Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

A dilettante blog from the great progressive state of West Virginia.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

T R E 4 5 O N

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Americans barely caring about Afghanistan is so last month.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

We still have time to mess this up!

You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2012 / Some Famous Black Guy is Speaking Tonight in Charlotte

Reader Interactions

112Comments

  4. 4.

    guachi

    I got to be one of the first members of the military to salute Obama as President. He got out of his car at the Navy memorial in DC and there he was, right in front of me. And all I could think was, “Man, he’s tall.”

    I am soooooo jealous.

  11. 11.

    Chat Noir

    I have the DVR set for C-SPAN tonight. Going to see Hal Sparks in concert; glad to see him but bummed I’m going to miss POTUS and V-POTUS speeches real time. I am confident both will be excellent.

  12. 12.

    AA+ Bonds

    So I understand Democrats were once again dazzled by the unfailing honesty and authenticity of Bill Clinton

  15. 15.

    danah gaz

    @AA+ Bonds: Those rats won’t fuck themselves.

    ETA: Waiting for the part where you provide a substantive criticism of Bill Clinton’s DNC speech.

    Oh wait… you weren’t going to? ahh. rodents + copulation.

    The ghost of Dick Nixon smiles upon you.

  21. 21.

    Spatula

    Fanboy.

    Also too on edit: President Obama is half white. Therefore I find your statement to be RAAAAAAAAAAACIST.

  22. 22.

    ThresherK

    What are the odds that the cameras will seek out our RealAmerican(TM)-looking, not-underfed, not-very-young, not-union-shirt-wearing host, just to show that ordinary white men vote for Dems too?

    (Disclaimer: He’s younger than me, and looks more like RealAmerica than I do. I still got that XC-skiing, road-biking, slightly to seed suburban northeastness about me.)

  25. 25.

    mai naem

    So you’re going to go see Mr.999, Herman Cain? You want free food that bad??? Pretty sad Cole.

  26. 26.

    geg6

    You will love it, Cole. Just love it. I’ve seen him in person three times now (the blessing of living in a so-called swing state). He’s been great every time. First time during the ’08 primary at the local community college, the first time I realized how truly inspiring he was. The last just earlier this summer at CMU. But the best was just after the Denver DNC, first stop for Obama/Niden was Beaver, Beaver County, my own back yard so to speak. I was an invited guest, having registered the most young voters for our district and I got to meet both and their wives. Most exciting moment of my life. I still get a fluttery heart when I think about it.

    You’ll never forget it, I assure you.

  27. 27.

    replicnt6

    @ThresherK:

    (Disclaimer: He’s younger than me, and looks more like RealAmerica than I do. I still got that XC-skiing, road-biking, slightly to seed suburban northeastness about me.)

    Yeah, but how many 14er’s have you climbed?

  34. 34.

    Ash Can

    It’s about fucking time you stopped missing the good stuff. Now get your sorry ass in there and listen and cheer and soak it all in and cherish every moment, like we fucking sent you there to do.

  38. 38.

    bemused

    I would so love to have attended this convention…I am green with envy for those lucky folks there.

    Maybe if the wages of 98% of us hadn’t been stagnant for 30 years, I could have splurged for this.

  39. 39.

    Jay C

    Ol’ Barney’s really tearing Romney (“Mitt” and “Myth” – love it) and the teabaggers in good-old-fashioned Mass. Dem style – wonderful stuff; he’ll be missed!

  42. 42.

    Comrade Mary

    Some Famous Black Guy is Speaking Tonight in Charlotte…
    __
    And I am going to see him.

    Pics or it didn’t happen.

  47. 47.

    lamh35

    Are you guys already there? I thought I heard that they are locking the place down at like 3 or something. So if you don’t get it you may NOT get in.

  48. 48.

    SiubhanDuinne

    How I would love to be there. My boss, and his boss, and HIS boss all scored passes for tonight. Have a great time, John, and give us a nice write-up tonight when you get back to Murder Motel!

  49. 49.

    Yutsano

    @raven: Well FWIW it was the only time I had heard you say something like that. Speciall Timmeh ain’t worth it. No worries. :)

  50. 50.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    NPR tonight as I drove home, the report was about FactCheck.org and the lead in was that Bill Clinton gave this long speech that was “a nightmare” for fact checkers.

    “A nightmare?” says me, huh?

    Apparently what they meant was, according to the FactCheck guy, Clinton’s claims were …. all true. Tried to check them, they all turned out to be true.

    I guess it could be a nightmare if they kept going “Damn, nothing I can even bend into a Pinocchio!” or whatever goofy iconery they’re using, but it was pretty funny to hear the group that came up with the famous “Lie of the year!” that they admitted later was actually one word away from being true, admit that they had nothing. Zip. True. That one too. Yep, true.

