Last post for this blog (DNCC ‘08)

Now that I have had more than a week to reflect on the trip and the experience, all I can say is that I’m glad I went and was able to participate. Many thanks to the “S” family for their wonderful hospitality.

On Friday of convention week they asked if I wanted to go camping in the Rocky Mountains for two days. Of course I said “yes” and had a very relaxing time away from cable, internet, phone, etc. It was a great way to end the experience.

The Case Against the Case for Sarah Palin

Another fascinating article ( see full article here ) that underscores my unease about the Democrats underestimating the Republicans and McCain in particular WRT the choice of Palin. Everyone please pay attention and make sure to not just write her off .. she’s NOT a lightweight. Defeatable, I believe, but no pushover.

More on Sarah Palin from an Alaskan blogger

What is McCain Thinking? One Alaskan’s Perspective.

An interesting article by an Alaskan blogger. Not definitive by any means, but provides details on Troopergate so far and other comments about her experience. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here’s a picture of Wasilla, the city of 5000 where she was mayor

[ click this link to see downtown Wassila ]

And another interesting entry from the same blogger with a “Twilight Zone” banner :

I, like all Alaskans, have been glued to the news media today, watching with amazement as Sarah Palin was tagged as McCain’s vice presidential running mate. Local radio talk shows are all a-buzz. The progressive station has a mixture of callers who are amused, horrified, and bewildered. The conservative station has a mixture of callers who are amused, enthusiastic, horrified and bewildered. No one is really sure how this happened, or what to make of it. Citing the fact that she was the mayor of Wasilla 2 years ago in her list of “executive experience” doesn’t even pass the giggle test in Alaska.

[ click link to full article here ]

HUH? on McCain’s VP pick today

When I heard the announcement of Governor Palin as McCain’s VP pick, I thought (and said, out loud) “HUH?” Followed immediately by “who?” and then by “why?”.

Well I have some answers already. Here’s a piece by Ed Rollins, political strategist for Reagan (click here).

But even more importantly, I just happened to catch a CNBC interview

I got to witness history tonite

I got to witness history tonite. I was in the crowd of 85,000 in the stadium listening raptly to Obama deliver one of the most amazing political speeches in any convention. The concensus I’ve seen so far in the punditry bears this out: he hit every single criticism used on him so far and met them head on, including the “commander in chief” argument. Artfully delivered, he seemed very much at ease with himself despite what must have been enormous pressure. And his going to greet his family at the end of it on stage was a beautiful family moment (“family values? my daughters and wife were on stage with me minutes after my famous speech”).

DNC ‘08 – Wednesday

Wow.. What a day (again). Some highlights: (1) I was in the lobby of the hotel when Hillary called for the acclamation vote. What a classy act. I was impressed, and there were more than a few tears shed when then event happened (including me). (2) I went to the PDA panel session on Global Warming which included Medea Benjamin of Code Pink, who also is heading a group called Global Exchange. (3) I attended the Ralph Nader / Cynthia McKinney event at the University of Denver. (5) I went out tonite with Chad and ended up being able to hang out a bit with Dennis & Elizabeth (pix will be posted later). Elizabeth is a truly beautiful and gracious soul … Dennis and she are a wonderful couple.

Impressions of the Hillary speech

The general impression here is that Hillary hit a home run with the speech yesterday. I have to say I was impressed .. I do wish she’d been able to exhibit more of the Kucinich fire but understand why she can’t afford to.

I was wondering what the other side would criticize, and sure enough, here it is: she didn’t explicitly say that Barack was “ready to be commander in chief”.  Sigh.  I wish we could deal with the issues instead of personality.

And while I’m on that particular thread: enough with the McCain house count already. Point made and beaten to death, and IMHO the Democrats are showing blatant hypocrisy in trying to “hit the rich” as a major talking point.

As all of you know, I am a Progressive and understand the underlying rationale … but the pounding on house count and personal attacks is not helping to solve the problem(s) we have to face.

PUMA: Party Unity My A**

Here’s what I perceive to be the main blog (or at least one of the first) about PUMA (Party Unity My A**), a group who’s still very upset at Hillary losing the primaries. I’ve seen reference to PUMA over the past few days; ironically I haven’t had the time or inclination to do my regular podcasting/TV watching/blogreading, and I have missed a lot of political commentary; I’ve been *out there in meatspace/real world* meeting people, taking pictures, etc. etc.

DNCC Blogger Details Still a Puzzle

DNCC Blogger Details Still a Puzzle: I realize I should have started trying to get blogger credentials awhile back (I got Texas blogger credentials only a few days before the event). But apparently even if I’d started a lot earlier the process is pretty convoluted. I ran across this article on the Huffington Post. As far as I can tell, this sort of “logic” has been applied to “guest passes” for the convention and the various parties as well. [Mainly I just love the opening sentence]

“It’s like an LSAT question: if bloggers W, X, Y and Z from publications A, B, C, D, and E apply for passes 1, 2, and 3, the bloggers to receive the three passes must have Technorati stats equal to the circumference of the sun divided by pi times .003 (or some other formula nobody knows)

DNCC 08 – Tuesday

I spent my time today on “non-convention” activities: the Department of Peace reception (mentioned in a separate entry), a very pleasant diversion into the realm of children’s books (“How to make a robot”), got to see Arianna Huffington live, visited Tent State University in the park for a few hours, and became an official “Gamephace” ambassador (more on that later). I also got a picture of Gary Hart just walking around downtown. Pictures will be generated later today.