Democrat Convention

[saunterelle]

Aug 26, 2008 14:49:23 GMT -5 jgaffney said:

This just in from The Hill:

Bill Clinton appeared to undermine Sen. Barack Obama again Tuesday.
The former president, speaking in Denver, posed a hypothetical question in which he seemed to suggest that that the Democratic Party was making a mistake in choosing Obama as its presidential nominee.

He said: "Suppose you're a voter, and you've got candidate X and candidate Y. Candidate X agrees with you on everything, but you don't think that candidate can deliver on anything at all. Candidate Y you agree with on about half the issues, but he can deliver. Which candidate are you going to vote for?"

Then, perhaps mindful of how his off-the-cuff remarks might be taken, Clinton added after a pause: "This has nothing to do with what's going on now."

The comments are unlikely to be taken as an innocent mistake by those Democrats who continue to be angry with the former president for, they say, not supporting the Illinois senator wholeheartedly, if not implicitly undercutting him.

The Clintons do not do anything by mistake. This is a coldly calculated move to make Obama lose the election. Hillary can then run in 2012 on a platform of "I Told You So!"

Hillary will talk tonight of uniting the party behind Obama, but she will show the Democrat Party what they could have had.

Film at eleven.........

Bill did a lot of great things for our country but I find myself disliking the Clintons more and more. Should be interesting...

[Mink]

This convention is getting just too exciting! I was a tad worried, but Hillary's choice to lead any stragglers to focus on the future was probably the best speech this whole year. She was very intense and if that doesn't influence those who were hurt because she didn't win the nomination, nothing will.

"No way, no how...NO MCCAIN!" Yes! Thank you Hillary ;D

She was just on target tonight!

Edited: I look forward to hearing Bill tomorrow night and to think Obama will top this.......? Yes, he can!!! and Biden is perfect! YES!

[jgaffney]

Actually, I thought the warm-up act, Gov. Schweitzer, was making the case for "Drill Here Drill Now." He claimed that McCain voted against wind energy (without giving the specifics) but didn't mention that Ted Kennedy did, too.

But, on to Hillary's speech.

The overriding theme in Hillary's speech tonight was, "You coulda had me!" She always has a couple of tear-jerker anecdotes in her speeches - she learned that from Bill.

She warns about having, "the Supreme Court in a right wing headlock." She didn't mention that she would prefer to have the Supremes in a left wing headlock. She said that Obama would end discrimination. It seems to me that Ward Connerly is trying to do that right now, but he is being fought at every turn by the liberals.

Hillary said that Obama would make America a "land of immigrants and laws." I'm all for that, except how do we deal with the 12 million illegals who are already here?

Hillary said that Obama will "revive the economy." How? By raising taxes? Hillary said, "We did it before, under Bill Clinton!" Yes, thanks to the Gingrich Congress, Clinton can claim a positive economic legacy. Remember when Clinton repeatedly vetoed the balanced budgets Congress sent him? Now, he takes credit for those.

Hillary said that Obama will, "end the war in Iraq responsibly (as opposed to irresponsibly?) and bring our troops home." Except for, of course, the troops who get redeployed in Afghanistan. We'll see how long that remains popular.

Hillary said that, "Americans are not big on quitting." Except for, of course, in Iraq, where getting out trumps victory.

In hitting all the high notes, Hillary proved that she is too shrill to give a stump speech.

[jgaffney]

Aug 26, 2008 14:58:20 GMT -5 saunterelle said:

Her major was Sociology and her thesis was titled "Princeton Educated Blacks and the Black Community." I'm not understanding what the controversy is here. Obviously, race relations in America is a significant area of study. What is your gripe with her thesis?

My gripe is that, even though the Obamas profess to be above racism, her thesis smacks of it. She continues to divide people into classes based on their race, and she can't understand why black alumni don't want to drop back into the same class they started from. That's racism to me.

[Mink]

Aug 27, 2008 0:24:09 GMT -5 jgaffney said:

Actually, I thought the warm-up act, Gov. Schweitzer, was making the case for "Drill Here Drill Now." He claimed that McCain voted against wind energy (without giving the specifics) but didn't mention that Ted Kennedy did, too.

