I Hate What You Just Said

Seeing Bill pretending to get all teary last night was a bit much for me. But after running an increasingly irritating and sometimes petulant campaign, HRC seems to have done the job last night. (The “sisterhood of the traveling pantsuits” sort of cracked me up, too). Ezra Klein puts it this way:

By my count, Hillary Clinton was interrupted for applause 29 times. In a week that was, thus far, themeless and tepid, intent on justifying itself and the familiarity of its speakers, Clinton’s speech was the first that made the Pepsi Center feel like the site of a convention rather than the host of a series of panels.

Clinton’s message was simple: Her candidacy was about something, not someone. She is a Democrat, not a Hillaryite. And if her supporters believed in her, then that’s what they were signing up for: An effort to expand health care, and weight economic policy towards the middle class, and refashion American foreign policy into something sane and recognizable. The candidate left in the race with a similar set of beliefs is Barack Obama.

Even if she did it reluctantly, Senator Clinton did her part in Denver.  That some Clinton supporters are still angered by the sexism directed against their candidate during the campaign is certainly understandable.   Everyone should be angry about that.  But all of the clichés and catchphrases - “the stakes are too high,” “we can’t afford a third Bush term,” etc. - are all too true.  So, fellow Democrats, we all know what we need to do - it is time to unite behind the Obama-Biden ticket. And bring your independent and Republican friends with you.

All aboard!

The AP’s supergenius, Darlene Superville, decided to do us all the public service of “fact-checking” some of the speeches at last night’s Democratic convention:

The shotgun-style charges Democratic National Convention speakers fired at Republican John McCain Tuesday night weren’t necessarily half-truths. But in some instances, they weren’t the whole story either.

Some examples of who said what and what they left out:

SEN. ROBERT CASEY JR. of PENNSYLVANIA: “John McCain calls himself a maverick, but he votes with George Bush 90 percent of the time. That’s not a maverick. That’s a sidekick.”

PENNSYLVANIA GOV. ED RENDELL: “And guess who voted with President Bush 90 percent of the time? Sen. John McCain.”

THE FACTS: McCain voted with President Bush 90 percent of the time from January 20, 2001, to when Congress left Washington on its annual August recess, according to a study by Congressional Quarterly. But McCain wasn’t always a staunch Bush backer. In 2005, his support for Bush’s position on legislation reached a low of 77 percent; last year, when he launched his latest bid for the GOP presidential nomination, he voted with Bush 95 percent of the time.

So let’s get this straight. Looking at the total votes cast by John McCain since George Bush took office in 2001, he has — on average — voted with the president 90 percent of the time. But WAIT! If you only look at 2005, these statements aren’t true — Casey and Rendell are LIARS! Sorry, but those are THE FACTS.

I don’t want to get all Orwell on this, but what the hell does it mean when you say that these “shotgun-style” charges “weren’t necessarily half-truths” but “in some instances, they weren’t the whole story either”?

I spent about 15 agonizing minutes dividing “not the whole story” by a “not necessarily half-truth” to determine the percentage. I still don’t know.

I hate you Darlene.

h/t TPM

A must-read article on Obamanomics.

Why does this idiot have his own show? Glenn Beck needs your help to screw the Democrats, even if it destroys the planet in the process:

This week the Democratic party will attempt to hold its first convention that is totally green. They will talk about recycling, buying carbon offsets, and even serve multi-colored foods for some reason.

What’s the problem with their going green? Well, the Democrats know all of these things are pointless gestures, but they’re using them to try and convince voters that they love the earth more than Republicans. If this works they will put into place policies that will hurt our economy and cause real disaster–not the fraudulent type they constantly whine about.

What can you to help? Take part in our carbon ONset program. We are asking you to make just a few small sacrifices to completely wipe out any potential energy savings the Democrats claim credit for.

The “sacrifices” include driving extra miles, running empty dishwashers, taking long showers, and replacing CFL bulbs with incandescent ones.

Fox News getting a warm wet reception at the Democratic convention:

A sprinkler system partially flooded part of the Pepsi Center Monday morning.
The Denver Fire Department, which has a crew stationed at the center all week, was able to respond quickly before 5 a.m. when the sprinkler went off.

