Author: luimbe

DNC 2012: Democrats have taken the best from Obama’s anger translator and No Drama Obama

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Switchin’ tones when the cameras come on: spitting fire all day, smooth jams at nite!. They learned from Obama’s anger translator:

In the first track of the convention, an unapologetic, full-throated Democratic assault on from figures like Strickland and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid showed little restraint toward Mitt Romney, who was criticized for withholding his tax returns, for his Swiss bank account, and for his trouble connecting with average Americans. It was designed to be replayed countless times on cable TV and YouTube — the home of the political junkies who devote time and money to the Obama effort. Inside the Time Warner Arena, each attack drew the crowd of party faithful to their feet, cheering or booing as the moment demanded.

But in the end, the Dems are on message and have no problem actually lauding their nominee, early and often:

Unlike the Republicans, the Democrats did not have to stage a rainbow. It’s who they are.

The second impressive thing about Tuesday night was the exquisite balance between a diverse array of speakers and the consistency of the message. The speeches were carefully reviewed by the convention political team, but the managers of the affair had the wit to let Tammy Duckworth sound like Tammy Duckworth and Deval Patrick sound like Deval Patrick. (One of the few surprising lines that sounded almost like a critique of the Obama administration was Patrick’s cry that “It’s time for the Democratic Party to grow a backbone.”)

There were no self-referential goofballs like Chris Christie upstaging the nominee, and no loony freelancing a la Clint Eastwood. The whole thing ran like a Swiss watch. And while media attention mostly focused on Michelle Obama’s terrific speech, what impressed me was the strength of the rest of the front bench.

[…]

After decades and decades of being internally divided, the Democrats are stunningly unified and almost shockingly professional, yet without sacrificing genuine passion. Though an incumbent’s convention with no real business to transact can be criticized as just another stage show, there are good shows and bad ones. This one is off to a great start.

source: Party Animals.

 

DNC 2012: Former Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Lt. Col. Tammy Duckworth “Barack Obama has also lived up to his responsibilities as Commander in Chief”

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“…Mom took in sewing, my 55 year old dad kept looking for work, but at 15 years old I was the only with a job. After school, for minimum wage.
Thank god for the food stamps, Pell Grants and public education that helped me finish high school and college.”

Video Courtesy of C-SPAN.org

Mitt Romney: “If your child gets on the honor roll…congratulate them, don’t say thanks to the bus driver.”

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Note: The reason why this is so dick-ish is that I would believe most of us were taught that we sure as hell do thank anyone who does their job to your benefit you whether you pay them, someone else pays them or no one pays them. Especially the driver who gets your kid safely to school day in/day out for years.

Michael Clarke Duncan (b. 1957 – d. 2012)

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dead of a heart attack at 54.

Born in Chicago in 1957, Duncan was raised by a single mother whose resistance to his playing football led to his deciding he wanted to become an actor. But when his mother became ill, he dropped out of college, Alcorn State University, and worked as a ditch digger and bouncer to support her. By his mid-20s, he was in Los Angeles, where he looked for acting parts and became a bodyguard for Will Smith, Jamie Foxx and other stars. The murder of rapper Notorious B.I.G., for whom Duncan had been hired to protect before switching assignments, led him to quit his job and pursue acting full-time.

source: Actor Michael Clarke Duncan Dies at 54 – NYTimes.com.

Kind of a dude you always rooted for.

Made In America: Public Money, Private profits

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Concerts are cool and all, and the Ben Franklin Parkway here in Philadelphia is fantastic place for all types of events. But I don’t like that we can’t even be given a ballpark for the cost of the Made In America Music Festival:

This week at a City Hall news conference, Mayor Nutter declined to say how much the festival would cost. He said that the promoters would bear most of the costs and that the overall benefits to the city would be great.

It shouldn’t take an exorbitant amount of public money to allow Jay-Z to host a personally curated music festival sponsored by Budweiser and promoted by Live Nation:

In justifying the public investment, the mayor alluded to the “goodwill” that the city will get, as well as the bump in ancillary businesses and revenue from 50,000 concert-goers coming into the city.
[…] Also, we’d like to remind the mayor that just two short years ago, he was battling with City Council members, including Maria Quinones Sanchez, over whether the city should pick up the security and crowd-control costs for community festivals and ethnic parades. At that time, Nutter said the city couldn’t underwrite privately run events when it was cutting services. That’s why he vetoed the bill, which Council then overrode.

It shouldn’t cost tax payers money to throw a concert that most can’t afford to attend. In the aftermath, I’m not worried about tallying negative effects to “safety” in the surrounding neighborhood, the high attendance price (75 for one day, 125 for two days) combined with the gated layout and “no re entry” policy reduced safety issues for the surrounding neighborhood. Not saying there isn’t some public cost, but broadcast rights or some other profits attached to scale should be negotiated to offset cost. Maybe they are. Just saying.