"Always aim high, work hard, and care deeply about what you believe in. When you stumble, keep faith. When you're knocked down, get right back up. And NEVER listen to anyone who says you can't or shouldn't go on." - Hillary Clinton -
My favorite source for in-depth political analysis, the New York Post, has the low-down on the grandiloquent venue, and the mastermind behind it... Bobby Allen.
Showing the same sure-footed political judgment which brought us the Great Seal of Obama™, the Obama campaign has called upon an acknowleged expert in set design to help them present The One™ in a setting commensurate with his self-concept.
So, what kind of jobs have you done before, Bobby?
"We've done Britney's sets and a whole bunch of rock shows, but this was far more elaborate and complicated and we had to do it in far less time. The biggest challenge has been making sure we don't damage the playing field underneath."
Oy. That's handing it to McCain on a silver platter, Obama team.
Bobby showed some understanding that this was a touchy subject in his interactions with the media, though. At least he's trying to help.
Asked who is harder to satisfy - the Democrats or Britney - Allen replied: "I better not answer that."
Interesting article in the NYT detailing some of the experiences invited speakers had with their assigned Obamaminders. Bottom line - if it isn't hope and it isn't change, we don't want to hear it.
Touchy subjects? Immigration - doubleplusungood.
It seemed like a typical Democratic line, one that would play well with the partisan crowd that has packed the Pepsi Center this week.
"Above all," it said, "we can't have a Statue of Liberty welcoming immigrants to our country as we build a wall on the Southern border. Instead, let us build bridges of friendship and cooperation with our Southern neighbors."
But when Representative José E. Serrano of the Bronx submitted his three-minute speech as required to the high command of Senator Barack Obama's campaign, the remark was excised. In fact, there was no mention of immigration policy, an issue of great importance to Mr. Serrano and his constituents in New York.
Heavy-handed? Naaaah, says the Obamacontroller, Bill Burton. we're just helping.
Bill Burton, a spokesman for Mr. Obama, acknowledged that the campaign was working with all the speakers to reinforce the themes of the convention.
"It's not that rigorous a process," Mr. Burton said. "We just want to ensure that everyone knows our goals of the convention and the message of change that we're getting across. We also help to check the facts."
UPDATE:CNN LIVE is streaming Bill's speech live for those of you who can't get it on the TeeVee.
President Clinton is expected to take to the podium in Denver soon (9 pm est) - I thought we could all do with an open thread where we can celebrate the one and only Democratic president to win re-election since FDR.
He took us from massive deficits under Bush (41), and left us with a huge budget surplus.
We were at peace then too.
I'm always amazed at the anger out there among people who claim to be Democrats, but yet clearly can't stand other Democrats. Bill and Hillary are two of the finest Democrats ever to hold public office.
They're of the people and for the people and they will always stand with the people as long as they draw breath in this life.
So here's to you Big Dawg - we love you man and we hope you blow the roof off the Pepsi Center tonight just as your amazing wife did last night. Show 'em how it's done!
Howard Wolfson is now a free man, and he let out some pent-up anger at his treatment by the fratboys over at MSNBO. Here's the video...
Juicy quotes:
"I'm not gonna take any lectures on how to be a good Democrat from two people who spent the last two years relentlessly attacking Bill and Hillary Clinton everyday." (Olbermann and Matthews)
"I just think it's unfortunate that a news organization with a great tradition like NBC has been taken over by such antics."
TPM has the story, and supplied the YouTube upload. In an interview with TPM, Howard said, "I've let previous comments like this pass, and I wasn't gonna stand for it anymore. I've spent my entire adult life working for Democratic causes and candidates and I'm not gonna have my credentials challenged."
You tell em, Howard! We'll find out who the real Democrat is when Obama starts tanking.
Seriously man - Biden got what - a quarter of a million votes? He comes from a state with 3 (count 'em 3!) electoral votes. He's been in the Senate for ever and he's given you zero bounce since your big unveiling of your pick last weekend. In fact you're losing ground and the latest polls have you two points behind McCain.
Compare that to Hillary who earned the vote of 18 million Americans and has the backing of some incredibly passionate and devoted supporters, and take a look at the response to her amazing speech last night, and you can start to understand why folks are talking about her as your running mate.
It's an unwritten rule that a vice-presidential candidate's job is to attack the other party's nominee. Clinton showed she could do that with grace, humor, and strength.
Every successful speech needs at least one, and Clinton had several. Her "No way, no how, no McCain" line was declared one of Time Magazine's Quotes of the Day.
