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I'm sitting here in the Minneapolis Airport, having a beer (or two) and catching up on all the many, many, many comments I missed this week because my internet connection was tenuous at best and instead of reading you guys, I went drinking. So, this afternoon, I decided to combine the two activities I did the most this week — writing and drinking — and shout out some of my favorite comments from the threads Anna told me I just had to read. More »
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When I started this week, I figured that I would be tired by the end of it but still excited to be here. I had no idea I would be so bone-tired by the time Obama gave his speech that I couldn't even begin to parse my feelings on it. But there were so many people to talk to, so many parties to go to, so much speechifying to watch (let alone blog), that I didn't have time to check in with our Unconventional Conventioneer, or post some of the cooler stuff I did or even really think critically about much other than my lack of sleep or my sunburn. So, after the jump, what I missed out on this week, besides a fuller appreciation that this was my view of Obama's speech. More »
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One of the really amazing things about being at the Democratic convention this week was all the women (and young women) who were there — delegates, attendees, elected officials and others. It was very cool to see so many young women getting so excited and involved about politics. So when I got a chance on the very last day to interview Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm (thanks in no small part to my new friend Erin Hofteig at Media Matters, who arranged for me to use their conference room and this balcony), I knew I had to ask her about her experiences getting politically engaged and her advice for those of you who are contemplating it yourselves. More »
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It's not terribly often that you get to interview a feminist icon. Well, I mean, I guess it's getting more common for me, but still, it's pretty cool. So when my colleague over at Glamocracy asked me if I wanted to interview Lilly Ledbetter, I was like, "Hell, yeah." Don't recognize her name? If you ever have to sue for unequal pay, you will want to be thanking her — her case against Goodyear spawned Congressional legislation, a mention in nearly every speech this week and a speaking slot at the Democratic convention on Tuesday night. More »
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Although I am basically a walking, red-colored zombie — or, I would be if my feet didn't hurt so much that I'm not really walking as much as limping — someone's got to wrap up the week of speechifying, pandering, branding and making the kind of history that causes grown people to cry before the speech even starts and hard-bitten members of the press corps surreptitiously whip out their personal cameras to take pictures while they're working. And on this day which is crap by virtue of the fact that it won't even be 8 am in Denver when we finish writing this, there's really only one person who I could — or would want to — talk about this with. Ever wondered what Moe Tkacik would say when Barack Obama was made official? Then join us after the jump. More »
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It only took me three hours, a nasty sunburn, three experiences with the metal detectors, multiple conversations with various security personnel and a really, really claustrophobic elevator ride to get here, but here I am, live at Invesco Field. I'm sandwiched in next to Katha Pollitt from The Nation and overlooking the field from on high in air-conditioned splendor which is making my sunburn ache ever-so-slightly less. I'm starting the live blog with Al Gore just because I can and I'll be here until the stadium shakes itself down after Obama's speech. More »
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Look, these conventions are hard. Some of us have it harder than others, what with getting up at the crack of dawn and walking miles a day and trying to pay attention to speeches when all we really want to do is curl up in bed and die. But I can't die, yet, if only because everyone will Twitter and text me so much that the vibrations will shock my heart back to life and I just can't deal with waking up to 1,000 new emails or whatever. Anyway, so Joe Biden spoke and Barack Obama surprised and if the Huffington Post's Jason Linkins and I wanted to die a lot less we would probably care a lot more. More »
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Still here, and now it's Biden's turn. Yeah, I got up to go to the bathroom and got involved in conversations and I sort of didn't expect that it would happen so quickly after Clinton's speech, but only because all the batteries in all my watches died. Anyway, so, there's another video montage! And an acceptance speech. More »
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Oh, damn, I barely got to my seat in time but I am here! They closed the hall again, like that's any big deal because every speech they close the hall (except in Boston, where I swear they bribed the fire marshalls). But this is Bill Clinton, bitches! More »
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I will be liveblogging times two tonight, when Bill Clinton takes the stage at 9:00 ET and then, again, when Joe Biden has his time in the spotlight (closer to 10:30 ET). Until then, talk amongst yourselves! More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5042752&view=rss&microfeed=true Despite their prevalence on the cable news and even on "The Daily Show," P.U.M.A. sightings in the wild Denver have been few and far between for most conventioneers. But on our way to see Hillary's speech last night, Spencer Ackerman and fellow blogger Katie Halper and I found four of them wandering out in the wild. Although we were all taught that it's a bad idea to tease wild animals and unfair to have a battle of wits with unarmed opponents, wait for the part where Katie loses her patience with stupidity (happens to the best of us) and pulls out her sarcasm gun and blasts them. More »
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Last night, I grabbed Spencer Ackerman and walked over to MSNBC's public set here in Denver — not to stand around in the background hoisting signs about McCain or, like one lady, to shout about ethanol, but to talk to the one person on which he and I have nearly-identical intellectual crushes — Rachel Maddow. She reads Jezebel, people, for real! So her publicist let us hang out on the set, where we watched Maddow rip Pat Buchanan a new one for the brand of crazy he's obviously bringing in this particular picture and heard the crowd cheer every time she opened her mouth and then I got to talk to her about being herself, being An Issue, and what she actually likes to talk about (unsurprisingly, it's not herself). And Spencer and I both agreed that as pretty as she looks on television, she's actually probably closer to stunning in person — even though she doesn't think so. More »
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Former Virginia Governor (and current Senate candidate) Mark Warner was Hillary Clinton's lead-in tonight — how cool is it that a man was basically her warm-up act, by the way? Anyway, he's finished speaking, and we're waiting for Chelsea to start her introduction of her mother — this will be the largest crowd she's ever addressed, actually, and I'm pretty sure she'll kick Claire McCaskill's son's ass — and for the the evening's big event, which is really Clinton's speech (sorry Marky Mark, I'm sure you'll win in Virginia anyway). Will she rip McCain a new one? Convince the final P.U.M.A. holdouts to support Barack Obama? It all starts after the jump. More »
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A couple of weeks ago, I set up an interview with Fox News' Megyn Kelly for Glamocracy (appearing soon, by the way, and she is super-nice) and mentioned to her fabulous publicist that I always really liked Bill Hemmer, with whom Megyn co-anchors a show. And, by "liked" I mean, "thought was completely cute." And there's nothing I like better to do than embarrass myself in front of a really hot guy, so I asked if it was possible that I could take a picture of Bill Hemmer just to gush, and his publicist did me one better and let me interview him... and then he insisted that I get in the picture with him. And he put his arm around me! Gushing aside, he was also super-nice and smart. More »
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Last night was my first night on the convention party beat and I hoped for something along the lines of our Unconventional Conventionaire, what with funny anecdotes and cute guys and booze and fun. But I either have horrible timing, or the invitations to the wrong parties, or shitty luck, or all of the above because the boldest faced names I saw all night were a Congressman whose name I couldn't remember and a bunch of other journalists. My night of misfortune, for your amusement, begins after the jump. More »
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