Liveblogging The Republican Convention - Day Two

6:49PM EDT
Hello! I'll be liveblogging the television coverage of the lies and smears -- I mean, coverage of the Republican convention. So far, I've heard Fred Barnes on FOX News ask, "What about Obama's daughter -- daughters?" Huh?

6:51PM
In case you missed last night's convention festivites, Mrs. McCain was dressed up like a banana.

6:56PM
I wonder how much we'll hear about whether the Republican Party can appeal to disgruntled Ron Paul supporters. Will there be unity?! What does Senator McCain have to do to win over Ron Paul people?

7:03PM
Every delegate on the convention floor looks a little bit like Candy Crowley.

7:04PM
Fred Thompson is scheduled to speak tonight in place of Rudy Giuliani who will be forced to stay home and scare the piss out of the people in his living room. I've attained an exclusive rehearsal video of Thompson's address:

Story continues below

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7:09PM
For what it's worth, I've started a 'Keep Governor Palin on The Ticket' petition here.

7:14PM
It's become abundantly clear in the last several days that the Republican Party has been irrevocably seized by fundamentalist Christians who have instituted a strict religious test -- the results of which override competence, rationality and intelligence.

7:28PM
Staggering how the barbecue media can continue to refer to Senator McCain and Governor Palin as mavericks and reformers. They're not. We know the list of Palin's inconsistencies on this (bridge to nowhere, Ted Stevens' 527, etc) and we know that McCain has caved to the far-right on just about everything over the last decade. And keep in mind Scarborough's Law for the coverage tonight: When the Republicans attack, repeat the attack over and over. When the Democrats attack, attack the Democrats.

7:40PM
Keith Olbermann on the Palin scandals: "Wonderful opportunity for [the media] to get some practice at researching things." I don't think he meant it as a joke, but yeah -- funny.

7:47PM
Remind me how the Republicans will energize the McCain campaign by replacing Rudy Giuliani with Fred Thompson and Joe Lieberman? Both of which appear to be literally melting. This is like warming up for a ball game by drinking a gallon of mayonnaise.

8:07PM
O'Reilly just did his 'Memo' about how the media is ganging up on Governor Palin's family and daughter. Weird. In just three minutes, I found at least three news items on the FOX News website about Albert Gore's DUI arrest -- including his mugshot. Weird. And no mention of John McCain's hilarious Chelsea Clinton joke. You know the one: "Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because her father is Janet Reno." Hoo-hoo! So funny, McCain. Both disrespectful and sexist. Weird.

8:21PM
Chuck Todd just said on MSNBC that many of the delegates are there for the platform, specifically the abortion plank -- they're not there for McCain. And that's probably why the Republican platform now calls for a ban on abortion even in the cases of rape and incest. Yep. The Republicans love women.

8:33PM
According to BooMan:

Apparently, McCain canceled an appearance on CNN because Campbell Brown was mean to his surrogate last night and Sarah Palin canceled a scheduled appearance to accept some award. In other words, the convention kicks off with the Republicans in total media lockdown. Unbelievable.

8:35PM
Chris Matthews suggested that Giuliani was canned from the convention because he's pro-choice. Is this true? Anyone?

8:36PM
Buchanan just said that the Obamas sent out a newsletter in which they said that they "LIKE" partial birth abortion. Absolute lie. Disgusting lie.

8:40PM
There's really been a coup d'etat here. The Republican Party has been once and force all supplanted by anti-choice zealots -- with national security reduced to a cosmetic gimick.

8:49PM
Christian singer Rachel Lampa is singing now. Something really scary and creepy about a Christian rock star singing about Jesus and God while the delegates wave "Service" signs. We really have to wonder whether tonight's "service" theme is about serving country -- or serving fundamentalist Christian dogma. The Republican Party has gone bye-bye.

9:05PM
Wow, it's only 9:05? This is a really boring convention. The most exciting thing is the shiny "none more black" floor.

9:09PM
Kay Bailey Hutchison just said on MSNBC that Governor Palin has broken through the glass ceiling.

9:22PM
Bush 41 tribute on MSNBC. The upshot: "George Bush -- he did stuff, okay?"

9:26PM
It looks like more delegates are watching the CNN panel and making funny faces behind Wolf Blitzer than are watching the stage. I can only assume it's because the rustling of Wolf's beard is the loudest, most interesting damn thing in the arena.

9:33PM
While the Republicans are talking about service in front of a flag the size of McCain's fourth and seventh houses combined, here's this from Greg Sargent:

The founder of the Alaska Independence Party -- which Sarah Palin has courted -- professed his "hatred for the American government" and cursed our "damn flag."

9:44PM
Here comes Laura Bush. There's a really loud delegate shouting, "YAAAARRRR!"

