Dem convention - Day 1

7:15 Will someone please teach Nancy Pelosi how to speak in public? No wait…don’t. Just tell her to go away. How ironic is it that she’s Speaker of the House? She’s the anti-Obama.

7:22 Pelosi actually made me utter “I wonder what Bill O’Reilly is talking about now.” Even worse, I turn it to Fox for comedic relief. And it is funny. Bill O’Reilly and some dough-faced boy are trying to prove that Barack Obama is the person who is more vulnerable on charges of personal corruption than John McCain. Fair and balanced.

7:27 The Jimmy Carter video about New Orleans. This is what he does well. But he has really hurt his image with his perceived criticism of Israel. Is that why they did the video but he wasn’t allowed to speak?

7:40 Jesse Jackson Jr. He looks nothing like his father, but he sure sounds like him without the mushmouth. But he strikes a slightly different tone. He’s a better speaker at this point in time. He doesn’t come off as what a lot of people identify as a stereotypical African-American; like Obama he strikes me simply as American.

7:55 Back to Jimmy Carter, Gloria Borger on CNN (I’m bouncing around a lot) is suggesting that Carter wasn’t allowed to speak because of the Jewish vote that is supporting Obama and that Carter runs the risk of alienating them. Interesting factoid: Joe Biden’s net worth is about $200K. Yep, $200K, not $200M. Guess that’s what happens from a lifetime of public service. If the Democrats don’t exploit that, they’re dumb asses. Now you’ve got someone that people can believe when he talks about real Americans and fiscal worries.

8pm They’re now announcing that Ted Kennedy will speak. I have had so many fundamental disagreements with him, but he has certainly become a statesman in the past 10 years, and it’s virtually impossible to question his patriotism, even when his policies have been at odds with much of the country.
David Gergen is making the very good point that things are going stupidly slowly and the Dems are missing a golden opportunity to grab the audience with a serious message instead of “letting the hours slip away.”

8:13 Ted Kennedy momentum is building. The man has been given a death sentence; it won’t shock me if he says something really profound and maybe something that no one else could get away with. Like: “Hillary supporters, get over your bad selves.”
Caroline Kennedy…Maria Shriver. I never realized they looked alike until they switched from one to the other.

8:21 I’m not sure how she’s keeping it together with what she’s saying about Ted. Maria’s not.

8:30 Ted does indeed take the stage. I get the feeling this will be the last time we see him speak publicly. Listening to his speech, I can hear the Rush Limbaughs tomorrow, who can’t see past the human element of a dying man making a stand and will make disparaging comments about him. If my supposition turns out to be correct, that speaks volumes about him as a human being, doesn’t it?

8:37 Teddy didn’t actually say anything profound. Too bad; he had carte blanche.

8:50 Chris Dodd is being interviewed on MSNBC about Ted Kennedy. I want to like him; for some reason I just don’t. Or maybe it’s more appropriate to say that I don’t trust him, and he struck me the same way in the Democratic debates last year. But I’ll also admit that I don’t know much about him.

9:00 Tom Harkin is introducing former Republican Jim Leach. Jim Leach’s problem is with our standing in the world and the lack of political ethics. Hence, he’s crossing party lines. That’s great and that needs to be the story, because Jim Leach could make a caffeinated insomniac on crack sleep for days.

9:08 Has anyone else noticed that Brit Hume is actually a basset hound? Fox News has Juan Williams from NPR, and then Bill Kristol, a reporter from Fortune, and a reporter from The Weekly Standard. So much for fair and balanced: 2 conservatives and a reporter for a publication targeted at the wealthy. Thanks for putting the black liberal NPR guy on the panel. Are you sure his name isn’t Token?

9:14 James Carville is speaking on CNN. I am suddenly ill. David Gergen is rightly criticizing the structure of the “show” as not understanding how to grab the audience. He’s rightfully critical about Jim Leach’s speech as being boring and losing the audience signing on at the top of the hour.

9:20 Chris Wallace & Brit Hume are debating about Ted Kennedy and both waxing poetic about him even with their disagreements with his policy. Thank you for being human instead of partisan.

9:24 The video of Michelle Obama begins. I switch to CNN to watch in HD.

9:35 I listen to Michelle’s brother Craig. This is not a “black” family, this is an American family. How much can Michelle Obama do, just by her mere presence in the White House? What a role model for the all-too-frequent African-American family with no father, just by default.

9:45 This is an amazing speech that Michelle is giving. If you’re not moved, you don’t have a heart. You don’t have to agree with her, but you have to believe that she’s sincere. And if you don’t, please leave.

9:55 Barack Obama speaks via video. He missed what city he was in initially (St. Louis instead of Kansas City), but they put his daughters on, and Sasha said “Daddy, what city are you in?” That was classic.

10:06 I am amazed at the analysis on Fox. They are trying to spin Michelle Obama’s speech as a wasted opportunity. Chris Wallace is proving to be just another partisan ass. He’s questioning the decision to have Michelle Obama leave her “stump speech” to give a background on their family, suggesting that people are more interested in the future. Chris, you dumb ass: these are people that are BLACK in case you haven’t noticed, who need to convince the WHITE people of this country that they’re like them and ok to vote for. I’m sure that his father would like to disown him, or at least disown his intellectual grasp. NOTE: All of you people who are watching/listening to Fox as a “news” source, just get over your bad selves.

I'm playing poker on Day 2, but I'll likely DVR at least Hillary's speech so I can watch/listen without the talking heads' spin.