News And Perspective

Ezra Klein laments the Dem Lost Week Convention, with a second from Andrew Sullivan.  This perspective on the media and their news judgment is laughable:

Then the Republican Convention will begin...  And the media will not cover Ron Paul's protesters with the vigor or attention they gave to Hillary Clinton's diehards.

Let's see - a Senator, former First Lady and former front-runner making history as the first woman with a serious chance at a major party nomination versus Ron Paul, a former something or other and current I-forget-what (if I ever knew).  One got eighteen million votes and the other got eighteen million hits at his website.  Why in any real world would their die-hard supporters get equal coverage?

Chris Bowers is nervous as well.  Sorry, "frustrated".

MORE:  This is stage management?  Having Obama nominated by acclamation (after a dramatic intercession by Hillary) at 4:48 Mountain Time, or 6:48 here in America?  What are they going to show in prime time, replays of Michael Phelps' races?  Or maybe Met-Phillies highlights?

Baffling.

Comments

[Barry]

A First?

[Danube of Thought]

Correction: It was at 3:48 "here in America." I'll have to take TM's word for when it happened, since I was watching tivo'd episodes of Forensic Files and awaiting cocktail time, which has now arrived. Here in America.

[matt]

I have purposely tuned out of the television coverage of the Dem convention, as what I have heard and seen (for very brief periods) was drivel. These things typically are. Occasionally, one sees a true political superstar emerge a la Clinton. This year its all down to Barry and and his ascension to heaven. I would have to say the pressure's on.

[Walter]

OK,

I like Beau Biden. He's well-spoken and a credit to his dad.

But did he really want to talk about how Ted Kennedy comforted his dad after his mom was killed in a car accident?

Though I suppose Teddy knows about the tragedy of losing someone he loves in a car wreck.

[Danube of Thought]

Well at least he'll have the Parthenon to aid in the apotheosis.

The man is at risk of becoming an embarrassing fool.

[JJ]

This has got to be the most historically, most surreal, strangest, oddest (get all the adjectives out of wack)

Man, this is just weird.

Democrat. convention.

[Soylent Red]

tragedy of losing someone he loves in a car wreck.

Yeah. His shot at ever becoming President.

[Karl]

Yeah, Klein, Sully and Bowers are missing that: (a) giving the Clintons 1 1/2 - 2 days in the coverage is bad; and (b) Obama's record does not give the rest much to tout. The latter magnifies the former.

[Jane]

This is a boring speech.

[Jane]

"A wise leader" - my goodness, that is such a stretch - and now Obama is a tax cutter. WOW. This is amazing.

And a big fat lie.

[hit and run]

Biden: "Change you're just gonna have to swallow!"

[BumperStickerist]

I'm fairly certain if Ron Paul supporters decide to toss bags of their own urine at the cops rather than drinking it in secret as part of their rEVOLutionary cult-like rituals, the MSM will cover them the way the Hillary diehards were covered.

God knows Olbermann would.

-

[centralcal]

Boring and INEPT Jane. Good lord!

[Rick Ballard]

"Anybody know how long Joe Biden has been talking?"

JMH,

His bio says he's 65 but I think allowance has to be made for probable developmental problems so I'll say 60 or 61 years, max.

[RichatUF]

The One. He is there to bless the crowd!

[hit and run]

centralcal:
Boring and INEPT Jane. Good lord!

So much so, I really can't even snark him.

I miss buffoonishly grinny Biden!

Attack Biden is boring and inept.

[JM Hanes]

Chris Bowers scratches his head: "I don't know exactly what we need to do to get a bounce, but I do know that we haven't done it yet."

Well, here's an idea. How about running against John McCain instead of George Bush? Not sure "John McCain Was Wrong," is the best way to do it, though.

Althouse is drinking on "historic." Wish I'd thought of that.

Good luck on taking your convention back, Barack!

[bgates]

Could be worse, hit. Could have heard that line from Bubba.

[hit and run]

Sorry I fainted. What did I .........

[centralcal]

Well....yeah....this is a winning team. uh huh!

Oh lord, have mercy!

[hit and run]

.................ok I'm back was that...............

[hit and run]

Oh it is it is HE!!!!!

[JM Hanes]

Bill has gotten the most sustained applause of the entire convention. Barack is doing the housekeeping.

