Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

This really is a full service blog.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

You cannot shame the shameless.

Republicans in disarray!

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

Take your GOP plan out of the witness protection program.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Accountability, motherfuckers.

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

You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2012 / Thursday Evening Open Thread: “Obama’s Way”

Thursday Evening Open Thread: “Obama’s Way”

by | 264 Comments

This post is in: , , ,

With TaMara’s permission, this week’s Recipe Exchange will be on Friday, because right now we’re all too excited to think about eating.

Vanity Fair has a teaser slideshow up for Michael Lewis’ big article in the October issue:

… “Assume that in 30 minutes you will stop being president. I will take your place. Prepare me. Teach me how to be president,” Lewis, who interviewed President Obama multiple times over six months—on Air Force One, in the Oval Office, and on the basketball court—asks. Obama explains that every president is deeply aware of his duty to the American people. “Everything you are doing has to be viewed through this prism,” he says. “I don’t know George Bush well. I know Bill Clinton better. But I think they both approached the job in that spirit.”…

“Nothing comes to my desk that is perfectly solvable,” Obama tells Lewis. “Otherwise, someone else would have solved it. So you wind up dealing with probabilities. Any given decision you make you’ll wind up with a 30 to 40 percent chance that it isn’t going to work. You have to own that and feel comfortable with the way you made the decision. You can’t be paralyzed by the fact that it might not work out.” …

His odd relationship to the news: “One of the things you realize fairly quickly in this job is that there is a character people see out there called Barack Obama. That’s not you. Whether it is good or bad, it is not you. I learned that on the campaign. You have to filter stuff, but you can’t filter it so much you live in this fantasy land.”

His difficulty with faking emotion: “I feel it is an insult to the people I’m dealing with. For me to feign outrage, for example, feels to me like I’m not taking the American people seriously. I’m absolutely positive that I’m serving the American people better if I’m maintaining my authenticity. And that’s an overused word. And these days people practice being authentic. But I’m at my best when I believe what I am saying.”…

***********

How go everyone’s at-home preparations for tonight’s big convention celebration / wrap-up? Got your confetti cannons properly aligned?

Reader Interactions

264Comments

  1. 1.

    TaMara (BHF)

    What I said to Anne Laurie when I emailed her this afternoon:

    I know we’re all going to be focused on more important things tonight.

    You know, like WHERE IS JOHN G. COLE and IS HE WEARING PANTS? (Also, is there a girl?)

    Oh, and I hear some guy is giving a speech or something tonight, too.

  3. 3.

    Richard

    Given their “fact”-checking of Clinton, I expect the AP will run an article on Obama’s convention speech that references birther conspiracy theories, just to show us all how “balanced” they are.

  4. 4.

    Mnemosyne

    This is when it sucks to live on the West Coast. I’m still at work for another half-hour at least, so if I’m fortunate I may get home in time to see the Prez. Everyone else will have to be watched later on YouTube. (My job is fairly chill, but not to the point of watching Clinton’s 45-minute opus while I’m on the clock.)

    On the other hand, it’s sunny here and not raining (though it is ungodly humid for the SF Valley), so I’ve got that on my side.

  5. 5.

    Maude

    @TaMara (BHF):
    John is at the convention. Don’t know about the pants.

    I am sick of the fakes. It’s such a relief to listen to Obama.
    I’m again reading The Big Short. I’m at the part about CDOs.

  7. 7.

    Applejinx

    “Nothing comes to my desk that is perfectly solvable,” Obama tells Lewis. “Otherwise, someone else would have solved it.”

    That alone is such an impressive insight… what a job, damn…

  8. 8.

    The Dangerman

    If Eva Longoria was changing my oil, I think I would have done it every 1000 miles. And she likes ballers (Tony Parker, Barack) … make that 500 miles.

  13. 13.

    Davis X. Machina

    @Applejinx: One of the hardest things to get beginners in HS policy debate to grasp is that you gain no points for even a successful advocacy of a solution to a problem, unless there are inherent barriers to the solution under the status quo.

