Your 2008 Democratic Convention Thread

-- Dr Morbius (wjwe...), September 27th, 2006 12:50 PM. (Dr Morbius) (link)

EXCEPT YOU RUINED IT, MORBIUS.

Hillary for keynote speaker?

http://www.2004dnc.com/2008presidentialelection/DNCC_logo_dnc2008_1_500.jpg

I read first Dem con to start w/ a religious service?

Who do you think should keynote? Kaine's got the best communication skills maybe, but isn't glitzy enough. Warner might be, but I think I gotta concede Hillary would be a much bigger deal. She's an older face, but definitely a current figure, and we've got enough novelty already, probably. But wait, we're in the West - should the branding extend to the keynote? Would Schweitzer work? Maybe not so much? Is Napolitano a good compromise? Not really, I don't think.

lol, Al Franken, lol

nah, Clinton makes a lot of sense given what's happened.

clinton is a good idea

she could make the case for the female veep

actually, I should say I've only seen Napolitano as a talking head - her style might work a lot better on the podium

she could talk about John McCain from his backyard

but yeah, Hillary seems like a pretty easy choice

http://thepage.time.com/2008/08/13/mark-warner-named-keynote-speaker-for-dem-convention/

livevid of gabbneb

fuck you, hillary

this arguably signals that warner (and not hillary) is an intended successor in an obama party. mbcarl at dkos thinks that signals the veep will be an older dude who wouldn't run for president in 8 years, like biden, which may well be the case. but i don't think it necessarily rules out sebelius. she would be 68 in 2016, ready to either retire or become the first female prez. would 62-year-old warner be too old to be a veep?

nor does it necessarily rule out bayh - who i think probably is not the veep anyway - who's only a year younger than warner and more heartland-oriented

it might suggest that kaine is not the guy, though

a contrary view

are they trying to play with mccainco's heads?

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/08/a_virginiacentric_convention.php

this goes even further to suggest that Warner is not the Veep, but it does say "resisted," not "refused"

country music interludes and appearances by NASCAR stars, huh?

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/08/bayhdenkabelius.html

Mark Ambinder says there's no profit in interpreting. But I think he may be underinterpreting - you don't have to know who the veep is to schedule Tuesday night, only who the veep isn't. And if say you're Sebelius you don't have to tell everyone, only point in the right/away from the wrong directions. And if you're Sebelius and also the veep, things might be even easier. If she's scheduled for Tuesday, it wouldn't be hard for her to change the schedule at the last minute, subbing in someone else who's in on the deal. McCaskill's appearance on Monday - http://www.demconvention.com/the-2008-convention-monday-august-25th-one-nation/ - in some respects makes perfect sense - it doesn't get more middle-American and welcoming. And Monday's like the soft opening of the convention. But isn't it also a little conspicuous for her to be the only pol announced on Monday, while Tuesday is packed wall-to-wall?

Symmetry required gabbneb to start this.

was it really worth breaking up his Rain Man act for that, Rev?

Heck of a job, Brownie.

http://www.johnmccain.com/images/citizens/joe_name.gif

^ from mcain's site waht

Where have you been for the past 4 years?

srsly homie is prob gonna speak at convention and is an improb but bandied veep choice

i pray he picks Lieberman so everyone can revive that "Loserman" nickname

joementum!

^ from mcain's site waht

-- Catsupppppppppppppp dude 茄蕃, Thursday, August 14, 2008 9:55 AM (56 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

Where have you been for the past 4 years?

-- HI DERE, Thursday, August 14, 2008 9:56 AM (55 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

Dude is an "independent" who caucuses with the dems, dontchaknow!

nope

no, i missed it--but im not talking about the convention as a whole, im talking about barack, the candidate, and his speech... not to mention that i think describing obamas candidacy as 'the fulfillment' of mlk's dream is just more ammunition for the idea that barack being president represents the end of racism in this country

A demurral:

