Republican Convention - Day 3

Who threw the raw meat onto the podium?

On the night of runners-up, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and Rudy Guiliani, in the course of starting their campaign for 2012 spent most of their time attacking Barack Obama, the media and Hollywood (they spread the net wide). Like last night, much bigger applause for attacking the other side than praising the McCain-Palin ticket.

Mitt finished in last place in the zinger category, but he still generated a lot of energy from the crowd.

Mike Huckabee has a knack for a zinger. For that reason (and perhaps that reason only), it would be really interesting to see him as the Republican candidate. Some good ones were "I'm not a Republican because I grew up rich, but because I didn't want to spend the rest of my life poor". He also gave a somewhat low-blow but also very funny line that Sara Palin "received more votes running for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, than Joe Biden got running for president of the United States!". Very funny. Unfortunately, not true. I guess Mike still has problem figuring out the difference between votes and delegates.



Rudy Guiliani's best line talking about Obama changing his mind, by saying that Joe Biden better get that Vie-Presidential nomination in writing. Capping off the trio, Rudy showed that they are having trouble keeping track of what is being said somewhere in the media and what is a statement by anyone in the Obama-Biden camp. I'm not sure I have seen a reference that the Obaama-Biden camp said that Sarah Palin as a mother of 5 should be staying at home. But as Rudy said earlier in his talk (in a very ackward point), "if the facts don't work for you, change them".

Only at a Republican convention (or a Hummer Owners Reunion) and with gas at $4.00 could we hear chants of "Drill, Baby, Drill".

Hurrican Sarah blows through the Convention!
Sarah Palin sans video intro (don't bother looking at the schedule of events) does a good job showing why she rose so quickly from PTA to Governor. She is confident and sincere and comfortable speaking in front of a lot of people, even when reading a speech she didn't write. Great facial and hand expressions, she is no Dan Quayle. She will benefit tremendously from highly misinformed low expectations that a female governor from a lightly populated state that is a long trip from anywhere in the lower 48 can understand international affairs. It isn't as if she was sealed in an igloo. Her best line of the night was, "The only difference between a hockey mom and a pit-bull...is lipstick". The line you will hear the most after the convention, "Some people use change to promote their careers, John McCain uses his career to promote change". Typical for a VP speech, but perhaps a bit surprising in her first speech to the country had a lot of venom for Barack Obama. Nice slam on the faux stage at Obama's Acceptance speech saying that "...after the styrofoam Greek columns are hauled back to some studio lot..." and Obama's other-worldly persona, "...after he's done turning back the waters and healing the planet...". Again, lumping Democrats and Hollywood and the Media in one big ball of hate for the Republican faithful.

Not a surprise to me that her speech was very good, (she is a very good speaker). What started to hit me is how well her off-handed sense of humor will trump whatever Obama or Biden have to say (and they are both excellent speakers and debaters). She could get caught missing a fact here or there in her VP debate with Biden, but I almost get this sense that Tina Fey will be debating Biden. Facts aside, a witty hockey mom is tough to out-debate.

A very cohesive, driving, attacking night. This 3 Night format may actually wind up being the plan for future Conventions.

Republican Convention - Day 2

The Bush’s came to town. George HW, George W and Laura. The best part of their trilogy was when W. said that "John McCain is not a man who's afraid to tell you when he disagrees. Believe me, I know.". The crowd really enjoyed that one. It wouldn't be the last time this evening that there would be applause to a statement that countered W. and what has happened the last 8 years. When you are the incumbent party and say that you have the real candidate of change, that is a very fine line you are walking on.

Fred Thompson gave a progressively riveting review of John McCain’s time in captivity. If you haven’t heard the full extent previously (and perhaps even if you had), you had to be moved. He did a good job even turning McCain’s opposition to Reagan’s desire to put troops in Beirut as a kudo to both parties. I hope Fred is OK, he certainly cleared his throat a lot. It was also a pretty spirited talk attacking the media occasionally and more frequently Barack Obama (without mentioning him). In fact, the loudest cheers were not for pro-McCain statements, but anti-Obama critiques. It seems that the Repubs are more united in their dislike of Obama and the Dems than they are energized by the candidacy of John McCain.

Joe Lieberman could be the first person to speak in prime time for each party just 8 years apart. Some nice things said about John McCain, the most effective was when he said that "God only made one John McCain and he is his own man". "Eloquence is no substitute for a record" was a great summary of everything the Repubs should be saying to point out their best claim as to why McCain should be in the White House. Lieberman did actually get the Repubs to applaud (although very modestly) Bill Clinton while showing the contrast between Clinton and Obama by saying that Clinton was bi-partisan in his moves to balance the budget, reform welfare and trade agreements.

If John McCain really has his way, Joe Lieberman would have been giving a speech (perhaps pretty similar to this one) on Wendesday night as his VP choice. Bi-partisanship is great, just as long as everyone on the ticket is a registered Republican.

The large HD screen behind the speaker is interesting but occasionally eerie.

The Sarah Palin issues backlash has got to be eating at the convention attendees. First a lost night due to Hurricane Gustav, then an almost all out media probe into your recenP selection. If anything, it is creating a 'circle the wagons' attitude, which could get the Repubs pretty stirred up even though they aren't particulary ready to rally around their candidates.