    Shooting fish in a barrel doesn’t win any ballots for the affirmative.

  14. 14.

    PsiFighter37

    Eva Longoria was very impressive. Maybe she has some Texas politics in her if she decides to stop acting?

    Schweitzer on now.

  18. 18.

    TaMara (BHF)

    Gonna have to go to CSPAN feed, because I like Kal Penn, but not that much that I want him narrating my evening.

    Kinda like Schweitzter.

    Loved how the pundits on PBS had to say something snarky when Jennifer Granholm finished. Asshats.

  21. 21.

    PsiFighter37

    Charlie Crist now, auditioning for running as a Democrat in the 2014 FL-GOV race.

    ETA: Not entirely inspiring, but not terrible. If he wants real applause, he should highlight how he advocated early voting as governor. That will get him some serious applause.

  23. 23.

    Hill Dweller

    Granholm: Romney’s cars get the elevator, but he wanted the people who built them to get the shaft.

  26. 26.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    I know Charlie Crist is an independent now but it’s gotta be a little enticing to him to know he can become a Democrat and come out of the closet.

  31. 31.

    Mnemosyne

    @piratedan:

    Giffords has kept a low profile since leaving Congress in January to focus on her physical therapy. But she signaled this week that she’s not leaving the political arena: She launched a new political action committee, Gabby PAC.

    Hmm. Thinking about making a run at the Senate seat when McCain gives it up, perhaps? I can’t remember if Jon Kyl is retiring in this cycle or next cycle.

  33. 33.

    Splitting Image

    “Nothing comes to my desk that is perfectly solvable,” Obama tells Lewis. “Otherwise, someone else would have solved it. So you wind up dealing with probabilities. Any given decision you make you’ll wind up with a 30 to 40 percent chance that it isn’t going to work. You have to own that and feel comfortable with the way you made the decision. You can’t be paralyzed by the fact that it might not work out.”

    I’m picturing George Romney nodding his head and Mitt Romney hanging his. If Romney were less gutless, he’d have said this six months ago, and he’d be in a good position to win the election. As it is, he’s chosen to take that “I’m a CEO, I don’t make mistakes like other people” attitude that makes people so angry they don’t know what to hit him with.

  38. 38.

    PsiFighter37

    @RoonieRoo: I’m not really sure, but people seemed to like him well enough in FL. And it’s not really hard beating Rick Scott at this point. I think the main hangup would come from the FL Democratic Party. That said, the state party (IMO) is a bit of a joke, so…you take what you can get.

  41. 41.

    piratedan

    @Spaghetti Lee: and Carmona has been steadily gaining momntum, he’s a good guy, but I’ve only met him in passing, but he’s passionate about medicine and he’d be a damn sight better than Flake. If I was home, I’d phone bank for him….

    @Mnemosyne: TY for the update, most of us suspected she would return, I just want her to pick her spot wisely because her old seat is up for grabs… while Barber won the special, this time he’s not up against a nutcase like Kelly.

  42. 42.

    Spaghetti Lee

    @Paddy:

    The foreign-born rule is such a bullshit rule anyway. So Granholm was born in Canada, so what. She was the governor of a freakin’ state. She’s somehow less qualified than the other 49 governors because she was born in Canada?

  44. 44.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Kerry started out not knowing if he wanted to be folksy or stentorian, but he’s found his rhythm. I’ve always liked him, I’m cool with him taking over from HRC.

    ETA: Ask Osama bin Laden if he’s better off now than he was four years ago.

    Ouch.

  45. 45.

    Jay C

    Jeez, who spiked Kerry’s meds today?

    Love the good build-up later in the day: Schweitzer, Granholm, Crist, Kerry….

    And a guest-spot appearance for Osama….

  46. 46.

    Omnes Omnibus

    I don’t care what anyone says, I have always liked John Kerry. I think he would have been a good President – good Presidential candidate, harder case to make.

