Black Box Report

This:

...to this:

QOTD from Attaturk at Eschaton:

"Oh, Go with the Green Background"

"It'll make you look like the cottage cheese in a lime jello salad" Always a good look for an older gentlemen.

The aesthetics of McCain's speech, just mercifully completed before a slightly energized crowd of literally dozens, was awesome in how dreadful it was.

On substance, it's kind of hard for anyone to compare to the first African American acknowledging his nomination as standard-bearer for a major political party and odds-on favorite to be the next president of the US. But when McCain's substance consisted of loud protestations that he's not really a third term for Bush, while mirroring him on just about every major policy point, perhaps he should have just taken a pass Tuesday night.

On style...? While I doubt the lime green background was McCain's idea, his PR handlers should be thoroughly horse-whipped for letting him stand in front of it. On rhetorical style, McCain's halting, sweating speech, riddled with difficulties reading his teleprompter in front of a (small) roomful of 200 or so bored supporters in which he bltantly ripped off the Obama campaign message (to an awkward effect)...Well...I'll let his biggest fans weigh in with what they thought:

QOTD II:

I’m listening to John McCain’s speech (live) down in Louisiana as I type this.

My prediction: the Republicans are going to get beat like a red-headed stepchild this fall. Sigh.

Do presidential debates have mercy rules?

Before we get into the backroom politics and the mystery of “will he or won't he ask her to be his VP” – let’s step back for a moment, take a breath and remember this moment in history.

Whether you were a Hillary supporter like myself, or even a Republican with no intent of voting for Obama in your lifetime - take a mental snapshot of this moment and be proud that you lived in a time in American history where you witnessed what many believed, even a few years ago, we would not witness in our lifetime. A black man, in a post 9/11 world, with a name like Barack Hussein Obama, is representing his party for president.

Not many years ago, Obama wouldn't have been allowed to vote or even share a cab with a white guy, let alone marry a white woman. In five months he is the odds-on favorite to become leader of the free world, shepherding in a chapter in history, I believe, will be the most important in my lifetime.

Nobody needs to tell me all the problems we have in America. We’re stuck in a war; the economy is a mess; the gap between the Haves and Have Nots has never been wider. I know this, and I shine a light on it every night. But that doesn't take away from last night. We have come a long way, and while we have a long way to go, we are getting there.