Tahoe (or anyone else) can start the Republican thread.


Pelosi, Michelle Obama to kick off Dem Convention

By STEVEN K. PAULSON, Associated Press Writer
24 minutes ago

DENVER - Michelle Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will be the featured first-night speakers at the Democratic National Convention, which also will include a videotaped message from Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy.

Michelle Obama will be introduced by her brother, Craig Robinson, a former basketball star at Princeton and now coach at Oregon State, on the first night on Aug. 25. Barack Obama's half sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, also will have a role at the convention.

Other opening night speakers include Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, an early Obama supporter, organizers said Tuesday.

Pelosi will be recognized for helping lead the Democratic Party back to power in Congress, said organizer Jenny Backus. "She was in the vanguard of the movement. She recruited a generation of young leaders," Backus said.

Opening night will also feature a tribute to Kennedy, who has taped a five-minute video to air during the party gathering. Kennedy suffered a seizure at his Hyannisport, Mass., house on May 17 and was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. He underwent surgery and recently completed a six-week course of chemotherapy and radiation.

The opening night theme is "One Nation." The Aug. 26 theme is "Renewing America's Promise" with a speech by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

On Aug. 27, the theme is "Securing America's Future" with an acceptance speech by Obama's still-unannounced vice presidential candidate.

The theme for Aug. 28, the night Obama formally accepts the nomination at the Denver Broncos' football stadium, is "Change You Can Believe In." Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter will be among speakers that night.

Other convention speakers will be announced over the next two weeks.

The Democratic National Convention Committee said Tuesday it will issue daily convention webcasts under the theme "Countdown to America's Future." The 15-minute segments will air daily at 4:30 p.m. EDT from Aug. 24 through Aug. 28 on DemConvention.com, Comcast's Video On Demand, and via satellite. A final program will air at 9 a.m. EDT on Friday, Aug. 29.

I'm just glad I don't work downtown. I have a feeling the protests are going to create gridlock on the roads down there.

Looking forward to see who BO names VP

I'm actually looking forward to seeing both of their VP choices. I suspect McCain will choose Romney in the end (that's who I would pick).

Hillary Clinton's name to be placed in nomination

By LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writer
23 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Hillary Rodham Clinton's name will be placed in nomination along with nominee-in-waiting Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention, an emblematic move intended to unite the party after a divisive primary.

During the Denver gathering, Democrats will officially choose Obama to run against Republican John McCain this fall, but the state delegations will do a traditional roll call for their nominee's vanquished primary opponent as well.

Obama and Clinton — fierce rivals then, reluctant allies now — agreed to the arrangement after weeks of negotiations between their respective aides. The two sides made the announcement Thursday in a collegial joint statement.

"I am convinced that honoring Senator Clinton's historic campaign in this way will help us celebrate this defining moment in our history and bring the party together in a strong united fashion," said Obama, an Illinois senator.

I'm really starting to think that an Obama/Clinton ticket is going to happen.

^ It would be about as close to guaranteeing a win, imo, as you could get.

A lot is riding on his VP nom. Don't blow it, Barack.

Please not her

Muhammad Ali, who is good friends with McCain, will be attending the DNC and supporting Obama.

Muhammad Ali, who doesn't give a fuck about McCain, will be attending the DNC and supporting Obama.

http://www.boston.com/sports/articles/2008/08/24/any_mileage_left/?page=2

Conventional thinking: While he will surely be jet-lagged after coming back from the Olympics in China, Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony hopes to attend the Democratic National Convention in Denver, which begins tomorrow and ends Thursday. Anthony supports Democratic candidate Barack Obama and hopes to meet him at the convention at Pepsi Center, where Anthony often is the star attraction. "I support him 100 percent," Anthony said. "I'm not a politician, I can tell you that right now. But I support Barack Obama. That's history, too, for it to go on at the place where I work. I'd love to be a part of that."