  47. 47.

    freelancer (iPhone)

    @Spaghetti Lee:

    Carmona’s name recognition is just starting. The last 9 months have been blanketed with ads between Flake and his primary challenger. I saw the first Carmona ads last night during the Cowboys/Giants game. That said, I don’t watch that much local tv and don’t listen to the radio.

  49. 49.

    ? Martin

    I like Kerry, but he really isn’t great at this. Tone it down about 25% and he’s a perfect Romney, which is probably why Obama chose him for debate prep. And Kerry would need to forget about 98% of what’s in his head to simulate Romney on foreign policy.

    I wonder who Obama has in mind to replace Hillary?

  50. 50.

    JPL

    How can I ask Osama since I don’t know what part of the sea he’s in? Four pinocchios for you Kerry…

  56. 56.

    Jay C

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    That’s the rumor – JFK in line for SoS post-Hillary?
    I’d be cool with that…

    OMG – Bill Clinton took a stiletto to Mitt & his policies, Big John seems to have decided a nail-studded baseball bat would be more subtle….

  62. 62.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    Meh, Kerry had a few good lines but I’ll never forgive him for sucking so bad that he lost to the Worst President Ever.

  65. 65.

    RoonieRoo

    Who the hell is this? That isn’t John Kerry. Damn…not being the candidate does a body and brain good!

  69. 69.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    He could prolly bring me around by ending his speech with “And how’d you like the last 4 years of Bush, America? Fucking assholes!”

  70. 70.

    Calouste

    @Splitting Image:

    And Romney can’t attack Obama on that 30-40% number, because Obama will hit back with how many companies failed under Bain, and point out that even though the comapnies failed, Bain still came away with profits in most of the cases.

  74. 74.

    mclaren

    Given the relentless sadistically envenomed verbal assaults launched in a nonstop thermonuclear barrage against Obama by the far-right and all too much of the so-called “mainstream media” (viz., NEWSWEEK, which now acts as a delivery system for the venom of poisonous insects like Niall Ferguson) it’s amazing Obama can function at all. At some point in the first 6 months of Obama’s presidency you get the sense that most people would have lost it and started screaming at the Republicans and the Blue Dog Democrats and beating the table until their hand broke.

  75. 75.

    Comrade Nimrod Humperdink

    Lurch just worked Mittens over. Always good to see Kerry get some digs in after 04.

  76. 76.

    dr. bloor

    @Jay C:

    Bill Clinton took a stiletto to Mitt & his policies, Big John seems to have decided a nail-studded baseball bat would be more subtle….

    Elizabeth Warren would do well to take note of the senior senator from MA’s choice of weapons.

  80. 80.

    Jay C

    And the bit about Romney’s omission of “the troops” from his acceptance speech? Think the talking-heads will like to bring that one up tomorrow???

  82. 82.

    PsiFighter37

    Where was that John Kerry 8 years ago…

    That was my first political campaign. I worked so freakin’ hard, and that was such an incredibly depressing Election Night/day after.

  85. 85.

    Spaghetti Lee

    @Just Some Fuckhead:

    I wouldn’t say I’m glad Kerry lost, but I’m glad Bush had to own it when the economy fell out in late ’08. Picture that alternate universe: President Kerry in ’08, the GOP and the media throwing shit at him over “his” recession, Barack Obama never becoming president, some Republican “guiding us through” the last 4 years, the congressional teabaggers having a president willing to bend over for them.

    Kerry got cheated. But in some ways I’m glad he lost.

  90. 90.

    WereBear

    @raven: Wow. Quite the endorsement, that.

    I think there was some kind of institutionalized disbelief in Washington DC; Can they really be doing this? Are they really so lacking in honor and humanity?

    The answer, YES, just begs for denial.

  93. 93.

    raven

    See now this horseshit about how we were treated when we came home needs to stop. It won’t but it should.