[Porchlight]

Guys you are missing all the interesting stuff on WGN radio. I like this Milt Rosenberg guy. Kurtz is a great interview - judicious and moderate in his comments. All he's really done is described his research process and read from a few of the CAC documents. But the Obamabots are freaking out anyway.

Now Kurtz is talking about some of his previous NR pieces about Obama (non-CAC related). He's describing the Gamaliel Foundation.

[Sue]

The only thing Biden said that was true about Obama was when he got to the Senate he hit the floor running. Running for president was left off, but it was implied, if you follow politics and know how long Obama was actually working while in the Senate.

[Beto Ochoa]

My parents were democratic party big wigs. I was an activist. Involved with DNCs since 1964.
I don't know exactly what this thing is.

[JM Hanes]

This back to the future, Beto O.

[JM Hanes]

Sorry for the O....

[RichatUF]

On the Biden speech. I'm a bit of a partisan, but did anyone else think it was a bit like fingernails on a chalkboard. He didn't do anything really dumb, but I really thought the speech and delivery was bad.

[Elliott]

If the Democrats want to take McCain on over foreign policy, they are going to have to convince voters that McCain was wrong on the surge somehow. Biden didn't even try.

[Elliott]

****take McCain on over foreign policy AND be successful****

[centralcal]

Well, that is an understatement RichatUF. After Billy boy - Joey was just a big bomb!

[hit and run]

I agree Rich....he really can be endearing when he plays the bufoon. And he can be effective that way.

as attack dog he is fingernails.

[JM Hanes]

Well at least the benediction wasn't a litany of Democratic talking points tonight. That's an improvement.

[Rick Ballard]

Rich,

I do not recall ever hearing that Slojo had any talent whatsoever for delivering prepared remarks. He's very facile and he mugs for the camera with the best of them but I would be hard put to decide if he were more of a lightweight or more of a featherweight.

He'll make Obama look comparatively smart. That in itself is no easy task.

[MayBee]

t 4:48 Mountain Time, or 6:48 here in America?

That's so funny. My sister, who lives on the East coast, is always asking me things like, "Don't you get hungry a the real lunchtime? How can you wait so long to eat?"

[hit and run]

Since the convention is moving to Invesco and it won't be possible, I really really wish we had balloons tonight.

Nothing I love more than Dem conventions and balloons..

[Beto Ochoa]

I really thought the speech and delivery was bad.
Posted by: RichatUF | August 27, 2008 at 11:03 PM
It's all so pathetic. Reflects in the polls.

[Sue]

Well, let's look on the bright side. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/12900.html>MSNBC may be a thing of the past because of this convention.

[centralcal]

lol, Hit!

[hit and run]

MayBee:
That's so funny. My sister, who lives on the East coast, is always asking me things like, "Don't you get hungry a the real lunchtime? How can you wait so long to eat?"

I HATE eastern time. I loved Mountain time when we lived in Denver.

I'm a morning person. I'd rather be in bed by now. Or rather, I'd rather it be 9:14 rather than 11:14 right now. Which it is. In Denver.

[Semanticleo]

Hoo boy! Do I hear a lot of whistling in the dark.

The opening shots have been fired by Biden in the coming uncivil war.

The unceremonious disrobing (finally) of the Republican candidate who began as an independent maverick, has commenced.

He is Bush's clone because he is a pragmatist. He needed the nomination so badly he was willing to lose the election.

Biden is gonna tear him loose from his
rickety hinges.

[Sue]

Leo,

And if he doesn't tear loose from his rickety hinges will you finally shut up about it?

[Pofarmer]

Wasn't it Hillary Clinton who famously said "This is America, and we have a right to debate and disagree." Sure wish I could do the screech in writing somehow. Anyway. Is this the same Hillary Clinton who today said, "Here ya go Barack, you can have my votes, I really don't need em."

It just struck me as-----odd.

It's also odd that so many seem to be trumpeting this circumvention of the democratic process of somehow being a good thing.

[Semanticleo]

"will you finally shut up about it?"

Is that a rhetorical question, Sue?

[Rick Ballard]

Sure, Slojo, O and Mo are a helluva team. More entertaining than Curly, Moe and Larry and almost as smart.

