Posted 22:55 by Grote 0 comments

Day Two(or Three)

Well, we're about to start the third day of the Democratic National Convention. We'll be hearing from John Edwards tonight, amongst others. I'd like to give a quick shout out to Sportswriter Bill Simmons for the model of my blogging. Thanks Bill!

It's 8:00 P.M. and we'll start on CNN.
Once again we have the national anthem, except this time we're asked to wave our left hands gently while we put our right hands over our heart. What is this hokey-pokey?

8:10 All the pundits are blabbing and nothing is going on yet. Although, you can hear someone speaking and the crowd cheering. Must not be too important.

8:16 On MSNBC Chris Matthews his likening Teresea Heinz-Kerry to Black Coffee. "Bitter on the first taste, but eventually you can't live without it." Alright then.

8:21 Clips of Rev. Al Sharpton, on the campaign trail. No matter what party you belong to, he's always good for a laugh. Chris Matthews brings up that he wasn't a serious candidate.

8:23 Up walks Sharpton. He wants to answer Dubya's questions (in a speech he made last week in Detroit).

8:25 He says we fought 282 years ago for our freedoms. That would be 1722. Off by a couple years there Al.

8:30 He's shouting his entire speech. Although, being a preacher, I'm pretty sure its second nature when he's behind a lectern.

8:33 "The government's worry should not be who's sleeping in the bedroom but rather who's not eating in the kitchen." Agreed. however, I'd also include, fix our school, roads, and general infrastructure first.

8:35 He's closes with the "40 acres and a mule" story. The only problem is President Johnson, a democrat, recinded the excutive order after the civil war ended. He goes on to say, if George W. Bush appointed the court in '54, Clarence Thomas wouldn't have gone to law school. Wow. Most incendiary line evar. (or at least this week).

8:39 "With all due respect Mr. President; Read my lips, our vote is not for sale." You can't make this stuff up.

8:41 Chris Matthews, interupts the speech, questiong the "rable rousing" and their questioning whether he isn't doing what the Kerry Campaign wanted and that's grabbing the middle 20. We're gonna switch to see who else has interupted the speech. CNN & PBS are still showing the speech. I'll admit that party conventions are to build party unity but they are to grab the middle. Sharpton has put a good hole in the campaign. You also have to wonder, they bring up, why put this person who didn't win a single delagate.

8:47 According to Brian Williams, who saw the teleprompter, Sharpton's speech went over for "what seems like forever". If I was Kerry, I'd be pissed.

8:53 CNN interviews Sharpton and tells him, they think he was off message, and he says he was on message. He admits that the Kerry people did not see his speech. I've said many times, that conventions now days are very scripted to grab the middle 20%, John Kerry cannot be happy.

8:57 Fox News. Aww, I missed it, apparently Mike Moore and O'Riley had an interview, you could've sold tickets to it.

9:01 MSNBC. Burn. Matthews questions VA governor about "Southern values" that the Kerry campaign keeps talking about John Edwards has. "What makes southern values better than northern values? The South had slavery.. "The governor looked like a deer in headlights.

9:09 Gov. Dean is being interviewed on PBS. He claims that Bush is unable to build international support, while John Kerry will be able to. I'm not sure if either statement is true. Bush has burned a lot bridges but he can start rebuilding them by going to said leaders and asking for help. Kerry, will have to do the same thing and I'm not convinced either will be good at conceeding things they may not be ready to conceed.

9:18 MSNBC, is quicky becoming my favorite news network. They seem to be between Fox and CNN on the political spectrum. They're interviewing a republican about Edwards and Cheney in the future debates. "Bush said 'Dick Cheney can be president', which implies that Edwards isn't ready." That and Kerry claimed during the primaries that Edwards wasn't ready to be president. Which begs the question, why pick him as a possible successor if something happens to you?

9:29 They sure are running a lot of "Manchurian Candidate" ads during the convention. Just sayin, if the president(whichever) gets killed, conspiracy theorists are going to have a field day.

9:39 Wow. Lots of nothing. No wonder the main networks don't want to show anything. If this gets worse tomorrow night, I quit.

9:53 MSNBC is interviewing Madeline Albright. She believes that John Kerry will try to get the troops home sooner but we can not leave Iraq in chaos. As if Bush likes seeing daily casualty reports. I'm sure that without foreign support either president will get the troops home in about the same period of time.

10:11 Cate Edwards introduces her father, to speak and accept the nomination for the Democratic ticket. She looks like a 60's movie star. :D

10:15 Apparently she's only introducing her mother, who will introduce her (Cate's) father. I think.

10:19 John Edwards comes out to "(your love keeps lifting me) Higher". Not my choice for a intro song, but hey each to his own. Let's hope he says something.

10:24 Edwards accepts the nomination to a standing ovation. He wants to talk about Kerry. He talks about Vietnam. Seriously, that's great it really is. But let's talk about issues. I keep hearing about Vietnam and nothing about issues. I can't help but sing "I won three purple hearts, this land will surely vote for me."

10:27 Edwards doesn't like the negative ads from the Bush campaign. Doesn't pledge to stop the attack ads from Kerry's campaign though.

10:30 They have a plan for "one america", for the same health care. They won't have to have two diffrent schools. Doesn't hint at how they plan to pay for it or how to get it through Congress. Must be a secret plan.

10:34 Tax breaks for health care for children, and daycare, and for higher education. So does that mean if don't have any children, my taxes will go up?

10:36 Their going to raise the minimum wage, give tax breaks, and create jobs. Someone hasn't read Article One of the Constitution lately.

10:40 I'll donate $100 to the Red Cross if the GOP doesn't mention 9/11 once. Everyone who has made a major speech at this convention has made reference to it. Policitizing an apolitical moment, that's just great.

10:50 Edwards, wraps up. Promising hope is on the way. The speech didn't overwhelm me, but it was a little more substantial than I expected. B-. However, he still has a long way to go, to prove to me that he is Presidential material.

Have a good night everybody!