The fact that the American people will seriously consider electing this bright man with his awesome family is even better news. This is a great moment for America.
Sadly, the candidate and his speech did not rise to the moment, though he had the talent to do so.
In part he was betrayed by the setting. The "stadium stunt" might have looked good for one evening, but this was a moment for history and it was far too rock concert for a history making moment. Somebody stripped their candidate of dignity by surrounding him with losing presidential candidates and aging rock stars.
Obama is a dignified man, but this was a speech in a football stadium.
Technology makes this the era of the repeat viewing and this speech is not worth playing and replaying. It was built for one night and for one night it might work well, but it was too airy and too angry to last. The text is airy in general and like many bad political speeches is dominated by promises nobody could keep. The most substance in it is in the attacks on McCain. There is less hope and change in it, which was necessary, but the dark picture of last eight years is disproportionate to the reality.
In the end, I think this speech will end up leaving a bad aftertaste for many people the way the Star Wars sequels felt the morning after viewing. Like the films, it was loud, up to date, and fun, but it also suffered from hack writers, weird supporting characters (Biden!), and too great a sense of its own importance.
However much fun you had in the theater that night, soon, all too soon in most cases, you felt manipulated and worried that there was not more there there. This Obama speech will turn on most viewers the same way. Fireworks. Hooplah. Whatever.
McCain made Obama the "celebrity candidate" and Obama got angry. He lashed back tonight, a major mistake. The vice-president attacks, but the presidential candidate is above it all. Compare the kind advert that McCain played tonight praising Obama for making history with the red-meat rhetoric Obama used on McCain.
It was beneath Senator Obama and did not elevate him or effectively tear down McCain. I predict that McCain will save his tough rhetoric for terrorists and dismiss Obama gently. Obama should have treated McCain with kindness like a father a bit past his time.
Will Obama win?
He should because it is a Democratic year, but this speech and this convention will have been of little help in doing so.
Seriously, are you the stupidest person in the world?
Wow...that was an intelligent comment. I think that made you look even "stupider" than him.
Uh, yeah, because playing nice and never criticizing your opposition is a winning strategy. Concern troll much? Where did you put Joe Carter, anyways, at least he occasionally put thought into his posts and wasn't always transparently hackish.
How many times has "non-celebrity" McCain been on Leno again? I forget, is it more or less than the number of his houses?
Republicans know a lot about "dignified" venues of course. Mission accomplished on an aircraft carrier? The proposed big sloppy kiss to Big Oil on an offshore oil rig? Telling workers they couldn't handle $50/hour wages picking lettuce, in front of AFL-CIO members? That's dignity you can count on.
Props to Mike Toreno for displaying his well-conceived rebuttal to this thread. His wit and aplomb have impressed us all in such a content-rich comment.
Thank you, Mike. Take a bow. We are in awe at the wisdom of twelve-year-olds.
In homage of Mike, I give my rendition of what he wrote: "Seriously, are you the stupidest? I mean, omg, wtf is this??? lol eat bleach and die, Joe. kthxbye"
The only argument here is that over 150 years ago the Democratic Party supported slavery.
This is getting to be a problem. It looks like a posse of idiots has taken Joe captive and probably used waterboarding to get him to give up the passwords to his blog. We need to organize a rescue force immediately to liberate Joe from the clutch of these nefarious idiots. Whose with me!
I am with you Boonton. We love Joe. . . but you will not have to put up with me for long!
No, Boonton, the point here is that the Democratic Party has moved away from the shameful history it wants to keep hidden while attempting to portray their opposition as rascist. In addition to being the pro-slavery party, Democrats were the Jim Crow, anti-integration party. The infamous Bull Connor of Birmingham, Alabama was Democratic county chairman.
Except for a few stalwart champions like Harry Truman and Hubert Humphrey, Democratic leaders including Kennedy were lukewarm about civil rights, while the Republicans, the party of Emancipation and Reconstruction, who would have had a black Republican elected president nearly 20 years ago if Alma Powell hadn't dissuaded her husband from seeking the office, were out front in civil rights.
Quoted from : http://www.congresslink.org/print_basics_histmats_civilrights64text.htm
" In the twenty-six major civil rights votes since 1933, a majority of Democrats opposed civil rights legislation in over 80 % of the votes. By contrast, the Republican majority favored civil rights in over 96 % of the votes."
It's nice to see that the Democratic Party has come so far.