  94. 94.

    cusorial

    At the beginning of the salute to veterans running after Kerry’s speech, it flashed by kind of quick but was that an old photo of McCain (around his POW release time?) It looked familiar.

  95. 95.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @Jay C:

    And the bit about Romney’s omission of “the troops” from his acceptance speech? Think the talking-heads will like to bring that one up tomorrow???

    Democrats left God out of the Democratic platform. Both sides do it.

  96. 96.

    Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn

    Damn, the music in this vet vid sounds like it was actually written by a steely-eyed bald eagle.

    Great vid.

  98. 98.

    Patricia Kayden

    @hep kitty: She was on fire! You can tell she was enjoying every minute of it. I loved when she did the state-by-state shout out of the auto jobs President Obama saved.

    Really enjoying this convention.

  101. 101.

    RoonieRoo

    I didn’t watch the RNC shitshow. Is it correct that there was almost no mention of our vets?

  104. 104.

    Comrade Nimrod Humperdink

    @PsiFighter37: I think most of us that comment here were really busted up that election night. I really had a hard time accepting that election. I couldn’t understand how a country that was paying any attention to what was going on could re-elect W. It still makes me mad.

  108. 108.

    Paula

    @dance around in your bones:

    So much of this “support the troops” stuff rings true among the Dems this year because the Obama/Biden troupe decided that veteran care was a priority.

    That video earns a thumbs up for me for including the Gold Star Mother and not having her just parrot something about “freedom” and “worthy sacrifice”. Just talking about her loss.

  109. 109.

    gelfling545

    I understand the need for polls, campaign advisers,falalalala & all but if John Kerry had gone against his advisers and the conventional wisdom & turned this loose 2 elections ago a lot of trouble might have been avoided.

  110. 110.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Comrade Nimrod Humperdink: I was on the ground – standing in the drizzle for 2 hours waiting to vote – in Ohio. It will always be very hard to convince me that Ken Blackwell didn’t put his thumb on the scales.

  113. 113.

    Comrade Nimrod Humperdink

    @Ben Franklin: That’s one of the tiny little side benefits of Obama’s emergence. Mark Penn can rip people off in the private sector, and Bob Shrum can trade one liners with Tweety instead of fucking up more elections.

  115. 115.

    PsiFighter37

    Just saw Patrick Murphy (former rep. from PA) on stage with the vets. So disappointed he didn’t win the PA AG primary. After 2 straight losses, it’s going to be tough to rebuild his political career. Maybe Obama can give him a high-profile post in the 2nd term.

  117. 117.

    suzanne

    @Comrade Nimrod Humperdink: I remember I got really, really drunk that night. Not the drunkest I’ve ever been, but close. My first election was 2000, and I was angry that the election was stolen. But in 2004, WE FUCKING KNEW BETTER, WE KNEW WHAT A SHIT SHOW THAT FUCKER RAINED DOWN ON ALL OUR HEADS, and yet my countrymen and -women decided that it was time for Round Two. FUCK. I get upset just thinking about it.

  118. 118.

    Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn

    @PsiFighter37:

    That was my first political campaign. I worked so freakin’ hard, and that was such an incredibly depressing Election Night/day after.

    Trust me, it was no easier for us “vets” of many electoral cycles. Thank goodness ’08 seemed to have help prevent permanent dispiritedness in younger voters and campaign volunteers.

  120. 120.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @PurpleGirl: She’s been saying that for a long time, no? That part, I’m pretty sure, is more than just a rumor, that she’s done in January.

  121. 121.

    dance around in your bones

    @Paula:

    I agree – Obama (and Michelle and Jill) didn’t just talk the talk – they have been walking the walk.

    That mom who said ‘he didn’t come home’ just dissolved me into a puddle.

  123. 123.

    PsiFighter37

    @Comrade Nimrod Humperdink: What was worse was I was in PA for the election. I did loads of phonebanking, canvassing, GOTV on Election Day. We won our battle…but we lost the war. No college freshman deserves to be that depressed.

