[Photos by LenEdgerly & DemConvention]
Our DNC correspondent Nick Powell has managed to elbow out a space at the table in the press room. He will be sending us reports from on the ground — God and WiFi willing. Also, our analysts Amy Z. Quinn and Jonathan Valania will be parsing Obama’s speech.
9:55 PM AZQ: gotta go get the kid in pjs back in a sec
9:56 PJV: Oh great, I’ll tell Obama
I am SURE he can stall for five minutes
just start this John Lennon record over
sure nobody will notice
9:58 PM Durbin. This guy’s name is TWO letters away from turban and nobody asks HIM if he’s a muslim
10:02 PM video is on,
10:04 PM mom is purty
10:06 PM this is great
10:07 PM AZQ: woah, David Strathairn doing the voiceover
JV: good night and good luck, John McCain
JV: who is that?
oh, his mom
10:09 PM she is so pretty
I am like welling up watching this
do NOT tell anyone
AZQ: i’m telling everybody
10:10 PM JV: I’m cutting ONIONS dammit!
AZQ: keep choppin
JV:
10:11 PM this video alone could win the election for him
AZQ: I really wish my son would watch this with me
10:12 PM JV: some day
AZQ: It is a lovely picture with the set behind him
JV: I bet his bump goes up four more points over night
10:13 PM AZQ: let’s see what the speech says first
I still don’t love the set. Megachurch
JV: I bet Cindy McCain is back on drugs
if she is watching
wish I was
AZQ: Oooh Michelle looks gawgous
10:14 PM JV: yeah, she does look radiant
JV: he looks good
looks presidential
that profile, head held high
AZQ: NICe looking right at the camera when he accepted
JV: one of his best weapons
10:15 PM OMG
he said YES
I was so scared
I didn’t know
AZQ: I hope the ring fits
JV: it was crapshoot even to ask
AZQ: Ooh, big ups to HRC right off the bat!
AZQ: “A prince who sits on its hands while a major american city drowns before our euys”
oh YES he did
JV: sits on his hands!
10:21 PM ouch
AZQ: ENOUGH!
JV: take that Nero
AZQ: gorgeous
10:22 PM JV: wow that was FIERCE
eight is enough
love that show
still wanna do ALL those girls
AZQ: the one sister was hot
JV: and slap Nicholas
10:23 PM
BURN
AZQ: Obama is landing some serious jabs
JV: on fire
10:24 PM sharp tie
AZQ: Nation of whiners
10:25 PM Oh man here comes the ultra-rich thing
JV: thank god Guam is there
phew
hate when they get left out
and I am here
something wrong with that
10:26 PM AZQ: oh man this “you’re on your own” line is good
it’s time for them to own their failure!
oh HELL YES!
10:27 PM JV: KaPOW
10:28 PM AZQ: this is a good speech but I’m starting to want to hear some more things about what he’s going to do and not more about what Bush hasn’t done
good pacing
JV: shuddup
shuddup shuddin up
AZQ: excuse me, i’m not allowe dto critique?
this isn’t gonna be any fun if you keep french kissing him while he’s trying to give his speech
10:29 PM JV: My name is Jonathan Valania, and I approve those neo-classical columns
10:30 PM JV: woah, turning the celebrity line back around on him
AZQ: The set looks a bit like a Restoration Hardware catalog
10:32 PM AZQ: “Our government should work for us, not against us. It should help us, not hurt us.
JV: Ooh, he’s gonna spell it out!
Bring it!
JV: AMEN!
10:33 PM
AZQ: cut taxes for 95 percent of working families
that’s a bold statement
10:34 PM JV: ya
my man is bold
strong like bull
10 years and we’re off foreign oil?
ballsy
this is good
AZQ: OMG he’s smacking McCain on the back of his head
JV: stakes is high
AZQ: like the little old man in Benny Hill
JV: and he is cleaning up
10:35 PMwow, he can make even red meat sound like poetry
10:36 PM once in a lifetime candidate
for reals
I am falling in love with Obama all over again
I have a feeling I am not alone
AZQ: baby baby fallin’ in love, i’m falling in love again
JV: which is a good thing
AZQ: take it easy over there, Dr. Hook
JV: love is all you need
10:37 PM that and money
AZQ: a nice pair of pumps
JV: this is big picture stuff
AZQ: matching handbag
JV: Kennedyesque
big promises
the Dems have not shown this kind of ambition
10:38 PM since, like for my whole life
AZQ: No, Bill Clinton made huge program promises early on
remember, health care?
JV: not like this
vague and always triangulating
AZQ: yes, like this
JV: no
this VERY specific
gauntlet down shit
AZQ: no, not vague, he propposed Americorps in detail
JV: Clinton never had that big of balls
ah
small potatoes
AZQ: ooh wait he’s preaching pay equity!