Who wrote this post? Was it you, Mr. Reynolds? Whoever - please get into the 21st century, or at least the 20th. Yes, it is true that the Democratic Party supported slavery prior to its abolition. So did Jesus and Paul and almost every Christian until the Enlightenment. The Democratic Party began making a major re-alignment on the issues of race and civil rights under Franklin D. Rossevelt. That transition accelerated and was completed in the administrations of Truman, Kennedy and Johnson. As Democrats took a strong stance in favor of civil rights, most (but not all) of the staunchest defenders of racism and segregation (like Strom Thurmond) moved to the Republican Party where they were welcomed with open arms. I do not believe that most Republicans are racists, but I think it's a safe bet that the overwhelming majority of racists today are not Democrats.
I don't think McCain could fill that stadium with 85,000. Also, let's see what the republicans will be talking about next week. Most likely it will be confined to "we will keep you safe" and "we've got to keep up the fight against radical islamo-fascism...". Don't get me wrong, that's a pretty good line, but I think that's all they've got. It will work for people brainwashed with a steady diet of Fox New and certain so-called "evangelical" leaders/celebrities.
And sad to see the Republican Party has fallen to such lows. See: Southern Strategy. The parties effectively exchanged places a few decades ago, and "conservative" really doesn't apply to Republicans now. Arguing that the Democratic Party is the party of slavery and civil war in any modern context shows a serious lack of historical perspective.
But I suppose I should thank the Republicans for so effectively poaching racist Democrats from our ranks. You can keep 'em.
The Empire Strikes Back was the best Star Wars movie. Hands down. No bitter aftertaste.
No, Boonton, the point here is that the Democratic Party has moved away from the shameful history it wants to keep hidden while attempting to portray their opposition as rascist. In addition to being the pro-slavery party, Democrats were the Jim Crow, anti-integration party. The infamous Bull Connor of Birmingham, Alabama was Democratic county chairman.
This is all well and good except it ignores the great realignment that happened in the late 60's as the GOP became the party for whites unhappy with the Democrats embrace of civil rights (note how Strom Thurmon, for example, began his long career in the Democratic party and ended it in the Republican). This isn't any hidden history but a well known story to anyone who ever bothered to be even a bit familiar with US history. (It also ignores the fact that the Democratic party of the first half of the last century can really be thought of as two parties in coalition, a progressive party in coalition with a southern one. Thurmon is a good illustration of that when he caused a temporary split by running a Dixiecrat party against Truman in retaliation for desegregation the armed forces).
AS for accusing the Republicans of racism, I didn't see any of that last night nor has it been a dominant part of Obama's campaign or even an important meme among Democrats in general. There are spats over various small incidents but I think that one of the good things about Obamas rise has been a moving away of the tired, boring and lame fights of the 60's and 70's that have been retread over way too many times.
Believe it or not (and I have written at least one recent post praising things I like about Obama), my point about Democrats was to praise them and not to be criticize them.
I think it is stunning to me (as someone who loves history) that a party where the Klan had a major role in a convention choice less than one hundred years ago has now picked an African American.
Of course there are racists in both parties. Of course over that one hundred years the Democratic Party moved forward (sometimes at lightening speed). I meant to give them real credit for it and do give them real credit for it.
On the whole (for example) Jimmy Carter showed real personal progress on this issue. He was not a good president, but his total impact on the race issue was good.
I am sorry that everything gets read as that partisan since I think one very good thing about both parties is that open racism is very dead in both of them. The Democratic Party led the way this time and deserves great credit for it.
If I were a Democrat (my family has been Republican since the Civil War), I would be very proud of my party and be right to do so. My good friends who are Democrat are proud and they are right to be glad to have made this good history.
Hurray for the Democratic Party!
Can't we be happy about a good thing for just a minute? I will go back to being partisan later.
"The Democratic Party led the way this time and deserves great credit for it."
Where have you been? The democratic party has been leading the way on this for over forty years, but republicans want to talk about slavery and Jim Crow. Are you guys nostalgic for those days or something?
I wonder: what happened to all those disaffected democrat politicians and voters when that party took up the banner of civil rights? Oh yeah, they became republicans. The south went from blue to red in less than a generation.
Seriously, I can understand Mike's frustration. This is awful, just awful.
Believe it or not (and I have written at least one recent post praising things I like about Obama), my point about Democrats was to praise them and not to be criticize them.