  126. 126.

    JPL

    After 9/11 you could not criticize the pres during a time of war .. if you were a candidate that drank green tea and ate foreign greens, you were mocked..

    ALSO,too.. Kerry’s wife did not release a hundred years of tax returns..
    suck on that ..

  129. 129.

    ChrisNYC

    Loving tonight. Kerry was great. And what a good guy to joke about before it before I was against it. He’s way better for SoS than Pres. Loved the vets. Love Jill Biden.

  130. 130.

    Comrade Nimrod Humperdink

    @suzanne: Amen to the all caps rage. There was a fellow grad student in my department at the time from Canada who supposedly got 3 marriage proposals the morning after.

  131. 131.

    MikeJ

    @RoonieRoo:

    I didn’t watch the RNC shitshow. Is it correct that there was almost no mention of our vets?

    Here’s the text of Mitt’s speech. Go there and do a control-F and look for Iraq. Or Afghanistan. Or veteran.

    Paul Ryan did mention veterans once, but not Iraq, and not Afghanistan.

  132. 132.

    pseudonymous in nc

    @PsiFighter37:

    If he wants real applause, he should highlight how he advocated early voting as governor. That will get him some serious applause.

    He was also very good on Florida’s awful laws on felon disenfranchisement — which Gov Lex Luthor immediately reversed. 10% of Floridians who’d otherwise be eligible to vote are disenfranchised because of that.

  133. 133.

    Jay C

    @PurpleGirl:

    A few hours? Hillary stated her intention to step down as SoS after Obama’s first term at least a year ago. Probably more, it’s not a surprise (though her sucessor is still an open question).

  140. 140.

    ? Martin

    Just learned another coworker committed suicide. Getting tired of this shit. Not looking forward to the cost of the next round of budget cuts.

  141. 141.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @PurpleGirl: Here ya go:

    No matter what happens in the 2012 US presidential elections, Hillary Clinton will not be America’s chief diplomat for much longer.
    At a State Department press conference yesterday, she announced that she would be stepping down from the “high wire of American politics” after 20 years, as first lady, as a senator from New York, and finally as US Secretary of State. At the press conference, she told reporters that “it would be a good idea to find out how tired I really am.”

  144. 144.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @Soonergrunt: We switched to CSPAN for the first time. They show every speech and between speeches, they show people dancing really badly. Not that I don’t really enjoy Rachel Maddow making crazy faces after the few speeches MSNBC bothers to show.

  147. 147.

    dance around in your bones

    @Soonergrunt:

    Well, you can catch it later online, I’m sure. It was powerful and incredibly moving.

    Made me just weepy as all hell.

  148. 148.

    raven

    “The archbishop of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, is scheduled to give the benediction at the close of the Democratic National Convention, just after President Barack Obama speaks.

    Dolan, of course, did the same at the Republicans’ meeting last week in Tampa, Fla. Afterward he gave an interview stressing that he was nonpartisan and would be happy to do both conventions. Democrats invited him.

    The church has had some tense moments recently with Obama’s administration over the issue of his health care law, and whether it can require religiously affiliated institutions to offer their employees contraception.

    _ Sally Buzbee”

  149. 149.

    David Koch

    It’s a good thing I bought 10,000 shares of Kleenx today.

    The country is gonna complete out by the end of the night.

  158. 158.

    PsiFighter37

    So I assume we’re down to just Joe Biden and BHO now?

    Showtime, baby. I’m lit and ready.

  163. 163.

    The Other Bob

    @Paddy: I worked in the Granholm administration, but not in her office. I have friends that are close to her. She is a real caring person, but she is not really like the speech she gave tonight I think soft spoken speeches work better for her.

    I reported to one of her cabinet members during the auto industry bankruptcy. It was a scary time. People would come out of her cabinet meeting pale as ghosts. I bet she could tell stories that would move you and remind us how bad it really was.