Will Obama have the balls to tell Carmelo Anthony to stop being a bitch on the NBA court? Will he actually challenge the sissypuncher to a one-on-one deathmatch? If he doesnt, what will this mean for Obama's chances. This could be a PIVOTAL moment in the election... Obama, you better not blow it with Carmela!

"I'm not a politician, I can tell you that right now. But I support Barack Obama.

Thanks for clearing that up Melo.

Chris, did you even look at going to Thursday night's speech at Invesco?

That would be something that you would never forget.

I just wonder how tough of a ticket to get it is right now.

I looked into it. I would definitely go. The ticket process was pretty complicated. I'm hoping someone has some on craig's list or something and cannot go.

You had to put your name in a hat and then they select a certain amount of people and everyone else gets wait listed. Because we are closing on our house Wednesday (we didn't know the exact day or time until recently), I didn't get into the process for fear I could not go.

Talking on the phone this am, one bud said MO didn't hit it out of the park but she hit a triple. The other just said it was pretty good. Sounds like an 8 and 6 to me. Not bad.

I don't know, I didn't watch.

BTW...Hill ain't goin nowherez. She'll be the Dem nominee at some point, and most likely our Prez some day.

BTW...Hill ain't goin nowherez. She'll be the Dem nominee at some point, and most likely our Prez some day.
Not if she doesn't hit a home run tonight.

This is the biggest speech of her career.

She needs to deliver her supporters to Obama (the ones that are rational, at least).

I kind of agree with the sentiment that its as much of BO's job to go get those voters as it is for her to deliver them.

I'm not trying to be insulting here, but BO didn't exactly close the deal in the last weeks of the primary season.

She will rip Bush and the war tonight, doing her part on that front, but I don't expect much more than her concession speech.

I agree with Glenn. Hillary needs to demand that a vote for McCain (or staying home) is a vote against everything she stands for. If she does that, and her voters deliver I definitely see her going at this again down the road.

I kind of agree with the sentiment that its as much of BO's job to go get those voters as it is for her to deliver them.

I'm not trying to be insulting here, but BO didn't exactly close the deal in the last weeks of the primary season.

She will rip Bush and the war tonight, doing her part on that front, but I don't expect much more than her concession speech.


Well, many of her fellow Dems will never support her in the future if she doesn't take care of business tonight, IMO.

Politics at its finest.

^I won't. If she does a lame speech and her supporters don't help Obama (and he fails). No way will she win the primary in 4 years.

I kind of agree with the sentiment that its as much of BO's job to go get those voters as it is for her to deliver them.

I'm not trying to be insulting here, but BO didn't exactly close the deal in the last weeks of the primary season.
Remember, Obama was in general-election mode for the last month or so. He was giving her room to gracefully concede, but she was hell bent on taking it to the bitter end, reinforcing the stereotype that women suck at math. Now he's having to deal with Hillary's past attacks, many of which came after the math took her out of it. Hell, Team Hillary (Slick Willie and Gumbo Carville) is dissing Obama today, insuring that it's the top story over Michelle Obama's pretty good speech (I'd call it a double from what I heard -- women were the target more than dudes) and Kennedy's very good speech (a triple at worst).

Hillary started the message today saying make no mistake there is only one choice to make this fall...Barack Obama. Hopefully she continues that tonight.

MSNBC is reporting that Hillary let Obama's team review her speech and they are apparently thrilled with it.

But Hillary didn't create the problem and I'm not sure its hers to fix. BO didn't do great in some of those areas.

MSNBC is reporting that Hillary let Obama's team review her speech and they are apparently thrilled with it.

I'm watching CNN and it does sound like the Clinton machine has completely acquiesced. <-- Good for the Dems, for sure.

Hillary's speech on a scale of 1-10?

McCain has been pwned.

the women's rights comments should hit home. LOL at the twin city comment.

I think she hit a home run with this one. I never liked her as a canidate, but I sure like her fighting for America on other fronts.

