The 2008 Democrat Convention

Catching up again... thanks again for the info, guys.

Bill, I think probably less people watch the whole thing live than read about it or see clips on news shows -- but I think the news does eventually get out that way, to a lot MORE people if not as many as we'd like.

This is a great resource btw -- videos of the convention, with captions!!!.

http://www.youtube.com/user/DemConvention

I'm watching Biden now.

Okay Finn - I'll bite.

What did you mean by "as black a person as Obama is"? If your contention is that those you consider Obama fanatics will vote for him because he is black, how do you align that with the fact (for instance) that I voted for Mondale instead of Jackson, when Jackson was definitely the black guy in the race?

You voted for Obama in PART because he was black.

What % of your decision can be based on race before it's racist?

For example, if I'm voting for McCain 90% based on his policies and 10% based on his race.....am I a racist? 80/20? 50/50?

I'm not saying that I've voting based on race (or that I'm voting for McCain for that matter; that will depend on his running mate), but I'm curious what is acceptable?

But that's because Obama is PART black...

Why is this a bad idea? Podiums rising out of the floor are common and I would bet the GOP has used this device on more than one occasion.

It is much cleaner then sending a stage hand out to move the podium.

It would be one thing if the mechanics were not common but to criticize something that is often used shows a partisanship that goes beyond reason.

Troubles and grumbles beginning. Security extremely high at the stadium - private parking is ranging from $50 to $2000/car. Long walks to the seats. Looooooong waits in the security lines. Umbrellas forbidden and no shade. Seating on first come first serve basis so necessary to go hours in advance and be there hours before the speech.

But still all 75000+ seats will probably be filled which does testify to Obama's star power.

Waiting for the poll numbers to see if we have a bounce yet. I think probably the only possible negative that will come out of this will be that Biden had to pretty well manufacture a resume out of thin air for Obama. The media may or may not give him a pass on that. The GOP most likely won't.

Anyhow looking forward to the big speech tonight.

+1

Best watched on the TV.

Bush had the same thing in 2004. The platform itself doesn't rise up, Obama doesn't rise up - the podium rises up. So the platform is empty before he gets there.

In fact, their setup is nearly an exact copy of 2004, I bet they did it on purpose - looks good and forestalls criticism.

Cycloptichorn

Partisanship? Me? I have a 100% democratic voting record in all elections since I turned 18 10 years ago. I'm hardly partisan (at least not the party you thought).

I'm an idiot...I thought that article said that the podium (and presumably the speaker) will rise above the stage (not out of the floor). I completely misread the line. But an image of Obama rising above the crowd in front of a Greek inspired temple.....well, I hope you can see that would be a bad idea, and why I was concerned. Now if Obama AND the podium rise out of the floor at the same time, well then I see an image problem with that as well.

Ok....

"You voted for Obama in PART because he is PART black."

better?

Obama's stage looks more like this TV set.

What part is black?

Thanks for the link, Soz. If my DVR lets me down, I'll know where to turn. (It's cool you're having an easier time finding captioned stuff than you did 4 years ago, too.) Did you think Bill did Bill's best? I thought he tried... but I had the bar set awfully high after "send me." It's gotta be damn near impossible to think of new stuff as powerful as, "Strength and wisdom are not opposing values." I loved it that he seemed to go down the page and cross off every idiotic talking point against Hillary’s speech.

Oh wow! Just watched Kerry's speech. Very, very good. I was impressed.

I really like his comparison of Senator McCain with Candidate McCain. (Especially the part about how he says now he'd vote against the immigration bill he helped write -- "Talk about being for it before you're against it...!" ) Seems worth expanding on that idea in a commercial or something.

Really nice job.

E.G. and I are debating whether to let sozlet stay up to watch the speech tonight. She really wants to, but it STARTS at 10 PM. Can take her to school late tomorrow I guess...

Didn't see you there! Just came back after watching Kerry's speech.

Haven't watched Bill's yet.

Watched the beginning and end of Biden's, including Obama's surprise appearance -- that was cool! Also good to see him in that mode, I think it was a great capper to the evening. Happy, colloquial. And great to have the face-to-face interaction between him and the Clintons, with him thanking them directly. When I read the NYT (which went to print before that happened) this morning, they said something about how Obama ceded control of Tuesday and Wednesday to the Clintons, and how he'd never be in the same venue as them (why aren't they going to be there for his speech? but I digress), and I think that was a really masterful way of putting his stamp on things but keeping things light and unified.

Need to go do some stuff now, and Bill's "8-minute" speech looks like it's actually 25..! (I did watch the beginning with the endless applause, that was sweet, then had to break off before he really started to speak.) Anyway, will get back to it later.

Yeah, the internet rocks! The captioning of the videos is super-awesome. I sent a very happy email when I found them.

I meant to comment on that too. His face and body language as he was kissin, high-fivin and glad handing was off the charts cool. I don't know that I've ever seen another politician as comfortable in his own skin (maybe Blair taking heads on the floor of the House of Commons.)

Seeing the frequent pan shots of Michelle; I thought to myself they made a minor error by not finding a way to get her and the kids back up there with Biden & Family... and maybe even the Clintons (though I'm not sure it was predictable that that would have turned out well.) Anyway, they all looked so, so real.


Lookin forward reading your reaction to Bill's speech.

except for from Biden to the end... Michelle looked to me like someone had a turd on a stick and was holding it under her nose..... not much of a poker face...

I thought Bill's speech was a thousand times better than Biden's. Biden, although he took some good shots at McCain, came across as kind of a tool to me. But then Barack came out at the end and brought a good close to what could have been an anticlimactic end to the night.

Tonight is going to be off the hook.

Coming across as kind of a tool is Joe Biden... but he's an effective tool. It's a tough assignment to speak after Clinton. Big props to John Kerry for volunteering to speak immediately after Bill... that's the toughest spot of all. It's also when I switched from CNN to CSPAN, because the A-holes at CNN weren't even listening to Kerry.