Convention blog

Category: Republican National Convention

Convention TV coverage: Plentiful, predictable

On the tube: Overall, cable TV news delivered comprehensive coverage of the two political conventions. But you had to shop to get the the full picture. Fox News, as usual, was over there plumbing issues on the right. MSNBC has surrendered a lot of its straight-reporting time to transform itself into the Fox News of the left.

CNN played it straighter than the other two. Sarah Palin got more balanced coverage after her backers blasted the early coverage as sexist. By Thursday, even some Hillary aides noted the piling on re the veep hopeful.

The straightest coverage came from C-SPAN, which always plays news straight, a relief from partisan intensity.

Category: Republican National Convention

Office seekers have stake in war

If elected in November, John McCain will be the first president in decades with a very personal stake in the decision he makes about using military force.

McCain's son Jimmy is a Marine who completed a tour in Iraq in February, and son Jack is just coming out of the Naval Academy.

Both vice presidential candidates Sarah Palin and Joe Biden are preparing to deploy to Iraq as well.

Americans will at least know that their leaders are sharing in the sacrifice they're asking of other parents when they send troops into combat.

Category: Republican National Convention

Obama's ridiculous whining

How cheeky of the Democratic presidential nominee to complain that Republicans are unfairly disparaging him and distorting his record during their national convention in St. Paul.

Does he think no one was watching the Democratic convention in Denver last week?

Democrats did everything but hang John McCain in effigy, casting him as a George Bush clone and blaming the two of them for everything from throwing Americans out of their homes to denying them medical care.

The tone was a lot more mean-spirited and vicious in Denver, and the accusations a lot more reckless.

Obama can pretend to be a different kind of candidate, but there's nothing different about his campaign. It's as nasty and dirty as every other campaign.

If he's going to throw mud, he shouldn't wine about getting dirty.

Category: Republican National Convention

Reality checks

Some insta-questions about some of the e-mail traffic flying tonight.

--Obama campaign adviser Anita Dunn tonight, reacting to Mitt Romney's speech and his dig at Michelle Obama's proud-for-the-first time comments during the primaries: "Barack Obama has said that families are 'off-limits,' and we thought that John McCain agreed. ... Mitt Romney's attack on a candidate's wife is as pathetic as his failed presidential campaign," said Obama campaign senior advisor Anita Dunn.

So Michelle Obama can regularly campaign for her husband (including an appearance in Pontiac), deliver a well-received speech at the Democratic National Convention, but now she's supposed to be just as "off-limits" as Sarah Palin's 17-year-old daughter? Hmmm. ...

--Michigan GOP chair Saul Anuzis after tonight's Palin speech: "Governor Palin electrified the convention and left zero doubt that she is qualified, experienced and ready to be the next vice president of the United States."

So Barack Obama is "just words," an empty-suit celebrity who can only deliver a good speech, but Sarah Palin, after one speech, is clearly, with zero doubts, qualified to be vice president? Hmmm. ...

Category: Republican National Convention

Gov. Palin used Reagan grit and humor to quiet her critics

With a toughness and wit that was reminiscent of Ronald Reagan, Gov. Sarah Palin may have quieted her critics. The Alaska governor showed a grace, poise and strength many experts doubted she had. She delivered the red moose meat to a convention hungry for her next Obama-meal.

We all thought Giuliani was the "mayor of the night" with his Hannibal Lector-like dissection of the Democrat ticket. Former Mayor Palin made his speech a distant memory.

Palin has gone from an interesting Alaskan myth to a true force to be reckoned with.

Sen. Obama may now know how Hillary feels, and be asking himself "What happened?"

On a side note, John McCain, who not too long ago was considered defeated, officially became the nominee of the Republican Party tonight. His first real challenge will be to top his V.P.

Michigan's hockey jerseys made us the "bell of the ball." Even Texas, who won yesterday's dress contest conceded to Michigan's Hockey Mom tribute. Go Red Wings!

Category: Republican National Convention

That's one tough Hockey Mom!

And it looks like she lives in our neighborhood.

Gov. Palin's speech has energized the convention from Alaska to Florida. She couldn't have delivered a better speech. She showed she's ready for the tough game of politics and yet showed she's a wife and a mother.

The Democrats have their star and we have ours!

Category: Republican National Convention

Palin's Michigan shout-out

Michigan's economic woes just made their debut on the Republican convention stage.

In a passage attacking Barack Obama as advocating a massive increase in the U.S. tax burden, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin asked how small business owners could prosper under Obama's plan: "How are they going to be any better off if taxes go up? Or maybe you're trying to keep your job at a plant in Michigan or Ohio, or create jobs with clean coal from Pennsylvania or West Virginia, or keep a small farm in the family right here in Minnesota. How are you going to be better off if our opponent adds a massive tax burden to the American economy?"

Aside from what independent fact-checkers have assessed as a pattern of distortions when it comes to the McCain campaign's description of Obama's proposals, it's striking that Palin is the first speaker -- at least as far as I have heard, perhaps I've missed something -- to mention the significant economic troubles of a state so crucial to McCain's hopes.

Category: Republican National Convention

Palin attacks, but doesn't sell herself

Apologies to those Republicans who've been hammering me all week for not drinking the Sarah Palin Kool-Aid, but nothing about her performance tonight changed my mind that she's not ready to be a heartbeat away from the presidency.

Her challenge was to introduce herself as a confident, competent leader. Instead, she spent too much of her time on the attack, a job she should have left to the previous speaker, Rudy Guiliani.

Palin sounded too snarky, too glib. Too much like the pit bull hockey mom she proudly professed to be.

But I recognize that she wasn't talking to me. The GOP delegates were wild about her. No evidence of disappointment inside the Xcel Center.

The speech was funny and delivered zinger after zinger. But we didn't learn much about why we should trust Palin's readiness for the White House.

She didn't measure up to Mitt Romney, who spoke earlier in the evening. I'm betting that before the race is over, John McCain will wish he'd picked Romney, sent him to Michigan and told him to stay there until Election Day.

Category: Republican National Convention

Hockey jerseys get Michigan attention

Deb Price wrote this morning about the hockey jerseys Michigan delegates were to wear tonight, an homage to Sarah Palin's "hockey mom" identity.

The jerseys had one of their desired effects -- getting the delegation a little media love. MSNBC just aired a brief segment on the jerseys including an interview with a Michigan delegate (I'm kicking myself that I caught only the end and couldn't identify the delegate). MSNBC host Keith Olbermann even snuck in a reference to the Detroit Red Wings and University of Michigan and Michigan State University hockey teams.

Category: Republican National Convention

Hockey lovers of Michigan ready to welcome 'Hockey mom'

Michigan delegates are creating quite a media buzz with their hockey jerseys.

The state is seated at the left corner of the platform as the speaker looks out. Delegates plan to chant, "Let's go Sarah!" Sarah Palin, the new vice president pick, is a hockey mom, and the Michigan delegation wants to make sure she knows a hockey state supports her.

Linda Tarver of Lansing said, "We want to reaffirm to her we are behind her 200 percent."

Ronda Hawkins of Brighton said Palin doesn't need to hit a home run with her speech tonight. "I want her to talk about family, faith and jobs."

John Haggard of Charlevoix wore a pin on his hat with Alaska superimposed on the rest of the United States. "She already represents 20 percent of America," he said.