(( meatspace ))

Pretty much sums it up….

You know, back in 2000 a Republican friend of mine warned me that if I voted for Al Gore and he won, the stock market would tank, we’d lose millions of jobs, and our military would be totally overstretched. You know what? I did vote for Al Gore, he did win, and I’ll be damned if all those things didn’t come true.

– James Carville, via Brad DeLong

So, not much to say that nobody’s said before: Final grades for speakers:

Clinton, Hillary: C-. Robotic. Strident. Not that much content. “I know a thing or two about health care” fell flat to me.

Clinton, W. J.: A-. The rhetorical digs at the GOP worked, especially because the graciousness with which he turned the knife, and because it bracketed nicely; nobody else took shots at Bush until Kerry did.

Dean: D-. Terrible. Completely unexciting. “You have the power” had all the impact of a wet balloon. And I love the man. This may have been somewhat intentional.

Obama: A+. Brilliant. Thank you for being my Senator. You made me cry. I watched it again on C-SPAN, and even though I knew what was coming, you made me cry again.

Kucinich. C+. Strident. Fairly smart. Bounces too much when he speaks.

Granholm: D-. Missed most of it. I saw a few minutes and couldn’t watch the rest, it was terrible.

Sharpton: A-. Hit the moment, hit the president. I guess this is the exception to the statement I made under W. Clinton. Got just a little bit carried away, but it fit well. If you can wind the stem, do it.

Edwards: A-. Good intro by the wife. Good speech. Great impact. Really spoke to me.

Lieberman: D-. Why are you still in this party? Oh, because if you admitted you’re a Republican, you couldn’t get elected in CT. At least you’re not actually endorsing Bush, like Zell Miller.

Clark. A-. One issue guy, but man he hits that issue well. I liked it a lot.

Kerry. A-. You can be my president any day of the week, Mr. Senator. I think you should talk more about companies offshoring their corporate registration and less about jobs. Talk more about re-training. Talk more about the fact that free trade does help, when it’s not mis-managed.

One of my favorite comments on the whole thing:

Edwards’s speech met with a rather blunter response from a local in a Red Sox jersey at the end of the bar. Half-drunk and furious that the Democratic convention caused trash barrels to be removed from around the city, he repeatedly shouted at the television, “I want my trash cans back! Give me my trash cans back!” (Later he added a more high-minded twist: “And free health care!”)

More later, when I’m not running to catch a train. And I’ll cover the press some too.

… from It’s Over, Ralph -By Barbara Ehrenreich

[...] I’ve thrown my mighty weight behind Dennis Kucinich, who, unnoticed by the media, is still soldiering along on the campaign trail. In the event that he fails to get the Democratic nomination, I’ll have to consider my options.

Uh… what the hell?

What options are you considering? Badnarik? Nobody noticed Dennis Kucinich in the race in January, when he was maybe possibly in the race. I don’t know what race he’s running now but I don’t know what difference it makes that he’s still giving speeches.

Look, I voted for Ralph Nader in 2000 too. I’m really unhappy with myself for having done it, though I always console myself with the fact that I lived in CA. I wish I’d voted for and donated to Al Gore. But look, bygones are bygones. Can we just stand up, admit we were wrong, and MoveOn? The democratic party needs the left, but really, if you don’t want to be toiling in the salt mines in 20 years, you need the democratic party. It’s time to get on the bus, Mrs. Ehrenreich.

“The capture of Saddam is a good thing which I hope very much will keep our soldiers in Iraq and around the world safer. But the capture of Saddam has not made America safer.” -Howard Dean, Dec 15 2003

“Differences over Iraq have split us from allies who rallied to our side after 9/11, and Iraq has drained resources from other needs, most notably in Afghanistan, where warlords still rule most of the country. Iraq could yet settle into some form of Islamic democracy. And terrorists there might become as scarce as before the war began. But the argument that we are safer from terrorism now because we went to war in Iraq is dubious at best.”
–USA Today, July 15, 2004

“I really do think George W. Bush is making a mistake by declaring we’re safer today. Sure, it’s true we haven’t been attacked once inside the United States since 9/11 — something everyone considered a sure thing for at least the first year after that fateful day. It may be an old argument but having the U.S. Army and Marines fight terrorists in Fallujah is still preferable to having civilian passengers in trains, planes, and automobiles fight them in Cleveland. Nevertheless, the world is a mess, and only a fool would think it wouldn’t be after we created more havoc in the Middle East than that region has seen for a generation.” – Jonah Goldberg, National Review, July 14 2004

Also emailed to info _at_ ap.org

This story is currently posted online on yahoo, who cites the author as David Espo

and CNN (same story): who does not cite the author:

The 14th paragraph says:

But Republican strategists hope to force Democrats to choose between voting the wishes of their liberal constituents, some of whom favor same-sex marriage, or in favor of an amendment that polls show is favored by a heavy majority of the country.

Now, polls do consistantly show that a majority of americans do not wish gay marriage to be legal. However, national polls typically show a majority or plurality do not support modifying the constitution in order to do so.

For example, the , taken May 17 2004:

A washington post/ABC poll, taken March 4-7:

“…the poll found that a slim majority-53 percent-favors allowing the states to determine whether to issue same-sex wedding license.”

Even the ancient history is wrong questionable…; unbelievable.

Saddam Could Call CIA in His Defence

Various rebuttals in atrios comments