  168. 168.

    Judas Escargot, Acerbic Prophet of the Mighty Potato God

    @Spaghetti Lee:
    None of them have statewide appeal. As I & others lamented in a thread earlier today, it’s a pretty parochial place. Folks tend to be loyal to their own Congressmen, and hate all the others.

    Example: Barney Frank was so loved in his district that the GOP didn’t even bother to put a candidate up against him some years. But he would never have been able to get enough votes statewide to win a Senate seat.

  174. 174.

    Violet

    I loved those older women going nuts for Joe Biden in the video. Grandma’s boyfriend, for sure.

  175. 175.

    Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn

    Anyone else expecting a good cop/bad cop presentation, tonight? I’ll bet Joe’s got some pretty good body blows lined up.

  183. 183.

    Anne Laurie

    @Spaghetti Lee:

    For God’s sake, what the hell is that all-Democrat house delegation good for, anyway?

    Safe “machine” political systems breed lousy, lazy politicians. There’s a lot of Old Bhoyos (some of them Italian or even Swamp Yankee) whose only talent involves being the guy who held the coats while the last generation of guys robbed the till. And the women / AA / Asian delegates are either just as crooked/lazy, or they’re the doormat survivors of a machine that doesn’t want “their house” defaced by uppitty women & others. That’s part of why Martha Coackley lost to Scotty Brown — and also why Elizabeth Warren is a total outsider who’s never run for political office in the Commonwealth.

    All that said, there’s talk that if Kerry takes over for HRC, then Deval Patrick takes another page from the Obama notebook and runs for the Senate.

  185. 185.

    ? Martin

    @AliceBlue:

    I seem to remember reading a story in the days following that election about a precinct in Ohio where W got more votes than the actual number of voters in the precinct.

    And the Registrar of Voters looked behind the voting booth and only saw a single set of footprints in the sand…

  189. 189.

    tam

    @Violet:

    I loved those older women going nuts for Joe Biden in the video. Grandma’s boyfriend, for sure.

    haha. I was just thinking “hmm…not too bad for an old guy…”

    I think it’s in the eyes.

  192. 192.

    suzanne

    @freelancer: I was living out in Queen Creek in ’04, and my ex-husband and I went to the elementary school to vote. No Kerry or Dem volunteers there. A Bush volunteer tried to start talking to us, and my ex-husband just flipped him off, right in front of all the kids and all the people in line, and just kept walking. The dude immediately shut up. It was HILARIOUS, and is the only thing about that election that I remember fondly.

    Of course, that left the fact that I was married to a dude who would flip the bird in front of a school full of kids. 2004 was a dark year.

  193. 193.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @The Other Bob: I’ve gotten the sense, from the last bit of Granholm that I saw, from Schweitzer, from Kerry’s debut, they were all trying to hit that Bubba sweet spot between folksy and wonky. Not many can do it, I can’t think of anyone but the Big Dog himself. I was glad when Kerry reverted to the old school Senator that he is, that he always wanted to be. And he still got off his laugh lines. If he had mentioned “multiple choice Mitt”, I’d have sent him a campaign contribution.

  195. 195.

    Anne Laurie

    @PurpleGirl:

    Hillary Clinton stepping down as SoS? (I’ve been away for news for a few hours.)

    After the election. She’s been saying that (“I need a long rest”) for months — it’s where some of the HRC-in-2016 loose talk started.

  198. 198.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Anne Laurie:

    —it’s where some of the HRC-in-2016 loose talk started.

    I think there’s at least a 60% chance she’ll go for it, but I won’t be too surprised if she just says, ah fuck it.

  200. 200.

    Omnes Omnibus

    From Twitter.

    Fun Fact: Joe Biden is the only American Vice President in eleven years who hasn’t shot a friend in a face.

  203. 203.