10:39 PM even I am swooning a little bit
JV: I want MY daughters to have the exact same opportunities as YOUR sons
nice
10:40 PM AZQ: I really like the way Michelle’s dress plays off his tie
Will make a nice picure
10:41 PM picture
OH MAN he just called McCain out!
JV: man, it’s kinda weird seeing the old white guy and the blonde on the sidelines
while the black guy has everyone’s attention
AZQ: and it’s not even a Jay-Z concert!
JV: ha
AZQ: God bless America!
No, I”m serious
10:42 PM JV: I hear ya
AZQ: Uh oh, he just pledged to kill Osama Bin Laden
JV: ha
“John McCain won’t follow him to the cave that he lives in”
Obama and Biden should go to that cave on their bus tour tomorrow, first Ohio, then the Waziristan
10:43 PM If he kills Osama
he almost definitely wins the election
that is a no-brainer
AZQ: make Tshirts
JV: first candidate to kill Osama wins
what a great idea for a reality show or an election
AZQ: Dude he is calling McCain out like old man’s the neighborhood bitch
10:44 PM squandered the legacy
JV: by this point John McCain is must be in a fetal position
bleeding rectally
10:45 PM AZQ: take it easy, Louima
JV: I have not seen him this intense since he won Iowa
he is lit from within
AZQ: stigmata, I hear
No, he’s doing great
It does seem like he’s been saving a lot of this stuff up for weeks
A lot of the attacks he never responded to directly he’s tearing into right now
Wise move
10:46 PM this way each can be sliced up and put on YouTube for easy viewing
JV: answered every one
AZQ: that’s what I mean
so you put them up in chunks.
JV: the celeb thing they are gonna have scrape off the sidewalk
AZQ: oh, he’s too inexperienced, here’s the clip on that
celebrity? her’es the clip on that
JV: cuz Obama killed it dead
10:47 PM AZQ: Ooh, i just got chills for the first time with the talk of the veterans
JV: kaBOOM
10:48 PM those are the fireworks going off in my heart
ooh, the profile
with one hand, he quiets the masses
ooh
AZQ: “So I’ve got news for you, John McCain. We all put our country first.
JV: cue Good, Bad and ugly
AZQ: bitchslapping the GOP convention before it even starts
JV:they should just cancel the RNC
why bother?
10:49 PM he is winning a lotta Republicans tonight
10:50 PM AZQ: “make a big election about small things”
nice
better than the “politics of personal destruction”
10:51 PM “this election has never been about me”
hmmm
JV: I am just frozen caveman lawyer
10:52 PM AZQ: not sure I believe that seeing how some of the Obama fanatics act, but whatevs
JV: no, that is true
he’s just the Messiah, get over it already
AZQ: blasphemer!
JV: get over it
Obama fanatics?
girl
PUMA? HELLO?
AZQ: no, not at all
10:53 PM JV: a new politics for a new time
AZQ: but do NOT pretend there is not a personality cult in there
please
JV: dude is moving mountains and parting the read sea, that has to mean something
AZQ: i think the movement is GREAT and I get the spirit and all but it IS a lot about him
he’s speial
special
JV: the Romans said that about Jesus as i recall
AZQ: don’t make me say “magic negro”
JV: just did
he is magic
10:54 PM I keep TELLING you
Hillary is a tough cookie
but he is magic
AZQ: uh oh, here comes I Have A Dream
is he gonna seize it?
JV: the dream comes true
AZQ: look at the white guys in the audience crying
JV: the dream is standing here talking to America
10:56 PM on the pulpit now
dont say Godamn America, OBama!
DON’T
phew
that was close
10:57 PM AZQ: Nice finish
JV: he almost said LET US PRAY
AZQ: A bit abrupt
WTF is this music?
I want Bruce!
JV: good grief
10:58 PM this song makes me wanna buy a pick-up truck
and run over the guy who sings it
AZQ: Awwww, the whole family’s coordinated
They look great
11:01 PM JV: anyway, home fucking run
historic
AZQ: Yes, a very solid speech
Very tough
11:04 PM JV: good night and good luck, John McCain
UPDATE: The Obama campaign has just released a partial transcript of Senator Obama’s speech, check it out after the jump…
“Four years ago, I stood before you and told you my story – of the brief
union between a young man from Kenya and a young woman from Kansas who
weren’t well-off or well-known, but shared a belief that in America,
their son could achieve whatever he put his mind to.
“It is that promise that has always set this country apart – that
through hard work and sacrifice, each of us can pursue our individual
dreams but still come together as one American family, to ensure that
the next generation can pursue their dreams as well.
“It is why I stand here tonight. Because for two hundred and thirty two
years, at each moment when that promise was in jeopardy, ordinary men
and women – students and soldiers, farmers and teachers, nurses and
janitors — found the courage to keep it alive.