The Obama campaign really is doing a fantastic job delving into Dr. Kurtz's past associations, friemdships and positions. You can always tell what a man is like by the company he keeps and the people who were important to him along the way.

Good job, fellas.

[Sue]

Leo,

Yeah.

[Joan]

Have the Democrats let the Boy Scouts in their convention hall yet? Seems like they didn't want them around a few years ago -- too much God and country for them.

Wonder if there will be any Boy Scouts waving American flags alongside the columned ascension platform.

[Pofarmer]

Anecdotal information. My MIL had decided early on to sit this one out if McCain was the Nominee. After what Barack said about abortion she'll vote McCain. My FIL said he would vote for Hillary over McCain, but he'll happily cast his lot with McCain over Barack. And me???? I said I would never vote for McCain. Hell, I voted for Thompson in the MO primary. But, ya know what? I'd pull the lever for McCain twice if they let me. I'll do anything to get a McCain voter to vote and anything to distract an Obama voter just long enough.......

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

Brownback for Veep? NRO Corner guys thinking maybe.

[hit and run]

Leo:
He is Bush's clone because he is a pragmatist. He needed the nomination so badly he was willing to lose the election.

Did Biden, as a pragmatist himself, want the VP so badly he was willing to go against all his O complaints of the primaries?

I mean, if we're pinning our hope on Biden disrobing McCain, is Biden himself clothed?

[RichatUF]

Noticed at Hot Air that they are linking to a story that Romney is out. The panic is that Liberman might have gotten the nod...

Surprised that the news hasn't leaked out and Intrade has Romney and Pawlenty the top two.

[Lea]

I've decided tonight that the dem's biggest problem here is that they are way too pessimistic. America is horrible, the last 8 years have been terrible, people are hurting, blah, blah, blah...

After a while you just want to say enough. I will wait until next week to say for sure, but I"m pretty sure that even the most partisan republican speeches aren't like that. It's a downer, for me.

[centralcal]

I am so outta here. We have seen a really crappy Dem convention and now everyone wants to hypothesize (can't spell it) about lousy VP choices for our side. Enough already!

[Rick Ballard]

I'm pretty sure Brownback is another teaser. Romney makes sense and Pawlenty might make sense. Brownback brings no one who isn't already in the bag and has the potential to drive some folks away.

[Pofarmer]

is Biden himself clothed?

Aw, c'mon Hit, there are some things a guy just doesn't wanna think about.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

It won't be Lieberman according to NRO. They say Rove asked Joe to take his name off the list.

I don't know where the Brownback idea comes from.

As to Romney, US News doesn't know any more than anyone else and don't forget it is Gergen's baby. Who would tell him first?

[hit and run]

Pofarmer:
Aw, c'mon Hit, there are some things a guy just doesn't wanna think about.

In all fairness, Leo brought up disrobing McCain...no easy visual in itself!

[Jim Rhoads aka vnjagvet]

On McCain's VP choice:

It sounds to me like sending the beagles after another dead rabbit.

[hit and run]

I am NOT saying Leo likes to think of McCain naked.

He is.

(kiddin)

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Okay, I'm supposed to be on the Martha Zoller Show tomorrow at 11:20 EDT. God knows why, but might as well use up some more of my 15 minutes.

[RichatUF]

Charlie-

Good luck with the interview.

[Sue]

Yeah Charlie.

[JM Hanes]

It's pretty amazing that the political implications of putting Biden on the ticket have escaped the hotshots on the left almost entirely. Obama has absolutely cut the heart out of almost every argument he's been making, right when he needs to make the sale.

No more Mr. White Guy. As I believe Rick commented: "The deal with Biden might best be approached by asking which part of 'Hope & Change' the selection of a 65 year old, 30 year sitting Senator addressed." Pretending that commuting makes you an outsider doesn't pass the giggle test, and Biden's Mom looks even older, and decidedly frailer, than McCain's.

Wanna talk about consorting with lobbyists?:

Biden has accepted $5,133,072 in contributions from lawyers and lobbyists since 2003. Obama does not accept contributions from federally registered lobbyists.