My apology, it sounded a bit snarky to me. Kind of like that old complaint about Democrats getting the US into wars (as if WWII just happened because FDR decided to do a jobs program).
Also I think the title of this post gives away a snarky edge. The party "of slavery and civil war"? Is that kind of like calling the GOP the party of disaffected old Whigs? If you're intent was to praise it sounds oddly partisan to link the Democratic party with slavery, Jim Crow and racism as if that was part of its present day nature.
I agree the title made it seem snarky.
Good call.
Robski: did you read what I just wrote?
Republicans led the way on slavery and civil rights with a brave and necessary push from Democratic presidents in the civil rights era.
Good for both parties. Shame on Strom Thurmond and others for trying to stop it.
In the last thirty years, the parties have disagreed about what is to be done next. Most African-Americans have perceived that the party picking a solution that is in their best interest is the Democratic Party.
I acknowledge that. As an American I APPLAUD and COMMEND the Democratic Party for breaking the Presidential color line. That is good for America.
Can't I agree with you or are you determined to live in a world where all Republicans are evil racists?
There is a good reason NOT to do so: that world is not the real world.
I will assume that the unfortunate post title (my fault) confused you . . . but really . . . not to Rodney King you . . . but on this can't we just get along?
"Yes, it is true that the Democratic Party supported slavery prior to its abolition. So did Jesus and Paul and almost every Christian until the Enlightenment."
Ex your ignorance of history and of scripture speaks volumes about why you chose a different vocation, which is deception.
Neither Jesus nor Paul supported slavery. Both essentially said that whatever state you find yourself (whether free or slave) accept your fate and serve God. Jesus and Paul were addressing the problems faced by the Jews under Roman law, without placing any value judgments on them.
Jesus said," ?Therefore whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them: for this is the Law and
the prophets."
Jesus said, "Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. "
(Matthew 19:3-10) . . . .
Neither was slavery
Elsewhere in the OT. "And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his family."(Leviticus 25:10)
They were allowed to sell themselves into servitude temporarily in exchange for release from their financial obligations (Ex. 21:2-4; Lev. 25:39-43; Dt.15:12)
Paul said,
"We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers?and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine..."
(1 Timothy 1:9-10)
Moses wrote in Exodus 21:16: ?He who kidnaps a man and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, shall surely be put to death.?
He also wrote: "You shall not give back to his master the slave who has escaped from his master to you. He may dwell with you in your midst, in the place which he chooses within one of your gates, where it seems best to him; you shall not oppress him."
(Deuteronomy 23:15-16)
Leviticus 19:34: "But the stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God."
Job, who was the chief character in the oldest known book in the Bible said, "If I have despised the cause of my manservant, or of my maidservant, when they contended with me; what then shall I do when God riseth up? And when he visiteth, what shall I answer him? Did not he that made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb?" (Job 31:13-15)
Regarding the runaway slave, Paul writes: "For perhaps he therefore departed for a season, that thou shouldest recieve him forever. Not as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved . . ." (Philemon 12)
Paul also says, " If he has wronged thee, or oweth thee, put it on my account."
"Robski: did you read what I just wrote?"
Every word, I assure you. You started off with the "isn't it nice that neighbor Jones has stopped beating his wife" approach and then returned to your "I really really like Obama, but..." theme.
Your partisanship is no less obvious for your thin attempts to veil in a feel-good back-slapping style. This just makes you come off as disingenuous. Seriously.
"Can't I agree with you or are you determined to live in a world where all Republicans are evil racists?"
Oh, I don't think all republicans are racists. There is lots of room in the big tent. Let's see: homophobes, fat cats, gun nuts, xenophobes, religious kooks...and more than a few sincere people who are easily led or aren't too particular about the people they throw in with.
Really, John, isn't it better to just to let it out so folks know where you stand? Forget the spin, just lay into your opponents; they'll respect you for it.
THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY ALSO AWAITS SENATOR OBAMA’S LEADERSHIP ON THIS US JUDICIAL INJUSTICE ???
LETS ALL HOPE OUR INTERNATIONAL MEDIA FRIENDS ALSO SHOW AN INTEREST IN REPORTING ON THIS AMERICAN HORROR FACING THESE (TENS OF THOUSANDS) FORGOTTEN AND TRAPPED POORER AMERICANS, AND HOW THIS POSSIBLE FUTURE PRESIDENTIAL CONTENDER HANDLES THIS VERY SERIOUS ISSUE FACING AMERICA’S LATINO AND BLACK AMERICAN COMMUNITIES ????
