John McCain is going to run an ad tonight congratulating Obama on his victory. Apparently his campaign wants as many people as possible to see him behaving graciously.
Behind the scenes, of course, it’s a different story
The controversy of course is the unveiling of preparations for Obama’s speech at Denver’s massive football stadium, Invesco Field, which has been transformed into what the McCain campaign has called “The Temple of Obama.”
A stage featuring huge plywood columns painted off-white to look like marble has been set up at the 50-yard line of Invesco Field, and Obama is expected to stride out from between the columns to address some 75,000 supporters — all choreographed for a massive prime-time American television audience.If the clean white columns were supposed to evoke Washington’s Capitol building or even the White House — some generic presidential-like setting — they have instead sparked a (Roman?) fountain of jokes about Greek Gods and Roman ruins.
A snarky memo from the McCain campaign betrayed the difficulty critics have when faced with such a juicy target — deciding on a single funny nickname for the venue seems as hard as picking a vice presidential nominee that won’t offend the Republican base.“
Today, workers at Invesco Field are putting the final touches on the newest wonder of the modern political world — The Temple of Obama (”The Barackopolis”),” Deputy Communications Director Brian Rogers noted in an e-mail to “interested parties”.
Or perhaps the Obama campaign is celebrating something that happened forty five years ago today.
I’m not surprised McCain missed the visual reference.
He was never a great fan of Dr. King’s.
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the factory worker from Marion, Indiana just gave the best speech of the Convention by a Hoosier.
Sorry, Senator Buh-Bayh….
Hi Julia!
why do politicians not understand that Springsteen’s “Born in The USA” is not a celebratory anthem?
lunkheads.
Spot on!! The offering of congrats under those circumstances makes me want to projectile vomit
*Smack!* He’ll sure be smarting tomorrow!
“We need a President who puts Barney Smith ahead of Smith Barney.”
Evening, all.
actually it fits perfect to our political/social times. All has been so well orchestrated, I would not be surprised that this was chosen for that reason
THAT was an awesome line
sup bro
I just popped some popcorn. Have a handful.
that was wonderful! Yay Barney Smith!
That was a great line!
(And only Barney could have given it.)
But I don’t think that Bruce’s anthem was meant to be “celebratory”…it matches up precisely with the past six speakers.
That was excellent. :D
obama folks have been spot on with teh texting thing, tapping into american idol or soemthing, a show i’ve never seen except for the end when they ask you to text, usually cause i’m waiting for house to start.
Is it true that McShame is having a hard time gathering 10,000 for his acceptance speech even with free busing from other cities and free admission?
I think power to the people is sending amessage about the content of obama’s speech
wait till you see the snack buffet i have for the obama speech!
LOL LOL LOL thank you
this is awesome
Hi, Pups
Dang, we’re movin’ fast tonight!
“Power to the People” playin’ at Mile High.
I’m gettin’ jazzed.
FunnyD
hints
I’ve heard that, too. They are having to bus people in to fill the hall, I hear. Interesting, isn’t it?
Christy,
Can you connect to CSpan via the web and do the stand alone player in the corner of your screen? It’s a trick I use in the office during important hearings. You could still blog along with us. It would beat watching CNN.
btw, I got an early peek at some Obama speech excerpts. Don’t miss it.
my daughter is a regional director for the dems up in bumfuck maine and she told me today she felt so proud when the maine delegation announced their votes yesterday. tonight i feel part of something that challenges my cynicism and gives me hope.
can’t believe i just wrote that.
I couldn’t get your previous snack link to open. Got an error message.
I’m glad to hear you may have finished the procedures. Here’s to pain-free!
Barack the Vote!
What’s the difference, they all will show the entire speech?
Has McSame announced that he’s picked David “Cheney’s Cheney” Addington as his veep candidate yet?
And what are they using as bribes to get them on the busses?
It’s not his acceptance speech, though — it’s his announcement of/first appearance with his veep.
I could at home on my iMAC desktop. but I’m on the beat up laptop that blew up, got patched back together, and is on its last legs. It’s okay — the Obama speech will be totally live, so it’s good.
Did I mention I got to see Melissa Ethridge sing live yesterday? WOOT!
‘Ain’t no Stopping Us Now’ This was my dad’s favorite song. He played this song to death
Well he’s competing with the opening night of the NFL season…Maybe he should offer free I-Pods?
I thought for a brief horrific moment you said “Up With People”.
My heart.
I think you’re giving them too much credit – but it’s possible I guess.
Gracious? Have you all seen the “HANG” ad? Or is that story false since it hasn’t gone viral.
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/….._0828.html
The Barack Obama Cake & Cookie Buffet Table
Now, promise you won’t eat it ALL before he starts speaking.
you know, the repubs could roll out the chippendales AND the rockettes next week and it couldn’t hold a candle to this energy.
HA!
The Glob has it via AmericaBlog. For those who want spoilers.
McCain is so cryin’ into his Glen Ord Highland Northern Single Malt Whiskey right now.
Don’t worry Christy, KO is doing his best to give the speech himself before Barack hits the stage. Lame-O.