“We meet at one of those defining moments – a moment when our nation is
at war, our economy is in turmoil, and the American promise has been
threatened once more.
“Tonight, more Americans are out of work and more are working harder for
less. More of you have lost your homes and more are watching your home
values plummet. More of you have cars you can’t afford to drive, credit
card bills you can’t afford to pay and tuition that is beyond your reach
“These challenges are not all of government’s making. But the failure
to respond is a direct result of a broken politics in Washington and the
failed presidency of George W. Bush.
“America, we are better than these last eight years. We are a better
country than this.”
***
“This moment – this election – is our chance to keep, in the 21st
century, the American promise alive. Because next week, in Minnesota,
the same party that brought you two terms of George Bush and Dick Cheney
will ask this country for a third. And we are here because we love this
country too much to let the next four years look just like the last
eight. On November 4th, we must stand up and say: “Eight is enough.”
“Now let there be no doubt. The Republican nominee, John McCain, has
worn the uniform of our country with bravery and distinction, and for
that we owe him our gratitude and respect. And next week, we’ll also
hear about those occasions when he’s broken with his party as evidence
that he can deliver the change that we need.
“But the record’s clear: John McCain has voted with George Bush ninety
percent of the time. Senator McCain likes to talk about judgment, but
really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush
was right more than ninety percent of the time? I don’t know about you,
but I’m not ready to take a ten percent chance on change.”
***
“You see, we Democrats have a very different measure of what constitutes
progress in this country.
“We measure progress by how many people can find a job that pays the
mortgage; whether you can put away a little extra money at the end of
each month so that you can someday watch your child receive her diploma.
We measure progress in the 23 million new jobs that were created when
Bill Clinton was President – when the average American family saw its
income go up $7,500 instead of down $2,000 like it has under George
Bush.
“We measure the strength of our economy not by the number of
billionaires we have or the profits of the Fortune 500, but by whether
someone with a good idea can take a risk and start a business, or
whether the waitress who lives on tips can take a day off to look after
a sick kid without losing her job – an economy that honors the dignity
of work.
“The fundamentals we use to measure economic strength are whether we are
living up to that fundamental promise that has made this country great –
a promise that is the only reason I am standing here tonight.”
***
“That’s the promise we need to keep. That’s the change we need right
now. So let me spell out exactly what that change would mean if I am
President.
.
“Change means a tax code that doesn’t reward the lobbyists who wrote it,
but the American workers and small businesses who deserve it.
“Unlike John McCain, I will stop giving tax breaks to corporations that
ship our jobs overseas, and I will start giving them to companies that
create good jobs right here in America.
“I will eliminate capital gains taxes for the small businesses and the
start-ups that will create the high-wage, high-tech jobs of tomorrow.
“I will cut taxes – cut taxes – for 95% of all working families.
Because in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise
taxes on the middle-class.
“And for the sake of our economy, our security, and the future of our
planet, I will set a clear goal as President: in ten years, we will
finally end our dependence on oil from the Middle East.
“Washington has been talking about our oil addiction for the last thirty
years, and John McCain has been there for twenty-six of them. In that
time, he’s said no to higher fuel-efficiency standards for cars, no to
investments in renewable energy, no to renewable fuels. And today, we
import triple the amount of oil as the day that Senator McCain took
office.
“Now is the time to end this addiction, and to understand that drilling
is a stop-gap measure, not a long-term solution. Not even close.
“As President, I will tap our natural gas reserves, invest in clean coal
technology, and find ways to safely harness nuclear power. I’ll help
our auto companies re-tool, so that the fuel-efficient cars of the
future are built right here in America. I’ll make it easier for the
American people to afford these new cars. And I’ll invest $150 billion
over the next decade in affordable, renewable sources of energy – wind
power and solar power and the next generation of biofuels; an investment
that will lead to new industries and five million new jobs that pay well
and can’t ever be outsourced.”
***
“We are the party of Roosevelt. We are the party of Kennedy. So don’t
tell me that Democrats won’t defend this country. Don’t tell me that
Democrats won’t keep us safe. The Bush-McCain foreign policy has
squandered the legacy that generations of Americans — Democrats and
Republicans – have built, and we are to restore that legacy.
“As Commander-in-Chief, I will never hesitate to defend this nation, but
I will only send our troops into harm’s way with a clear mission and a
sacred commitment to give them the equipment they need in battle and the
care and benefits they deserve when they come home.
“I will end this war in Iraq responsibly, and finish the fight against
al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan. I will rebuild our military to
meet future conflicts. But I will also renew the tough, direct
diplomacy that can prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. I will
build new partnerships to defeat the threats of the 21st century:
terrorism and nuclear proliferation; poverty and genocide; climate
change and disease. And I will restore our moral standing so that
America is once more the last, best hope for all who are called to the
cause of freedom, who long for lives of peace, and who yearn for a
better future.”