But, on to Hillary's speech.

The overriding theme in Hillary's speech tonight was, "You coulda had me!" She always has a couple of tear-jerker anecdotes in her speeches - she learned that from Bill.

She warns about having, "the Supreme Court in a right wing headlock." She didn't mention that she would prefer to have the Supremes in a left wing headlock. She said that Obama would end discrimination. It seems to me that Ward Connerly is trying to do that right now, but he is being fought at every turn by the liberals.

Hillary said that Obama would make America a "land of immigrants and laws." I'm all for that, except how do we deal with the 12 million illegals who are already here?

Hillary said that Obama will "revive the economy." How? By raising taxes? Hillary said, "We did it before, under Bill Clinton!" Yes, thanks to the Gingrich Congress, Clinton can claim a positive economic legacy. Remember when Clinton repeatedly vetoed the balanced budgets Congress sent him? Now, he takes credit for those.

Hillary said that Obama will, "end the war in Iraq responsibly (as opposed to irresponsibly?) and bring our troops home." Except for, of course, the troops who get redeployed in Afghanistan. We'll see how long that remains popular.

Hillary said that, "Americans are not big on quitting." Except for, of course, in Iraq, where getting out trumps victory.

In hitting all the high notes, Hillary proved that she is too shrill to give a stump speech.

So, you watched it gaffney, good for you. It is amazing the interpretation depending on who is watching because I did not come up with your conclusions at all.

Instead, I heard Hillary addressing the party to unite, move past the primaries and support Obama.......as some put it, it was a "homerun". I would call it a TKO and tonight Bill performed the countdown for the win!!!

[jgaffney]

Yes, I watch the speeches, with a notepad on my lap so that I can remember what the speaker said.

Joe Biden:

Senators sure make good speakers, don't they? Joe's speech was stirring, although I found several points to disagree with (you were surprised?).

Joe said that, "Clinton brought this country so far along, I pray we do it again." Yes, Clinton introduced us to the real meaning of "is." He showed us that, no matter how guilty you are, if you just bite your lower lip on TV, people will believe you ("I did not have sex with that woman, Miss Lewinski.").

Did you see Gray Davis in the audience? He was sitting behind the Sikh in the red turban. Gray had on a blue shirt and red tie - look for him in the replays. No matter how disgraced he was when he lost the recall election, there's still a place for him in the Democrat Party.

Biden spent some time painting a picture of doom and gloom in our economy. This is standard fare for the Democrats - the economy is always awful except for when they're in power. Regardless of the fact that the GDP has grown 20% under Bush, the Democrats will still claim that the economy is in the dumper. Only by raising taxes can we make it better.

Biden made several claims about Obama's early days in the Senate that I have not yet had the time to check out. Biden gave Obama credit for "leading the fight" to pass ethics legislation, for carrying a law "to keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists," and "making sure our wounded warriors received the care and dignity they deserved." That sounds like an awful lot of achievements from a freshman senator that we never heard from until he announced his candidacy for president. Fortunately for us - maybe unfortunately for Obama - these things are easily verified on Thomas, the legislative database that Newt Gingrich started. I'll let you know when I track these claims down.

Biden claimed that Obama will "bring down health care costs by $2,500 per family." I saw a bumper sticker yesterday: "You think health care is expensive now? Wait until it's free!"

Biden said that Obama would hold Russia accountable for its actions in Georgia. I don't know what news he's been reading, but everything I've read says that Russia doesn't really care what we think right now. We did it to them in Kosovo, so they did it to us in Georgia. Russia is flush with petroleum dollars right now, and economic measures won't be effective. Plus, most of Western Europe needs Russian oil and gas. So, what, exactly, would Obama do?

[subdjoe]

What would he do? You have to ask what he would do?? Why, he would CHANGE things! Yep, by golly, he would change everything. Not sure how or to what he would change them, but he sure as shootin' would CHANGE things.