Only a moral cretin could fail to be inspired when the speech rolled around, in its closing moments, to Martin Luther King Jr. But that inspirational moment was just a moment, and I think that the pundits and advisers who urged Barack Obama to temper his soaring rhetoric and produce a more workmanlike, down-to-earth speech did him a disservice: The speech had good lines and good sections, but for the most part it felt surprisingly banal and jury-rigged, and it suffered throughout from a failure to cohere around any single theme or rhetorical style. There was a lot of liberal boilerplate (recruit an army of teachers, tax the rich, etc.) that could have fit easily into any Democratic acceptance speech of the last twenty years; there was a series of swings at John McCain that, while often effective, seemed more appropriate to a veep's speech than to an address by a Presidential nominee; and then there was a half-hearted attempt to return, in the speech's final third, to the themes of post-partisanship and national unity that defined his '04 convention speech. The whole thing felt schizophrenic - part Clintonian laundry-list, part McCain-bashing polemic, part "beyond red and blue" peroration - and watching it I was left with the impression that Obama would have been better off just sticking with the high-flown inspirational style that got him here, and waiting for the debates to recast himself as the meat-and-potatoes guy who can throw a punch and get down into the policy weeds. Hindsight is 20/20, of course, and you can see what Obama and his speechwriters were trying to do - namely, have the best of both worlds, by being soaring and substance-oriented, combative and post-partisan. But the substance was predictable, thin, and rife with pandering, the combativeness felt faintly inappropriate, and the speech didn't soar nearly as much as it should have.

lots of the politically wired black elite supported hillary max.

anyway that west smiley jackson et al are defending their territory when something theyve been fighting their whole lives for is coming to fruition seems pretty petty and strange to me.

is dr morbius a republican?

not to mention that i think describing obamas candidacy as 'the fulfillment' of mlk's dream is just more ammunition for the idea that barack being president represents the end of racism in this country

-- max, Friday, August 29, 2008 10:20 AM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

this is some serious eeyor shit - enjoy a victory fool

i mean now though joe, not back in the primary season

also lets not front--west, smiley, jackson (who we should point out are three v. different kinds of black leader!!), if they have been fighting for anything at all, have been fighting for an end racism and social injustice, not for a black president

lol dude i liked the speech last night, im just defending dr. west who i think is a cool dude who isnt wrong

lol at another Republican feeling sorry Obama didn't do well enough, Al

let me be clear--i think barack obama's candidacy is an amazing thing, a 'historic moment,' whatever that means, and i am really incredibly proud to vote for him.

i just think the whole "barack's candidacy represents the fulfillment of mlk's dream (i.e. the end of racism) and other black leaders should stfu" is a pretty weak line to take

but what does amiri baraka think

also lets not front--west, smiley, jackson (who we should point out are three v. different kinds of black leader!!), if they have been fighting for anything at all, have been fighting for an end racism and social injustice, not for a black president

also let's not front, obama's bad for business

can we get saul williams to weigh in

ya sorry to be the voice of white liberal guilt but i feel like a pretty big tool ascribing profit-based motives to widely-respected black leaders given that that's been the conservative line for about a million years

for real tho im not critcizing barack just defending the right of others to do so

the conservative line is that's all they care about. what we're saying isn't all that different.

also if u really think obama is 'bad for business' ur crazy, think about how much dough you could make writing "the first black president: what being african-american means to obama" and i dunno "voices of a nation: civil rights leaders speak about what obama means to them" and shit like that

by 'business' i mean what you're referring to

ok u lost me there bud

'business' means the purpose of their work and their social significance, not simply making money

the personalities and the things they work for are kinda inextricably linked

also lets not front--west, smiley, jackson (who we should point out are three v. different kinds of black leader!!), if they have been fighting for anything at all, have been fighting for an end racism and social injustice, not for a black president

-- max, Friday, August 29, 2008 10:24 AM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

within the greater continuum of fighting for the complete and total end of racism (lol likely) what single event not already accomplished could be larger than the election of a black president. its so monumental im sure if you polled black political elites just four years ago the vast majority of them wouldnt have believed it would happen in their lifetimes.

