Current location:	casa de java
Current mood:	hopeful
Current music:	have a cigar - pink floyd
Entry tags:	dnc 2008

Night 3 - I'm Watching So You Don't Have To
I swear... the DNC just keeps getting better and better and better. Seriously. The parade of speakers at the convention, Nancy Pelosi and Evan Bayh aside, has pretty much rocked. Absolutely rocked. The momentum and the fervor has been building with each successive night. Tonight was no exception as the energy got ratcheted up even higher and tomorrow night... well... I'm glad that they moved it outside of the Pepsi Center because the roof would absolutely get blown off. Mile High Stadium... 80,000 people... Barack Obama. Buckle up, kids... it's going to rock and rock hard.

Tonight's action started with the long anticipated roll call vote... and it played out pretty much as everybody expected that it would. It was a little bit of manufactured stagecraft, but it was all good. After a few states cast their delegate votes, New Mexico was up and yielded to Illinois who in turn yielded to New York where Senator Hillary Clinton moved that all remaining delegate votes unanimously go to Obama, thus confirming by acclimation, his nomination as the official candidate of the Democratic party. And the place went nuts.

Seriously... I so want to be on that floor so bad. Last night I said that I'd stab somebody to be there... after a little thought, I think I'm going to have to look into becoming a delegate. It's just a little less felonious that way.

Though there was a full slate of speakers at the convention, only two generated massive amounts of buzz... Bill Clinton and Joe Biden. But before I go into them, I just have to mention my guy, Senator John Kerry... the sister-unit simply refers to him as my "political mancrush." I thought Kerry lit it up... at least what I was able to see of it... damn MSNBC for only showing several minutes of his address. What I was able to see though, was Senator Kerry just hammering away at John McCain... literally categorizing the flip-flops coming from the "Straight Talk Express." Senator Kerry listed the positions held by McCain prior to the 2000 Republican primaries and then transposed those against the positions McCain now holds as the Republican nominee for President. He absolutely drilled McCain, fully exposing his flip-flopping and political pandering. And then Senator Kerry broke out this little nugget...

"Before John McCain debates Barack Obama, he needs to finish the debate with John McCain."

So true, so true, so true...

As good as some of the other speakers were, (again, Evan Bayh notwithstanding) the evening belonged to Bill Clinton and Joe Biden. Hands down.

The Big Dog came on stage and received a nearly 4 minute standing ovation so loud and raucous that he wasn't able to begin his address.

Following Hillary's cue from last night, Bill wasted no time in letting everybody know that he was there to unify the party while urging everybody to get behind Obama...

"Hillary told us in no uncertain terms that she’ll do everything she can to elect Barack Obama... That makes two of us... Actually that makes 18 million of us - because, like Hillary, I want all of you who supported her to vote for Barack Obama in November. "

Laying aside the bitterness of the primary campaigns, Bill threw his full weight behind Obama...

"Barack Obama is the man for this job... Barack Obama is ready to be President of the United States"

Bill was on fire tonight and I thought he was in great form. He spoke forcefully and passionately. He made his best case for Obama and took it to McCain and the Republicans...

"Look at the example the Republicans have set: American workers have given us consistently rising productivity. They’ve worked harder and produced more.

What did they get in return? Declining wages, less than 1/4 as many new jobs as in the previous eight years, smaller health care and pension benefits, rising poverty and the biggest increase in income inequality since the 1920s. American families by the millions are struggling with soaring health care costs and declining coverage. I will never forget the parents of children with autism and other severe conditions who told me on the campaign trail that they couldn’t afford health care and couldn’t qualify their kids for Medicaid unless they quit work or got a divorce. Are these the family values the Republicans are so proud of? What about the military families pushed to the breaking point by unprecedented multiple deployments? What about the assault on science and the defense of torture? What about the war on unions and the unlimited favors for the well connected? What about Katrina and cronyism?"

He kicked McCain and the Republicans up and down the street. It was a beautiful thing to behold...

"They actually want us to reward them for the last eight years by giving them four more. Let’s send them a message that will echo from the Rockies all across America: Thanks, but no thanks. In this case, the third time is not the charm."

Well said, Bill. Well said indeed.

Then it came time for Joe Biden's Vice Presidential nominating speech. And he was absolutely nails. After a very moving introduction by his son Beau, Joe took to the stage and showed us all why Obama picked him to be his running mate.

"When I got knocked down by guys bigger than me, she [his mother] sent me back out and demanded that I bloody their nose so I could walk down that street the next day."

He then proceeded to bloody the noses of George W. Bush, John McCain and the Republican party...

I've never seen a time when Washington has watched so many people get knocked down without doing anything to help them get back up. Almost every night, I take the train home to Wilmington, sometimes very late. As I look out the window at the homes we pass, I can almost hear what they're talking about at the kitchen table after they put the kids to bed.

Like millions of Americans, they're asking questions as profound as they are ordinary. Questions they never thought they would have to ask: Should mom move in with us now that dad is gone?

Fifty, sixty, seventy dollars to fill up the car?

Winter's coming. How we gonna pay the heating bills?

Another year and no raise?

Did you hear the company may be cutting our health care?

Now, we owe more on the house than it's worth. How are we going to send the kids to college?

How are we gonna be able to retire?

That's the America that George Bush has left us, and that's the future John McCain will give us. These are not isolated discussions among families down on their luck. These are common stories among middle-class people who worked hard and played by the rules on the promise that their tomorrows would be better than their yesterdays."

Biden spoke eloquently and passionately about his life, about his running mate and about his love of this country. It's abundantly clear that Biden cares about the welfare of the people of this country and wants everybody to have the chance to succeed. He told it like it was. He spoke plainly and from the heart. And he made it crystal clear that he's not about to take any sh*t from John McCain or the crooks in the Republican party. Joe Biden is a scrapper, a brawler and he's the perfect choice for this ticket. He's not afraid to roll up his sleeves and get dirty and he's not above getting a little bloody to win a fight.

I think that tonight was a great night for the Democratic party and a great night for the nation as a whole. The Democratic party is unified, it is strong and it is going to kick the piss out of McCain and the Republicans this November. Believe it.

I can't wait for tomorrow... that is going to be a sight to see...