Democratic National Convention: Day 1

well, my lovelies.... i sacrifice for you. who else is watching over four hours of the democratic national convention each night to provide you with "insight and analysis" and all the juicy dirt in between?

yes.... i have spent the past four hours flipping between cnn, msnbc and c-span (not to mention the broadcast channels at 9pm) to bring you all the convention highlights.

tonight's theme was "one nation" and was to feature michelle obama as the keynote speaker the evening. but at 8:15 caroline kennedy took the stage. she spoke of her uncle, the liberal lion of the senate. and she was followed by a fuckin' great tribute piece by filmmaker ken burns.

and then... even though all the talk hinted at it happening... the most electric moment of the evening happened: senator ted kennedy...suffering from brain cancer and urged not to attend... took to the stage.

and my friends...there is no shame to my game: i cried.

ted kennedy will go down as the highlight of the evening.

it all began with caroline's declaration that "teddy is your senator, too." and she spoke about obama inspiring her the way people tell her that her father inspired them.

and then teddy came out.... a man who after 35 years in the senate is still not afraid to say the word "gay" or show is passion for universal health care. and he ended with this most powerful refrain:

the work begins anew. the hope rises again. and the dream lives on.

if you didn't know you would never know he was sick... that he had brain cancer. he was a lion up there and he called the convention to order the way no one else could.

just an amazing moment that will go down as one of the best from this week.

the softer side of michelle
michelle obama took to the stage around 9:36. she followed a very loving tribute by her older brother who holds an uncanny family resemblance to his sister.

let me say up front: michelle is a great speaker. her speech was well delivered and well crafted. i actually wrote in my notes (yes, i keep notes... leave me alone!): "wow - she is a great speaker."

she talked so beautifully about her parents and her father who suffered from multiple sclerosis but worked for years to support his family and would get up earlier each morning to struggle to get dressed and how he used "two canes to make his way across the room to give her mother a kiss."

she talked about barack obama talking about "the world as it is versus the world as it should be and too often we settle for the distance in between."

now mind you... when i say it was a well crafted speech i also mean it was a very smart speech. it accomplished many things the obama campaign needs to accomplish this week.

not ten minutes into the speech she spoke of hillary clinton and the 18 million cracks she's put into the glass ceiling. she talked about women getting the right to vote.

she talked about "why i love this country" in order to fight back against claims that she's unpatriotic. she spoke of giving back to the country that has given her so much.

and she needed to fight against the image that the GOP has painted of her. and tonight she seemed (and i hate to use this word) softer than i've ever seen her before. she came across as warm and loving and passionate.

it was a good speech.

and now for some quick hits
--nancy pelosi called the convention to order just after 7pm CST. she's as awkward on the teleprompter as she is speaker of the house.
--nancy also mentioned hillary clinton and how her "candidacy has strengthened our country." but she had a very yuck moment with her emphatic "one nation, under god." can we please keep religion out of politics?
--msnbc is obsessed with the "reported" clinton/obama strife. ann curry grabbed pelosi as she walked off the stage and asked her nothing but her thoughts on the clinton drama. the press has got to get off this story... give up the ghost! there is no ugliness here!
--by the way, nancy was better at shutting up ann curry than she was at speaking in front of the convention.
--savannah guthrie of msnbc spoke with senator chuck schumer and asked him about... the hillary drama.
--jimmy carter had a nice film about katrina and the sad aftermath and government response in NOLA. but for fuck's sake! how do you not give a nobel peace prize winner any speech time!?! shameful....
--obama's half sister maya soetoro-ng spoke of barack and their mother. "she brought us to telescopes and microscopes" was such a beautiful line. there is a lot of charisma in that family.
--maya did bring up that she is a "u.s. history teacher." what's more patriotic than teaching american history? stay on topic....
--congressman jesse jackson, jr. delivered a helluva speech which will have been missed by most. he hit on themes similar to obama's powerful 2004 DNC speech and is a powerful speaker. well done.
--cnn aired jackson's speech... msnbc was too busy fussing over the hillary drama. msnbc is really starting to annoy me.
--rachel maddow has coined a wonderful phrase: "post rational."
--et tu, brokaw? even tom brokaw's first question to kansas governor kathleen sebelius was about hillary!
--governor sebelius did have a great response to tom about women who may want to vote for mccain: "voting for mccain doesn't protect their daughters or granddaughters." well said....
--biden was in the house, by the way. he and howard dean had a privet pow-wow at about 7:57 CST.
--there are always too many rhythmically-challenged individuals shown dancing on the floor of the convention. ugh....
--interesting fact: this is only the fourth time in history conventions have been held back to back. the previous years were 1912, 1916 and 1956.
--around 8:05 i took a break to wash dishes. i'm not sure what i missed.
--there was some interesting breaking news between 8:30 and 9: petitions are being sent around to put both hillary's and obama's names in nomination. hillary will get votes in the beginning but at some point will cut it off and obama will be declared the nominee. i.e. obama is really fucking going out of his way to appease the disgruntled hillary supporters.
--crap! i missed part of senator claire mccaskell's speech. the senator from missouri is one of my favorites. she tried an ode to obama's 2004 speech with a "missouri is not a red state or a blue state, but a united state." but overall, not a great speech. and not covered anywhere but c-span.
--the moment at the end where obama appeared via satellite via kansas city, missouri was just awkward. and i know everyone finds the obama spawn adorable, but i just found it all clumsy. not a strong way to end the evening.

final thoughts
a good night... but not a great night.

it was to be a softer night. a "getting to know barack" night. but the DNC needs to really outline their platform more. and there was a shocking lack of bush-bashing. but that'll come.

hillary speaks tomorrow night... the 88th anniversary of women getting the right to vote. she needs to accomplish a lot and i can't wait to see what she does.

bill speaks on wednesday before biden. bill's ego is bruised and he feels disrespected over his accomplishments in the 90's and hurt over unfairly being called a racist.

that should also be interesting... but hillary has the bigger job at this convention.

overall... i'm hoping for a good week. i'll keep you posted.

obama/biden 08!

e.