DNC, Day 4 open thread #2

Seems they've made a few last minute changes to tonight's DNC lineup. They've moved Governor Bill Richardson to the block of speakers that will include Governor Kaine, Congressman Mark Udall and former Vice President Gore. They also pushed Sheryl Crow the the end of the music segment. She'll be wrapping up here in a minute and we should expect the speechifying to get underway.

Let's get this show on the road!

Update (6:06 p.m. MST): Leave it to Mark Udall to go quoting Wallace Stegner! Governor Tim Kaine is in the house and he's movin' mountains: "Aren't we all tired of a Washington that doesn't have any faith in us? If we put our faith into action we can move mountains!"

6:20 p.m. (MST): Richardson is going right after John McCain as a flip-flopper and a candidate who doesn't think for himself. "America is ready for change, but John McCain has only changed his mind!" Wowser, Bill Richardson is on a roll.

6:26 p.m. (MST): Idaho blogger and enjoyable fella d2 has some things to say about the state of chaos on the floor of Mile High right now. Check it out.

I am surely going to sleep better tonight knowing Stevie Wonder loves me. I'm betting a quarter McCain drops his VP announcement exactly when the curtain drops in Denver tonight. No, Stevie wonder and my quarter have nothing to do with one another...need I remind you I'm not Julie?

6:44 p.m. (MST): Vice President Gore has arrived at the podium & Serephin informs me videos are on their way...hold on to your seats, folks.

Check out video of Grant Burgoyne, Nicole LeFavour, Gail Bray and Larry LaRocco as well as a video for Canyon County from the genius that is Serephin of 43SB.

"Shoulda Been Prez" Al Gore is doing a great job of reminding us exactly who won the 2000 election! "In 2008, once again, we find ourselves at the end of an era with a mandate from history to launch a new beginning...inconvenient truths must be acknowledged if we are to have strong governance." Wow, I can't do this speech justice as fast (or slow) as I type. Keep an eye out for full text of Gore's speech.

7:02 p.m. (MST): Chris Matthews is saying that it's clear now that the Supreme Court controls far more than it should (privacy, women's reproductive rights, even the presidency) and this is exactly what Gore addressed the DNC to remind us of.

7:22 p.m. (MST): MSNBC reporting Durbin will introduce Obama within the hour. Joe Biden is now at the podium and I have absolutely no idea why. is introducing the American Voices Program participants.

7:29 p.m. (MST): Text via the DNC of Gore's speech and video via PoliticsTV.

7:44 p.m. (MST): d2 says more videos are coming our way once he and Serephin switch places. Seems the best received line so far tonight was one embattled American, by the name of Barney Smith, saying it's about time the people in power "put Barney Smith before Smith Barney." Had Harry Reid and Joe Biden on their feet. Here's another video from Serephin for ya'll up in northern Idaho.

7:58 p.m. (MST): Durbin, prior to the introduction of Obama: "This man, Barack Obama, has inspired American to believe that we can come together, meet the challenges of this new century and rise up to a better place."

(Video message from Jim Messina, Obama campaign chief-of-staff, and Idaho delegate Debu Majumdar.)

8:14 p.m. (MST): It is not lost on me that the last time my party stood in a crowd even remotely this large, this open and this young was for the acceptance speech of President John F. Kennedy. Obama has accepted, he has thanked those that most deserve thanking (including Hillary Clinton "an inspiration to my daughters and yours" and Ted Kennedy the life-long public servant), and now he will launch into this historic speech. The dissecting will be left for the Blogmother herself.

The sea of people at Mile High tonight is an unbelievable testament to the belief of America that this nation needs a new direction, this nation needs leadership and this nation DOES NOT need another four years of Bush tax cuts, No Child Left Behind, and an energy policy that makes absolutely no sense.

Obama of the Republican leadership: "It is time for them to own their failure, it is time for us to change America."

Obama is addressing his policy positions as only he can. He's hitting all the points, making all the promises. Speaking of health insurance and how we can all be covered; Assuring those of us that are working our way through college and those that will come behind us that we can afford it if we give our service to this nation. And he has done what the wise Governor Schweitzer said he should do--he has brought out the daughters.

8:56 p.m. (MST): Here it is, the mention of the greatest speech in the history of the United States of America. "The men and women gathered there could have heard many things, they could have heard words of anger...but what the people heard instead...is that we cannot turn back, American we cannot turn back, not with so much work to be done, with so many children to educate, so many veterans to care for...American we cannot turn back. We cannot walk alone at this moment, in this election, we much pledge once more to march into the future."

Ladies and gentlemen it has been my pleasure to share this evening with you, goodnight.

Update 10:00 p.m. from The Blogmother: Thank you, Tara, for recording this night for posterity here at RSR, and for including some great links from our friends in Denver. For now, here's the transcript of Obama's speech.

Comments

[MountainGoat]

Lookin' forward to Al Gore!

[Irwin Horowitz]

Seeing Al Gore makes me a bit wistful that he chose not to be the one giving the final speech tonight. I was a Gore supporter until early this year when he decided not to run again.

Now we have about an hour until we get to the pinnacle of this amazing week!

[Irwin Horowitz]

BTW, did anyone else watch CNN last night after the Biden speech? There was an Idaho delegate in the background, behind their set on the floor holding up a LaRocco sign. I'm not sure but I think it was Steve Mercado (was it you Steve?).

[Tara Rowe]

Missed it Irwin, I rarely catch CNN.

[MountainGoat]

I would have liked to see Gore as the nominee also.

[Serephin]

I wish you all could be here right now. I'm sitting up in the Blogger's Booth with Pam from Pam's House Blend next to me, and dozens of other bloggers I don't know.

I look out through the glass in front of me, to the huge stage and the sea of humanity spread out throughout the Mile High stadium. Barack Obama standing, tall and strong, at the podium. He speaks in a way that brings these 70,000-plus Americans to their feet, cheering, shouting, exulting in the vision of this man from Illinois.

For nearly eight years we, the American people, have wandered a shattered landscape, starving for hope and justice. In Barack Obama we see, not just a man who can lead us out of a failed Republican wilderness, we see a mirror of ourselves. A mirror that shows us our better nature, our true potential. Barack Obama shows us we are so much more than the sum of our disparate parts -- we are, together, the engine of change for a better tomorrow.

We see the best of ourselves in Barack Obama. And in that precious gift, we now see the beginning of a new, brighter day to come.

[Irwin Horowitz]

The visual of that crowd alone when compared next Thursday in Minneapolis should be sufficient reason for the GOP to approach the coming two months with fear and trepidation!

[Tara Rowe]

Serephin, that was beautiful. Who knew under all that wingnut poking you could be so eloquent? ;) Seriously, thank you S.

[Julie in Boise]

Tara, thank you for the play-by-play. I am not sure I will be able to dissect much tonight. I just absorbed the speech in the moment at the Basque Center (which was packed ... and hot)! The thing that's sticking with me most was his comment that the campaign has never been about him; that it's about us. He's our organizer-in-chief.

Serephin, thanks for the beautiful image of the sea of 70,000 folks witnessing this historic evening.

Yes, Gore was great. Perhaps we will see him tapped to lead the 10-year-effort to end our dependence on foreign oil. It'll be a huge job, and he'd obviously be perfect for it. THAT is the cause of his life.

[Julie in Boise]

I just noticed the videos are linked HERE. We kept reloading blip.tv to try and find 'em on the 43SB page there. Oh well ... great work, Serephin, and I am sorry we did not catch these in time to play at the Basque Center.