I Have a Dream: DNC Open Thread

It’ a bird!  It’s a plane!It’s the final hurrah from Denver! An historic presidential candidate formally accepts his party’s nomination on a night and in a place with no small significance. I have my box of Kleenex handy, do you?

The theme tonight is predictably “Change You Can Believe In” and the featured speaker is, of course, the Next President of the United States, the Junior Senator from Illinois, Barack Obama.

The order of the final night from Mile High Stadium from demconvention.com after the jump.

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Eat Something!

Let’s take a break from politics and return to a simpler time. A time when Our Mr. Olbermann was hawking sandwiches…

Straight Outta Scranton: DNC Open Thread

Biden ButtonIt’s Veep nomination night at the Pepsi Center!

Wednesday’s theme is “Securing America’s Future,” aka “Democrats Aren’t Pussies.” We’ll hear from The Big Dog and, after his formal nomination, the next Vice President of the United States, Senator Joe Biden.

The order of this evening’s speakers from demconvention.com after the jump.

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When Fox Attacks

Since BillO is afraid to say his name (especially three times while in front of a mirror) and nobody will take the natterings of the New York Post seriously, executive vice president of Fox Noise John Moody has taken on the mantle himself and penned the following on “The Fox Forum:”

…Howard Wolfson is a proud liberal who, in his appearances on FOX, has outlined the Democrats’ battle plan for winning the White House. He is not preaching defeat to his party. After Sen. Clinton’s defeat, he threw his support to Barack Obama. There is room for that kind of opinion in the Big Tent known as FOX News.

But not in Keith’s head. Keith is too important to be constrained (restrained might be a different matter) by facts. He is the heir to Huntley, to Brinkley, to Chancellor, to Brokaw. (Sorry, NBC).

Keith thinks Democrats shouldn’t deign to appear on FOX. That’s the same philosophy that served John Edwards so well when he was an active candidate (among other things). Like Sen. Edwards, Keith is a non-factor now that the real decisions have been made. And like Tokyo Rose, he is a fictional conflation.

Mr. Moody, might we suggest you learn the use of metaphor?

We here at ERT wish you well, sir.

Update: Howard Wolfson Goes To War With MSNBC “Nobody has spent more time over the last two years attacking Democrats than Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews, and I’m just not going to get lectured on how to be a good Democrat from them.” Are you fucking kidding me?

Update 2 Olbermann responds: “John Moody is a hysterical, doctrinaire, Right Wing hack propagandist, who conveniently forgets that when he thought I shared his allegiance to his dark view of the world, tried to hire me for Fox News. As for Mr. Wolfson, I feel very sorry for the choices he made that led him to his sad state.”

Jesus, Joe, Get a Shovel: DNC Open Thread

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A big thank you goes out to Friend of ERT Blue Gal for the shoutout on C&L this morning!

Will KO say something else inappropriate on an open mic? Will the PUMAs be given even more disproportionate analysis? Will Crazy Uncle Pat drive Rachel over the edge? And what kinds of interesting things will the Denver wind do to Keith’s hair?

“Renewing America’s Promise” is Tuesday’s theme, and Senator Hillary Clinton is the featured speaker. The order of this evening’s festivities (which we may or may not actually be shown by MSNBC) from demconvention.com after the jump.

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Welcome to Denver: DNC Open Thread

Rocky Mountain HighRather than ask ERT’s fabulous recapping team [The Best Fucking Recappers On the Planet!] to marathon live blog four nights in a row, we’ll be taking the DIY approach to the conventions.

The theme for Monday is “One Nation.” Michelle Obama is the featured speaker. Evening schedule from demconvention.com after the jump.

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You Should Get A Hood And Wear It On Your Show!
you-should-get-a-hood-and-wear-it-on-your-show

Tie: this one was kind of mint green. Don’t remember seeing it before. And, yes, feel a little weird knowing so much about a stranger’s closet, but it’s what we do.

segue: Sorry, my oldies-fu is not strong enough to identify this one.

Worst Person:Right- wing water-carrier Sean Hannity for misquoting Obama for racial reasons.

I’m totally loving Keith’s glee in the McCain house flap. I almost thought I would say he was flogging it, but I can’t help responding when Our Mr. Olbermann gets jazzed(from my one condo). It was as if he got a puppy for Christmas who happened not to drool on that elusive Honus Wagner rookie card. I’m powerless against this level of democracy-saving enthusiasm, I admit it.

5. Celebrity Veepmatch continues, with no running mate as of this writing, but enough candid shots of Senator Bayh for me to think that he looks a bit like a blurry John Edwards with hair that has never seen a $400 haircut. I could understand some populist paranoia on that issue, but he could stand to go to a bit fancier place,if you ask me. Bayh and Kaine have been told they aren’t the choice, and Hillary Clinton was never seriously vetted.

5a. Richard Wolffe, I really love the phrase “paucity of tea leaves”. A lot.I want to take it home and adopt it, except for the fact that nobody asks me to predict anything.

4. Craig Crawford joins Keith to talk about Obama’s strategy for The Democratic Convention Crawford says some passion related to economic issues is key.

Oddball Writer and patron saint of female wiseasses everywhere Dorothy Parker was born on this date.

3. Keith’s new favorite story! McCain and the houses. He is really amusing Eugene Robinson, too. How can you prove you’re a regular guy by hanging around with Mitt Romney? Well, the Maverick(James Garner must get really pissed about that, by the way) never had a yacht. In prison!
2. Worst Persons
Worse: Grammar geeks run amok TEAL for defacing art at Grand Canyon National Park.
Worser: Chicago Tribune reporters use anonymous sources just to smear Obama.
1. Funny segment about the Vice Presidential stakeout. Does Obama have a trick up his sleeve, or is he just going to introduce Biden and say “Psych!” because it’s funny to him too.

