zell miller, the democrat who gave the keynote speech on wednesday to thunderous applause at madison square garden was removed from the list, along with his wife, of attendees in the first family’s box to listen to the president speak on thursday, nbc news reports.
more republican flip flopping minutes before their big moment? of course not. republicans dont flip flop, they glow.
karisa and i watched the broadcast on cspan and she noticed that as he spoke and reached the end of a sentence successfully, he’d give out a little smile, like a toddler does as he’s learning to walk.
That dude is awesome.
-techgnollogic at 8:17 PM
“So,” I think to myself, “How long into his speech before he brings up 9/11?”
When I said those words four years ago, none of us could have envisioned what these years would bring. In the heart of this great city, we saw tragedy arrive on a quiet morning.
Oooh, second sentence. Amazing restraint.
-ColdChef at 8:20 PM
To be fair, there are some things my opponent is for he’s proposed more than two trillion dollars in new federal spending so far, and that’s a lot, even for a senator from Massachusetts. To pay for that spending, he is running on a platform of increasing taxes and that’s the kind of promise a politician usually keeps.
Of course, if you go by his speech, Bush will give us all a new house, access to community college, health care, social security, homeland security, and he’ll stay in Iraq forever, if necessary. And apparently, all for free.
-ColdChef at 8:23 PM
My favorite part of the speech was when he talked about the Iraq kid who spelled out “god bless america” with his stump.
-Peter H at 8:29 PM
I watched his speech, I also watched the protesters during his part about beefing up security, I also saw an awful lot of delagates sitting with their arms crossed and a scowl on their faces.
I loved the part where he said, without even a trace of irony, that Kerry is going to spend three quarters of a trillion dollars. Hello? Mr. Largest-Deficit-in-the-History-of-the-World? Time for your reality check.
-fenriq at 8:30 PM
Because the union of a man and woman deserves an honored place in our society, I support the protection of marriage against activist judges.
So, it’s the judges that are messing things up? I thought it was all those queers asking for equal rights. I’m an idiot.
-ColdChef at 8:39 PM
If you say the heart and soul of America is found in Hollywood, I’m afraid you are not the candidate of conservative values.
And now, a few more words from the Governor of California…
(Remember when Kerry said all those times that the heart and soul of America is found in Hollywood? He just kept saying it and saying it. Seems like all he was saying for a few weeks there. I bet he regrets it now.)
-ColdChef at 8:45 PM
em>Because the union of a man and woman deserves an honored place in our society, I support the protection of marriage against activist judges.
But I’m cool with 50% divorce rates and quickie Vegas weddings.
-jalexei at 8:45 PM
This election will also determine how America responds to the continuing danger of terrorism and you know where I stand.
Fucking Pro-terrorism Kerry. I hate him so.
-ColdChef at 8:48 PM
I have learned first-hand that ordering Americans into battle is the hardest decision, even when it is right.
But when it’s wrong? Not that hard.
-psmealey at 8:48 PM
Maybe I’m just in a bad mood, but I figure something like 48% of us will vote for one guy, and 48% will vote for the other and the rest — 4% — are the undecided.
How about those of us who have already chosen — and you know we’re all firm — get to vote now, then those who haven’t decided have to go off somewhere on a small island with the candidates,and their spokes-crazies, and their advertisements and leave the rest of us the heck alone?
Let us know what ya’ll decide.
/modest proposal
-mmahaffie at 8:54 PM
Is anyone better off now than they were four years ago?
Other than Osama bin Laden, that is.
-Sidhedevil at 8:59 PM
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’ve had it UP TO HERE with the FLIP-FLOPPERS!!!
-_sirmissalot_ at 9:00 PM
I hope that the Log Cabin Republicans will defect en masse. They should. I don’t know how any self-respecting gay person can be a Republican after this.
-Sidhedevil at 9:02 PM
Because of you, women in Afghanistan are no longer shot in a sports stadium.