9:45PM
Why are so many people dressed up in cowboy costumes? I can understand four years and eight years ago -- the Texas thing and all. But for McCain's convention? They should be wearing BBQ chef's hats.

9:49PM
The president's minority student education record didn't get a "YAAARRRR!" from that shouting guy.

9:53PM
Here's President Bush. Speaking in front of pillars. He thinks he's a Greek god! Hoo-hoo.

9:54PM
They just showed Bush 41. I wonder how he feels about his boy being booted out of the convention.

9:55PM
Bush: "If the Hanoi Hilton could not break John McCain's resolve... You can be sure the angry left never will." So the "angry left" is like the North Vietnamese? Weird. I thought the Republicans supported torture.

9:59PM
It's coming up on 10PM and Bush is still speaking. Too bad. Now he's on the broadcast network coverage even though McCain tried to keep him hidden on cable.

10:01PM
Bush: the American people will vote for John McCain and Sarah Palin. High praise from the president! He went on to say, "On that day, some will eat breakfast. Others will drink water. And a random percentage of voters will vote for John McCain!" Loud guy: YAAARRRR!

10:09PM
Here's the Fred Thompson Jamboree.

10:10PM
Thompson is spray-on-tan-tastic. Now he's going to deny that the economy sucks. And why doesn't it suck? Because America is awesome! YAAARRRR!

10:11
Fred: Palin can field dress a moose. And: When she and John McCain get to Washington, they're gonna drain that swamp. Thompson knows that John McCain is a U.S. Senator right?

10:19PM
Wait. This isn't a jamboree.

10:21PM
While we listen to horrors of Hanoi, I can't help but to think that the Bush Republicans believe that torture is necessary and gets results.

10:25PM
From Hanoi to the Surge in around three sentences.

10:26PM
Is this Thompson guy an actor or something? Yeah, I think he's a Hollywood celebrity. And so was that Reagan feller in the movie before his speech. I hope not because McCain hates celebrities.

10:30PM
For the record, strappado -- the act of tying a prisoner's arms behind his back and hoisting him upwards -- is also known as a "stress position." We also call it torture. John McCain voted to allow the CIA to continue this practice.

10:33PM
I wonder if Fred Thompson knows how to spell "zygote" or "blastocoel"? He should -- since he also knows the exact moment when a soul enters a fertilized egg.

10:36PM
Wolf Blitzer said "red meat" within seconds of Thompson wrapping.

10:37PM
The only thing not included in Thompson's speech was the Xcel snack bar menu.

10:46PM
Full text of Lieberman's speech:

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz. Terrorists! Zzzzzzzzzzzz.

10:47PM
Lieberman: "God only made one John McCain, and he is his own man?" Is that why he allowed Rush Limbaugh and the far-right to choose his running mate?

10:49PM
When someone says "let me give you some straight talk" it always makes me wonder about the veracity of everything else he or she is saying.

10:54PM
I'm just looking at this tiny crowd of people in spaghetti western drag and wondering: How can they look at the last eight years and say, "Not too shabby! Let's do it again!"

10:59PM
Odd. The partisan Republicans are cheering for not voting based on party.

11PM
Joe Lieberman is done. Is it night or morning? And a life age of the Earth has elapsed.

11:03PM
So the case for McCain is... Maverick, POW, Surge. Not a single successful ballyhoo about the Republican dominance of this decade.

11:08PM
Newt Gingrich on MSNBC just referred to Palin as McCain's "soulmate." I really don't think the Republicans understand what that word means. And now he just said that Barack Obama was never the commander of the Alaska National Guard. Neither was Palin.

11:13PM
Lieberman on with Andrea Mitchell implying that he left his party because he didn't like the Democratic direction on national security. In Lieberspeak, that's code for "I was vindictive about losing to Ned Lamont so I decided to sneak through a loophole in the system."

11:19PM
Regarding that stellar Republican national security record, Sullivan asks: "Was Bill Clinton president on September 11, 2001?"

11:25PM
Sullivan also caught this Lieberman quote: "What you can expect from John McCain as President is precisely what he has done this week." Stating the obvious, McCain's five days involved pretending to respond to the hurricane and allowing the far-right to choose his vice presidential running mate who wasn't vetted and turned out to be a slow motion trainwreck. Heckuva job, McBush!

11:28PM
It occurs to me that President Bush was awake past his bedtime.

11:28PM
David Gregory: "There's a 'lost' feeling in the crowd. Where do we go from here?" Based on the History Channel review of old men in old timey photographs, they clearly want to go back to 1902.

11:31PM
Olbermann: Thompson coughed 70 times during his speech.

11:38PM
Here's the upshot of each of the two speeches tonight. Country Bear Thompson: graphic violence. Lieberman: begging Democrats to help his friendly friend John.