Not to mention Biden's son

Sen. Barack Obama sought more than $3.4 million in congressional earmarks for clients of the lobbyist son of his Democratic running mate, Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, records show. Obama succeeded in getting $192,000 for one of the clients, St. Xavier University in suburban Chicago....An analysis for The Washington Post by Taxpayers for Common Sense of Hunter Biden’s firm’s lobbying business found that its clients collected $2.7 million in earmarks in the last fiscal year.

I'm sure attacking family members is still on the prohibition list, of course, although Biden was heard pounding on Cindy's kitchen tables in Indianapolis.

Will Biden be pounding on those lowlife credit card companies that John McCain supports?:

His largest contributor (based on total contributions by employees) over the past five years has been MBNA, the Delaware-based bank aquired in 2005 by Bank of America than until then was the world's largest independent credit card issuer and a major supporter of the 2005 bankruptcy bill that Biden crossed the aisle to support.

Then there's that dicey temperament, noted way back in 1987 by the one and only E. J. Dionne:

Mr. Biden, whose Presidential campaign has been shaken by news reports about his unattributed use of speeches from other politicians and a plagiarism incident while he was in law school, said in The Times interview that he was ''frustrated'' and ''angry as hell'' over the reports.

I've probably used up my link limit, and the patience of fellow posters, but the list goes on. How can McCain Biden be part of the solution, when he's been part of the problem in Washington for decades, sitting across from you know who? The Senator from Delaware tried accusing McCain of bluster the other day, but a few video clips from Joe's Senate hearings will take care of that. Bidens's judgment on the worst foreign policy decision of all time looks even worse than McCain's. While Maliki may have "endorsed" Obama's timeline, Biden's partitioning scheme was instant roadkill in Iraq.

Do we seem a little conflicted here?

What exactly does Obama have left to work with now? Socializing Healthcare, penalizing the evil rich, abrogating trade agreements, kowtowing to union honchos while compromising union ballots, dividing the Jewish votes a la Jerusalem, the soon-to-be-debunked education reform, and ethanol, not drilling. That's the ticket! Giving an inauguration speech in Germany before his nomination is starting to look like the high point of his campaign.

[Danube of Thought]

"4:48 Mountain Time, or 6:48 here in America?"

Wait'll next Sunday. We out here in Real Time will get up, go to the gym, come back and have brunch with a nice Bloody Mary, and then watch the early NFL games starting at 10:00 a.m. with coffee and a fine Cubano. I decline to travel eastward during the NFL season.

I find myself praying to God that it's Kay Bailey Hutchison.

[Jim Rhoads aka vnjagvet]

JMH is on fire. And she didn't even have to get into the high Biden smarm quotient.

[Jim Rhoads aka vnjagvet]

Kay Bailey against Smarmy Joe is not a fair fight. She'll skin him alive.

And he'll never know what hit him.

[MarkO]

I find that there is no "time" in the mountains. Space, maybe.

[Danube of Thought]

That must be what happened to the Broncos.

[daveinboca]

Am I the only one hoping that McCain will choose a Rice or a Lieberman to jolt the country back to its senses. Even a Romney is better than a hopeless hack like Biden who needs someone to google his words to discover whom they were stolen from. Hair-plugs & plagiarism.....whew!

I kind of like Kay Bailey H. myself too. Or even the young Alaska gov. Even Bobby Jindal could beat the sox off Joltin' Joe Biden.

[clarice]

Brava,jmh!! A woman of valor , wit,crystal sharp writing and superior photoshop skills.

[JM Hanes]

And I didn't even get to the gravitas equation.... Thanks guys.

[Jim Rhoads aka vnjagvet]

You've got all the gravitas we need, JMH.

[JM Hanes]

:-) Jim.

Bryan Williams just reported that it was Dick Durbin who lobbied Biden onto the ticket. It's all making sense to me now.....

[Dov]

Not Rice. She's responsible for the UN resolution stopping the Israel-Hezbollah war which was supposed to prevent rearmament of Hezbollah. This came at a time when the incompetent Israeli government at the time had finally launched the required ground attack which would have taken two weeks to be effective. Hezbollah is now armed to the teeth with much of the weaponry in newly constructed bunkers and they even have a formal deal with the Lebanese government to war against Israel. The meaning is when we have to take out the Iran nukes, those 11,000 new missiles head our way. That's bad news for Lebanon, this time the whole country, because they've chosen sides. This mess is entirely the work of Rice.