    ? Martin

    Man, Romney could never pull off that statement about a job meaning dignity. He never experienced that first hand – not even in his dad. They always had money in his lifetime. That’s a powerful message to the group they’re trying to reach.

  204. 204.

    Mnemosyne

    I got home just in time to see Dr. Jill and Crazy Uncle Joe. I love how well the Bidens and Obamas seem to get along. It’s just freakin’ adorable.

  206. 206.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @JPL:

    Put on pbs.. David Brooks ages before your eyes. His jowls really hang by eleven.. Fun times if you are into jowls.

    Wow, that’s pretty tempting. Tell me, does he ever (mercifully) die?

  216. 216.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    And my right-wing Teamster wingnut UPS driver, thought that President Obama was going to drop Biden, and run with Hillary.
    I want to see his head explode in November, when BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA is re-elected!

  217. 217.

    Anya

    Joe Biden: My dad respected Barack Obama.
    Fact checkers: Four Pinocchios, False…
    Pundits: both sides do it.

  219. 219.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @JGabriel:

    Just a guess that complimenting your wife so profusely on national television works pretty well as a pickup line.

    She looked a little perturbed, and he came off a little goofy.

    But man is she ever hot.

  225. 225.

    Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn

    Wow, I was expecting brass knuckles from Joe, but I’m starting to think he has suffocation by pillow in mind.

  226. 226.

    dmsilev

    Shorter Biden: GM is alive, bin Laden is dead, and if it were up to Mitt Romney GM would be dead and bin Laden would be alive.

  227. 227.

    mai naem

    He’s going there. OBL is Dead. Detroit is Alive. Say it Again. OBL is Dead. Detroit is Alive.

  232. 232.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @Anya: Very nice. We should start a fact checking organization.

    “An unbearable wound, an unbearable wound..”

    “There’s no evidence Joe Biden ever wounded a bear. Only three pinocchios because it may have been a gay reference.”

  233. 233.

    mclaren

    @raven:

    I was with him at Dewey Canyon III. If he had fought the Swiftboat fucks like he did the war in Vietnam he would have won.

    Yes, and just ruminate for a moment on the apocalyptic disaster that would’ve unfolded in John Kerry had won back in 2004. When the world economy collapsed in 2008, the far right Randroids would’ve been able to scream “This is all because you didn’t cut taxes on the Galtian producers enough, and because you spent too much money giving welfare to the moochers and the looters!

    The Republicans would’ve ridden to massive victory in 2008 on a policy of more tax cuts for the rich, more business deregulation, more endless unwinnable foreign wars, more cuts to social security and medicare and HeadStart and food stamps and disability. America today would be a wasteland like the surface of the moon with fugitive creatures that used to be human skulking between burned-out buildings in desperate search of moldy crusts of bread to eat and unburned cardboard boxes to sleep in.

    Kerry would obviously have made a far better president than the drunk driving C student from Texas, but this way it became unmistakably clear to the American people just what the consequences of Republican policies really were. After winning ‘o4, the Repubs couldn’t blame anyone else when the economy collapsd and Iraq turned into a living hell and Wall Street melted down and the foreclosure shitstorm hit with Force 6.

  234. 234.

    ? Martin

    So the GOP didn’t talk about the wars at all, or about veterans. I don’t recall any chants of ‘USA’ from the floor.

    I think we’ve got a new daddy party.

  235. 235.

    MikeJ

    @El Cid:

    “The Bain Way,” it’s not about the American way.

    He never actually used that formulation, and I think that’s good. I don’t think the sitting vp should go around calling people unamerican. He did tiptoe up close enough to it that every single person who hears this speech will fill it in themselves.

  237. 237.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I love all the “Fired Up!” “Ready for Joe!” signs.

    And now he’s laying the table for a big shoutfest of “Osama bin Laden is dead, and GM is alive!!”

    You go, Joe!

  239. 239.

    Mnemosyne

    This is the one time I’m willing to go with the “USA! USA!” chant.

    OBL is dead and GM is alive.