McCain has been pwned.

the women's rights comments should hit home. LOL at the twin city comment.

I think she hit a home run with this one. I never liked her as a canidate, but I sure like her fighting for America on other fronts.

Ok, I'll be expecting that in the polls over the next month. :)

Great speech, she did exactly what she needed to do, IMO.

I think she's well positioned for 2012 or 2016.

Did anyone else feel like they've stacked the deck with subpar speakers just to make the "stars" (Hil, Bill, Biden, BO) seem that much better?

I'm not being serious, of course, but some of these guys were as entertaining as dried mud. It was funny to see Olbermann and Matthews poke fun at them, though.

Matthews is a mess. Somewhere in his rambling he makes a good point here and there, but he comes across as some sort of bumbling idiot savant or something.

Ok, I'll be expecting that in the polls over the next month. :)

I'm not expert on what the polls do, but I would expect the number of Hillary supporters that were polling for McCain to drop sharply. Not sure about him gaining much ground otherwise. But McCain still had like 30 percent of her voters right now. I bet that takes a huge hit within a couple weeks.

Brian Schweitzer was pretty awesome last night -- should've been the keynote.

DKoKHCxWYM8

I agree. He started off a little slow but I liked his speech as well.

They didn't show his speech on MSNBC, they were too busy focusing on Bill Clinton in the crowd.

Yeah, I watched CNN for the speech. They never showed Granholm on there, just mentioned she was on the stage.

She moderated a panel of talking heads.
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Congrats to the country for nominating the first AA for President. I could be wrong, but I don't think England, France, Germany, etc has ever done that. I'm sure someone can correct me, but only in America.

Props to the GREAT USA!

England had a Jewish Prime Minister in the 1800s.

You're not wrong, Tahoe. African-Americans, like Americans in general, aren't typically running for the highest office in foreign countries. :)

You're not wrong, Tahoe. African-Americans, like Americans in general, aren't typically running for the highest office in foreign countries. :)


Son of a bitch, beat me by 9 minutes.

You're not wrong, Tahoe. African-Americans, like Americans in general, aren't typically running for the highest office in foreign countries. :)

:cogent:

On another note, England did beat us by at least 30 years with the female prime minister as have a lot of other countries.

WOW, can someone get Pat Buchanan a fucking tissue. He's been crying for the last few days non-stop about Hillary not getting the VP. WHAT A FUCKING PUSSY!!

Bill is fucking killing it. 4 more years.

I wonder what Beau Biden's political future holds?

He was really solid, IMO.

Maybe we'll get Biden/Clinton or Clinton/Biden in 2024ish?

(Beau and Chelsea)

Anyone know what time the 'All hail Cesar' speech starts at Rezco Field tonight? alsojbsnarky

Nice job by Gore.

The "recycle" line was choice.

They just read some exerpts from Obama's speech on MSNBC, it's some pretty pointed/direct stuff.

Specifics that many have been asking for.

The view from that stage must be amazing.

I think this is going to be tremendous.

Bill is fucking killing it. 4 more years.


Too bad he wouldn't have Bush Sr. to leave the economy on the brim of a prosperity phase for him like last time.

Man, T. Boone Pickens must really be loaded.

Dude's been paying for these commercials for months now.

Too bad he wouldn't have Bush Sr. to leave the economy on the brim of a prosperity phase for him like last time.

Riiiight.

I don't suppose that you'll say the same thing about W. if Obama turns things around, too.

Riiiight.

I don't suppose that you'll say the same thing about W. if Obama turns things around, too.


Absolutely not.

But, to be fair, Bill left it on the peak of a recession for W.

With McCain having a little more "liberal" in him than the typical Republican candidate, there's no reason to believe he would be another repeat of W, IMO.

As for Obama, his resume' doesn't suggest he can do anything (kind of like how Carter's didn't either).