WITH 80% OF THE BLACK AMERICAN VOTERS SAYING THEY SUPPORT SENATOR OBAMA IN THIS PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, IT IS ONLY FAIR FOR EVERYONE TO KNOW PRIOR BEING ELECTED OUR NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES HOW THIS DEMOCRATIC SENATOR TRULY FEELS ABOUT THIS AMERICAN JUDICIAL HORROR CONTINUING TO INFLICT GRAVE HARM ON THE BLACK AMERICAN FAMILIES AND THEIR COMMUNITIES NATIONWIDE ??????
*** WHEN GOD’S FACE BECAME VERY RED ***
THE US SUPREME COURT GAVE ENEMY COMBATANTS FEDERAL APPEAL HC RIGHTS LAWYERS AND PROPER ACCESS TO US FEDERAL COURTS,AND POORER AMERICANS (MANY EVEN ON DEATH ROW) ARE DENIED PROPER FEDERAL APPEAL LEGAL REPRESENTATION TO OUR US FEDERAL COURTS OF APPEAL, AND ROTTING IN AMERICAN PRISONS NATIONWIDE ?????????
**** INNOCENT AMERICANS ARE DENIED REAL HC RIGHTS WITH THEIR FEDERAL APPEALS !
THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE $LOWLY FINDING OUT HOW EA$Y IT I$ FOR MIDDLE CLA$$ AND WORKING POOR AMERICAN$ TO FALL VICTIM TO OUR U$ MONETARY JUDICIAL $Y$TEM.
****WHEN THE US INNOCENT WERE ABANDONED BY THE GUILTY ****
The prison experts have reported that there are 100,000 innocent Americans currently being falsely imprisoned along with the 2,300,000 total US prison population nationwide.
Since our US Congress has never afforded poor prison inmates federal appeal legal counsel for their federal retrials,they have effectively closed the doors on these tens of thousands of innocent citizens ever being capable of possibly exonerating themselves to regain their freedom through being granted new retrials.
This same exact unjust situation was happening in our Southern States when poor and mostly uneducated Black Americans were being falsely imprisoned for endless decades without the needed educational skills to properly submit their own written federal trial appeals.
This devious and deceptive judicial process of making our poor and innocent prison inmates formulate and write their own federal appeal legal cases for possible retrials on their state criminal cases,is still in effect today even though everyone in our US judicial system knows that without proper legal representation, these tens of thousands of innocent prison inmates will be denied their rightful opportunities of ever being granted new trials from our federal appeal judges!!
Sadly, the true US *legal* Federal Appeal situation that occurs when any of our uneducated American prison inmates are forced to attempt to submit their own written Federal Appeals (from our prisons nationwide) without the assistance of proper legal counsel, is that they all are in reality being denied their legitimate rights for Habeas Corpus and will win any future Supreme Court Case concerning this injustice!
For our judicial system and our US Congressional Leaders Of The Free World to continue to pretend that this is a real and fair opportunity for our American Middle Class and Working Poor Citizens, only delays the very needed future change of Federal Financing of all these Federal appeals becoming a normal formula of Our American judicial system.
It was not so very long ago that Public Defenders became a Reality in this country.Prior that legal reality taking place, their were also some who thought giving anyone charged with a crime a free lawyer was a waste of taxpayers $$.
This FACADE and HORROR of our Federal Appeal proce$$ is not worthy of the Greatest Country In The World!
***GREAT SOCIETIES THAT DO NOT PROTECT EVEN THEIR INNOCENT, BECOME THE GUILTY!
A MUST READ ABOUT AMERICAN INJUSTICE:
1) YAHOO AND 2) GOOGLE
MANNY GONZALES THE KID THAT EVERYONE FORGOT IN THE CA PRISON SYSTEM.
** A JUDICIAL RIDE OF ONES LIFE !
lawyersforpooramericans@yahoo.com (424-247-2013)
WHERE ARE AMERICA'S RELIGIOUS LEADERS ??
THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY ALSO AWAITS SENATOR OBAMA’S LEADERSHIP ON THIS US JUDICIAL INJUSTICE ???
