7:38PM EDT
Late start. Just watched the tail end of Governor Rendell's address and "the only thing McCain will recycle" are Bush's failed policies. Bam.
7:46PM
For the record, I'm at home. I'm watching the coverage on television while enjoying hot dogs and Sam Adams Summer Ale. And as a lifelong political junkie, it doesn't get any better than this. YAAARRR!
8:02PM
Matthews just said that Rendell compared Senator Obama to Adlai Stevenson. Is this true? Yes it is:
"He is a little like Adlai Stevenson," Rendell mused. "You ask him a question, and he gives you a six-minute answer. And the six-minute answer is smart as all get out. It's intellectual. It's well framed. It takes care of all the contingencies. But it's a lousy soundbite."
In other words, "I'm supporting our nominee who is ultimately an eggheaded loser." Classy!
Continued after the jump...
8:09PMNorah O'Donnell talking to a PUMA delegate on MSNBC who will only vote for Senator Obama if the party does the right thing out of respect for Senator Clinton. Silly, silly, silly. You know, I think we can all understand being disappointed after an election, but as far as I know, there aren't any accusations of hanging chads or screwy Diebold machines. This is nothing but an overblown over-indulged sense of entitlement.8:15PMLast word on the PUMAs. Here's the mindset... If you're losing a board game, just freak out and wing the board across the room so no-one can play. Then fold your arms and hurrumph, "So there! Stupid game!"8:19PMLanny Davis on FOX News embarrassing himself like always. Paraphrasing: "It's not up to Senator Clinton to close the deal -- she's opening it up. It's up to Barack Obama to close the deal." I don't quite know what that means, but what a sad little man. And -- oh boy! -- Laura Ingraham up next. [rapidly switches back to MSNBC]8:22PMJohn King on CNN using his ink-spewing magic marker fingers to analyse... the convention floor seating chart! Very serious!8:24PMShorter CNN analysts: There's nothing Obama can do about anything. He so screwed bad now.8:27PMI'm waiting for Carville to climb onto a rock and scream something about "his precious." Then leap up and bite Wolf Blitzer on the neck.8:39PMCNN lower-third graphic: "CROWLEY COLOR COMMENTARY at CNN.com." Yay! I'm so there.8:52PMRachel and Buchanan fighting again. Rachel: "Senator Clinton is being used by the McCain campaign." Then later, Buchanan: "you are saying the Clinton supporters are insane!"8:56PMBuchanan is setting expectations for Senator Clinton's speech tonight in a way that will allow him to keep alive the Hillary Hates Barack narrative. He's suggesting that the only way Senator Clinton signals absolute support for Senator Obama is if she "absolutely guts McCain tonight" -- knowing that she'll attack McCain, but not go all Zell Miller and dismember McCain. So when she doesn't rip McCain to shreds, Buchanan can say that she might not be fully with Obama.9:03PMMatthews' hair is crazy right now. Shemp Howard crazy.9:05PMMatthews just referred to Howard Wolfson as FOX News' "little toy soldier." Hold it -- WHOA! Matthews just blasted Keith for commenting on Matthews' long-windedness on the Clintons. Something about Keith making the "talking too much" hand gesture. Matthews said something like, "I could do the same to you, Keith. It's what I feel!" Need video of this one.9:16PMAs predicted, the Democrats have been ripping the McBushes all damn day and yet there's a running old media narrative -- mainly CNN and FNC tonight -- suggesting that the Democrats aren't attacking McCain today. That they're missing their opportunity. And the fiction of the script plays on...9:19PMDick Morris on FNC. Dick.9:21PMAnd I disagree with Elvis in the comments who wrote: "Looking at Tim Kaine, thank The God™ it wasn't Tim Kaine. He looks like a weasel." Correction. Governor Kaine looks like Jimmy Hoffa.