^ he did pass some legislation in Chicago on asbestos removal. Other than that, pretty much a rook in the Senate.

If America gets swept up in his change message without being concerned with someone who has done anything, than hes the guy and I'll support him once he's prez.

What sucks is your gonna have all these idiot college kids, 18-22 yrs old, who have next to no interest in politics or learning about either of the candidates, yet will vote for Obama simply because he's not the stereotypical white, old-aged political figure...

Hope I'm wrong.

I'm 20, so I must fit in there. I haven't done any political research or anything, and I'm stereotyping. Oh, and I'm definitely an idiot. Who is Barack Obama?

I'm 20, so I must fit in there. I haven't done any political research or anything, and I'm stereotyping. Oh, and I'm definitely an idiot. Who is Barack Obama?

C'mon D'Ray, you know what I meant. I'm 20 too, it doesn't take much to figure out who is, and who isn't "informed".

No doubt. Don't act like there aren't people on both sides, though.

For example, my best friend is voting repub. His reason, "Oh, I guess my family is Republican."

Nice.

The first two days of the convention sucked about as badly as the last two were awesome.

I'm watching these jokers on Faux News try to find fault with that speech.

To his credit, Kristol actually isn't towing the party line for a change.

I would have paid a lot of $ to be in that stadium tonight.

No doubt. Don't act like there aren't people on both sides, though.

For example, my best friend is voting repub. His reason, "Oh, I guess my family is Republican."

Nice.


Gottcha, I know where your coming from, my best friend is a dem as well.

Absolutely not.

But, to be fair, Bill left it on the peak of a recession for W.
Bill also left a huge piggy bank to deal with such a thing, and W pissed it away with his lack of strategery.


As for Obama, his resume' doesn't suggest he can do anything (kind of like how Carter's didn't either).
The Obama-Feingold ethics reform stuff was a big deal. Rookies generally don't get to touch that kind of stuff. He's shown that he's as able as anyone to get stuff done in the U.S. Senate (which isn't saying much -- their history of getting stuff done is ugh). He's worked with a number of different folks on the Republican side of the aisle -- Lugar, Coburn, Hagel.

McCain's biggest legislative accomplishment was a campaign finance reform law that he violated. He managed to get re-elected without pork-barrel spending, an achievement unless you happened to want federal money going to Arizona. He pimped unsuccessfully for a lot of legislation (against Bush tax cuts, immigration reform) he now says was wrong in the first place.

1970s Carter and Obama are different beasts in a lot of ways. Carter was autocratic on many fronts. He thought that he could be a good engineer, go in a closed room with supposed experts, come out with ideas, and shove to Congress. He expected a Democratic Congress to be cooperative because they were Democratic, but he was a total outsider and some of his experts and ideas were just stupid. He has the rep as a diplomat, but never figured out how to be diplomatic with his own peeps.

What sucks is your gonna have all these idiot college kids, 18-22 yrs old, who have next to no interest in politics or learning about either of the candidates, yet will vote for Obama simply because he's not the stereotypical white, old-aged political figure...

Hope I'm wrong.

That's almost as bad as the 40-70 yrs old red-stater voting for anyone with an "R" next to their name solely because of abortion.

I think the true measure of a good speech is one's ability to conjure up images of Dick Van Patten, Willie Aames and Adam Rich.

I think the true measure of a good speech is one's ability to conjure up images of Dick Van Patten, Willie Aames and Adam Rich.

lol...BO rocked that speech

it will be interesting to see how the Maverick responds

Bill also left a huge piggy bank to deal with such a thing, and W pissed it away with his lack of strategery.


The Obama-Feingold ethics reform stuff was a big deal. Rookies generally don't get to touch that kind of stuff. He's shown that he's as able as anyone to get stuff done in the U.S. Senate (which isn't saying much -- their history of getting stuff done is ugh). He's worked with a number of different folks on the Republican side of the aisle -- Lugar, Coburn, Hagel.