Nice one. i’m sending that to my kid
Hi Suz how are doing tonight?? Are you excited yet?? What a perfect way to get ready for tomorrow. We hit 100 here today, staying in is the only way to at least tolerate the heat!!
And thanks to DWBARTOO again for opening the DIGG!!
Try this site ABC Live Convention
It’s just their footage without the pundits.
No fair.
They are having to bus people in to fill the hall, I hear. Interesting, isn’t it?
yeah. I didn’t know McLame was now in favor of busing.
OMG. anything but that.
The music seems better at Mile High tonight.
Ain’t no stoppin us now – we’ve got the groove
Now that’s what I call a fist-bumpin song
.
Love the LOLcupcakes!
OH YUM!!!
rofl!
C-SPAN is my friend.
jayt- I heard it differently than you did- same story as the ordinary people who came before.
And, they were great! You gotta believe that they will get lots of local press/ TV, and people will Identify. Rock the Vote.
Oy!
Yes, my understanding was that no one was supposed to publish anything prior to the speech. Guess it was too tempting…
Watching the spectacle. How about yourself?
bump across the nets
on the eve of his 72nd Birthday? How sad.
73 year old — at least
Here’s that link to the gorbachev piece in the times. there were two articles. use their search as well.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08…..038;st=cse
I’m stealing that for a post tomorrow, jayt. *g*
I am almost having trouble breathing!
So McCain’s music will be??? The best of Pat Boone?
anybody think michelle and barack are gettin down backstage?
PIP with NCSU/SC
Awesome!
OMG here it comes!
cool – feel free !
oops 72 year old scotch
McFadden abd Whitehead is the name of the group
Dicks been a Dick sorry to say
Perhaps the prob with the U.S. is always trying to achieve ancient Greece’s greatness.
I DO know how to do a snack tray. Did you see NDFG’s birthday bash buffet yesterday?
That’s OK, Cindy will order up another case.
She’s up in the balcony box seating at the moment. They just showed her on screen.
yeah it’s called Desegregation.
with a dash of ABBA and Daddy Yankee
Durbin seems to be in a much better mood than he was when he was talkin’ to Pach… *g*
what prompted that? lol
“just put it on my tab” she sez
Is that Pach I see behind Durbin?
oh my!
So now Obama is not a Muslim or an atheist…but a Graeco-Roman polytheist?
Ooooooh! Thanks, Aunt Betsy. You da Best!
FunnyD
Or will Durbin redeem himself with Pach with tonight’s speech? Inquiring minds …
well… that’s what I”D be doin
I would pay money to see Daddy Yankee busting out ‘La gasolina’ and the family values folks bopping around the convention floor to that.
Tonight we get to cash that check that MLK said we had…. Today we get hard cash… Woohoo…..
wOOt !
707
He is a man of many talents
very sadly yes.
What a fabulous insight. I never thought of BO on those terms!
and clappin on the ‘one’ instead of the ‘two’ beat. dead giveaway
not with me…way too typical
TISSUES stat
My brother is a placard manager near the top of the stadium. Y’all mind him, now.
God, this is soooo brilliantly done. i guess the dems have got their groove back
high time
high times
the Durbin speech was mercifully short.
I don’t think that the folks in ABBA would allow the use of their material. I know the US cousin of Bjorn and she’s pretty progressive, and says her cousin supports the Scandinavian social-welfare system…with its high tax rates. The members of Abba still live in Sweden.
i am filling my yard with signs tomorrow, and with other stuff as well
I would lose it because they have no idea that Daddy Yankee is singing about cooter (coochie, p*ssy, etc.)
tissssssssssssssssues
What does a placcard manager do, how does on get the job, presumably volunteer?
LOL LOL
Here in Mi Mccain’t is running a nasty ad trying to connect Obama to Ayers bombing? the capital 30 years ago. Ayers is a college prof now. I saw fox for a minute today and it sounded like they are putting garbage ads on just to make Obama spend money refutting Mccaint’s ads rather then Obama campaign ads.
who is this narrator? i recognize his voice
i love the guy…yes i do
I like Michele’s intense look, always there, even when she smiles. How refreshing!
That is the plan in Houston, according to a D friend I stayed with for a couple of days before Netroots Nation. Wake up tomorrow with Obama yard signs all over the place.
BINGO
tisssssssshhh
nicely done video
okay might be the wine also
I was in love with him, michele sez.
yup and so will everyone else be.
does anyone besides me see echoes of Bobby in this? in people’s eyes?
Peter Coyote?
It’s David Strathairn, the actor who played Edward R. Murrow.
Hey, Katymine!
Nice video about The Candidate. Really nice bio.
And does he look like his Mom, or what?
FunnyD
we’re having caipirinhas
did his voice break when he was talking about his mom?
great actor
crazy call ins on cpsan this am talkin about obama kissing women on the lips!!!
eewww. crazy nutcase uptight strangloves
yes…he is real
YES! how cool
yep.
kewl!
Currently up the Obama hagiography. I especially like the part where he turns water into wine. Now that is a useful talent.