Some commenters on a New York Times op-ed felt Obama should have picked Hillary as his running mate. Former candidate Rudy Giuliani asked why she isn't on the Democratic ticket. Is Obama regretting his decision to go with Joe Biden? We've no idea, but Obama must realize, after watching and cheering the speech, that he owes Clinton big..
Word to the wise man... go with the woman who's got 18 million of us behind her AND will help reunify our broken party. She is the ONLY Democrat who will help you beat McCain in November.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton released her remaining convention delegates on Wednesday as Democrats were poised to formally deliver the party's presidential nomination to Barack Obama, making him the first black nominee of a major party.
As many in the room yelled, "No," Clinton said that, while she was releasing the delegates she had won in the primaries, "I am not telling you what to do. You've come here from so many different places having made this journey and feeling in your heart what is right for you to do."
Suspense still remained over the voting process - and whether and when a planned roll-call vote would be cut off to give Obama the nomination by acclamation.
I'll update as I get more info but the above link just went up on Yahoo about 2 minutes ago.
I'm certainly no expert but as I understand it, state delegations meet each morning over breakfast and conduct a straw poll of their delegates. That's written down and reported - but when they get together at 3 pm delegates are free to vote as they wish. I doubt any of them will switch but the actual vote takes place today at 3 during the roll call vote on the convention floor.
As I mentioned in the last update, The Rocky Mountain Post is reporting now that the vote tally will be announced as they go through the states at 5 pm, and Hillary will NOT be moving for unanimous consent for the nomination to be done by acclimation of the delegates. But I just spoke with my friend Mary Boergers and she said that's not what they're hearing in Denver. So I'm not sure what's going on.
Ben Smith picks it up from here - note his update at the end...
State tally sheets will be due by 4:00 p.m., Mountain Time.
"Once the nominating speeches are concluded, the vote tally sheets will be collected by the Office of the Secretary," the official said. "We will then begin the Roll Call of the States and the delegation chair or his or her designee will announce the totals for each candidate."
Options discussed yesterday - including a shortened roll call - would require a motion to suspend the convention's regular rules, which doesn't seem currently to be in the offing.
UPDATE: An Obama aide says this is the plan in the schedule; there is still the possibility, of course, that someone - probably Hillary - could move to shorten the roll call.
So BHO's people are basically saying anything goes and if we don't hear the actual vote count of the states, it'll be Hillary's fault.
Passing the buck to the bitter end I see. Cowards, every last one of them. They don't deserve to lead our party and they most certainly don't deserve to lead our nation!
Well, BHO and the DNC must have liked what they saw in this morning's straw poll of the delegates, because they've just announced that they're going to do the right thing and tell us how our delegates actually voted. In other words, they tallied the votes from this AM privately, saw they had it, and THEN said they'd announce it in public. Cowards to the end.
Each state at tonight's session will announce the results of its delegate tally, ending speculation that a back-room compromise between Obama and Hillary Clinton would lead to a departure from the norm.
"The roll call is guided by rules of the party," Daughtry said. "It will proceed just as the rules dictate. Every state and every delegate will have the opportunity to vote. Everyone will be represented. Everyone will have their votes counted."
~~~~
Mary B's in Denver because thousands of Maryland Democrats and I sent her to vote for Hillary Clinton on our behalf. I've known Mary for about a year and a half and over the past 18 months she's been an inspiration, a fearless leader, and a good friend. This is an historic election - for the first time in our nation's history delegates like Mary will have the chance to vote for a woman at our convention. The roll call vote that thousands fought for is being hijacked by the DNC all in the name of unity.
I just spoke with Mary, and she said that BHO is terrified of an honest and open roll call vote - especially after Hillary's speech last night. They want a vote that doesn't reveal the true numbers.
So the delegates are circulating a petition that would open up this process and put on record the support our first-ever woman candidate has in this historic election. They need 20% of the delegates to sign it (800) and she turned in her petition sheets last night but she's not sure where things stand at this point.
Here's how it will play out unless they can get those 800 signatures. Delegates met with their state delegations this morning in breakfast meetings all over Denver. They signed tally sheets and indicated their preference (Hillary or BHO). "Somebody takes those sheets someplace" (she wasn't sure who - or where) and then at 3 pm they take vote on the floor of the convention.
At 5 pm the roll call will be announced state by state starting with Alabama - who will yield to Illinois. They'll jump around and shout and cheer, announce their vote tally and then they'll yield the floor to New York. After a few minutes of jumping shouting and cheering, Hillary is expected to move for a unanimous consent of the convention delegates to declare BHO as our nominee by acclimation.
No one will ever see those numbers folks, unless they can pull together those 800 petition signatures.