McCain's biggest legislative accomplishment was a campaign finance reform law that he violated. He managed to get re-elected without pork-barrel spending, an achievement unless you happened to want federal money going to Arizona. He pimped unsuccessfully for a lot of legislation (against Bush tax cuts, immigration reform) he now says was wrong in the first place.

1970s Carter and Obama are different beasts in a lot of ways. Carter was autocratic on many fronts. He thought that he could be a good engineer, go in a closed room with supposed experts, come out with ideas, and shove to Congress. He expected a Democratic Congress to be cooperative because they were Democratic, but he was a total outsider and some of his experts and ideas were just stupid. He has the rep as a diplomat, but never figured out how to be diplomatic with his own peeps.

Not true. Being attacked cost us gazillions.

Keeping peeps taxes low is the way to go. When the revenues are up, you have a surplus and when they are down, you trudge through it.

I thought that Obama's speech lacked substance (probably due to his lack of experience). Lots of inspirational cliches'. The more he talks about "enough of Bush" isn't going to help him, as McCain is opposed to Bush on many of the same issues as well.

No matter how much CNN wants you to think Barack is Martin Luther King, it's not hard to see the facade he puts on when he speaks in public.

^ Very true.

I suffered through some MSNBC during the convention and all they talk about was the historical nature of nominating the first AA. Why? Cuz passing legislation in Chicago on asbestos removal is a lil hard to fill hours of air time with.

Like anyone talks about legislation McCain's passed. Chrimeny.

For the record I have yet to see the Obama speech but plan on watching it today.

^ They do. At least I heard them doing that for quite a while.

No doubt. Don't act like there aren't people on both sides, though.

For example, my best friend is voting repub. His reason, "Oh, I guess my family is Republican."

Nice.

Exactly. I know a good portion of people who vote repub simply because the religious people hammer home the abortion argument. Also don't forget people will vote against Obama simply based on race too.

You'll have dumb bandwagoners on both sides.

^ But mostly I hear them talking about how JM pushed the surge in Iraq. Saying things weren't going swimmingly in Iraq is an understatement. It may go down as one of the best strategic moves at least in modern times.

I'm so glad Bush went along with him.

Exactly. I know a good portion of people who vote repub simply because the religious people hammer home the abortion argument. Also don't forget people will vote against Obama simply based on race too.

You'll have dumb bandwagoners on both sides.

Well if abortion is important to you, I'd say the Republicans is where their vote should go. There is a freedom to vote for who you want in this country.

As far as the race vote goes, you are right, the Dems proved that with a large % of whites not voting for him.

Not true. Being attacked cost us gazillions.

Keeping peeps taxes low is the way to go. When the revenues are up, you have a surplus and when they are down, you trudge through it.

You can't possibly think that 911 directly cost us billions in Iraq. We all know the two were not connected at all. So don't say the deficit went up because some terrorists attacked us. It went up because Bush fought an illegal war.

As far as the taxes go, I agree. Except that Obama will actually lower taxes MORE on %95 of the population. He'll tax the very rich more, but that's it. The people who actually do the spending and infuse the economy will have more money to spend. You just made an argument for Obama.

You can't possibly think that 911 directly cost us billions in Iraq. We all know the two were not connected at all. So don't say the deficit went up because some terrorists attacked us. It went up because Bush fought an illegal war.

As far as the taxes go, I agree. Except that Obama will actually lower taxes MORE on %95 of the population. He'll tax the very rich more, but that's it. The people who actually do the spending and infuse the economy will have more money to spend. You just made an argument for Obama.

Setting up Homeland Security, war in Afghanistan, war in Iraq cost gazillions.

Disagree on the tax thing. And I'm glad to see you've come around to Bush's way of thinking that infusing money into the economy works. But BO raises CGs too. Not good. Hes a tax and spend liberal.

Any "surge" will always produce results, IMO.

If you throw enough cash/resources/troops at any military activity, it will do "something".