Excuse me? What in the wild world of sports was that about?
-ColdChef at 9:05 PM
It’s kind of vicious how the Dems basically avoided mentioning GWB for the most part at their convention, whereas the Repubs all but had signs saying “John Kerry Wants To Fuck Your Children In the Ass With A Broken Bottle Because He Is Osama Bin Laden” at theirs
-Pseudoephedrine at 9:07 PM
Today, the government of a free Afghanistan is fighting terror,
Which is the “free” part? The big part where they’re growing opium and selling it for weapons, or the tiny scrap our guy holds with a lot of help from our guns?
Pakistan is capturing terrorist leaders
At a rate we dictate in accordance with our election timetable…
And more than three-quarters of al-Qaida’s key members and associates have been detained or killed
According to numbers that only you have access to, and Osama isn’t one of them, and you’ve flip-flopped several times about whether you even want to get him.
All that from one short passage. This speech is like a cheap sweater. Tug on it anywhere and it just unravels completely.
-George_Spiggott at 9:49 PM
Word counts from Bush’s speech:
‘Terror’ or ‘terrorists’ or ‘terrorism’: 16
‘Weapons of mass destruction’: 1
‘Osama bin Laden’: 0
‘Iraq’: 13
‘North Korea’: 0
-tapeguy at 9:51 PM
I loved the part of us aggresively spreading our freedoms and our way of life, expanding the frontier of freedom.
I got a hard-on and jumped on the coffee-table and screamed “Freedom’s got a gun, baby!”
-rks404 at 9:54 PM
The debt is relative small by GDP standards, particularly given that we are at war.
As a percentage of GDP, this years projection at -4.5% is the highest since 1992 when it was -4.7%. (1) For some background, since the economy turned around after WWII, there have only been five years with a higher percentage of debt to GDP. That’s right, since 1948, there have only been five years:
1983: -6.0
1984: -4.8
1985: -5.1
1986: -5.0
1992: -4.7
GDP growth has slowed during President Bush’s tenure as well, but the GDP is still growing and it’s not exactly a dramatic slowdown.
Also, if you don’t think federal revenues are actually up since the Bush tax reduction, go wild!
Actually, Paris, the revenues are down consistantly since 2000. Here’s a list of receipts from the GPO, in millions of dollars.
2000: $2,025,218
2001: $1,991,194
2002: $1,853,173
2003: $1,782,342
2004: $1,798,093*
* estimated
Source: Summary of Receipts, Outlays, and Surpluses or Deficits (-): 1789–2009
Please note their estimates for the next several years support your notion that federal revenues will increase, including a small increase this year and much larger increases for next year. Despite being educated guesses, these numbers are highly susceptible to change.
-sequential at 10:25 PM
Personally, I’m not going to pretend it wasn’t a powerful speech. I think it will affect undecideds. But it lacked very much that hasn’t been said already, in fact mostly already said by people on this website alone.
In all honesty, I’m confused. I don’t get how Bush can talk about being the only defense against terrorism when he refuses to even say “Osama bin Laden.” I don’t get how he can even pretend to promote compassionate conservatism after the hate-fest of Wednesday night. I don’t get how he can cast Iraq favorably, let alone comparing it to Germany- a country that “healed” after it’s major war by a massive division with Communist nuclear tension for over half a century. I don’t get how he can attack the “liberal Hollywood base” of the Democratic Party when not one, but two Hollywoof actors gave prime time speeches at his own convention. I don’t get how he can call Kerry a flip-flopper when he’s changed his own opinion on the WOT twice in the last 72 hours. I don’t get how he can let George Pataki talk of all the promises Bush delivered when he also promised to find bin Laden. I don’t get how several thousand Republicans, delegates of a commitment to a love of their country, can sit there and actually believe the man running against George Bush “hates” the military.
And I just don’t get how people supporting Bush can pretend they do.
-XQUZYPHYR at 10:39 PM