(OMG this is. No I'm speechless. Thank you - promoted by NewHampster)
A personal rant from Ireland
Dear Hillary,
Today I have been remembering you. What a journey it has been.
When I close my eyes, in a wee country far away, I remember you. When I close my eyes I can see you so clearly stepping off that plane so many years ago. The whole of the North came out to catch a glimpse of you. I oft wonder did you have a clue what you were stepping into when you got off that plane in Belfast, and the long road we would travel together. For little did we know back in 1995, when your husband the President, after getting out of that black taxi on the Falls Road in West Belfast to greet Gerry Adams, that Bill Clinton, President of the USA, would go against all criticism and give a handshake that changed the future of this tiny island forever. But for that handshake we would never have come to know you so well. I can still see that day, the memory is clear.
Forget Obama and Michelle, you and Bill were the first "RockStar" Presidential couple as was evident when thousands would line the streets just to see your car pass by and give a wave every time you came here. I remember in Derry when Chelsea came along for a visit. In the Guildhall square, all the young girls went out next day looking for an outfit so they could dress just like Chelsea. The local paper said for the young generation Chelsea was the star and she upstaged her father LOL. When I close my eyes I remember this.
However, it was you who rose to the occasion of the little people here. The women, the children, the forgotten. Perhaps it would be presumptuous of me to claim that you cut your political teeth in Ireland, learning so much about conflict resolution, Obama pales in comparison... While Bill hammered out the hard paperwork, details and negotiations, you spent your time learning about us here, listening, reaching out and more importantly, wondering why the role of women in politics here was so small. But you set about to change all that and you did with Vital Voices and Democrashe. Today we have many women in politics, thanks to you. And Sinn Fein now has representation even in Dublin, Mary Lou McDonald is an MEP and member of the Ard Chomhairle another woman rising in politics. When I close my eyes I remember this.
I've been hearing about this amazing video. I think grlpatriot gets the hat tip for find this version of it. I'll let Ann Price Mills - one of Hillary's pledged delegates say what's on millions of our minds this morning...
"I saw in Hillary what my potential future could be.
"I saw more than just dreams. I saw things that could be realities."
"I saw the country that we strive to be and wanted to be, and she could have made that happen."
"Experience counts I don't care what anybody tells you."
This incredible and passionate woman speaks for me.
So if there's any chance that a delegate or two are out there and still open to the idea that it's smart to send up our most capable and electable Democrat to take on McSame in November...
PLEASE - FOR THE FUTURE OF OUR COUNTRY - CAST YOUR VOTE FOR HILLARY!
You know, I'm -- I'm here tonight as a proud mother, as a proud Democrat...
... as a proud senator from New York...
... a proud American...
... and a proud supporter of Barack Obama.
My friends, it is time to take back the country we love. And whether you voted for me or you voted for Barack, the time is now to unite as a single party with a single purpose.
We are on the same team. And none of us can afford to sit on the sidelines. This is a fight for the future, and it's a fight we must win together.
I haven't spent the past 35 years in the trenches, advocating for children, campaigning for universal health care, helping parents balance work and family, and fighting for women's rights here at home and around the world...
(Live from Denver - it's Hillary's speech! Here's hoping she blows the roof off the Pepsi Center tonight. - promoted by Alegre)
We are blogging LIVE from Puma Headquarters in Denver! Hillary Clinton is scheduled to speak at the COnvention any minute, and we'll get underway.
Right now we're watching FOX News. McCain has pulled ahead of Obama in the polls, and they are feeding a line of bullshit about how she is trying to get him to lose so she can run in 2012. Wolfson is putting addressing that.
Lori, one of the filmmakers of The Audacity of Democracy, gave voice to all our fears. She said, "I'm scared to death that she's going to get up there and throw in the towel."
Even today, there remain concerns among Clinton backers that Obama does not give the Democratic Party the best chance of defeating McCain and the Republicans in the presidential election. A CNN/Opinion Research poll conducted Aug. 23-24 found the two running similarly in trial heats versus McCain, with Obama and McCain tied (47% to 47%) but Clinton having a slim but not statistically significant advantage over McCain (49% to 46%).
The superdelegates need to take a long hard look at this death spiral and decide whether they want to win or not. This poll showing a 3% advantage for Hillary is one datapoint. The most recent head-to-head polling comparing Hillary to Obama vs. McCain done by Rasmussen last month showed Hillary doing five percentage points better against McCain that The Chosen One™. That's another datapoint.
If Obama gets the nomination and loses by less than three to five percent (like Gore and Kerry), we'll know that Howard Dean, Donna Brazile, Nancy Pelosi and the superdelegates would rather lose with an inferior candidate than win with Hillary.
