The Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul — home of the NHL’s Minnesota Wild and the National Lacrosse League’s Minnesota Swarm — is transformed for the Republican National Convention. (Weezer and Rascal Flatts are scheduled for October.)
Archive for August, 2008
The Obamas and Bidens stop for breakfast at an Ohio diner. Barack eschews his usual arugula omelet (egg whites only) with mango salsa and goes with a waffle, two eggs and BACON!.
Filmmaker Michael Moore chortles over the possibility of a major hurricane hitting the Gulf Coast during the Republican convention. He’s supposed to be a funny guy so maybe he’s kidding.
Sound Bite: “I was just thinking this Gustav is proof that there is a God in heaven . . . that it would actually be on its way to New Orleans for day one of the Republican Convention, up in the Twin Cities – at the top of the Mississippi River.”
Here are Barack Obama’s first post-convention ads.
No Change
Forget Sarah Palin, John McCain’s running mate is really George Bush.
Revitalize
Obama says he’ll provide bailouts, uh, loan guarantees to the auto industry. Meanwhile, John McCain is “selling out” American workers.
Sarah Palin, come on down!
Here’s John McCain in Dayton, along with his Republican VP candidate, the governor from the great state of Alaska. (She’s a woman.)
Here are two Sarah Palin ads from the 2006 Alaska Gubernatorial race:
Palin’s for “real change” — when it comes to campaign contributions.
Meet the Palin family.
Sarah Palin and Tina Fey: Separated at birth?
In a backroom at Mile High Stadium after the acceptance speech and celebration, Barack Obama and Joe Biden sign the necessary paperwork that makes them the official candidates of the Democratic party. Then they ask for money.
No post-speech evening would be complete without hearing from the Obama pod people.
In his state of the union on the mount, er, acceptance speech, Barack Obama promised to “cut taxes for 95 percent of all working families” and also to provide Americans with a basketful of government goodies. All this will be paid for, of course, by increasing taxes on those nasty “rich” folks and evil oil companies. Forget the setting and hoopla and confetti. Read the speech. It’s the same old liberal Democratic wine in an attractive new bottle.
The candidate also went after his opponent. He’s a good guy and all but “John McCain doesn’t get it.” Oh, and in case you forgot, McCain equals Bush.
Sound Bite: “So I’ve got news for you, John McCain. We all put our country first.”
Here’s the biopic that introduced the candidate last night:
You can’t shed the “celebrity” and “rock star” image if you release videos that resemble, uh, rock star videos. Here’s a short teaser from the Obama camp that shows the technicians and roadies setting up for the concert, er, acceptance speech.
In this 30-second spot, John McCain congratulates Barack Obama on his nomination, saying “this is truly a good day for America.”
Sound Bite: “How perfect that your nomination would come on this historic day. Tomorrow we’ll be back at it, but tonight Senator, job well done.”
MoveOn.org has announced a plan to register 500,000 “new young voters” in “key battleground states” (new, young Obama voters, that is). They need $2.5 million.
Sound Bite: “Imagine what a difference it’ll make to add 500,000 new progressive voters to the rolls. And here’s the cool thing: we won’t just tip this one election. We’ll bring in thousands of folks who will keep voting progressive for election after election after election.”
Delaware attorney general Beau Biden got good reviews last night for his introduction of dad Joe Biden. (The younger Biden’s remarks follow a video bio of the candidate.)
Against a backdrop of scenes of carnage and violence around the world, this McCain video intersperses sound bites from Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Chris Dodd saying that Barack Obama isn’t ready to be commander-in-chief. You think this message is going to change in the next two months?
The Senator from Scranton was chosen in part to address the “kitchen table” issues of middle-class folks and he did his job last night — a bit blandly, perhaps. But don’t lose hope. Out on the stump, Biden’s bound to stray from the script. Once a loose cannon, always a loose cannon.
Bill Clinton loves drama. He loves the be the center of attention. And like every good diva, when the pressure is on, he delivers.
