Since Kathleen is off doing actually important things, you’re stuck with me for liveblogging. You can expect me to have an extremely unsophisticated analysis. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
10:00 — Football is still on. NBC doesn’t care about the Republicans.
10:01 — Ah, there we go. Shot of Palin and Cindy. They’re both wearing shiny suits. Today I had several anxiety attacks thinking about what would happen if John McCain was elected president and then died.
10:05 — Here we go with the video. Ha ha he’s a momma’s boy.
10:06 — Everyone is John McCain’s family was in a war. Had you heard that McCain fought in Vietnam? And he almost died? But he was DESTINED TO BE PRESIDENT. Oh also, he was tortured.
10:07 — Okay, sure, John McCain was once sort of attractive. He spent years in HELL…nice dramatic rhetoric, there.
10:09 — Cindy really does look like an alien. Ha, he’s not in this to support any political party…then why didn’t he act like a real maverick and pick Lieberman?
10:10 — Pictures of babies and old women. He has seven children? I did not know that. Oh wait, I do remember that blonde girl who writes the terrible blog.
10:11 — “The stars are aligned…”? Really? He’s stealing Barry’s “change” word.
10:11 — Wait, did they MENTION that McCain was tortured? In Vietnam? He lived in a BOX, PEOPLE. Ha ha, box. He will keep other people from enduring that box. Sexist!
10:13 — Here he comes. They set aside seven minutes for applause. Hmm. He is wearing a gold tie, which means he hates America.
10:14 — It’s sort of sad that Barry filled Invesco and what ever small St. Paul place this speech is in isn’t even full.
10:14 — Weird, someone in the crowd has a disposable camera.
10:15 — Ha, three minutes and he’s already talking. GREEN SCREEN ALERT. Or wait, is that a lawn?
10:16 — “USA! USA! USA!”
10:16 — Surprise surprise, he accepts the nomination.
10:16 — Reference to Bush, but he quickly ties it to 9/11. Good save, Johnny.
10:17 — His signs so aren’t as cool as Barry’s.
10:18 — “I’m indebted to my robot wife Cindy, whom I selected once my other wife got crippled.”
10:18 — Cindy ALMOST looks like she might cry. She has really thin lips.
10:19 — McCain’s mom is sort of adorable. I like her big blue earrings.
10:21 — Says some nice things about Barry. Can they PLEASE stop chanting USA?
10:22 — McCain holds his shoulders awkwardly as he promises to win the election.
10:23 — AH A CRAZY WOMAN JUST RUSHED THE STAGE! No one knows what to do! This is amazing! Wait is that a Code Pinker? McCain calms them down with his creepy laugh. I think there are two crazy women. One in a suit, one in a weird pink satin shirt with writing on it. Hmm.
10:24 — He seems to be annoyed that they keep chanting “USA.” He could use some Crest White Strips. They’re only like $17 now.
10:25 — Everyone loves Sarah Palin. Did he just pronounce her name wrong?
10:25 — “I want to thank everyone in American for ignoring Sarah’s lack of experience and instead focusing on the fact that she’s sort of hot.”
10:26 — Shot of the Palin kids. Ah, there’s Bristol. Where’s hot hot baby daddy Levi?
10:27 — He can’t wait to introduce Palin to Washington because SHE’S BASICALLY NEVER BEEN THERE BEFORE.
10:27 — “Change is coming.” Seriously dude, that’s basically plagarism.
10:29 — “Heh heh. Did I mention I’ve been called a maverick?” Ha, someone’s McCain-Palin sign is upside-down.
10:31 — I still get email updates about concerts coming to Denver, and I get really angry when there are good people coming when I’m not there. Anyone want to fly me out to Denver on October 16 to see Conor Oberst?
10:32 — THE Georgetown bar is “hoppin,” according to my roommate. I wish I was liveblogging this from a bar.
10:33 — Okay, so he talked about Iraq for a while, but so far this speech seems kind of fluffy.
10:33 — Ooh here come the personal sob stories. Aw, a dad is crying.
10:34 — McCain wears a bracelet of a young man who died in Iraq. The kid’s parents look so sad.
10:36 — He promises to get back to basics. Shot of a kid with a phallic elephant hat on his head.
10:36 — American Dream rhetoric. “We’re all God’s children, and we’re all Americans.”
10:37 — Rattles off the romantic reasons that people like my dad are Republicans. Too bad that’s quite far from reality.
10:38 — He’ll give us a government that doesn’t make our choices for us, but rather lets us make more choices for ourselves. They’re booing Obama. WATCH IT PEOPLE WE LOVE BARRY.
10:39 — I wonder who all those people in the straw hats are.
10:41 — Do I want to go watch this speech at my roommate’s boyfriend’s house and eat ice cream? Hmmm.
10:42 — “Something related to education is the civil rights movement of this century.” Interesting analogy. I might have said that the GLBT movement is the most important civil rights issue right now. Not that education’s not important, but you know…
10:44 — People are yawning. I am too.
10:45 — Did Palin get new glasses?
10:45 — “We will drill off-shore and we will drill NOW!” Someone is holding up an “Environmentalists for McCain” sign. Really? Did they notice that Palin doesn’t believe humans are responsible for global warming?
10:46 — Stop making fun of Barry; we all know off-shore drilling isn’t a long-term option.
10:47 — “We must see the threats to peace and liberty in our time clearly.” True, let’s do that.
10:48 — “Iran is evil. So is Russia.” But I don’t understand…I have a REALLY adorable teacher from Iran. He wears bow ties.
10:49 — “I’m not afraid; I’m prepared. I know how the military works…yada yada.”
10:50 — My roommate just left. She took the ice cream. Now I’m bored and lonely again with no one but McCain to keep me company.