Will Accept a Young Trainee

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Monkey on the Lam! Also: News.
monkey-on-the-lam-also-news

Tie: Brown stripes
Music: Ritchie Valens - “Ooh My Head”
Worst Person: News Corp’s stock - like a ton of other stocks right now - is doing poorly. Thus, Bill-O is WPitW by some … petty schadenfreudy logic.

Obama’s going to contact his choice for VP tomorrow afternoon with the decision. Maybe.

McCain has narrowed Obama’s lead in the polls. Oh, I hope these conventions go well. For … selfishly liberal definitions of the word “well,” mind you.

Ohio Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones died today after suffering an aneurysm while driving. The ten-year-representative was the first black woman to represent Ohio in Congress, and I knew her best from her appearances on The Colbert Report, where she was fantastic. She was fifty eight.

Lieberman’s speaking at the RNC, as it Rudy Giuliani. So hey - will McCain pick Lieberman as VP? That seems insane. Just insane enough to work? No, no. Just insane.

Oddball: ROGUE MONKEY. I have been waiting my entire life to type those words ** Aaaaaand bikini baristas fight back! No, it’s not the new Robert Rodriguez/Quentin Tarantino pulp flick, it’s the actual news.

Yeah, so an audience member at a McCain event suggested that if we’re serious about tracking Osama Bin Laden to the gates of hell, we’d better reinstate the draft. McCain is on board. I realize that if we have a McCain presidency, any children I may have in my life will probably still have a number of ongoing wars to choose from (if it is choice at that point) by the time they’re of enlistment age.

Ok, this was runner up for Worst Person, but I’m putting it here anyway. I’m not actually clicking on the link to the Limbaugh piece (here’s the Google News page for “Limbaugh, Maddow”), because … I’m still really happy about the news and I don’t want to get too angry, but the blurb on the Google search gave me this, about Dan Abrams: He’s losing his show to somebody with more testosterone than he has…

Ohhhhhh, so much for not getting too angry. Just between you and me? As much as I waited impatiently for Rachel to get her own show, I always kind of dreaded it, because I know what’s out there about Keith (and I have some pretty impressive blinders), and I hated the thought of seeing that kind of crap pop up about her. And I know this is just the beginning.

Anyway, yeah. So I guess now basically, whether Rachel wants it or not, Keith is totally going to get all het up and fighty whenever someone messes with his friend? That’s kind of great/cute.

Lieberman’s inclusion on the ticket would enhance the “One Term McCain” perception of the Arizona senator’s intentions, thereby increasing his potential lame duckiness. Just another thing to complicate the VP decision (and oh gosh will I be glad to not hear the term “veepstakes” for a few years). Meanwhile, Senator Joe Biden had a successful dump today. Good for him!

Word to Your Mother
word-to-your-mother

Tuesday’s Tie: Pink

Worst Person in the World - Harvey Kushner for not having heard of Godwin’s Law.

#5 - Will it be Joe Biden for Dem VP? Yes! No! Maybe! Or as Chuck Todd points out, nobody really knows, but Biden is a good possibility. The top VP choice may not find out anyway until he gets a text message from the campaign. Also, Todd tweaks KO about FNIA. We have come quite a ways since the early days when Todd kept calling Keith “sir”.

Richard Wolffe also stops by to talk VP choices and how negative campaigning on McCain’s side is slowly eroding the nation’s positive opinion of Obama. Shouldn’t that work the other way around?

#4 - McCain contradicts himself. That’s news? Eugene Robinson attempts to unfuddle us. It seems the new McCain is quite different than the old McCain, but no one (the press?) seems to have noticed yet.

Bushed - Global Warning denialists get a lesson in global warming from Mother Nature, the President wasn’t involved except when he was, and McCain and Bush want to restart the Cold War, only without the commies.

Oddball - Turtles on wheels, roller blading backwards, and a boxing dog.

Best Persons in the World - Bill Sammon of Fox doesn’t care about mistakes, Rush Limbaugh gives normal people something to hope for, and Joe Leiberman is a “prick” according to the AP (and others!)

#3 - Called “the single smartest move ever made by a television network” by The Progressive Puppy, and seemingly seconded by at least 41,754 of you, Rachel Maddow will now have her own show on MSNBC starting on September 8th! It will be shown at 9:00 pm Eastern and 6:00 pm Pacific time.

Rachel joins Keith to talk about the show a bit, goof around some, and to make sure our Mr. Olbermann gets the credit for it (note: KO is a lot of good things, but modest isn’t one of them).

Rachel promises the show will follow along with her quirky interests (naked men committing crimes and the Iraqi soccer team) as well as politics and the wider world. And best yet, it will follow Countdown so you can save the batteries in your remote. Oh, and she will be remaining on Air America too.

#2 - Worst Persons in the World

Worse - Newt Gingrich for suggesting that keeping your tires fully inflated only rewards the oil companies. The oil companies must pay him really well to try to confuse people like that.

Worser - The East Coast Avengers for suggesting for suggesting that Bill O’Reilly be killed in one of their songs. Keith takes them to task for saying that. And I won’t link because that just help perpetuates that kind of thing.

#1 - The all purpose Princess of Countdown, Maria Milito, comes by to talk about the Bigfoot hoax. She says her radio listeners were upset to find out last week’s discovery of a Bigfoot corpse was not real. Hmmm…normally skeptical, classic rock listening New Yorkers believed that was really Bigfoot? I think maybe that is the hoax. Still, silly or not, it is always nice to see Milito.