Follow That, McCain

Give it your best shot.

Wow!

The Democratic convention is really something. This is exciting, compelling stuff.

I've had the pundits turned off most of the night, watching on C-SPAN. But I just flipped over to MSNBC for a few moments and heard Keith and Chris talking about Obama's speech. They have an advance copy. It sounded like gold.

Plus, I love the stagecraft, the great speeches we've had, the great images, the admirals, generals, common folks, the vice presidential nominee, Al Gore, Susan Eisenhower, the King family, and so many others.

If the Republicans hoped the country would tune in to see some 'ridiculous Greek temple' kind of thing, they better hope the country tunes out real fast! There's nothing ridiculous about this. This is excellent in every way. And I love it.

My Story on Joe Biden's Mother

My big story of the day is Joe Biden's mother. Here's the direct link to my article on her. (Here's the general link to my Grandma Slump blog.)

Also at Grandma Slump, "Other Democratic Convention News."

And, what it means that my Grandma Slump/grandson character is "An Intrepid Reporter."

Brian Schweitzer and Hillary

Brian Schweitzer did a pretty good job in his speech. Following Mark Warner, if he simply stayed awake he had to be an improvement. But he excelled, especially as it went along. Finally, when he had everyone standing and yelling, it was a great moment. It was also nice to see someone at the podium who was so animated.

One tweak: I prefer a little more passion -- not just animation and facial gestures -- a little more edge, with the frustration we have about Bush and McCain being real and deep. I don't want lines that sound rehearsed or forced, I was it straight from the gut, that kind of connection that says we take this very very personally and we will not tolerate four more years of the same.


Hillary

She doesn't have the greatest speaking voice, face it. A lot of her tone has a very artificial feel to it, unpleasant like chewing on aluminum foil. (I supported her in the primaries; I just don't like to hear her speak.) But she capped off the night with the best speech of the night, and obviously the most necessary speech. She needed to put aside all this baloney about a divided party. Obviously, there is nothing about John McCain that by nature should appeal to her voters. A vote for McCain instead of Obama would just be sour grapes and a self-destructive act. It was great that Hillary laid it out and made that crystal clear. She seemed pretty sincere about how bad McCain would be, even though I would have left out the line about being his friend and how great and courageous he is.

Mark Warner

So that was the great Mark Warner? His speech sucked, and he sucked. Such an anemic presentation, just a lot of kum bah ya pabulum.

What happened to great oratory, something rousing? I'm watching some of the speeches at the Democratic convention, and it sounds like ninth grade speech class. They're so glassy-eyed, trained on the teleprompter, with no sense of the audience, no sense of building up and blowing off some good Democratic steam. I thought we as Democrats were hyper-frustrated with George W. Bush and John McCain; I know I am. This kind of namby-pamby Tiptoe Through The Tulips la-la-la tone they're taking is not getting the job done.

Then we have our keynote speaker. And I'm getting dirty looks from my significant other by loudly proclaiming it anemic and sucking. Finally I went and got a pillow and blanket and said, Look I'm laying down and maybe I'll fall asleep. You don't fall asleep during the keynote address at the Democratic convention. Not in a year like this. But that was a speech that was a true snoozer.

John McCain doesn't have a mark on him. He doesn't even have to play Rope-A-Dope because the Democrats are floundering in the corner, maybe boxing shadows, certainly not going after McCain. It's disgusting.

Here's hoping Hillary Clinton does something better. She can't do worse.