11:41PM
CNN just spent the last ten minutes analyzing... themselves. Very serious!

11:44PM
Congresswoman Heather Wilson: "It was electric here tonight." Was she in the same building I saw on television? Or did she rub a balloon on her head and observe a static shock?

11:48PM
Congresswoman Wilson, talking about the 'Born Alive Bill' on MSNBC, just said, "Barack Obama said let them die." He said no such thing and I challenge her to produce a quote. Disgusting. It's no wonder The Passion of the Christ was so popular with Republicans. They're fascinated by torture, violence and bizarre scenes of horror. Popularly known as "torture porn." Anyway, as I type this, Olbermann just corrected Wilson as well.

MIDNIGHT
I'm wrapping up for the night. Thanks everyone! I'll be back at for Day Three and the Palin Show Wednesday night. Cheers!

Comments

[GotRights]

The banana motif makes perfect sense, as the GOP slips on the big banana palin - er, banana peel.

[StillAmused]

Georgie The Lesser proudly claims we haven't been struck again since 9/11.

Oh, yes we have, tool... and YOU did it.

Over 4,000 American dead, tens of thousands injured -- and you even saved al Qaeda the airfare.

[TooGoodTooBeTrue]

You left out the Iraqi dead, displaced, and damaged. They count too.

[StillAmused]

Point taken, of course, but the reference here was to the United States purportedly not having been struck again since 9/11, a droning right wing mantra. As you properly note, in the broader context, the Iraqis have paid an infinitely GREATER price for Junior's excellent adventure.

[Wanjiru]

...Bob, you have no idea how much I appreciate this...

...can't being myself to watch it so thanks for doing it for me!...

...Go Bob!...Go Keith Olbermann...

...Go Dems!

Obama/Biden 2008!

.

[kevinem2]

I really am impressed by the talents of repub trolls who can demonstrate hand-eye coordination enough to type their drivel while fighting a monumental gag reflex to avoid applying logic to what they are putting on their computer screens. I mean c'mon, that can't be easy....

[Beka13]

"If the Hanoi Hilton could not break John McCain's resolve... You can be sure the angry left never will."

But the wackjob Right WAS totally successful in Breaking him.

[waychill]

Thank you so much for live-blogging on the Republicans- I couldn't stomach watching them myself, and your take on it is so much more amusing.

[BenjitheWolfdog]

There's an old saying in the law, "When your'e strong on the law and weak on the facts, pound the law, when you're strong on the facts and weak on the law, pound the facts, but when you're weak on the law and the facts, pound the table." Looked to me like there was a lot of table pounding going on at the RNC last night.

[AddictedToHope]

What about if you're strong on the facts AND the law. Seems like that describes the Democrats perfectly.

We should hammer the Republicans where they're the weakest - FACTS.

Just stick to those and it'll be a landslide.

[Theron]

I just love that comment about the "angry left". Gee, whatever could we be angry with? Lack of accountability and utter disregard for the rule of law? Torture?, Illegal warantless wiretapping?, Politicizing every aspect of government? The list goes on...sigh.

[dadw5boys]

PALIN PALIN PLAIN

NOT ISSUES BECAUSE MC CAIN WOULD LOSE!!!!!!!!!!

[NotMcCain]

Why did MSNBC and CNN show the whole d*mn thing, each and every speech and tribute?

They talked incessantly over most of the Democrats' speeches (Kerry, the generals on stage) etc.


I hope more people will start talking about how the Christian right has taken over the Republican party.

I guess that's another thing McSame was against before he was for it.

[FirstShirt]

Was the banana your logo?

I was told that Russia didn't send any media to the convention but obviously you are subbing out to them.

[mexamerican]

yup, everyone you don't agree with is a "commie."

[zendem1]

Yup. Funny. You should do stand-up. Ok, maybe not.

[CreateAnAccount]

I've been thinking about McCain's all out flip-flops of his most core positions, agents of intolerance become his best buds, drilling off shore off limits until the polls change, against all torture to pro-torture (can you believe that one from the former POW?) pro-choice to anti-choice, etc...regarding that last one...that is perhaps the most disturbing.

He knows full well that Palin would overturn Roe V Wade in a blastocyst's heartbeat. I say it is time we take this one step further...I say we out-"fundie" the Evangelicals. I say it's time we ban the destruction of eggs! That's right...it's about time we take these selfish once-a-month women to task. Every woman in America that dares to kill an unfertilized egg by not getting pregnant should be thrown in jail. After all, since only I know God's will and intent...I know that He is outraged that we kill billions of potential human beings in monthly cycles of vicious serial killing.

