08 DNC: Live Blogging Nite 3

Woo-Hoo! It's my first (perhaps only) attempt at live blogging. When presidential election years roll around I become a bit of a political junkie. I watch the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. And I watch them on PBS, because PBS kindly invites top-notch pundits and historians to comment on the action for viewers. Unlike on other networks, these pundits and historians are ALWAYS well mannered and respectful. Oh yeah, and they are actually informative and insightful.

So, starting around 8pm EST, click through below to find out what goes on in my head as I watch a national party convention.

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8:06 PM Lehrer is forcing Brooks and Shields to compare Bill and Barak. This will not end well.

8:08 Lehrer is having technical difficulties. He tries to throw to Harry Reid on the podium. Harry doesn't show up. Lehrer is ticked! "They're not following the schedule," he actually says. Awesome.

8:10 Harry Reid shows up. He starts with a history lesson. Fitting since he looks like a history professor.

8:15 Harry is still talking, but my digital signal is intermittently shorting out which leads me to my mini rant against digital signals. Oh analog how I will miss you and your constant snowy visibility even in the worst of times. Why must the government force me to change to fickle, annoying digital signal, which sacrifices constant transmission for clear picture. What do I care that my picture is super-crystal-clear if it blips out when the signal dips. Analog signal dips and all I deal with is a little snow, I can still hear and see. With digital....not so much. End. Of. Rant. Now I'll think about paying attention to what Harry Reid is saying.

8:19 Harry Reid says "Republicans sell magic beans!" I kid you not.

8:23 Now on the podium: Sargent Major Michelle Jones, the highest ranking female NCO in the Army. She stands before us as a citizen and wearing a pant-suit, "'cause that's the only way the Army would let her do that," says my roommate.

8:25 Gotta say, Michelle Jones is an impressive lady.

8:26 Pennsylvania in the HOUSE! Cutie-pie (seriously, are Congressional Reps allowed to be young and pretty?) Patrick Murphy, PA representative for the 8th district (What up, Quakertown!) takes the stage with a bunch of other people who I assume are military types.

8:31 Patrick Murphy is the only Iraq war veteran serving in congress. Lehrer clarifies (helpfully) that the dudes standing behind him are also Iraq war veterans.

8:33 Maddie Albright takes the stage. Her claim to fame? She spoke at my college graduation and my dad complained that she was too short and he was unable to see her behind the teleprompters she is using. Oh yeah, she was also the first woman to be Secretary of State

8:37 Evan Bayh on the stage giving his consolation I-almost-got-to-be-the-Veep-again speech. Better luck next presidential election cycle, Evan.

8:39 Question? If Foreign Policy is the theme of the evening, why ask the governor of Indiana to speak on that? I mean when I think Indiana, I don't really think Hamas. Yeah, he's talking about Hamas.

8:42 Oops. I just checked wikipedia. He's a senator now, since like 1999. Boy did I quit paying attention. So I guess his membership on the Armed Services and Intelligence committees qualifies him. Hey, look now he's veered off into domestic issues. I didn't think you could keep up the int'l security talk for long Evan.

8:45 Senator Jack Reed from Rhode Island. Lehrer tells me he was also on the Obama almost-Veep short list, but I've still never heard of him. Ooh, he tells me he "has commanded paratroopers." Also, Rhode Island seems like a nice state. I'd like to visit it some time. Now Jack Reed says that servicemen just luuuuv meeting Barak Obama. 'Cause he's a celebrity?

8:48 I'm sort of looking forward to Joe Biden getting up there. I want to hear someone say something SUBSTANTIVE about foreign policy. I think Biden can deliver on that. At least he did during the primary debates.

8:53 Former VP to Pres Carter, Wlater Mondale, sits down in the "skybox" with Lehrer, Brooks and Shields. Mondale thinks that Biden will help interface smoothly between Obama and Congress. Methinks Mondale makes a good point. Now Mondale switches to talking about what an awesome VP he was. That didn't take long.

9:00 On the podium, Rep Kendrick Meek (never heard of him) is introducing his "good friend" Bill Clinton. Heh. He reads the teleprompter loudly but woodenly.