    Not even a quibble, sometimes a weak “Now it’s important to realize that he’s using these dates, but given that– totally true.” but that was it.

    Hah.

  53. 53.

    SuzyQ

    @geg6:I see your from Beaver Co. Me too! I’m a long time lurker, seldom commenter, but I wanted to say hey! I went to Beaver High, Class of 83.

    That is all.

  55. 55.

    bemused

    Booman wrote that European Central Bank announced bond-buying program and sent global markets soaring, yay! Can I hope that the stars are really aligning at just the right time for Obama and us?

  60. 60.

    El Cid

    @Comrade Mary: If you go to YouTube’s live stream of the DNC, the red bar at the bottom which seems to stretch across most but not all of the video has the circle indicate the current position.

    You can take that circle and drag it back and see frames appear above it, and you can rewind it all the way back to the beginning of today’s coverage, or specifically to Barney Frank’s speech of a few minutes ago.

  61. 61.

    KCIvey

    I’m beginning to see some crankiness from the media on Twitter about the lack of space for all non-delegates in the new location. I expect that will increase over the evening and blossom tomorrow into columns of outrage about the “locked-down” convention and meanness to humble reporters.

  62. 62.

    hep kitty

    Can you believe I haven’t seen the entire Big Dog speech? I’m going to watch it here in a sec.

  66. 66.

    PurpleGirl

    @lamh35: They will probably reopen the arena after the SS has done a sweep of the whole place. Laura Bush was the keynote speaker for my (former) organization’s opening volunteer rally in 2001. The staff was told to get to the theater at Madison Square Garden and X time, after X’ they would be closing the entrance to do a sweep and reopening about an hour later. (Actually I got there late and just walked through the auditorium as they were doing the sweep but no one stopped me.)

  68. 68.

    Comrade Jake

    I think your best chance to get on teevee tonight Cole is to leave your pants at the hotel. Heck, it might be your best chance at hooking up as well.

  69. 69.

    quannlace

    So many wingnuts from krauthammer to Malkin, sneering that Obama’s speech was moved inside, not cause of bad weather, but because he couldn’t fill the original stadium. (Krauthammer was bizarrely saying that ‘they knew what the weather was going to be months ago. Who knew that Obama could control the weather? Isn’t that going beyond the ‘Magic Negro’ thing?)
    Anyways, they’re still tweeting about it, even now as Charlotte is getting slammed by thunderstorms.

  74. 74.

    TaMara (BHF)

    Can’t believe 4 years ago I was witness to history. You’ll have a great time John. I’m a bit jealous. Because I don’t know about anyone else, but I think re-electing our first black president is just as bad-ass as electing him. Especially after all the shit that’s gone on the last 4 years.

    Obama 2012.

    Go Mary J! Sing it.

  75. 75.

    Elizabelle

    For anyone who’s missed the speeches: C-Span is great about rebroadcasting them after the evening’s program ends. For hours.

  77. 77.

    JGabriel

    __
    __
    GregB:

    Make sure you yell at your chair before sitting in it.

    Now, now, no need to yell.

    Just say in a respectful, dignified tone, “I’m sorry, Mr. Eastwood, this seat is taken.”

    .

  78. 78.

    Comrade Mary

    Mary J Blige is KILLING on the stream. I just saw a nice white lady in the audience try to clap along, but she apparently forgot the first rule: look for the black people in the audience and get in synch with them. It’s not as if she’s trapped at the RNC. ABL says there are Negro clusters EVERYWHERE.

    @El Cid: Ooh, thanks!

    Debbie Wasserman Schultz up now …

  79. 79.

    Lyrebird

    I love Mary J Blige!

    and, uncharitable person that I am, I hope some of the Rmoney supporters who were appalled that the President should sing some bars after Rev. Al Green, are experiencing some brain expansion now as the convention folk rock out to that and…

    oh my, the DJ is playing “Power to the People” — more heads exploding!

  83. 83.

    Dennis SGMM

    @Comrade Mary:
    I’m watching on CSPAN. For me, one of the best parts of the convention has been the shots of those participating. It’s like a quilt of America.

  84. 84.

    Seanly

    We want some pictures, John! I want to see some work out of you or else know that you got alcohol poisoning. Either one of those two will make me feel like my $20 to BJ was well spent. kthxbye

  86. 86.

    AA+ Bonds

    @danah gaz:

    Those rats won’t fuck themselves.

    If you can’t stand up to a lefty like me, you have no chance against the Kochs

    My point is that Clinton hero-worship should be confined to the media; the entire reason that Democrats have to argue in favor of unions to members of their own party is because of Clinton and the DLC

    Playing off Clinton’s popularity with the mass-men will serve as long as the Democrats realize that the messages from the trade unionists who spoke last night are a sight better than Clinton’s numbers on Obama

    I am as eager for a Popular Front as anyone, so in general, I’ve been very nice on Balloon Juice about the convention but I will always sound a note of caution about Bill Clinton, who lost the left and thus a wide margin for Gore in 2000

  89. 89.