[kristycu]

You have a point.- if you look at it that way- and if you think about it our whole design is by GOD- so then by that estimation GOD must be wrong for letting us have periods and getting rid of eggs. OMG- i think you got them on this one-OH and- that men can no longer "do there thing" because they are potentialing not producing babies either (come on i know you watched "Legally Blond')

[Pupadup4oBama]

bob you always tell it like it is....and THEN SOME!!!

GREAT BLOG...thanks - I know i couldn't make it through the whole thing.

[FirstShirt]

Speaking of retching, I couldn't either. It doesn't even raise to the level of satire. it is so obviously partisan that only a mindfreak of a liberal could could find it amusing or relevant.

[emncaity]

Well said, FirstShirt (?). Now that you've really socked those damn liberals, how about you and your bunch continue to ruin the country for another four years?

[exhale09]

Bob Cesca, I think you are wonderful!

[trinidadgirl]

Bob...I just laughed uncontrollably through your blog!
On a serious note though, what exactly are they offering America as a nation to evolve and redeem itself apart from the Palin circus?

[robeson]

Newt Gingrich like other MSM right wingers is not deterred by getting caught in a lie.
Gingrtich and the others understand that there are no consequences for lying, that they will retain unlimited media access. William Safire said it best nearing retirement. I write opinion, there is no need to be factual, he said. This is the garbage that pollutes are society.

[DELCOPA]

Warning - Conservative View

In case you are curious how the conservatives are viewing the Palin choice, I can tell you that all of the suburban PA republicans I know are very excited about her selection. None of us knew who she was before the pick was announced and are a little anxious because we know so little about her. One thing we like, however, is her apparent record against corruption. Most of us were disgusted at how the republican party was taken over by the special interests. This is a refreshing change to say the least.

[kcmookie]

Uhhhh, so you still intend to vote for the party that has been taken over by special interests? I am just curious as to when you recognize there platform is hypocritical and full of lies. I know, I know, all politicians lie, but the Reupublicans are more brazen about it, and don't even ATTEMPT to follow thru on their promises. At the very minimum the Dems have intent. I understand and respect your conservative view, that is well stated. As a conservative, will you have the courage to vote for Obama, or is it to much for you to swallow?

[DELCOPA]

As of now, I'm planning to vote for McCain, but could change my mind. I'm certainly much happier with McCain at the top of our ticket considering the other republican contenders (Huckabee, Romney, etc.).

Obama has passion and is a good communicator (which we all know is important). I don't like his positions on many issues (the capital gains tax and the troop surge being the two most significant). I was also disappointed by his choice of Biden for VP. Clinton, Richardson, Rendell or Bayh would have given me more reason to move in his direction. Biden may be smart but it is hard to see it because of his demeaning nature. I also wonder how much change a man with a 36-year senate career can bring to America.

I actually liked Clinton which I imagine is rare considering I'm a republican father of three. She wasn't too popular among the posters here which I don't quite understand. From what I know about her Senate career, I think she would have made a good president.

[dill]

If you are impressed with Palin's "apparent record against corruption", you obviously know little about her. Perhaps you need to educate yourself.

[DELCOPA]

I'm open minded. Can you enlighten me?

[pvernier]

And so should McCain. Whoops, a little late

No vetting = Palin = boat anchor = landslide

[IowaKid]

Maybe you should look up her dealings with Abramhoff.

[emncaity]

Nobody even cares about Abramoff or that whole scandal anymore. The Bush-Cheney administration is so riddled with scandals that it's hard for people to keep track, I guess--plus, for some of these things (certainly the Abramoff deal), you have to have an attention span that runs past a couple of minutes, which cuts out 80% of the electorate.

[TheEmptinessOfTruthiness]

Thanks, what you said might represent the thoughts of many folks who would rather vote Repo than anything else, regardless of the record.

But beware: Being "apparent" is something the repo's are exceptionally good at, symbols, flags, rhetoric, etc, but following through in reality is not.

Why is it only called corruption when "the other guy" does it? Palin is under investigation herself, has lied about her opposition to the "bridge to nowhere," and even if she was so pure, doesn't have the clout to bring anything more than "apparent" change.

Please, take a look around the HuffPo and discover Sarah Palin.

[FirstShirt]

"Please, take a look around the HuffPo and discover Sarah Palin."

I have. She is more experience than Obama and is more impressive than Biden. Thanks to HuffPo for the advertisement.

[smitallica]

That's funny. Because I spent the weekend with a bunch of Pennsylvania Republicans, and they thought McCain's choice of Palin was "political suicide," and were beside themselves with anger.
Which was absolutely delicious for me.

[DELCOPA]

Let there be no question about it. If Palin can't handle herself, then McCain loses and could lose big. She gets a pretty big test tonight. It should be interesting for both sides to say the least.