That Was One Helluva Speech

Update: Oh, this oughta be good: Video: Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann React to Obama Speech

I could have listened to it twice ... had the time, too.

Audio: JFK 1960 Acceptance speech - 22 minutes.

Text of Obama's speech here. I, um, kinda clicked out after I started to nod at about 25 minutes. Guess there's just no hope for me, ay?

Comments

[Horowitz]

Well, that's what a free concert by Springsteen and Bon Jovi gets you.

[seekeronos]

Wasn't exactly captivating as I caught it on C-SPAN.

Kinda felt a bit like a pep rally, which of course, is part and parcel of any convention where the winner is a forgone conclusion.

I have to wonder how much of his promises are pure, unadulterated hogwash:

- leaving capital gains cuts alone for small businesses and middle class

- cutting taxes for the 95% of us who are not "rich" (anyone care to speculate on what the income level for that is? Certainly not the $5M/annum McCain hinted at... I personally think the metric for "rich" for the DEms is around $50,000/annum and up).

- universal health care for all via a plan which will allow affordable plans for uninsureds, and lower premiums for those on private plans

Obie say:

"--- Tonight, more Americans are out of work and more are working harder for less. More of you have lost your homes and even more are watching your home values plummet. More of you have cars you can't afford to drive, credit card bills you can't afford to pay, and tuition that's beyond your reach. ---"

I disagree, at least as far as I am concerned... I know my situation has improved quite a bit over the past 8 years, and so has the situation of all my friends, acquaintances, and people I do business with.

I''d go on further, but I have some plans to make for my 4-day weekend I have on my doorstep :)

[Horowitz]

Three things mentioned by Rove:

1) Government will provide healthcare for employees of companies that don't, as if every company wouldn't immediately cancel coverage.

2) Barack would get rid of wasteful government programs. Ok, name them.

3) Barack said he would happily debate McCain, after spending all summer refusing to debate him.

Obama is stone cold nuts, plain and simple.

[seekeronos]

Ick. Between the new commentator, Rachel Madcow, and Keith Olberdoofus and Tingle-Legs Matthews twitterpating on this back-slappingly idiotic parade of charmed fools, I can't spare more than about 0.3 sec on MSNBC before my stomach turns itself inside out.

[cindi]

Oh come on, the best part of this convention was Obamas daughter asking...........where are you daddy? Isn't that what so many black children ask?

[David Marcoe]

"Oh come on, the best part of this convention was Obamas daughter asking...where are you daddy? Isn't that what so many black children ask?"

I don't know if your a troll or if you actually meant that, but that is a disgusting comment to make about someone.

Obviously, Obamessiah's speech wasn't the home run they were hoping for, which is not how one would want to end such a lackluster gathering. It also probably provided material for a few attack ads, with the amount of BS stuffed into it.

[Scott]

The vast majority of black children are born into households without a male/father being present, something like 70% iirc. So yes, most black children would be asking "where are you daddy". Unpleasent truth doesn't make a comment disgusting.

[David Marcoe]

"The vast majority of black children are born into households without a male/father being present, something like 70% iirc. So yes, most black children would be asking 'where are you daddy'. Unpleasent truth doesn't make a comment disgusting."

Which is fine, as a factual observation, but it was directed as a personal and derisive comment at a singular person and his family, which makes it disgusting.

[IslamoLlama]

I'd just like to point out that Pat Buchanan thought it was awesome.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0Fru4dZLGA

"-- Ick. Between the new commentator, Rachel Madcow, and Keith Olberdoofus and Tingle-Legs Matthews twitterpating on this back-slappingly idiotic parade of charmed fools, I can't spare more than about 0.3 sec on MSNBC before my stomach turns itself inside out. --"

Then stop being a 'tard and watch it on CSPAN like people who are actually interested in the speeches.

[AuntJ]

"And I will restore our moral standing, so that America is once again that last, best hope for all who are called to the cause of freedom, who long for lives of peace, and who yearn for a better future. "

[AuntJ]

Sorry, posted before I added my comment:

"And I will restore our moral standing, so that America is once again that last, best hope for all who are called to the cause of freedom, who long for lives of peace, and who yearn for a better future. "

and the Iraqi people are not included in that hope?

[AuntJ]

"John McCain likes to say that he'll follow bin Laden to the Gates of Hell – but he won't even go to the cave where he lives. "

When has McCain ever said he won't go to the cave where he lives?
And you will, Senator Obama? Pulease, I dont think so. So you are willing to invade Pakistan in order to get to that cave? But what about the rights of the tribesmen who may be hiding Bin Laden? I can see that coming.

[Jake]

"Oh come on, the best part of this convention was Obamas daughter..."

The best part of the convention was the image of Obama holding his little girl up next to his wife and older daughter.
Pictures stay in the mind long after words fade away. Inspiration for many no matter how staged you may think it was.

[Fred Beloit]

O said: "Tonight, more Americans are out of work and more are working harder for less. More of you have lost your homes and even more are watching your home values plummet. More of you have cars you can't afford to drive, credit cards, bills you can't afford to pay, and tuition that's beyond your reach."