now theyre getting all fussy. this guy is taking yr fight to the next level WTF

west, smiley, jackson

none of these people are leaders, jackson at least not anymore

i think their point is that hes NOT taking their fight to the next level

u crazy elmo, but i dont have figures so i guess ill shut my mouth

smiley has been bemoaning the lack of black leaders for years, but it's not surprising that he will now scrutinize, criticize, and try to hold a legitimate new black leader accountable to the issues of race

i think their point is that hes NOT taking their fight to the next level

-- max, Friday, August 29, 2008 10:38 AM (25 seconds ago) Bookmark Link

well then they are crazy and/or stupid

i dunno man i basically think its pretty crazy to believe that the election of a black president is going to have any more than a symbolic impact on the lives of thousands of oppressed black americans, if i considered it my job to represent the interests of the african-american community i would trade a black president for national affirmative-action laws and money into inner-city communities a thousand times over

writing off symbolism as meaningless and ineffective is imo the height of myopic liberal stupidity, no offense

racism starts at a subconscious level. its only through symbols that you can communicate w/that.

will have a powerful new symbol to add to the mix of the already established american black archetypes: lazy, criminal, loser.

point is a black president will shift the way the country thinks and feels abt black people.

Suuuuuure cozwn, I'm a Republican; anyone who would dare to criticize the most pathetic 'liberal' party on the face of the earth MUST be!

ice crӕm, the Dems have dealt in NOTHING BUT symbolism for decades now, that's how so many of their chattel haven't noticed that Clinton governed to the right of GHW Bush (and sometimes to the right of Reagan).

sorry i dont mean to write off the imptnc of symbolism, i suppose i mean that the job of someone like jesse jackson is to keep going after obama to make sure he cashes the checks that he writes, and that his value as symbol is matched by real-world change on the ground. you know? im not saying that west or jackson or smiley is RIGHT, just that im sympathetic, and casting their concerns as unfounded or bizarre is... wrong

(whats more im not sure how powerful barack is as a counter-symbol to negative black stereotypes given his background--i.e. hes half-black, raised by white mom, not a descendant of slaves--the narratives being told about him--hes an african muslim, from another country--and the fact that a single example of black success, no matter the scale, isnt guaranteed to reverse negative stereotypes--im not committed to this as an opinion but im def not as confident as u are in his, baracks, value as a symbol)

ice crӕm, the Dems have dealt in NOTHING BUT symbolism for decades now, that's how so many of their chattel haven't noticed that Clinton governed to the right of GHW Bush (and sometimes to the right of Reagan).

-- Dr Morbius, Friday, August 29, 2008 11:01 AM (53 seconds ago) Bookmark Link

actually its the gop (aka party that always wins) thats had the symbolic game locked down.

but yah obv yr symbolism and yr actions should be in alignment otherwise its a corrupt situation.

anyway its not really a question. symbolism is a way people communicate. to ignore that is to be rendered impotent.

yah max weve discussed the how black is barack question here some - and i do agree to a lot of people (and in reality) hes not totally black - but thats maybe an overly fine reading of the situation - when people look at him i think they still see a black guy and all the cultural baggage that goes w/that

and just to be clear im not saying OMG NEW DAY IN AMERICA but i do think the election of a black president is the single biggest possible event that can help to move us through our dire nation racial morass

that or killing all the white people

lol

Stars React To Obama's Speech
Oprah: "I Cried My Eyelashes Off!"

more about the awesome country song

http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month=08&year=2008&base_name=the_story_behind_obamas_use_of

WAU

http://thepage.time.com/2008/08/29/world-record/

That's not even counting PBS or C-SPAN, either.

Previously, the highest-rated Democratic convention occurred in 1980 with 20.5 million households watching, and the highest-rated Republican convention occurred in 1976 with 21.9 million households watching.

he almost doubled the record

http://www.gallup.com/poll/109933/Gallup-Daily-Obama-Stretches-Lead-Points.aspx

Quote:
At the end of the speech, the music started playing, and it was... some horrible country song. Thousands of African-Americans showed up in Denver for this watershed civil rights event, and the DNC punishes them with that crap? Wouldn't that have been a good time for a nice Isaac Hayes tribute? Playing country music after Obama's speech is akin to following McCain's speech up with a video tribute to Alec Baldwin.

that song was the biggest fuck-you to W of the night

related to what jhoshea + max were arguing about, this is a must see:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvZV-Ks5Zu0

51 across

http://www.gallup.com/poll/109915/Obama-Regains-Support-Conservative-Democrats.aspx

http://i.imgur.com/lN6SxY9.jpg

oink oink