10:51 — Okay, he spoke sort of eloquently there about war and peace and keeping us safe.
10:52 — I don’t think I’m very good at liveblogging. I’m exceptionally bored and don’t have anything insightful to say. I wish I had something delicious to snack on. Let’s see what Wonkette just liveblogged: “He’s like, I will not send Young People To Die for no good reason. And yet… just… and yet.” Dear Wonkette, I love you.
10:53 — “I WAS IN A WAR, REMEMBER? THAT BLACK GUY WASN’T.”
10:54 — Girl with yellow eyeshadow cries.
10:55 — Ooh valuable life lesson time. Oh, shocker, it’s about how he was in the war. “Vietnam Vietnam…torture torture torture…I was a maverick…I was shot down…and remember, I was tortured!!!” Two other soldiers he was with took care of him and saved his life. That does make me feel sort of warm and fuzzy inside.
11:02 — “We’ve gotta fight for our right to party.” Okay he didn’t really say that. Now he’s talking like a robot through the cheers of the crowd. Ha, they, they worked in a shot of a guy wearing a yarmulke and a black woman right at the end. Republicans are so diverse!
11:05 — Phew, it’s over. What is that music at the end? Oh, it’s really bad, tacky country music, that’s what.
11:07 — The balloons just dropped, awkwardly late. What is this, THE PROM?! (Zing!)
Okay I’m finished with this. Hopefully Kathleen will be back tomorrow with some legitimate commentary.
[Posted by Mallory]
six words to change the world. 
live blogging the vice presidential showdown.
9:01 – Hi Gwen! Looking foxy in teal. We get it, we get it. Let’s just get to it.
9:03 – Ooooh the bail out. Joe is on message. YESSSSSS. I’m mesmerized by the chart at the bottom of the screen. The positives soared for Sen. Biden. Oh, here goes Sarah talking about parents at a soccer game. Do you have kids? I had no idea! But I thought you were hockey mom? GET YOUR STORY STRAIGHT, LADY. Both candidates went to bat for the top of the ticket right away. Not surprising.
9:08 – She whipped out the maverick card. “Git down, to gitting business done.” Ugh. She threw in the “all due respect” line, which we all means with no respect at all. I don’t think that inferring Biden’s been in the Senate for too long is a good approach, Sarah. Have you met John McCain? And stop trying to steal the term change from the Change Master.
9:14 – She’s not going to answer the questions the way the moderator wants? If I were Gwen, I would have given her an eye roll and snapped my fingers in her face. Straight talk, Sarah? Answer the straight questions. I’ve got a question for you. Did dinosaurs and humans exist at the same time? But we digress.
9:17 – Sarah, government isn’t the problem. YOU are the problem with government.
9:21 – Biden made a funny about the bridge to nowhere! And a great rebuttal about the health care system.
9:29 – Yawn. I want to see them take the gloves off. Maybe I’ll make myself a glass of chocolate milk.
9:30 – Oh goody! CLIMATE CHANGE. Well at least she acknowledges that it exists. Biden corrects his coal gaffe of last week. Thatta boy, stick it to them.
9:35 – Palin says the word “rape” and the ticker is showing a drop in favorability among women.
9:41 – Biden is hitting this war question out of the park. I cannot believe that she just called Barack’s plan a “white flag of surrender”. The fact that both of these candidates have children in the military and in the Middle East is huge. It prevents cheap shots, for sure. I’m staring at Palin’s potentially tatooed lip liner. I’m kind of freaked out.
9:49 – Ever notice that sometimes Sarah Palin sounds like a leprechaun? Where is she from again?
9:54 – Yawning again. But wait! A question about the Bush administration. STOP GIVING THE CAMERA SEX EYES PALIN.
9:56 – Every time Biden said “George Bush’s”, I chuckled. It sounded like George Bushish. Which, in my mind, was twisted to George Bushit. Teehee.
10:02 – Come on guys, get spicy. But right now, Biden talking about helping Darfur is really inspiring. He’s showing that he really knows what he’s talking about with foreign policy. This guy knows what’s going on. I wonder if Sarah Palin could point out Darfur on a map? Stop talking about Alaska. Nobody cares.
10:07 – My friend just said Palin is really into these “mom pep talks”. Well put, sir. Mom pep talks are not what we need though. We need ideas. We need someone who understands what’s going on. Someone that reads the newspaper, perhaps.
10:17 – Defending Dick Cheney is not a strong position for Sarah Palin.
10:21 – Did Biden just choke up a bit while talking about being a single parent? Awwww! Make fun of him for running his mouth all you want, but this guy is genuine.
10:24 – Biden just nailed the Maverick thing. He pointed out everything that John McCain has voted against. That’s not being a maverick. And he tied it back to the issues talked about at the kitchen table, just like Palin was talking about. BRILLIANT.
10:29 – Palin’s closing statements. Blah blah blah, Ronald Reagan, blah blah blah, her family.
10:31 – Biden reclaims the word “change” for Obama. I’m feeling good. God bless America.
10:40 – Naturally I want to call this for Biden. And I think issues wise, he won. He was is the better debater. And I could tell he was holding himself back from the zingers that he’s so good at. (On Rudy Guiliani: “There’s only three things he mentions in a sentence — a noun, a verb, and 9/11.”) I sort of wish he had let her have it a little bit more.
But here’s the thing about Palin– she didn’t have any egregious gaffes, which is what we were all wishing for. Except calingl a U.S. General by the wrong name…and some other minor stuff. Anyway, the standard was so low for her that all she really had to do was give an answer, use folksy language and bat her eyes. I wonder what would have happened if she had been forced to do more follow up questions. She was well-rehearsed, and it showed. She was, after all, in beauty pageants. Except that she isn’t really looking for world peace.
What do you think?
[Posted by Kathleen]
3 Comments
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