's we might be able to make some assessment.
Hey Doyle, not that the daily polls mean anything but what happened to Bambi's big lead?
Tied up
I spend several days in Chicago each month. I don't recall ever thinking that it was an especially well-organized city. It didn't seem disorganized, either. Sort of organization neutral, I think.
Obama is the Cade McNown of politics.
Only a Chicago Bears fan will get that one.
I've never been a big fan of convention speeches but managed to watch three of the four major ones (missed Biden) this year. Sarah was amazing, McCain connected far better than I expected, and Obama did his usual good speech. Comparing the two presidential canidates I think McCain did a slightly better job. Identified the problem and proposed a solution. America just has to decide between that and 'hope and change'.
Roger - Right you are. America out of Chicago now!
The war in Chicago is a civil war between different factions. We have no buisness interfering.
That's not a fiscally conservative position. The current day student tuition for the U of C lab school is $20,445. Tuition for every child in the US would cost over 1.5 trillion dollars.
That's amazing. $20K annual tuition? It certainly begs the question why the Dems are not demanding investigations into acadmeia over this ridiculous price gouging. I mean if its good enough for Exxon....
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