Dateline: Charlotte, NC
Caveat #1: At a convention, logistics dictate all.
I stayed last night until the New York delegation casts it votes (see below) and then joined them at the Mid-States Party, which meant I got home at 2:00 AM.
Waking up at 7:50, a bothersome sense of obligation cause me to attempt to catch as much as I could of the Governor’s breakfast at the hElba where they’d exiled New York.
It took 15 minutes for a cab to arrive, and longer to get there. I arrived around 9:00, but it turned out that the event had been moved from 8:00 AM to 10:15 (as announced at the breakfast I’d blown off the day before).
At 11:30 they were still on the preliminaries, but I had to pick up my credentials by 1:00 or turn into a pumpkin.
Deciding I’d rather see Obama than Andrew (something which could probably get one fired from the Executive Branch), I bolted, but the next shuttle wasn’t leaving until noon. Luckily, I managed to share a cab with Herbie Block and his son.
But that’s why the Governor’s speech is not mentioned.
Caveat #2: As Booker T & the MGs once noted “Time is Tight”–I’d link a video of that song (also covered by The Clash) , but my wifi access has been a bit daunting to really supply any extras; which actually is the point.
Under the circumstances, it would take me all day to put together a more comprehensive piece, so in the name of triage, I am just going with what I’ve got right now.
On Tuesday, the Huffington Oasis was like a New Age sanctum of quietude in the eye of the chaotic storm.
By Wednesday, the importuning by idiots like me that “you’ve got to check out the Huffington Oasis” had caused it to degenerate into one more ring of the circus.
I was part of the press scrum when Chuck was asked about the barely averted absence of Jerusalem from the platform.
Apparently, someone hit backspace by accident.
If Iran had realized getting rid of Jerusalem was so easy, they might have abandoned their nuclear program.
Despite attempting to stay on the approved talking point that it was the President himself who ordered the change, Chuck couldn't help letting us all know that he was deeply involved in getting the change done.
However, if the account of Obama’s intervention is correct, then it proves that a major difference between he and Romney is that Obama actually acknowledges his Party’s platform exists. Pushed by Obama, Democrats Alter Platform Over Jerusalem www.nytimes.com
New York continues to be shown the highest esteem at the convention, as Chuck Schumer is given the prime speaking slot of 6:30 PM.
Well, at the very least, Bill did a better job with his speech than the last time he placed someone's named in nomination (a disaster that resulted in his making a mea culpa on The Tonight Show: on “The Tonight Show”)
Last night, Bill made the case in such detail that if it were any longer it could have been a Gatemouth piece.
That said, he laid it out chapter and verse, and his summation would likely win over any jury, despite the GOP trying to stack the panel during voir dire by trying to use peremptory challenges to racially alter the jury pool.
A minor quibble; the best line " “In Tampa the Republican argument against the President's re-election was pretty simple: We left him a total mess, he hasn't finished cleaning it up yet, so fire him and put us back in," is really a cop of Chris Rock's "If you vote against Obama because he can’t get stuff done, it’s kind of like saying ‘This guy can’t cure cancer. I’m gonna vote for cancer.’”
Watching Bill speak, I could only picture Vito at home screaming at the TV screen:
"He groped Paula Jones and got to be President and everyone loves him.
What do they got against me? That I have better taste in chicks?
How come I can’t be President?"
One pictures Vito in the oval office ordering a kill and capture mission against Nydia Velazquez.
During the roll-call when Missouri kept calling itself "the show me state," I decided it would be a perfect place for Anthony Weiner to relaunch his career.
Delivering New York's convention votes, Shelly went on so long extolling the natural wonders of NYS, (which I had doubted he had seen outside of Albany and the Catskills), that he was interrupted by the Chairwoman, who then bestowed upon him the level of esteem which has been the hallmark of New York’s convention treatment, by asking him to vote already, while various members of the delegation, including a few who don't like Shelly, shouted "Bitch."
The only other time the New York delegation got that unruly was when the Mass delegation noted they were home of the Red Sox.
Paul Ryan could not have drawn so many boos. Sheldon Silver ‘Wasn’t Expecting’ to Have His Remarks Cut Off at the DNC politicker.com
After New York cast its votes, most of the delegation exited. Walking through the lobby, Bill Thompson was caused to interrupt a conversation with Cory Booker when we all heard a loud crash.
The next thing I knew, Thompson was pointing and laughing at the AT&T booth, where Tish James appeared to have accidentally knocked over a table.
Was this an attempt by Tish to pander to the Communication Workers?
I yelled out that this would be the lead item in my next column, but once I decided to be roughly chronological, this was not possible.
Gate: Senator Schumer, how does it feel to know that a seat once occupied by Chuck Schumer and Steve Solarz might now be held by someone like Ben Akselrod.
Chuck (clearly annoyed and walking away): I don't think he'll win.
In a switch, the NYS delegates were mostly talking about Bill Clinton's speech, but almost all the questions asked to Chuck Schumer by the press were still about L'affaire Gropez.
The convention slogan of the New York State Democrats, printed on every banner and button, is "New York State: Progressive Capital of the Nation."
I guess it's easier to put in on the buttons than in the Governor's legislative program.
The specially chosen background music for “AndrewPalooza" at the New York delegation is heavy on the Bruce Juice, but obviously no one on the Governor's staff has actually listened to the lyrics of "Glory Days"
Despite facing a tough primary, Toby Stavisky, who had gotten herself elected a delegate, flew down Wednesday to, as she put it, “fulfill [her] obligation” and vote to renominate Obama.
With her opponent spending half a million, she told me she was getting right back on a plane in the morning, though she did show up at the Governor's breakfast.
All told, I might have caught the redeye. John Messer Honors Pledge to Invest $500,000 Into Own Campaign politicker.com