[jgaffney]

I sat up late last night, watching Bill Clinton's speech on the Democrat Convention website. You have to load 3 or 4 additional drivers to watch their videos - I don't know what they were thinking. As easy as it is to watch videos on YouTube, the Dems have to load up their website with junk I'll just delete later.

Rather than provide my own comments on Bill's speech, I found this from Bill Green:

Clinton came out swinging, boldly stating right up front that, “I am here to support Barack Obama.” “Second, I’m here to warm up the crowd for Joe Biden. I love Joe Biden and America will, too.” And that’s about as much mention as Biden got in Clinton’s speech.

And why does Bill think Obama is “the man for the job?” Let’s take a look at his words.

Well, Clinton based that endorsement on “everything I learned in eight years as President.” It’s all about Bill.

And why is Obama so good? Because “the long, hard primary” had “strengthened him.” In other words, Obama was weak to start.

And with Joe Biden on board, “America will have the national security leadership we need.” Obama wasn’t qualified, so he picked a veep who was.

But the digs didn’t end there.

Clinton very pointedly mentioned crushing “credit card debt.” And Biden is pretty much a wholly-owned subsidiary of Delaware’s many credit card companies. Clinton knows that. The media know that. And pretty soon they’ll remind you of it, too.

And then there was the claim about Obama’s “acute grasp of foreign policy,” which is sure to remind folks that Obama was against the surge before he admitted it’s working, and that Biden — like Hill — voted for the Iraq War.

He claimed that, “Hillary told us in no uncertain terms that she will do everything she can to elect Barack Obama.” But that’s not the speech most people heard her give last night. And, “that makes two of us. Actually, that makes 18 million of us.” The 18 million figure is the number of people who voted for Hillary during the primaries, and that served as a pointed reminder that the Clintons remain a powerful force.

It was a powerful speech, expertly delivered — and much of it could have come straight from Hillary’s stump speech. The recurring theme was that “the job of the next President is to rebuild the American Dream and restore American leadership in the world.” Those are not the themes Obama is running on. No hope, no change, were anywhere to be found.

Michelle Obama noticed, too. When Michelle really smiles, she lights up the entire Pepsi Center. All she gave Clinton was her tight, closed-mouth smile. And unlike Clinton’s rhetoric tonight, that doesn’t light up much at all.

The secret to Bill’s speech was found right in the beginning when he smiled and told the crowd, “You know, I love this.”

We know, Bill. We know.

Remember, the Clintons don't do anything by mistake. The speech was a coldy-calculated move to keep Hillary in the spotlight.

Did anyone else notice that Michelle Obama wasn't exactly beaming during Bill's speech?

[jgaffney]

Peggy Noonan has a pretty succint analysis of the differences between the two parties:\

Democrats in the end speak most of, and seem to hold the most sympathy for, the beset-upon single mother without medical coverage for her children, and the soldier back from the war who needs more help with post-traumatic stress disorder. They express the most sympathy for the needy, the yearning, the marginalized and unwell. For those, in short, who need more help from the government, meaning from the government's treasury, meaning the money got from taxpayers.

Who happen, also, to be a generally beset-upon group.

Democrats show little expressed sympathy for those who work to make the money the government taxes to help the beset-upon mother and the soldier and the kids. They express little sympathy for the middle-aged woman who owns a small dry cleaner and employs six people and is, actually, day to day, stressed and depressed from the burden of state, local and federal taxes, and regulations, and lawsuits, and meetings with the accountant, and complaints as to insufficient or incorrect efforts to meet guidelines regarding various employee/employer rules and regulations. At Republican conventions they express sympathy for this woman, as they do for those who are entrepreneurial, who start businesses and create jobs and build things. Republicans have, that is, sympathy for taxpayers. But they don't dwell all that much, or show much expressed sympathy for, the sick mother with the uninsured kids, and the soldier with the shot nerves.

Neither party ever gets it quite right, the balance between the taxed and the needy, the suffering of one sort and the suffering of another. You might say that in this both parties are equally cold and equally warm, only to two different classes of citizens.

Which class would you rather belong to?