Republican Convention - Day 1

Not much to report other than good job to the Repubs for making a well co-ordinated and appropriate change given the potential of Hurricane Gustav. It is not easy to turn a big ship around and they did. Tough to put a lid on a ton of preparation, but they were looking at the big picture and did it very well. Kudos all around.

Laura Bush and Cindy McCain looked Mahvelous in their brief talk to rally the crowd around temporarily turning their support to the victims of the Hurricane. Nicely done.

The big news was what was said/released, but not at the convention:

Sarah Palin's 17 year old unmarried daughter Bristol is 5 months pregnant.
Sarah Palin had also hired an attorney to defend herself against the allegations she tried to have her Trooper former brother-in-law fired.
Sarah's husband Todd was arrested for drunk driving more than 20 years ago.

Sarah Palin is giving the media a ton of work to do.

The Tropper-gate stuff is the only one that could have real teeth, but her daughter's pregnancy just creates a lot of wheel-spinning and the DUI is a non-issue that would have become one had it come out on its own some time down the road. This is some of the stuff that can happen with a relatively candidate not well known on the national scene. Hillary Clinton has a lot more dirty laundry and inuendo in her background, but it has all been trampled to death, so it isn't really newsworthy. New dirt always has the potential to be a Headline.

Props to Barack Obama for saying family is off limits and even saying he will fire anyone on his staff who pushes any issues about Sarah Palin's family. Unfortunately, the Beast that is the media is not so easily handcuffed and even on Labor Day, with a Cat 3 Hurricane about to come close to hitting New Orleans, this stuff was making headlines.

John McCain VP - A Flea Flicker!!!

While everyone was watching to see if McCain would select Mitt Romney, Joe Lieberman, Tim Pawlenty or even Tom Ridge, a private plane flew from Anchorage, Alaska to a small airport outside of Dayton, OH, where John McCain has said he will announce his VP selection today.

Sarah Palin, the first term governor of Alaska, appears to be the somewhat surprise selection to join the McCain ticket. Here is what you need to know about her:

At 44, she is the youngest and first female governor in Alaska history. Like Barack Obama, she is in only her first term a high profile position. Politically, she is known as a no nonsense person who has stood up repeatedly to corruption in government, especially in her own party. She is pro-life and a member of the NRA. She is opposed to same-sex marriage, but has enabled legislation to be enacted that provides benefits to gay state employees and their partners.

Socially, she is a very interesting person indeed. A hunter and fisher, she was first runner-up in the Miss Alaska beauty pageant when she was 20. Her husband is an eskimo and they live about an hour north of Anchorage. Like Joe Biden, she has a son in the military who is being deployed in the Fall (Biden's son Beau, State Attorney General in Delaware is being deployed as well).

This will have some very interesting implications for the Fall Campaign.

Democratic Convention - Day 4

It was historic, sufficient and a bit longer than necessary.

Barack Obama gave a speech that covered all the important points about why someone should vote for him. It was eloquent, but not particularly memorable. It had the crowd rocking, but the viewing audience was probably somewhat less carried away.

We will see what kind of bounce if any the Obama-Biden ticket gets. Their campaign's top people have already stated they do not expect much if any due to the Republican Convention starting just a few days later.

Democratic Convention - Day 3

The momentum of this convention continues to build.

Nice speech by President Bill Clinton. He reminds us why to date he is the only Democratic president elected in the last 32 years. Had it not been for term limits, he might very well have been the Clinton running in the primaries this year. He hit all the bases and made the best and most effective attacks on the Repubs to date. His best line was a 1-liner, but perhaps more cerebral than a zinger, "People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than the example of our power." Democrats just love to hear Bill talk and get super spun-up. Bill Clinton's biggest challenge yesterday was getting people to stop cheering so they could hear what he was about to say.

Since he is a nearby politician, I have know a lot about Joe Biden for a long time, but many in the country really just got a chance to know more about who he is and the path he took to get here. A very nice video, narrated by his son Beau (again, the next generation of these political families will be priminent in the next decade or two. How about a Clinton-Biden or Biden-Clinton ticket in 2024?). Other than the mantra "that's not change, that's more of the same" (not very inspired, but be prepared to hear it again), the best and perhaps most effective line that should be repeated was “these times require more than a good soldier — they require a wise leader.”

I think McCain is really in a tough spot to select his VP. He really needs a 55-60 year old with some decent name recognition and no obvious big downside who is a good debater. McCain's best bet would be if he could just run by himself, because it is becoming more apparent that whoever he names as VP will give the Dems more ammunition. No choice is likely to do anything more than perhaps lock down a state that is leaning Red anyway, but there is a lot to lose with his selection. It would be interesting to know how much the selection of Joe Biden and the Democratic Convention is effecting his final selection.

Lost in Prime Time, but making all the news headlines is the historic aspect to Barack Obama becoming the first person of color to be officially nominated to be the presidential candidate for a major political party.

If you want to actually hear the speeches rather than the commentary, change from CNN to PBS. What a nice change. You actually get to hear what is being said rather than what a few people think should be said.