Entries tagged with “Democratic Convention 2008” from Reality Window

The Minnesota Post did a really nice article on The Big Tent. Actually if I'm envious of anything, it's of the bloggers who are hanging out in the Big Tent this week, making connections with each other, with all the non-bloggers who stop in to see what this cool new thing is. I'm sure it's crowded and electrical outlets to recharge stuff are at a premium but still.

By the way, the picture to the right by the Minnesota Post is of John Aravosis interviewing Markos. John posted video of the interview on Americablog.

Susan Gardner of Daily Kos was interviewed and among the other things she said was this description of who was at the Big Tent and why. I think it's one of the best descriptions of the blogosphere, left and right, that I've seen.

"We have ongoing dialogues about what policy should be, what elections are like. We're ordinary people extraordinarily interested in politics."

Exactly. Wish I'd said that. The article goes on to note:

The nattering nabobs at MSNBC blew it last night. CNN caught on part way through. And hurrah for C-SPAN and PBS, the only tv channels to have the good sense to allow viewers to watch all of the convention speakers. John Kerry stepped up to the podium after Bill Clinton had raised the energy level in the hall, and knocked one out of the park.

Josh Marshall called it The Golden Speech and said "in its own way I think the speech I just saw John Kerry give is the best one I've heard at this convention. And I do not have any doubt that it's the best I've ever heard from him." Emphasis is his.

It got rave reviews at/by Daily Kos, Steve Benen, Andrew Sullivan, Ta-Nahisi Coates, BalloonJuice, The Jed Report, Al Giordano, Karen Tumulty, Jack & Jill Politics, OpenLeft, mydd, Huffington Post, Crooks and Liars, Rod Dreher, Daily Intel, Reason Online, MalContends, and Democratic Underground. This list coud be 5 times as long but you get the idea.

Here's the video if you haven't seen it yet. It's worth your time.

JK did what those of us who follow him closely know he can do and has done before. Just watch his Dissent speech. And as he has before, JK gave us a masterfully delivered speech yesterday. It's hard for me to pick out my favorite excerpts. I'd end up excerpting most of it so go see the full transcript of his remarks as delivered below the fold, courtesy of Lynn Sweet at the Sun Times, if you can't watch the video.

A little more background: he also did a session for the New American Foundation in the morning which got rave reviews from publius.
 

After a call for nomination by acclamation made by Sen. Clinton, the Democratic party has nominated Barack Obama for the office of the president of the United States. It's official. Lots of cheers and tears.

Rep. John Lewis brought the historic perspective... reflecting on how they fought to even be able to vote and to see this today is amazing. He said he'd cried earlier and didn't think he had any more tears left in him. An historic moment indeed.

Hillary was great. She did exactly what needed doing right from the start of her speech. And all the nattering nabobs of negativity are just nattering nincompoops looking for a way to say something controversial so they can get paid for spinning.

In case you missed it, here's the video. Her delivery was spot on.

Other people thought so too. The Boston Globe called it "The Speech of her Life". The right-Leaning Us News and World Report did a roundup of the rave reviews. Margaret Carlson at Bloomberg had a great take on it. The LA Times has a transcript of the actual speech up. Blogger reports from the floor of the convention indicate that it was really inspiring there as well.

The disunity myth being pushed by the nattering nabobs is just that - a myth. From MissLaura at dkos: "Blue Hampshire blogger Mike Hoefer got an important piece of PDMA (Party Disunity My Ass): Kathy Sullivan and Mary Rauh, New Hampshire state co-chairs of the Clinton and Obama campaigns, respectively, address the traditional media's insistence on pushing the myth of disunity."

The audio is not great but the gist of it is, what party disunity? They both say that the media has blown it way out of proportion.

There have been some good speeches at the DNC thus far but you wouldn't know it by listening to the nattering nabobs. Of course, there's the Jim Leach speech which isn't barnburner quality but is one of the most thoughtful, substantive speeches that's been delivered thus far. Then there's Gov. Brian Schweitzer's speech which just rocked.

Here's one of the best snippets:

Boy, did he nail that one. If you don't have time to watch the whole thing, you might want to check out the selection of dead-on quotes from last night's speeches by Muzikal203. Check them out even if you do watch it.

Here's the complete speech video clip.

Then there's Dennis Kucinich. He's a little farther left in the Democratic continuum than I'm generally comfortable with so I didn't watch his speech on C-SPAN. But someone highlighted the youtube clip on dkos so I checked it out. He really got the delegates fired up. But you never saw a minute of that on any of the network or cable news shows.

As for tonight, I expect John Kerry will be in fighting form and of course, Bill Clinton is always entertaining no matter what he talks about and then we'll top the evening off with Joe Biden, Sounds like a lively evening ahead.

And remember C-SPAN is definitely the way to go. No nitwits nattering away ignoring the action at the convention.

I saw Jim Leach's speech on Monday night and despite his very low key style, it really hit home. I knew right then that I wanted to find a transcript and reread his words. As I recall, the chattering heads were saying that no one really hit back at the Republicans on Monday evening. Well, they think that because they were all busy talking over Jim Leach and didn't hear him say this:

The party that once emphasized individual rights has gravitated in recent years toward regulating values. The party of military responsibility has taken us to war with a country that did not attack us. The party that formerly led the world in arms control has moved to undercut treaties crucial to the defense of the earth. The party that prides itself on conservation has abdicated its responsibilities in the face of global warming. And the party historically anchored in fiscal restraint has nearly doubled the national debt, squandering our precious resources in an undisciplined and unprecedented effort to finance a war with tax cuts.

Re-read that paragraph. That's why Republicans for Obama exists. Rep. Leach continued on, not pulling any punches.

America has seldom faced more critical choices: whether we should maintain an occupational force for decades in a country and region that resents western intervention or elect a leader who, in a carefully structured way, will bring our troops home from Iraq as the heroes they are. Whether it is wise to continue to project power largely alone with flickering support around the world or elect a leader who will follow the model of General Eisenhower and this president's father and lead in concert with allies.

Whether it is prudent to borrow from future generations to pay for today's reckless fiscal policies or elect a leader who will shore up our budgets and return to a strong dollar. Whether it is preferable to continue the policies that have weakened our position in the world, deepened our debt and widened social divisions or elect a leader who will emulate John F. Kennedy and relight a lamp of fairness at home and reassert an energizing mix of realism and idealism abroad.

The portfolio of challenges passed on to the next president will be as daunting as any since the Great Depression and World War II. This is not a time for politics as usual or for run-of-the-mill politicians. Little is riskier to the national interest than more of the same. America needs new ideas, new energy and a new generation of leadership.

Hence, I stand before you proud of my party's contributions to American history but, as a citizen, proud as well of the good judgment of good people in this good party, in nominating a transcending candidate, an individual whom I am convinced will recapture the American dream and be a truly great president: the senator from Abraham Lincoln's state-Barack Obama.

As the Boston Globe noted today:   [via]

The best way to watch a political convention is on C-Span. That way Americans can make their own judgments unfiltered, without being told what to think by the nattering nabobs of TV commentary. [...]

Had the commentators not been so busy filling airspace and paid closer attention to what was happening on the podium, they might have had a different take. On Monday a speech by former Representative Jim Leach, an Iowa Republican, ably set the framework for his own party's failings, besides delivering a bipartisan endorsement of Barack Obama. His address wasn't electrifying TV, but it was a more articulate critique of the Republicans - and from a former loyalist, too - than many Democrats have mustered.

They read my mind.

The complete transcript and video clip are below the fold.