    ThresherK

    @replicnt6: Does “lowered from a helicopter stretcher via cable” count as “climbing”?

    If so, all of them. If not, well, there was my free-diving to the wreck of Titanic.

  90. 90.

    bemused

    @SarahT:

    Yes, she did.
    She’s got beautiful, very curly hair that needs the right cut to show it off. I think she finally found someone that knew exactly what she needed.

  92. 92.

    WereBear

    @bemused: Not to mention the way cancer treatment often messes up the hair that comes back. It’s a challenge.

    I put my MIL (in recovery) onto liquid Castile soap from the local health food store; and she loves it! It made her hair soft and wavy, instead of harsh and snarly.

  94. 94.

    Another North Carolinian

    Enjoy it for us JC. Streaming it’s fun, sitting on my porch with a glass of merlot, with my useless community credential around my neck on a BEAUTIFUL autumn evening 50 miles from Charlotte. I’m only now and then flashing on how it would have been in the stadium. Well, shit, I’ll be back at my volunteer gig on Saturday. It’s all OK as long as it comes out right in November. But I mean damn.

  95. 95.

    Arm The Homeless

    @AA+ Bonds: FDR fought for a cap on FICA at the upper end.

    Noam Chomsky never ran.

    You still aren’t a decent writer and I wouldn’t pay for your opinion.

  96. 96.

    Yutsano

    @raven: Little fucker is trying to bait me too. Nice try but I ain’t in the mood. You’ve hardly said a harsh word to me.

  99. 99.

    geg6

    @SuzyQ:

    Hopewell High, class of ’77 representing!

    How cool to find a fellow Beaver Countian here! You still around here? We should have a BJ meetup!

  100. 100.

    danah gaz

    @AA+ Bonds: “If you can’t stand up to a lefty like me, you have no chance against the Kochs”

    Bitch, I stood up to you and your leftier than now nonsense just fine, would do it again, and not break stride.

    I criticize Clinton plenty – when it’s warranted. You’d know that if you didn’t have the attention span of your average firebagging ratfucker.

    That said, when I criticize him, I make sure there is some substance to it. Not just the whiny weak sauce you attempted to serve. That’s the difference. Try harder next time.

  101. 101.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    Will Smith? Eddie Murphy? C’mon, don’t keep us in suspense!

    Have fun Mr. Cranky Cole!

  102. 102.

    hitchhiker

    I keep thinking about the idea of our bloghost making the journey from Republican voter to the events of this evening. Watching the Foo Fighters right now and I need to say I did NOT expect this thing to be so much fun on tv. I hope it’s just as amazing in person.

  104. 104.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    @danah gaz:

    That’s what happens when a bag of shit lights itself on fire. Just don’t stomp on it to put it out…

    piss on it instead.

  105. 105.

    mothra

    I saw him four years ago in Denver. Our older son; an 08 campaign flunky; entered us in a drawing for convention tickets and we won. Being at a national campaign convention is something I had wanted to do since 64- a dream come true; and Obama did not disappoint.

  106. 106.

    Haydnseek

    @AA+ Bonds: Clinton “lost the left?” How wide a margin did Gore need in 2000? He won the popular vote, was fucked by the SCOTUS in the most outrageous theft in history, and Clinton is to blame? You can say a lot of things about Clinton,many of them true, but this is utter bullshit. Gore quite openly spurned Clinton during his campaign, to his detriment.

  107. 107.

    cmorenc

    WOW Cole, did you score a ticket to see Chris Rock do his comedy act? Couldn’t be James Brown, he’s dead.

  108. 108.

    danah gaz

    @Haydnseek: Peddling bullshit is an AA+ Bonds specialty. Especially when it has nothing to do with anything – notice how he assiduously avoids addressing the efficacy of Clinton’s speech. There’s actually at least a couple of substantive criticisms of that speech (such as his praise of Obama’s bipartisan deficit commission), but you see, AA+ Bonds didn’t pay attention to it, or he’d have mentioned at least one. All he does is bitch and moan. It’s completely transparent.

    He claims to lament hero worship, but nobody here is actually worshiping Clinton. The board is no stranger to criticisms of Bill either, such as here https://balloon-juice.com/2012/08/11/money-shot/#comment-3580937
    but you’ll never see him actually rebut anyone in the case of unfounded Clinton praise. His job is to just pee in people’s wheaties. Substance doesn’t matter. He’s a grade A ratfucker (or possibly grade AA+)

  110. 110.

    JustRuss

    And if you wear that stripey shirt, Cole, he will see you!

    Sorry man, I just can’t let it go, that was a fun thread.

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