Two questions:
(1)Aside from the value of your home, if you own it, being less (and one may add the cost of the home you want to buy being lower), how many of you folks are in this position?
(2)What has being in this position got to do with the President of the United States?

[Fred Beloit]

O said: "But the record's clear: John McCain has voted with George Bush 90 percent of the time."

Link please. No? OK. Here's one:
""John McCain has voted with George Bush 90 percent of the time."
by Andy Thayer ( LGBTliberation [at] aol.com )
Friday Aug 29th, 2008 12:03 AM

This charge, a centerpiece of Obama's acceptance speech last night, was quite probably true.

But it was also a stunning piece of hypocrisy coming from the Democratic nominee who has himself voted for almost every single George Bush war funding bill since becoming a U.S. senator.

And Obama has outdone W on several points besides:

** Advocating bombing Iran
** Proposing to invade Pakistan
** Advocating a troop surge in Afghanistan
** Advocating a larger standing army

The only remotely credible thing his supporters can say to bolster Obama's anti-war street cred is an October 2002 speech he made at Chicago's Federal Plaza. But don't look too closely at that speech and its tortured history, or your illusions in the Democrat's "peace candidate" will surely suffer."
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/08/29/18530791.php

[Fred Beloit]

O said: "And when one of his [McCain's] chief advisers, the man who wrote his economic plan, was talking about the anxieties that Americans are feeling, he said that we were just suffering from a mental recession and that we've become, and I quote, "a nation of whiners."

Obie and his wife bear witness to that charge.

[Fred Beloit]

O said: "When I -- when I listen to another worker tell me that his factory has shut down, I remember all those men and women on the South Side of Chicago who I stood by and fought for two decades ago after the local steel plant closed." A tale of woe. Where is the audacity of hope?

Funny, he doesn't mention the Stock Yards closing. At any rate:

"What the South Side could not retain was its industrial base. In the mid-1950s Chicago faced its first postindustrial crisis as the major meatpacking companies began to close their production facilities. By 1964 most of the large packers had disappeared. The Union Stock Yard finally closed its doors on August 1, 1971, after nearly 106 years of operation. The late 1970s and early 1980s saw the further decline of the city's industrial base, especially among the steel mills on the Southeast Side. The closing of Wisconsin Steel in 1980 signaled the end of Chicago's dominance of the steel industry. U.S. Steel's South Works closed, after more than a hundred years of operation, in 1993. Empty factories and warehouses symbolized the shift in Chicago's employment base from manufacturing to the service industries.

The South Side, however, has continued to attract investment. By the 1990s over a hundred firms had located at the site of the old Union Stock Yard. This industrial park is the most successful in Chicago even though employment levels remain well below those of the meatpacking industry at its height. A variety of neighborhoods have provided sites for new upscale housing, including Dearborn Park (which has expanded from the South Loop south of Roosevelt Road), Central Station (along the lakefront south of Roosevelt Road), Bridgeport, Hyde Park, Kenwood, the Gap, and Chatham. Chinatown has spread beyond its earlier boundary along Archer Avenue with the development of Chinatown Square. In 1991 the Chicago White Sox began to play in a new Comiskey Park across the street from the old stadium. With its neighborhoods, parks, museums, and universities, the South Side continues to play an important role in the social, cultural, political, and economic life of the city.

Dominic A. Pacyga"

[befair]

I would think that the term stone cold nuts would apply to McClain and his pick of the Alaska Governor for VP. Talk about "ready to be commander in chief" and all the rest of the bs he has thrown against Obama. And, if I cam correct and I do think I am, the Republican Party has now aligned itself to the goal of no abortion for any reason at any time, probably against birth control also. (of course abortion used as a birth control measure is disgusting IMO). Get ready, Republicans, to take one fo the biggest baths in history. I am an unaffiliated voter and usually am on the fence until the last few weeks, but I dare say this will not be the case with this ticket.

[befair]

Two questions:
(1)Aside from the value of your home, if you own it, being less (and one may add the cost of the home you want to buy being lower), how many of you folks are in this position?
(2)What has being in this position got to do with the President of the United States?

Posted by: Fred Beloit | Friday, August 29, 2008 at 10:36 AM

Fred, OK #1 is true IF buying and selling in the same market. What about those folks that are moving to another area of the country?

#2 - the housing situation party of the economy has to do with many factors. One of which of course is the greedy bankers and mortgage brokers making loans to people who did not qualify for them - er, where was the federal oversight to prevent this?

Asking these two questions in this forum is probably pretty useless, because I doubt that the working poor are reading here.

[Worst President Ever]

Obama's speech apparently exploded Fred's Head: "Funny, he doesn't mention the Stock Yards closing."

Obama was barely 10 years old and living in Hawaii when they closed. He didn't get to Chicago until 1985.

[Fred Beloit]

Don't be afraid, beefer, neither the P nor the VP can interfere with your plans for an abortion. If I am not mistaken, at this point it would take an amendment to the Constitution to make abortions illegal. Never happen. The country seems to be split about evenly on the subject.