LETS ALL HOPE OUR INTERNATIONAL MEDIA FRIENDS ALSO SHOW AN INTEREST IN REPORTING ON THIS AMERICAN HORROR FACING THESE (TENS OF THOUSANDS) FORGOTTEN AND TRAPPED POORER AMERICANS, AND HOW THIS POSSIBLE FUTURE PRESIDENTIAL CONTENDER HANDLES THIS VERY SERIOUS ISSUE FACING AMERICA’S LATINO AND BLACK AMERICAN COMMUNITIES ????
WITH 80% OF THE BLACK AMERICAN VOTERS SAYING THEY SUPPORT SENATOR OBAMA IN THIS PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, IT IS ONLY FAIR FOR EVERYONE TO KNOW PRIOR BEING ELECTED OUR NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES HOW THIS DEMOCRATIC SENATOR TRULY FEELS ABOUT THIS AMERICAN JUDICIAL HORROR CONTINUING TO INFLICT GRAVE HARM ON THE BLACK AMERICAN FAMILIES AND THEIR COMMUNITIES NATIONWIDE ??????
*** WHEN GOD’S FACE BECAME VERY RED ***
THE US SUPREME COURT GAVE ENEMY COMBATANTS FEDERAL APPEAL HC RIGHTS LAWYERS AND PROPER ACCESS TO US FEDERAL COURTS,AND POORER AMERICANS (MANY EVEN ON DEATH ROW) ARE DENIED PROPER FEDERAL APPEAL LEGAL REPRESENTATION TO OUR US FEDERAL COURTS OF APPEAL, AND ROTTING IN AMERICAN PRISONS NATIONWIDE ?????????
**** INNOCENT AMERICANS ARE DENIED REAL HC RIGHTS WITH THEIR FEDERAL APPEALS !
THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE $LOWLY FINDING OUT HOW EA$Y IT I$ FOR MIDDLE CLA$$ AND WORKING POOR AMERICAN$ TO FALL VICTIM TO OUR U$ MONETARY JUDICIAL $Y$TEM.
****WHEN THE US INNOCENT WERE ABANDONED BY THE GUILTY ****
The prison experts have reported that there are 100,000 innocent Americans currently being falsely imprisoned along with the 2,300,000 total US prison population nationwide.
Since our US Congress has never afforded poor prison inmates federal appeal legal counsel for their federal retrials,they have effectively closed the doors on these tens of thousands of innocent citizens ever being capable of possibly exonerating themselves to regain their freedom through being granted new retrials.
This same exact unjust situation was happening in our Southern States when poor and mostly uneducated Black Americans were being falsely imprisoned for endless decades without the needed educational skills to properly submit their own written federal trial appeals.
This devious and deceptive judicial process of making our poor and innocent prison inmates formulate and write their own federal appeal legal cases for possible retrials on their state criminal cases,is still in effect today even though everyone in our US judicial system knows that without proper legal representation, these tens of thousands of innocent prison inmates will be denied their rightful opportunities of ever being granted new trials from our federal appeal judges!!
Sadly, the true US *legal* Federal Appeal situation that occurs when any of our uneducated American prison inmates are forced to attempt to submit their own written Federal Appeals (from our prisons nationwide) without the assistance of proper legal counsel, is that they all are in reality being denied their legitimate rights for Habeas Corpus and will win any future Supreme Court Case concerning this injustice!
For our judicial system and our US Congressional Leaders Of The Free World to continue to pretend that this is a real and fair opportunity for our American Middle Class and Working Poor Citizens, only delays the very needed future change of Federal Financing of all these Federal appeals becoming a normal formula of Our American judicial system.
It was not so very long ago that Public Defenders became a Reality in this country.Prior that legal reality taking place, their were also some who thought giving anyone charged with a crime a free lawyer was a waste of taxpayers $$.
This FACADE and HORROR of our Federal Appeal proce$$ is not worthy of the Greatest Country In The World!
***GREAT SOCIETIES THAT DO NOT PROTECT EVEN THEIR INNOCENT, BECOME THE GUILTY!
A MUST READ ABOUT AMERICAN INJUSTICE:
1) YAHOO AND 2) GOOGLE
MANNY GONZALES THE KID THAT EVERYONE FORGOT IN THE CA PRISON SYSTEM.
** A JUDICIAL RIDE OF ONES LIFE !
lawyersforpooramericans@yahoo.com (424-247-2013)
Your group is plain stupid, uneducasted, mediocre, behind the times. Grow up!
Your group is plain stupid, uneducasted, mediocre, behind the times. Grow up!
Your group is plain stupid, uneducasted, mediocre, behind the times. Grow up!