I don't think it's perceived as any brilliant, outside of the box thinking or anything.

It was just a decision to pour additional billions and American lives into this as a way of being able to claim some amount of "success".

The real thing that needs to be judged is how did it come to this in the first place?

And how and why we went into Iraq is a serperate debate, imo. And I've said that a million times on this board. I can't say it was the right decision. All I've ever said, is I'm going to give it 10 years and see what the region looks like then.

Setting up Homeland Security, war in Afghanistan, war in Iraq cost gazillions.

Disagree on the tax thing. And I'm glad to see you've come around to Bush's way of thinking that infusing money into the economy works. But BO raises CGs too. Not good. Hes a tax and spend liberal.

Again, how can you put Iraq in there? That's like me walking up to you and punching you in the face and saying "well, some guy punched me so now I'm punching you"

What Bush did and what you mentioned are two different things. All he did was give rich people tax breaks. That's trickle down economics, which is far different than putting extra money in common people's pockets to spend on the economy. They are WAY different. The only thing Bush did near that was the stimulus checks. That was too little too late.

But once we're there, there is no reason to cut and run. There is no reason to leave that country and region in disarray. We needed to stay there and give them time to get on their feet.

And how and why we went into Iraq is a serperate debate, imo. And I've said that a million times on this board. I can't say it was the right decision. All I've ever said, is I'm going to give it 10 years and see what the region looks like then.

Well, that's all up to debate (the results of the war) so I'll give you that. This may end up helping the region, it may not. We can't say now.

However, you must agree that the connection between 911 and Iraq is not even tenuous at best. This was not a cause and effect war. It was an opportunity to push a pre-existing agenda Bush had.

But once we're there, there is no reason to cut and run. There is no reason to leave that country and region in disarray. We needed to stay there and give them time to get on their feet.
Again, I'm not debating the war itself (what we should do now). I'm simply stating 911 and Iraq are not connected (at least not in the educated mind).

But once we're there, there is no reason to cut and run. There is no reason to leave that country and region in disarray. We needed to stay there and give them time to get on their feet.

Despite what you are hearing on the channel you watch, Iraq is going to be in disarray no matter what.

So the only question is, how many more Americans have to die and how many more billions (trillions?) need to be spent?

Cue "the narrative of defeat" talking point.

Quote of the night:

"Senator McCain likes to talk about judgment, but really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush has been right more than ninety percent of the time? I don't know about you, but I'm not ready to take a 10 percent chance on change."

Bush gave away most of the surplus before we were attacked in the form of tax breaks. That's why a lot of folks voted for him. Clinton's big mistake was in leaving it in piggy-bank form so every candidate could make a lot of promises about what to do with it. He should've committed it to deficit reduction, which would've given the next president flexibility, but prohibit bankrupt promises.

He gave the tax cuts cuz Clinton last 2 quarters were not good economically. Or was it the last 3?

He had the foresight to know what was coming. I remembe reading that the we prolly would have been in a recession (by definition) if Bush hadn't put money in the pockets of the peeps that drive the economy.

Despite what you are hearing on the channel you watch, Iraq is going to be in disarray no matter what.

So the only question is, how many more Americans have to die and how many more billions (trillions?) need to be spent?

Cue "the narrative of defeat" talking point.

Based on what? Or convince me. I guess its possible, but I think the gov't is getting more equipped to deal with Governing their country every day.

He gave the tax cuts cuz Clinton last 2 quarters were not good economically. Or was it the last 3?

He had the foresight to know what was coming. I remembe reading that the we prolly would have been in a recession (by definition) if Bush hadn't put money in the pockets of the peeps that drive the economy.

I'm so glad Bush saved our economy from certain disaster.

He did in a lot of peeps opinions whos job it is to evaluate those things.

http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2008/08/only-in-america.html

http://blogs.denverpost.com/opinion/2008/09/06/republican-recycling/