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by publius Probably the nastiest part of the entire Wednesday night 60 Minutes Hate was the attack on community organizers. As always, Jon Stewart had the best response — the whole thing is worth watching, but that part begins at 7:20.

by publius I don’t entirely follow this post, but it appears that Will Wilkinson believes that Palin is more politically effective than Hillary Clinton (you know, 2 speeches versus 18 million votes) because Clinton isn’t feminine. He adds that these realities are unfortunate, but they’re biological — or cultural, I’m not entirely sure.

by publius Ok — a few tentative thoughts. First, the good parts. On a personal level, I appreciated that he was respectful to Obama at the beginning. I think “bipartisan McCain” is a lot more personally appealing than what we’ve been seeing pretty much all year. Overall, the speech was respectful and it didn’t make … Read more

by publius Well?

by publius In thinking about the semi-panicked reaction of many Dems this morning, I thought back to the Maryland basketball team. This analogy won’t work well for non-college basketball fans, but bear with me. When I was in law school (circa 2003), the Maryland squad got beaten regularly by Duke. It wasn’t just that Duke … Read more

by publius I’m not going to say a lot tonight — honestly, I’m not sure what I think yet. But here are some very quick thoughts, with more to come tomorrow. First, I think Josh Marshall gets it exactly right — they’ve opted for a pure base rallying strategy. The main speeches were, for whatever … Read more

by publius Mike Huckabee is delivering a fantastic speech. I don’t really understand why McCain didn’t give him more serious consideration if he wanted to win over social conservatives. It’s not merely that he’s a good speaker — he has a compelling populism weaved into it. He was also re-elected as governor and could have … Read more

by publius This is nothing other than a gut feeling, but I suspect Palin may have survived the early-round knockout that seemed possible just a day or two ago. The AIP story has not checked out. Also, I get the distinct sense in watching the coverage last night that the McCain campaign has successfully pushed … Read more

by publius As Hilzoy correctly pointed out, the real significance of McCain’s Russian Roulette blind VP nomination is that it reflects upon his judgment and illustrates that he will govern on the fly. Yglesias adds another crucial point, and I’ll just quote him: Looking at the Sarah Palin debacle, one is reminded that one of … Read more

by publius Even assuming the Palin post-selection vetting turns out ok, it’s still looking more like a disaster. It just completely undermines McCain’s strongest argument, which is that Obama lacks the experience necessary to lead. The contradiction is starting to bear some poisonous fruit. Check out (via TPM) this Campbell Brown interview of Tucker Bounds, … Read more

by publius I want to elaborate a bit on Hilzoy’s arguments below. One of the more frustrating arguments I’ve been hearing is that Palin has more experience than Obama — in particular, more “executive” experience. I’m sorry, but that argument is absurd — though it’s not immediately obvious why. After all, she was a mayor … Read more

by publius One of the many fascinating aspects of the Palin nomination is the grass roots’ enthusiasm for her. It’s tempting to see the excitement among the social conservative base strictly through the lens of abortion politics. That is, you might think that the excitement over such an unknown, inexperienced first-term governor is evidence that … Read more

by publius I didn’t have a chance to write about Palin today (unlike Eric, some people have to work), so I’ve been chewing it over this afternoon. The more I think about it, the more insane it seems. McCain might well have lost the presidency today. Curiously though, the base is all in. Their enthusiasm … Read more

by publius I think McCain’s decision to announce the VP pick tomorrow may be too clever by half. I mean, it will certainly draw some attention. But it’s not like the press will completely ignore Obama’s speech tomorrow or over the weekend. In this sense, announcing tomorrow will prevent McCain from getting maximum coverage of … Read more

by publius Strong, strong speech — I thought it was excellent. This is why he got nominated — and he came through. There was nothing weak or amateur about it. More importantly — and quite characteristically — Obama’s speech defied and shattered the conceptual boxes that pundits have been trying to squeeze him into. It … Read more

by publius Here we go. 9:49 — This is very very good. More substantive thoughts later tonight.

by publius So I’ve been sitting here trying to think up something semi-intelligent to say about tonight’s speeches, but not having much luck. The reason, I think, is that it’s extremely hard to know what will prove effective to swing voters. I mean, I can tell you about what I liked or didn’t like. But … Read more

by publius What’d you think? 9:22 — God, I love Bill Clinton. I just can’t not like him. Take this for example: Our nation is in trouble on two fronts: The American Dream is under siege at home, and America’s leadership in the world has been weakened. . . . But on the two great … Read more

by publius Before the Big Dog and Biden get going, I want to return briefly to Kerry at today’s New America panel. In short, he was outstanding. He’s incredibly effective in this type of format — far more than he ever was on the campaign trail. He moved effortlessly from complex issue to complex issue, … Read more

by publius Best guy ever. And I predict a strong comeback for the bolo after the convention.

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by publius Another cool aspect of being at the convention is that you see a million different organizations advertising themselves. I kind of liked this one though — both on substance and because of their outfits. The initiative is called “Trick or Vote,” which essentially an effort to go canvassing on Halloween days before the … Read more

by publius I went to a very informative New America panel this morning put on by Steve Clemons about the Middle East and the next president. Details to come this afternoon. As you can see, Kerry came by and was extremely impressive (more on that in a bit).

by publius 9:33 – Schweitzer is great, but no one is covering him except CSPAN. 9:37 – I’m digging the intro video. 9:57 – Powerful line — “Were you in it just for me? . . . Or were you in it for [important issue]?” That’s rhetorically well done. A good pitch to the die-hards, … Read more

by publius Ezra’s right — that was the most unemotional comatose speech I’ve ever heard. I feel a bit better about Obama not picking her. UPDATE: Also, they should have put Lilly Ledbetter on during major network time (i.e., 8-9 MT).

by publius One of the best parts about being here is that you get to meet some interesting people with some very interesting sites doing cool stuff. For instance, BAGnewsNotes has been posting some really interesting visual media this week. Also, check out The Seminal — another cool site that I don’t check out nearly … Read more

by publius One big problem with being in Denver is that I have no idea what the media are actually saying. But after wandering around all day, I’ve been watching MSNBC for the past hour or so, and it’s just amazing how much coverage Hillary Clinton is getting. It’s not just coverage, they’re going on … Read more

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by publius It’s been difficult — you know, as an intrepid reporter on the ground — keeping up with what people are saying about the convention thus far. I gather that one dispute is whether the convention should be more hard-hitting, or whether it should stay fluffy like last night’s. Count me pretty firmly in … Read more

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by publius What’d you think?