Republican National Convention - Day Two

Once again, me and the lovely ET, Pb.D will be your humble correspondents for the 2008 RNC Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, becasue someone had to watch the lying bastards and Count would, more than likely, stick a revolver in his mouth if had to do this.

The festivities begin at 7 PM Eastern/4 PM Pacific on MSNBC, Fox News and CNN.

Jonathan 4:31 PM (PT) - So i'm looking at the RNC coverage on MSNBC, and I noticce that Rachel Maddow isn't in St. Paul. Care to make any guess?

Jonathan 4:46 PM (PT) - Even though Keith Olbermann is back in New York, he's still taking shots at the Republicans, and Palin in paticular.

Jonathan 4:52 PM (PT) - Joe Lieberman will speak tonight, as well as Fred Thompson. Word is that Thompson will be throwing the crowd the red meat, while Lieberman will focus on defending McCain. BTW: ET, Pb.D/RalphyFan: if you find anything interesting during this long slog, put it down here. :D

ET 5:22 PT - Thanks, Count, for the admin addition! Rachel is actually there - she was on with a panel of Gregory et. al. earlier. Having Scarborough on the floor with his sidekick is an interesting choice. I think maybe they worried that none of the delegates would talk to some of their other contributors. *** The Palin question is coming up constantly. Delegate after delegate touts her mayoral and city council posts as backup for the "agent of change" meme - kind of hilarious to see the party of Big Business verbally going all small-town-Mayberry. //// Also, McCain looks older than his own mother. Just saying.

ET 5:36 PT - Looking at C-SPAN for the awful Michelle Bachmann. She cites her own "service" of taking in foster children, tosses off a snarky comment about how "Some candidates know more about service than others," and then talks about how "community groups" are one of the most effective vehicles for service. Cognitive dissonance, anyone?...Now blaming Democrats for "dependence on government-issued checks," when the last such check I recall getting was from, er, the current administration...Next up, a guy from Phoenix fluffing Cindy McCain...


Jonathan 5:45 PT - Jesus, Now I know why The Count didn't want to do this.....I swear, I want to throw something at my TV. Anyway, here's some political humor, courtesy of Seth Grahame-Smith.

3. Family Values - This is someone who's not afraid to preach abstinence for your daughter, even though her own unmarried 17-year-old daughter is pregnant. This is someone who's not afraid to hop on a plane from Texas to Alaska while she's in premature labor. This is someone who's not afraid to hit the campaign trail with a 5-month-old special needs baby. That's what I call dedication to family. Obama, on the other hand? A Muslim.

8. Her Soul - In one 15-minute meeting, and one follow-up phone call, John McCain was able to determine that Sarah was more than his running mate -- she was his "soul mate." Not only that, but that she was more qualified to be a heartbeat away from the Oval Office than any Republican on earth. Yes, this is a testament to the power and quickness of McCain's decision making. But it's also a testament to the power of Sarah Payton's (sp?) soul. As a Muslim, it's not even clear that Obama has a soul.

ET 6:16 PT - The message discipline on the floor is remarkable. Everyone asked about Palin trots out "reformer," "tough," and "smart," pretty much in that order, and the veneer of enthusiasm is holding so far. Carly Fiorina played too much to the camera, though.

ET 6:40 PT - More message discipline - respond to any questions about Palin's troglodyte social views (Roe v. Wade, abstinence, etc.) with "Most voters are not single-issue voters, particularly women voters..." Which begs the question, why is an extremist view of that one mission-critical litmus test of abortion in the official GOP party platform?

ET 7:08 PT - Oops: Dubya's speech spilled over into primetime by two minutes. Not much in his or Laura's introductory remarks that was noteworthy. He recycled the McCain line about preferring to lose an election than to lose a war, and went way over the top in saying that if the North Vietnamese couldn't "break McCain's resolve," then the "Angry Left" never would. And of course we heard the words "danger," "terror" and "September 11." We also learned that he pronounces Hurricane Gustav's name more like "goosed-off." Audience pretty lukewarm throughout. Only the TX delegation was on their feet consistently. The crowd is very vanilla in every sense of the word and most of the female delegates seem not to have heard that "big hair" mercifully went away decades ago.

Count 9:28 CT- Not watching but heard second hand that phone it in Fred just said McCain had balls the size of baseballs. Please confirm this. If so i want to know how Fred would know this. Maybe Lieberman gave him the scoop.

ET 7:31 PT - Not exactly. He was describing the POW years in detail (and I mean, detail: the audience members eager for the new season of 24 probably ate it up) and referred to McCain developing "boils the size of baseballs" under his arms. This is apparently evidence that we can trust him with the Presidency.

ET 7:46 PT - Lieberman's up and being well-received. Predictably sycophantic speech is strewn with "my friends," just like his idol. When this crowd breaks into chanting, it's - you guessed it - USA, USA.

(Count) Like they do at the wrestling matches? Of course it's much the same crowd :)


Jonathan 8:15 PT - Sorry I had to bail on convention coverage. I had homework to finish and I just couldn't stomach anymore of the BS. I will be back tomorrow and for the finale on Thursday, though. But a great job by ET, Pb.D tonight. Way to go!

ET 9:11 PT - The time stamp's a coincidence, I swear! You didn't miss much, Jonathan. Much more of the "my friends" and Lieberman claiming Obama doesn't reach across the aisle. I am sincerely looking forward to that sanctimonious old fraud being well and truly marginalized come November. See you both Wednesday for more hooting and hollering about how mayoral acts like trying to fire the city librarian for not banning books you don't approve of qualifies one for high office...