9:03 Oh Lord. It's Bill. Lehrer points out that Bill has spoken at every Dem Convention since 1988. I wouldn't be sorry to see that streak end.

9:05 The crowd finally lets him talk. "I love this," he says. Nice how he admits how much he craves attention.

9:10 Will Bill address Obama's readiness "on day one?"

9:12 No. He talks about what a good choice Biden is. (OMG!! I wholeheartedly agree with Bill on something. Quick, look out the window for flying pigs. Wait. I forgot how I agreed with him on NAFTA, you know back before his wife conveniently decided that NAFTA was a bad idea. The pigs have flown before.).

9:16 Bill must be wearing a lot of make-up. Usually by now, his face is much redder.

9:21The speech is meh. Not as good, rhetorically, as Hillary's last night. But he's working the crowd with that Bill Clinton magic, so enthusiasm-wise, it evens out.

9:22 Whoops. There he goes, waxing eloquently about policy statistics and comparisons. Classic Bill.

9:23 Now he compares Obama to himself and SORT OF ADDRESSES HOW OBAMA'S PERCEIVED LACK OF EXPERIENCE ISN'T A DEAL BREAKER. Wow, that comes close to the ready-on-day-one criticism. Of course, he did it by talking about how awesome he is. Classic Bill.

9:25 The Clinton portion of the convention is OVAH!

9:30 It's my favorite part of the broadcast!!!! The PBS panel of historians!!!!

9:32 What?!? Kerry is going to speak? Why did they invite that loser? He'll just cast a pall of loosieness (it's a word. maybe. I'm sure President Bush would use it).

9:33 Kerry speaks from the podium. "We're gonna win this time," he says. "Because I'm not running," he does not add.

9:36 Shut down Gitmo? Stop torture? Pipe-dreams like this. It's why he didn't win........that and Carl Rove.

9:37 Kerry makes a rhetorically confusing analogy between "candidate McCain" and "senator McCain" as part of a segue into a "he was for it before he was against it" crack. (legitimately) bitter much?

9:41 Actually, Kerry's not doing half badly.

9:42 Heh. Kerry talked about being first and then said "no one" before taking a big pause and I seriously thought he might say "No one puts Obama in a corner!" He didn't. Would have been cool if he did.

9:43 Kerry points out Obama's white WWII war veteran great-uncle in the gallery. Whitewashing the Obama story. Almost literally.

9:46 Mark Shields agrees with me, that Kerry's speech was uncharacteristically good. "Firey" and "passionate" were the words he used. Non-sleep-inducing are the words I'd use.

9:48 On the stage now: The only female 3 star army general, Claudia Kennedy (retired). Sargent Major Michelle Jones seems tougher, but I think sargent majors are supposed to seem tougher.

9:51 PBS goes to commercial. Bet you thought PBS didn't have any commercials.

9:55 PBS coverage is back baby!

9:57 Ugh! Bill Richardson is next on the podium. You don't mind if I tune him out do you? Because if I pay attention to his ill informed opinions on foreign policy my brain will overheat and melt with frustration. Thanks.

9:58 Whew! Scheduling error again. No Bill Richardson. Rep Chet Edwards from the great state of Texas steps up to the podium. He talks about veterans.

10:01 The first DNC PR video of the night. The theme: military servicemen. Time for me to play guess the narrator. It sounds like a familiar actor. But which one? It's on the tip of my tongue. Speak again narrator. Speak! So I can identify you.

10:03 Drat. He spoke again. I'm not going to be able to ID this guy, and imdb.com is going to be no help.

10:05 Tom Hanks! It's Tom Hanks. Embarrassing how long it took me to realize that.

10:08 Okay, now I don't look so smart because Tom Hanks is ON SCREEN completely ruining my guess the narrator game. It's only fun when there's that small chance that your guess could be wrong.

10:08 Lehrer clarification: Richardson will speak tomorrow night. Brain melt-down reprieve. For you and me.

10:14 Roundtable discussions about tonight's emphasis on the military. Pundit consensus: preemptive strike against the McCain asset of being a military hero.