Also the biggest foreign policy blunder America made after the Cold War was to strip off Kosovo from Serbia. Clinton did that. Lost was a chance for making a friend out of Russia. Now Bush comes along, with Rice calling the shots in foreign policy, and recognizes Kosovo as a country. The result is a mess in Georgia and bad blood with Russia for years to come. Check it out, whenever you say Georgia, they say Kosovo.

Bush has had the highest approval rating in Israel of any president ever, from start to finish. But Rice let him down and she'd let down McCain too.

[belen]

the sick feeling the dems are getting in the pit of their stomaches is their party slowly falling off the cliff. All the predictions are coming true - they're headed for a McGovern type defeat of epic proportions, and somewhere in thier twisted psyches, they know it.

[Jane]

I HATE eastern time. I loved Mountain time when we lived in Denver.

That made me laugh this morning, til I thought you might be serious.

Biden is gonna be trouble. As we saw last night he has no problem lying with impunity. He'll do to the republicans what he did to Clarence Thomas.

Good Morning JOMers. Tonite the Messiah ascends even further into mythology. He lacks so much heft that we could tie the balloons to him, and if the winds are just right, find him hobnobbing in Venezuela by morning.

[bgates]

He lacks so much heft that we could tie the balloons to him, and if the winds are just right, find him hobnobbing in Venezuela by morning.
GO, BALLOONS!

[Paul Zrimsek]

Go balloons!

[Pagar]

Good Morning to All!
This must be the day the Obamabots have waited for.

[kim]

Surely they must be joking about Mr. Brownback. That look on his face is because he sucked sourness, not milk and honey.
=====================================

[TomB]

Wonder if there will be any Boy Scouts waving American flags alongside the columned ascension platform.

No boyscouts.

Obama Youth.

With torches.

It'll be Leni-rific!!!

[JuanM]

In Biden's own words : "I'd be proud to campaign with or against McCain."

HRC: "McCain will bring a lifetime of experience to the White House, and Obama will bring a speech he gave in 2002." LOL...those are their own words. Even Mr. Flip-Flopper himself, Kerry, tried to get McCain to run as his VO in '04.

[Karen]

TOGA! TOGA! TOGA!

[sbw]

Brownback might make me vote for no one.

[kim]

He is a terrible choice, if possibly not truly a terrible person. Notice the string of balloons we've had, no Steele, no Huckabee, no Rudy, and a Romney denial. It's Romney, or else.
==================================

[sbw]

Recalling "It's not the crime; it's the cover-up." ... if Obama were to become so unelectable before the campaign that he resigned the ticket, would Joe [TEETH FLASH] Biden get the nod or would they find a way to engineer in Hillary to Save The Day? I can't see DNC chairman Howard Dean letting either one happen.

[kim]

I suppose McCain may have had a real luxury, the opportunity to make the choice himself. D'ya suppose he offered it to Kerry?
===================================

[kim]

I'm still watching Dean lurking in the shadows of the stage curtains. He'll act, or be knifed through the curtain.
=====================================

[RichatUF]

And in some OT news:

The Bush Depression enters in final quarters.

[kim]

Wait, 3rd quarter '07 4.8% and 4th a negative? Funny figures, possibly representing bubble bursting rather than real economic changes. I dunno; I wonder; you explain.
===========================

[Gekkobear]

The Bush Depression enters in final quarters.

"Gross domestic product, or GDP, grew at a 3.3 percent annual rate in the April-June quarter, its fastest pace in nearly a year, the Commerce Department reported Thursday."

This word "depression" you use; I do not think it means what you think it means. Up 3.3% is a Depression?

So, from 1994 to 1998 when France averaged 2% per year (not per quarter); what was that? Heck, that's an average posting for France, they had 2% for the year of 2006 as well... What terminology do you use for 1/6th of depression level growth?

I'm just curious what other terms you've saved for actual bad news...

And let me guess, the increased socialization of markets, and increased government control of industry (following the French model) is your suggested "fix"?

Maybe if we try Obama's plan, we can really see a depression so you can compare it to the anemic growth that you're disparaging today.

[kim]

Rich is sticking his tongue out at Gus, which is off to the side over by Cuba.
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