These last two nights, the Clintons have done a fantastic job. With dignity, sincerity, and enthusiasm they declared their commitment to electing Barack Obama the next President of the United States. They were well-reasoned. They explained how Obama's policies were Clinton's policies, Obama's issues were Clinton's issues, and that anyone who supported Hillary for her vision for America would also support Barack Obama.

McCain's people went over Hillary's speech with a fine tooth comb and declared that she had "stopped short of saying he was ready to lead." As if this was her sneaky little revenge.

Then to make matters perfectly clear, Bill Clinton rebounded tonight and in top form declared repeatedly that Obama is ready to lead. He even reminded us (it's about time) that in his own candidacy Bill was criticized for being inexperienced, but that he was able to bring the Democrats to victory and change America for the better.

It is clear that the Clintons were not going to feed the PUMAs. So how do these dozens of enraged voters respond? I put on my gloves and surgical mask and went to their blog to find out.

Earlier this evening, Bill Clinton and John Kerry gave two outstanding speeches at the Democratic National Convention. The arrogant cable networks carried only Bill Clinton's. Once again, CSPAN came through as the true American herald.

Bill Clinton received minute after minute of thunderous applause when he walked out on stage - he deserved every bit of it. His speech was masterfully on target, explaining what Americans have lost under Bush, and why Obama and Biden are what's needed to get it back and move forward. Clinton's praise of Biden was especially meaningful, given that, on the basis of Bill's irrefutable logic, Hillary might well have been chosen as VP candidate. It was pleasure to see Bill Clinton address a crowd again. As always, his intelligence and commitment shone brightly.

Cut to the talking heads on MSNBC, CNN, and Fox. But on the small inset screen on our TV, who do my wife and I see but John Kerry. He was never a mesmerizing speaker, but, hey, he gave it a close run four years ago, and we wanted to hear what he had to say.

"Scots, wha hae wi' Wallace bled,
Scots, wham Bruce has aften led,
Welcome to your gory bed,
Or to victory!"
                        -- Robert Burns, 18th century

"Hey," the right wing is constantly crowing, "Don't ya know there's a war going on???"

Yes, we know. Not the ridiculous invasion of a bunch of people who, on the surface, may look a little like the bad guys that attacked us on 9/11. Not the self-serving Global War On Terror intended to keep the gillies (that's us) in line. Not the buffoon O'Reilly's culture war. Perhaps not even the class struggle the left occasionally cites. No, what's going on is a revolution of the kind our Founding Fathers had in mind when they established a system of government which was supposed to insure that the last time Americans would have to rise up in arms against oppression on a national scale was the one they fought against the British.

There are some items up on News Unfiltered that may interest the community.

President Bill Clinton's speech at the Democratic National Convention:

The following is a transcript of a speech, as prepared for delivery, by Bill Clinton at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday, August 27, 2008: I am honored to be here tonight to support Barack Obama. And to warm up the crowd for Joe Biden, though as you'll soon see, he doesn't need any help from me. I love Joe Biden, and America will too.

Read more.

Of course I loved the Big Dog's speech; he reminded me of why I liked him to begin with.

But I expected him to be able to do this.

But John Kerry really hit it out of the park; I just wish he would have found this voice 4 years ago.

But I digress.....more below the fold

Bill Clinton is a hell of a speaker. And one of the reasons is that he uses facts, numbers, to paint the story. About 8 million lifted out of poverty during his administration, and 5.5 million driven into poverty during Bush.

He is a great speaker.

When he mentioned Katrina, I realized this is one issue that has not been effectively mined in recent months. Living in China and watching the way the nation through themselves into the recovery in Sichuan province, where they had to house 5 million homeless and deal with a quarter of a million wounded, as well as more than 60,000 dead.

Earthquake hits on May 12.
By July 3, 1.54 million prefab homes had been erected.

More below the fold...

Want to know what the convention feels like?  Read on . . .

In the immortal words of the Flight of the Conchords...

Who likes to rock the party? Bill likes to rock the party...

Clinton did us proud.  I've never heard him say so much in so little time.

I'm so proud of him and I think he reclaimed the respect he deserved and he finally brought out the issue that hadn't really been said by Obama. That the last time we had a democrat in the White House things got better fast.

Last night, following Hillary's wonderful speech, I wrote a diary with this very same title, noting that the one element that was unfortunately missing from Hillary's otherwise perfect speech was a full on endorsement of Obama's readiness and leadership ability.

Well, folks. Bill Clinton did it. And if this doesn't reassure Democrats, then nothing will. Bill and Hillary delivered a one-two punch.  Hillary set the stage. She urged her supporters to reject John McCain and support the party. Bill followed up by showing us why Obama is the one who needs to be President.

I'm not sure to what extent this was the plan. I suspect it was all along. Hillary and Bill would work together to reunite the party. And what an incredible job they did.

I think the most interesting thing about these last to nights is how effectively the Clintons united this party. Now, I think a lot of us Obama supporters were thinking, "boy, the Clintons really need to fix what they broke."

He had me spitting nails all primary season, but his work tonight at the convention was vintage Bill. He was gracious, poignant and strategic. He hit the experience/commander in chief issue head on; he wrapped a bouquet around the perfect union of Obama and Biden; and he put another huge helping of medicine on the wound with Hillary's disaffected supporters. Great performance, great message, great for Obama

Alright I'm going to keep updating based on coverage for those of you who are watching CSPAN due to shitty pundits, but Bill just unequivocally stated that McCain blows monkey nuts, and Obama is oh so ready to be Commander in Chief. More to come. Not a Diary yet, but I wanted to get this in quickly.

This has to go up here too because it pissed me off so much:

  Update 5 or 6: Bullshit, Tom Brokaw just played McCain's POW card for    him. You have got to be kidding me.

I just watched Bill's address to the Democratic National Convention. Yeah, there were things I didn't like, but overall, he did what he needed to do. I don't doubt he didn't like some of what he did, but that's what makes him qualified for any number of jobs that I'd get fired from, just after lunch on my first day. The Big Dog's a pro.

And, of course, there were parts that I liked. "And second; I'm here to warm up the crowd for Joe Biden." Okay, so even if he's not totally happy, he can be funny. And, "the power of our example, than by the example of our power."; "Katrina and cronyism..." May G-d bless the Big Dog. "Thanks, but no thanks."

1939 - First flight of the Heinkel He 178, the first modern jet aircraft.

1962 - Mariner 2 unmanned space mission launched to Venus by America's NASA.

COINCIDENCE? I think NOT!

I would rather have peace in the world than be President.

--- Harry S. Truman

From the Church of Ineffable Stupidity:
(some games are rain delayed, today's sermon's pain delayed)

I started commenting on the glory of Bill Clinton's speech on my blog, http://heartlessandbrainless.blogspo... but I decided to share it here too. Come express your appreciation of Bills speech under the fold!

America can do better than that and Barack Obama will do better than that.

Clinton just laid some branding on the Democrats and made the Republicans own the last eight years as we saw their ideology in practice.

They want us to reward them for the failures of the last four years with four more years.

The third time is not the charm.

Bill says that Hillary is supporting Barack Obama, that his support makes two of them, and:

Actually, that makes 18 million of us.

And that:

Barack Obama is the man for this job.

Barack Obama is ready to be President of the United States

The Big Dog is up. Prepare for media tears as Bill Clinton endorses Barack Obama. Says Bill:

I am honored to be here tonight...[crowd going nuts]...I am here, first to support Barack Obama and second I'm here to warm up the crowd for Joe Biden.