10:17 VP Nominating speech being made by Quincy Lucas, delgate from Delaware (the first state, so says the license plate), at the podium. She is PROUD to place into nomination the name of Joe Biden.

10:18 "Is there a second?" asks Nancy Pelosi (looking fairly glam in shiny blue and pearls) from the podium. The crowded floor loudly seconds. I love this part. The nuts and bolts, pro forma, do it because it represents our form of government and who we are, part. It's why I watch. Pelosi bangs the gavel and declares Joe Biden officially nominated!

10:22 Ode to Joe Biden obligatory DNC PR video. I really like Joe Biden. I was going to vote for him (as part of my one woman right wing conspiracy to not elect Hillary Clinton primary voting strategy) against Hillary but then he dropped out and I went with Obama. That's right, I've voted Obama. And I'll do it again if I have to.

10:24 Awh. His son Beau Biden introduces him. (Army JAG will be shipping off to Iraq soon) Question: what's your position on naming children alliteratively? For or against?

10:30 Here he is, your potential VP Joe Biden.

10:30 Lehrer clarification news flash: Beau Biden is not Beau Biden's real name he chooses to go by Beau. He chooses to be alliterative.

10:31 Joe Biden is about to cry talking about how much he loves his family. Now he talks about Hillary and Bill. He's nowhere near close to crying now.

10:33 By the way, he accepts the nomination. If he hadn't it could have been awkward.

10:34 He takes a dig at Cheney. Fun! I give him bonus points if he mentions the shot gun incident.

10:35 Joe Biden's mom is alive and in the gallery. She and McCain's mom should patent their genes (can you even do that?).

10:36 Joe Biden is from Scranton and Delaware. Can you think of a more unglamorous or more mundane geographic pedigree?

10:37 Drinking game: every time you hear the phrase "American Dream"

10:38 I didn't blog last night, but a good drinking game for yesterday was: every time you hear the phrase "I was the first in my family to graduate from college"

10:44 Uh oh. Biden starts talking about all the money oil companies are making and tax breaks McCain will give them. And I was going to vote for this guy in the primary? Tsk, tsk. Warning: portions of this speech may contain spurious, pandering logic.

10:50 The Democrats' Georgia argument. I just don't get it. They imply GW Bush mishandled it, but are they really saying that we should have physically intervened. Isn't their whole mantra less military involvement abroad? How does that mantra gel with their Georgia (the republic of, not the peanut/peach state) argument?

10:51 Joe Biden says Iran wrong.

10:53 Biden is done. Bring on the pundit and historian round tables PBS. Bring. It. On.

10:54 Oops. Got ahead of myself. Special Surprise Guest BARAK OBAMA takes the stage. The crowd cheers (but not as loudly as they did for Bill...Barak will have to work on that).

10:55 Obama speaks. He likes the Bidens. He really likes them.

10:57 Obama says "Hillary Clinton rocked the house last night." I wouldn't go that far.

10:58 Obama explains for those who are slow that he'll be at Invesco field tomorrow night.

10:59 Tomorrow night's drinking game: every time someone says "God bless America." Of course that one seems too easy.

11:00 Man, there are a lot of Bidens on that stage. "Half of Delaware," quips Shields.

11:03 Michael Beschloss agrees with my (keen) observation that Bill Clinton came through where Hillary didn't on the Obama readiness issue. Thanks for making me feel smart, Beschloss.

11:05 Will the Dem Convention affect McCain's choice for VP? Historian Norton-Smith thinks maybe. I think: I hope not, if so Repubs are in trouble.

11:07 The historians are all hopped up on the new "energy" coming out of this night's speeches.

11:08 Argh. David Brooks think McCain is going to pick Joe Lieberman to distance himself from GW Bush. I really don't like Lieberman. Can't trust somebody who goes so radically against his own party like that. Talk about flip-flopping.

11:10 That's it for PBS coverage. Lehrer, Shields, Brooks, etc. out!

Well, this was fun. It certainly made the time go faster. I'll give it another try tomorrow night. Hope it entertained you readers, all three of you.