P+P @ The DNC: News Flash — Obama in the flesh!

Wednesday, August 27th, 2008


Obama crashed his own Party at the Pepsi Center tonight, sending the crowd into a frenzy after an already rousing evening of speeches from Bill Clinton and veep pick Joe Biden. Our very own Max Zimbert CrackBerried his reaction from the arena:

“Obama in the flesh is a new energy policy for the Pepsi Center. It will take a divine act of intervention for the Dems to lose after an almighty day like today. Something happened today, and hopefully the negativity that’s sure to come out of Minnesota wont ruin the Democratic love train.

I’m loving Obama’s talk of change being bottom up — Hill and jmcc didn’t get that.”

Photo by Chris Nelson.

P+P @ The DNC: Impressions From The Roll Call

Wednesday, August 27th, 2008

P+P reporter Max Zimbert crackberried this to me from the floor:

It was hairy for a while with the only highlights being Arkansas and New Hampshire unanimous delegations. California passed, which is pathetic.

New Mexico started the snowball of energy by yielding to Illinois who had previously passed. At New Mexico’s yield, Illinois resumed the floor and Daley quickly yielded to New York, effectively bringing the house down.

Hillary walks in and flashbulbs set the building in white and almost holy light. Brief remarks by New York delegation speaker and then Hillary, in powerful words asks to suspend the roll call vote.  WIth New York delegates totaling 282, and with Illinois and New Mexico unanimously going to Obama, the place explodes.

Pelosi asks for a “second” and the building erupts again. She asks for a “yay” and the entire building responds with one voice. She then laughingly says “two-thirds of the delegates say ‘yay’” and the place is on fire.

Band stikes up “Love Train”

Most energetic high ever experienced in my life. Everyone around can’t shut up about how exciting this was.

Contrast this with tips to P+P from about the official lunch where Hillary released her delegates, where she said “I’m not saying you vote for Obama, I’m not saying you should vote for me, I want you to vote for whoever is in your heart.”  Upon releasing her delegates, there were reportedly overwhelming booes, mixed with “Hillary” chants.

The outward appearance is what matters for the country, but either Clinton’s ego still gets the best of her behind closed doors, or she had one hell of a suprise planned for the roll call and wanted to keep people on their toes.

The Separation of Church and the DNC? Think Again.

Wednesday, August 27th, 2008

From the very start, we were told to believe. Believe in what? Change.

If one could sum up Barack Obama’s campaign in a single word, “change” would probably come to mind. But this country is so far gone—with ongoing abuse at the gas pump, an economy that swallows our paychecks whole, a war that won’t quit, and health care . . . what health care?—the arrival of change is a long ways away. At this point, we can only believe in the possibility of change.

And so, one may argue that the word “believe” is even more important to this campaign than the change it advocates. We’ve seen the term silk-screened across t-shirts, stamped on yard signs, and just this week, we’ve seen it put into play at the DNC—and in more ways than one.

We’ve heard Dem after Dem (and a Republican to boot!) tout Obama as the one and only presidential candidate we can believe in. But we’ve also seen an unprecedented emphasis on the other kind of believing; that is, the organized religion kind. AP reports that the DNC officially kicked off its festivities with an inter-faith service this year. With a Bible here, a Torah there, along with some headscarves and church-going hats too, the Colorado Convention Center became a gathering place for folks of all faiths this Sunday.

In fact, every day of the convention will open and close with a prayer. The aim is to loosen the Republican party’s clench on this country’s religious base by muddying the notion that the Dems are anti-religion or anti-values. The separation of church and donkey has proved to be a losing tactic in the past, so this year marks the rise of the religious Left.

Given the Reverend Wright debacle, which did Obama some serious damage during the primaries, not to mention the false Muslim label (which shouldn’t be a negative, but is at this time in this country), one would think the Dems would try to sidestep the whole religion speed bump and focus on other strengths instead.

But as they say: When you can’t beat them, join them . . . and maybe, just maybe, they’ll start believing in you too. (How ’bout that for a change?)

P+P @ DNC: Can Obama & the Dems beat the GOP on National Security?

Wednesday, August 27th, 2008

Joe Klein of TIME Magazine at Truman National Security Event (DNC)

Today’s theme at the DNC is “Securing America’s Future,” a topic made more urgent by the Iraq war and the simmering Russian-Georgian conflict.

Like me, I am sure you are wondering what national security will look like if Barack Obama is elected president. And I wonder how the Democrats will face the suggestion that Obama is weaker than McCain on the issues of national security.

(more…)

Afternoon Bites: Daily News Round Up

Wednesday, August 27th, 2008

It’s DNC time!! Have you heard?  The DNC is in town!  Yes, for those of you under a rock, at the bottom of the ocean, or trapped Marlena-style in the grips of an evil Italian, let me alert you to the fact that the Democratic National Committee is convening in Denver right now. (So, are we.)  Hillary spoke last night; Bill and Biden are headlining tonight’s events, and everyone but everyone is talking about the Dems, potential rifts within the party, how crazy Hillary supporters would be to create a rift in the party, how great Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer’s speech was, how great Michele Obama’s speech was, how great Biden’s speech is going to be, how great Obama’s speech is going to be, how cute the Obama girls are… you get the picture. Today’s big news seems to be that the roll call (or, “formal nomination”) won’t be in prime time… IMHO: good.

In other news: there may or may not be another Presidential candidate running.  We’ll let you know more about that next week.

The Coen brothers unveiled a new “dark comedy” at the Venice Film Festival.  This is their first comedy since The Ladykillers, which you probably didn’t see.  In my mind, the Coen brothers can do no wrong, but I’ll be interested to see if a George Clooney, Brad Pitt “dark comedy” does well at the BO.

Possible Hurricane Gustav is threatening the Gulf Coast (read: it’s sometime between late August and late September).

Oil went back up! Finally!  Those two days last week when the price dropped practically wiped out my savings…

Maybe it went up because Georgia and Russia are still fighting over a piece of land that’s 3,900 square miles and poor as dirt.  And, yay! America is joining in!  Although, NPR was reporting yesterday that South Ossettians already think that American troops (just black American troops?  Didn’t that become illegal about 75 years ago?) were involved in the initial invasion.  Yikes.

And, finally: the Red Sox and the Yankees will be playing tonight on ESPN as the NYYs try to retake second place in the AL East.  On behalf of Mets, Angels, A’s, White Sox, Cubs, Padres, Rangers and Royals fans and anyone else who cares to join in: thank you and congratulations, Tampa Bay!