The sprinkler was located on the club level in a skybox which had recently been renovated to host a news crew. It appears the skybox belongs to Fox.

After going off, the sprinkler released 50 to 100 gallons of water per minute and 9NEWS crews estimate it was on for around 5 minutes.

The cause of the sprinkler is under investigation but early reports indicate it was likely bumped or the heat sensor may have been affected by equipment in the room.

Water leaked down to the first level concourse and crews are mopping up that area. A significant amount of water filled the club level and DFD used shop vacuums to remove the excess water.

All of the equipment in the skybox had to be removed quickly due to the possible electrical issues. No one was injured.

“We’re delighted to have a real estate debate with Barack Obama,” said spokesman Brian Rogers, adding that the press should focus on Obama’s house. “It’s a frickin’ mansion.”

–McCain spokesman Brian Rogers

I’m assuming there will be a drastic reduction in the number of “Obama is an elitist” statements in the coming days — John McCain can’t remember how many homes he owns.

Incidentally, Cindy McCain needs to be on Boniva™  STAT!

UPDATE:

Jesus. Mary. And Joseph. The McCain campaign is using the arugula-egghead-POW defense. McCain camp spokesman Brian Rogers on domicile-gate:

“This is a guy who lived in one house for five and a half years — in prison,” referring to the prisoner of war camp that McCain was in during the Vietnam War.

Rogers called the house story “by far the most personal attack” of the campaign, and said “it comes from a candidate who said he was against this kind of thing.”

He predicted that the story would not “stick” with the American people.

“In terms of who’s an elitist, I think people have made a judgment that John McCain is not an arugula-eating, pointy headed professor-type based on his life story.”

So polls show that “white voters” think that Barack Obama is a “risky” choice for president. The real risk we face right now is that a McCain presidency will be far too much like a third Bush term (I just shuddered writing those words), and that American militarism could spin further out of control (right, Condi?)

Max Bergmann explains why Oily McWar is the real risk:

The big concern with a McCain presidency – a concern which I am surprised has not been vocalized more fully – is that the U.S. will lurch from crisis to crisis, confrontation to confrontation, whether it be with Iran, North Korea, Russia, Syria, Saudi Arabia, etc. The danger is that McCain’s pundit-like rhetoric will entrap the U.S. in descending spiral of foreign policy brinksmanship. Just think about the very likely scenario of McCain giving Iran/Russia a rhetorical ultimatum and Iran/Russia ignoring it. Now we are stuck - either we lose face by not following through on our threats or we follow through and go to war. We can’t afford such a reckless approach after the last eight years. For the next eight we need a president not a pundit.

Speaking as a white guy (seriously - I’m mad white), I think it is time for “white voters” to grow up and realize that the best candidate for president isn’t just the guy who seems the most militaristic. Or the whitest.

Me likey.

I was going to comment on this but all I could make my fingers type was “Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha”:

“Russia is a state that is unfortunately using the one tool that it has always used whenever it wishes to deliver a message and that’s its military power,” [Condi] Rice told reporters en route to an emergency meeting of NATO foreign ministers set for Tuesday. “That’s not the way to deal in the 21st century.”

So when you’re on the ropes and its time to come out fighting, the political handbook states: “attack a nonexistent constituency that you can tie to your opponent.”  On the McCain report, Michael Goldfarb writes that McCain didn’t lift any lines from Solzhenitsyn as he simultaneously waxed Georgian and prisoner-of-war, what are you talking about?  The real issue is this:

It may be typical of the pro-Obama Dungeons & Dragons crowd to disparage a fellow countryman’s memory of war from the comfort of mom’s basement, but most Americans have the humility and gratitude to respect and learn from the memories of men who suffered on behalf of others.

The McCain Report

Wargaming nerds in black, tight fitting t-shirts take that!   Don’t hate Obama because his Charisma score makes him a more powerful orc slayer than you.  You can forget my vote in November Mr. McCain.  Oh, and mom, can you bring down some more lemonade–make that hateorade– for me and the boys?