9:38PMMy senator, Bob Casey, just delivered the line of the night so far:
"John McCain calls himself a maverick, but he votes with George Bush over 90 percent of the time. That's not a maverick. That's a sidekick!"
OH YEAH! Suck it, McBushes.9:33PMTo answer Chris Matthews... The Democrats aren't mentioning Dick Cheney a lot because I assume they want to give the impression that Senator McCain has been George Bush's henchman all these years. Makes sense. In fact, there might be a few recent arrivals to the political discourse who might believe that McCain is Bush's vice president. The "Bush-McCain" slogan and all.9:41PMMark Warner making with the talking now.9:43PMWarner: McCain "stuck in the past."9:50PMWarner: "In four months, we'll actually have an administration that actually believes in science."9:54PMOn FNC... a commercial break. We can only hope CNN and MSNBC go to commercial in the middle of Vlad Rudy's keynote speech next week.9:59PMWell. Warner (from my home state, so I'm biased) kicked some McBush ass tonight. In fact, he accomplished: 1) his own goals for November, 2) Obama's "future" message, and 3) chopped the McBushes in the nards.10:15PMI really have to disagree with Rachel on her evaluation of Warner's speech. "The past versus the future" isn't literally about chronological time. "The past" refers to McCain -- who is running to be president in the future. That's the negative. Also, despite what Buchanan has been saying, every speaker tonight has totally "gutted" Bush and McCain. But since it runs contrary to the media script, it never happened. They're not going to be happy until every address is Zell Miller from four years ago.10:24PMMatthews gets snippy with Keith... now with video thanks to Heather and Jamie at C&L:10:28PMGovernor Schweitzer of Montana is totally eviscerating Senator McCain on CSPAN. But of course the cable news networks are busy talking about how the Democrats aren't eviscerating Senator McCain. This is fucking horseshit. Here's Schweitzer:
"If you drill in all of John McCain's back yards -- even the ones he doesn't know he has... that single answer proposition is a dry well!"
HUGE applause. But the Democrats aren't attacking McCain enough, right? Jesus H.10:34PMWhoops! MSNBC accidentally just aired 1 second of Governor Schweitzer's speech. Wouldn't want to see a Democrat actually attacking the McBushes on the television. MSNBC really dodged a bullet there.10:40PMWhoa. Nice video about Senator Clinton. And now, here she comes...10:44PMPresident Clinton in tears mouthing, "I love you I love you I love you." Very touching.10:45PM"Proud mother. A proud Democrat... A proud American. And a proud supporter of Barack Obama."10:48PM"No way, no how, no McCain. Barack Obama is my candidate and he must be our president." Suck that shit, Buchanan.11:03PM"It makes sense that George Bush and John McCain will be together next week in the Twin Cities. Because they're so hard to tell apart." Bite it, Buchanan.11:06PMWhy wasn't she the keynote speaker?11:08PMThat was the best speech she's ever given. Perhaps the best speech any Clinton has ever given. Strong, clear, precise, aggressive.11:12PMBetween Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton, we've been fortunate enough to witness two of the greatest speeches in the history of Democratic politics. She hit this one with such precision and erudition, I'm staggered.11:16PMBrit Hume: "You'd think that by the end of this speech, we've been living in Belarus or something. Hmmrrruhmmph." Go to Flint, Michigan, Brit. Go to Reading, PA, Brit. Go to Camden, New Jersey, Brit. You melty cheese face.11:25PMAaannnd... CNN immediately tracked down a Clinton delegate who, while crying, said that for the first time since she turned 18... she's not going to vote.11:32PMKey section:
But remember, before we can keep going, we have to get going by electing Barack Obama president.We don't have a moment to lose or a vote to spare.Nothing less than the fate of our nation and the future of our children hang in the b
alance.
11:38PMI'm winding down now. I'll be online for a while longer, but I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for liveblogging along with me. Thank you, thank you. More tomorrow night and Thursday night. And then, next week, we can really go off.