"One of which of course is the greedy bankers and mortgage brokers making loans to people who did not qualify for them - er, where was the federal oversight to prevent this?"

The Federal government was never set up to prevent foolish greed by the populace. You folks blame banks and mortgage brokers just like you blame gun manufacturers for shootings and car manufacturers for auto crashes, distilleries for drunken behavior. What ever happened to greedy condo flippers, people living above their means, violent criminals, reckless drivers, and drunks?

As for your concern about moving to another part of the country, as I understand it the housing bubble was mostly a national thing.

[Fred Beloit]

OK, Worst, you just got a little better.

[Fred Beloit]

Of course, Worst, you wouldn't want to miss the point being made, that the SS hasn't completely fallen apart (not that it doesn't have a long way to go) because a steel plant closed, and Obie seems to have had nothing to do with improving things there.

[befair]

OK Freddie. How many justices will probably be appointed in the next four/eight years to the Supreme Court? Are you so young that you do not remember the stringent criteria one had to meet to obtain a mortgage? I have no sympathy with those who purchase something they cannot afford (unless it relates to medical expenses, food, and housing), but there should be a limit on the amount of interest credit card companies can charge. The housing bubble is not even across the country. Are you living in a bubble perhaps - plastic that is?

[befair]

You folks blame banks and mortgage brokers just like you blame gun manufacturers for shootings and car manufacturers for auto crashes, distilleries for drunken behavior. What ever happened to greedy condo flippers, people living above their means, violent criminals, reckless drivers, and drunks?
---------------------------------------

Aww Shucks, you mean they aren't? Dayham, who do we blame now?

[Fred Beloit]

"The housing bubble is not even across the country. Are you living in a bubble perhaps - plastic that is?"
Gooooolllllllyyyyy, beefer, I didn't know that. I thought housing prices were the exact same across the 58 states. Thanks to you, I feel I am no longer standing in.................the gathering dusk.

[Fred Beloit]

O said that we are unable to protect ourselves, that we aren't able to provide our children with an education, that the government has made a promise to provide a job for all who want one, that he wouldn't try to use taxes to equalize wages and assets, that we are unable to invest in new schools and roads, and that the government can't solve all our problems. He also at last explained what he means by change, i.e., he is his brother's and sister's keeper:

"Ours -- ours is a promise that says government cannot solve all our problems, but what it should do is that which we cannot do for ourselves: protect us from harm and provide every child a decent education; keep our water clean and our toys safe; invest in new schools, and new roads, and science, and technology.
Our government should work for us, not against us. It should help us, not hurt us. It should ensure opportunity not just for those with the most money and influence, but for every American who's willing to work.

That's the promise of America, the idea that we are responsible for ourselves, but that we also rise or fall as one nation, the fundamental belief that I am my brother's keeper, I am my sister's keeper.

That's the promise we need to keep. That's the change we need right now."

Quite a speech.

[Befair]

My point Freddie was that when one buys and sells in the same market, the playing field in even. However, if you sell in Nevada and buy in Seattle, there will be a very large difference to be able to acquire like real estate. Of course it has always been thus, but where do you place the blame for the lending practices that led to this dilemma of short sales, foreclosures, etc. Granted the greedy flippers and "investors" get no sympathy from me, but who does is the poor renter of one of those properties who is evicted because the owner is in foreclosure, and those people cannot find decent, affordable housing.

[Fred Beloit]

"...those people cannot find decent, affordable housing."

Beefer, where did you get a crazy idea like that? Have you just returned from Manhattan, Malibo, or Greenwich? Are people living in their cars in supermarket parking lots? How can you buy into the Demdoomgloom BS Obama is selling. Go outside and look around. Go for a ride with open eyes.

[befair]

Fred, going for a ride - you don't see people who live in their cars - they are parked away from view for the most part. There are scores of people lining up at Salvation Army and soup kitchens who are homeless. I am not talking about people on drugs or alcoholics - plain, ordinary, everyday people who have fallen on hard times. It would appear that you live in an area where such circumstances are either well hidden or perhaps law enforcement just moves them on to the next town or throws them in jail overnight. If something is not done to bring back jobs, lower the price of oil in order that electricity, etc. is not priced sky-high, food prohibitive so that people are having a hard time getting by, etc., we will only see it getting worse. I don't have any answers, but maybe the perky Ms Palin does. McCain does not, Obama does not, Hillary did not. on and on and on.

[seekeronos]

"--- Then stop being a 'tard and watch it on CSPAN like people who are actually interested in the speeches. ---"

As a matter of fact, Llama... I did. :)

"--- If something is not done to bring back jobs, lower the price of oil in order that electricity, etc. is not priced sky-high, food prohibitive so that people are having a hard time getting by, etc., we will only see it getting worse. ---"

In the meantime, there is hardly a sign of Hoovervilles (Bushburghs?) popping up in Central Park, much less so many other public spaces in our fair cities.

But, I suppose a severe market downturn or crash could do the trick... keep rain dancing to the liberal and socialist idols set up by the Dems, and you might have your wish of +25% unemployment and +500% hyperinflation.