My niece is friends with Peter Coyote. Who is he? Some sort of reporter? She’s a name dropper, so never investigated who he is.
before my time, i’m afraid.
good grief
I go for him
and passion fish
man i cant bellieve this. doesn’t even need the speech
He is an actor and one of the original Diggers from the Haight.
oh tisssssues pulease
His story sounds a lot like my mom’s story, actually, except she’s not running for President.
And, there he is.
Yep, you are right. He was also in the great Matewan.
Must have been the R talking points email for the day. How low they will go. But it’s part of the dog whistle to the racist base.
you’re kidding.
My niece is friends with Peter Coyote. Who is he?
Actor.
Another theory is McLame has to spend his Primary warchest before the RNC “party” next week.
Oh. Here we go?
FunnyD
love that fu******** movie
omg it’s Obama time all ready!!
Crazy Manchurian Candidate McCain likes the famous swedish group ABBA. Does ABBA like “There Will Be More Wars” John? Not so much.
one message
there is hope
and it rests with you
that’s it
My Sonny Boy just said This Is History In The making.
And, It So IS!
human story american story
Aha. She was a hippie living communes in CA in the 70s. Thx. So much to learn, so little time.
yep, another fave.
love him….named my dog remy after his character, but had the name wrong. ha.
The people who designed the set were using a style of architecture called federal as in an emulation of much of DC’s style
Coyote was one of the founders of the Diggers, an anarchist group active in Haight-Ashbury during the mid-1960s. Coyote was also an actor, writer director with the San Francisco Mime Troupe; his prominence in the San Francisco counter-culture scene led to his being interviewed for the highly acclaimed book, ”Voices from the Love Generation.” He acted in and directed the first cross-country tour of the Minstrel Show, and his play ”Olive Pits” (co-authored with Mime Troupe member Peter Berg) won the Troupe an Obie Award from the New York City-based Village Voice. Coyote became a member, and later chairman, of the California Arts Council from 1975 to 1983. In the late 1970s, he shifted from acting on stage to acting in films. In the 1990s and 2000s, he acted in several television shows. He is fluent in Spanish and French.
my address is 672 Elliott Street, ElliottTown
please refill noa,
(I had CAT-astrophe earlier — at least the keyboard still works, the cat took a while neatening up tho.)
yeah, and michele norris on npr today said it was ‘ like Caesar’ .
She’s an ass
bbl
tv too far from computer.
probably about to be EPU’d, but hey eCAHN! I too thought I would crash early bec. the semester starts real early tomorrow…. So, we’re still here! hehehe
they are sooooooooo jealous of his talents
he looks reaaly good, rested, calm, happy
man
Peter Coyote
VERKLEMPT
Great smile from Biden, too.
now if one of his kids is pres someday. THAT ;s progress
Double aha. My niece’s twin sister was a member of SF make-a-circus in the 80s. So many connections. I should shed my baggage about their personalities and just ask Qs. I’d learn a lot. (But so would they if they followed that same path.)
those are two cute kids
love the idea of having sweeties in the White House!
They’ll compare it to the Nazi’s too, get ready.
To be sure.
Awww I’m a puddle
get out the Kleenex!
Oh me too
Just have to say, if the Repigs aren’t watching this with their jaws agape, I don’t know how they could not be. I would be utterly intimidated by this! It’s like the army coming to meet before a war!
It is my fervent hope that someday YOU will be!
not dropping the g’s. YAY!
I meant that in a good way, btw- happy tears!
Lawrence Welk.
Whew.
Failed Policies Of George W. Bush!!
Yikes. I wasn’t sure when this was going up.
Hi, folks.
SNAP!
this guy is even smarter than i thought he was. no guy from the hood tonight.
this man’s in charge
Watching a great American city drown.
obama thread upstairs
keep the american promise, not dream, promise alive
YES
RU kidding me? Solai already did in the last thread. But I think she forgot her snark tag.
FunnyD
Katrina!!!
The Republicans must be feeling a bit like the London Olympic Committee after watching the Opening Ceremonies in Beijing!
guys from the hood are plenty smart
That line already went out today, courtesy of Peggy Noonan and others.
;)
Christy has a new post with excerpts from Obama’s speech, upstairs.
http://firedoglake.com/2008/08…..as-speech/
I heart the diggers. They were willing to let the usual suspects think they were fools to care about the least of the people around them. As a democrat, I think of them as role models.
Julius Caesar and Kommander Guy! A match made in neo-con heaven.
the tone of this week now makes sense…
the man’s a freakin’ genius.
He hit the ball out of the stadium and it’s still rising to a lunar orbit.
Gracious???
McCain is a lot of things, and not all of them bad. He is a strong senator who has crossed the aisle and written a lot of great legislation. But he’s done this by being a pit-bull. He is in no way gracious or even capable of being gracious. He has spit profanities at other senators. He has even SHOVED Strom Thurmund (Although I don”t really hold this one against him). He even dropped the C-bomb on his own wife. Gracious? He left all graciousness in a pit in Vietnam. And that is okay. We need John McCain’s tenacity. But we need it where it is, in the Senate, not in the White House.
PJBravo
Just like a prescription drug, John McCain has some side effects.
So I put it in a video earlier today:
THE SIDE EFFECTS OF JOHN MCCAIN
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBqs26mpg8o