  240. 240.

    ChrisNYC

    I hope Biden kills in the debate. He knows his stuff and he knows THEIR stuff and I am so sick of the wingers making fun of him. So I want a landslide, the House back and vindication for Joe.

  242. 242.

    El Cid

    This is something really, really needed: a narrative, a story, an ability for the viewer & listener to feel like they’ve got an idea what’s going on and how it’s happening in Obama’s White House. You have to have that.

  245. 245.

    ? Martin

    I missed a Barney Frank kiss earlier. How cool! (I’m catching up, forgive me, it’s been a weird day)

  246. 246.

    Mnemosyne

    @? Martin:

    So the GOP didn’t talk about the wars at all, or about veterans. I don’t recall any chants of ‘USA’ from the floor.

    There were, when they were trying to drown out the Ron Paul protesters.

    Says a lot, doesn’t it?

  249. 249.

    El Cid

    @MikeJ: What was it literally, it was “that may be the Bain Way, but it’s not the way that you see things in the White House when you’re thinking about the American people.” [Paraphrasing to the best of my ability.]

    But that’s the same thing: it’s the Bain Way, it’s not the American way. Not flag-wavy, but callous insensitivity.

  252. 252.

    mclaren

    @Comrade Nimrod Humperdink:

    If there were any justice Katherine Harris and Ken Blackwell would have their heads shaved like the German collaborators in France in 1946 and be tattoed with the word TRAITOR on their foreheads and be made permanently unemployable. Every week Blackwell and Harris should be stripped naked by an enraged mob and be forced to run through the streets fleeing a hail of rotting food and feces.

  253. 253.

    Spaghetti Lee

    Man, he is tearing it up. This convention has been amazing. Great speech after great speech after great speech.

  254. 254.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @dmsilev: Follow up question: If yes, what substance have you ingested and how much? We need to be able to tell the paramedics.

  256. 256.

    MikeJ

    @El Cid:
    The text as prepared (and close to what was delivered):

    I just don’t think he understood what saving the automobile industry meant-to all of America. I think he saw it the Bain way. Balance sheets. Write-offs.
    __
    Folks, the Bain way may bring your firm the highest profit. But it’s not the way to lead your country from its highest office.

    And he’s right of course. But he never had to call anybody un American. Just lay out the facts and let people reach that conclusion on their own.

  257. 257.

    1badbaba3

    How cool would it have been if he could have crashed the party in Tampa last week. Talk about exploding heads and bum tickers.

  258. 258.

    PurpleGirl

    @Mnemosyne: I was thinking about that too. Most of the Presidents and Vice-Presidents have been arranged couples and the wives didn’t seem to interact much. These four people do seem to genuinely like each other and work well together.

  259. 259.

    El Cid

    @MikeJ: I get it. I really do. I really, really, really do. And I understand why he said it that way. I get it. Yes. I get it. I hear you. I heard you the first time. Gotcha.

  261. 261.

    Patricia Kayden

    Anytime I see Romneybot 2.0 after he’s lost the elections, the phrase “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt” will pop in my mind. I wonder if he regrets penning that article. Almost every person giving a speech at the DNC has reminded us of it.

  262. 262.

    joel hanes

    @Jamey:

    Where was THIS Kerry in ought-fo’?

    Hemmed in by “professional” advisors from the national Party who felt panic whenever a Democrat assumed any position other than Cowed, Defensive Crouch, or Submissive Display. Present but obscured by a national media desperate to preserve a false narrative a bit longer.

    But the real difference is in us, in the electorate.

    In 2004, the nation at large was still insane, still reeling from the emotions unleashed by 9/11 and the intense need to blame some Other for the way we felt on that awful day. Many Americans will never recover, and their politics will remain frozen for the rest of their lives, driven by fear and anger and hatred.

    The best thing about this convention is the public demonstration that the Democratic Party is on the road to recovery, and beginning to remember what it’s about.

Comments are closed.