The Hollywood Liberal

OK I guess I will have to do this myself if I want to get anything done: I’m throwing my hat in the ring.
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The Hollywood Liberal for President

Hillary Clinton’s Speech Had Highest Ratings
Nielsen just released its ratings for the third day of the Democratic National Convention.  The key takeaways are:

• Bill Clinton and Sen. Joe Biden drew more viewers (24 million) than Michelle Obama (22.3 million) — but fewer than Sen. Hillary Clinton (26 million).
• Older viewers (age 55+) continued to dominate the TV audience Wednesday night, with 18.1% of all Americans in that age group — 12.5 million people — tuning in to the convention coverage.

VIDEO — Thuggish Cops Arrest ABC News Producer
See for yourself. Ugly stuff.

As Jane noted yesterday,

Police in Denver arrested an ABC News producer today as he and a camera crew were attempting to take pictures on a public sidewalk of Democratic Senators and VIP donors leaving a private meeting at the Brown’s Palace Hotel.

… Eslocker and his ABC News colleagues are spending the week investigating the role of corporate lobbyists and wealthy donors at the convention for a series of Money Trail reports on ABC World News with Charles Gibson.

See for yourself. Ugly stuff.

(video via scarce)

SUPERTRAIN
The stop outside the Pepsi Center was shut down, but I believe it will be possible to take the SUPERTRAIN to Invesco Field this evening. Actually, I mean this afternoon as apparently we’re supposed to arrive way early.

Plan B Damned: My Quest for Emergency Contraception
Unless you have Plan B in your medicine cabinet, it’s highly unlikely you’ll get your hands on a morning-after pill the morning after.

Are Organic Foods Getting Too Pricey for the Middle Class?
Even Whole Foods and its upper-middle-class customers are feeling the pinch.

Gore: We Got It Wrong Eight Years Ago. Let’s Get It Right This Time.
The challenge for Al Gore is that criticizing the Bush years inevitably becomes a discussion of the 2000 election and a condemnation of the decision not to elect Gore (or not to grant him a big enough electoral victory so…

Live Barack Blogging
Though I may just want to watch … And we’re off … 10:18 PM … Watching how the background actually looks, the Greek temple nonsense seems awfully silly. 10:23 PM … I think — not just in the speech but…

After Biden, The Economic Debate Takes Shape

The least wealthy member of the Senate took the stage of the Democratic convention hall Wednesday night to accept the vice-presidential nomination, and sharpened the contrast between the progressive and conservative economic visions. The pressure will now be on Sen. John McCain next week to either defend the conservative vision or acknowledge its failures and respond with new ideas.

In introducing himself to the broader electorate, Sen. Joe Biden sought to show that he got what’s going on in America, not with stats, but with clear sense of what goes on around middle-class kitchen tables. From the prepared remarks:

Almost every night, I take the train home to Wilmington, sometimes very late. As I look out the window at the homes we pass, I can almost hear what they’re talking about at the kitchen table after they put the kids to bed.

Like millions of Americans, they’re asking questions as profound as they are ordinary. Questions they never thought they would have to ask:

* Should mom move in with us now that dad is gone?

* Fifty, sixty, seventy dollars to fill up the car?

* Winter’s coming. How we gonna pay the heating bills?

* Another year and no raise?

* Did you hear the company may be cutting our health care?

* Now, we owe more on the house than it’s worth. How are we going to send the kids to college?

* How are we gonna be able to retire?

Biden then juxtaposed McCain’s support for corporate tax cuts and opposition to raising the minimum wage:

When John McCain proposes $200 billion in new tax breaks for corporate America, $1 billion alone for just eight of the largest companies, but no relief for 100 million American families, that’s not change; that’s more of the same.

Even today, as oil companies post the biggest profits in history—a half trillion dollars in the last five years—he wants to give them another $4 billion in tax breaks. But he voted time and again against incentives for renewable energy: solar, wind, biofuels. That’s not change; that’s more of the same.

Millions of jobs have left our shores, yet John continues to support tax breaks for corporations that send them there. That’s not change; that’s more of the same.

He voted 19 times against raising the minimum wage. For people who are struggling just to get to the next day, that’s not change; that’s more of the same.

And then he argued that Obama would invest in jobs and education, while cutting middle-class taxes and making health care affordable for everyone.

Barack Obama will reform our tax code. He’ll cut taxes for 95 percent of the American people who draw a paycheck. That’s the change we need.

Barack Obama will transform our economy by making alternative energy a genuine national priority, creating 5 million new jobs and finally freeing us from the grip of foreign oil. That’s the change we need.

Barack Obama knows that any country that out teaches us today will out-compete us tomorrow. He’ll invest in the next generation of teachers. He’ll make college more affordable. That’s the change we need.

Barack Obama will bring down health care costs by $2,500 for the typical family, and, at long last, deliver affordable, accessible health care for all Americans. That’s the change we need.

The ball is now in McCain’s court.

With many conservatives insisting the economy is good, regardless of how most voters feel, McCain has struggled to come up with an economic case that appeals to both conservatives and swing voters.

He has even told conservative audiences that Americans are better off than seven years ago, then told others the opposite.

Such contradictory statements won’t fly during his convention, where he has to address both conservative delegates in the hall and swing voters outside the hall at the same time.

McCain will need to offer a single view of how the economy is faring that voters find credible.

He will have to decide if he really thinks more tax cuts for corporate executives are what voters think the economy needs, or if he needs to put more on the table to convince voters he will help increase wages, reduce costs and create jobs.

And he will need to deal with the fact that what resonates with most voters in his television audience isn’t what will resonate among conservatives in his convention audience.

We’ll see who he ticks off more.

Originally posted at OurFuture.org.

Dems plan McCain birthday bashes
Lost in the frenzy of Barack Obama?s speech and John McCain?s vice presidential pick is another big milestone: the Republican presidential candidate?s 72nd birthday Friday. The McCain campaign is hoping to bury the news in the announcement of his running mate ? but the Democrats have a different way of marking the big day, Washington Wire has learned. They plan to celebrate with the septuagenarian all weekend, accusing him of being close with President Bush by throwing ?More of the Same? birthday parties on Friday and Saturday in key states like Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Amnesty International brings Gitmo to St. Paul.
“Guantanamo Bay is coming to St. Paul,” courtesy of Amnesty International. The human rights group is bringing their “live-size model of a maximum security Guantanamo Bay cell” to the Twin Cities. Visitors will be encouraged to experience the cell and push the Bush administration to shut down Guantanamo. Some details about the exhibit: The cell is […]

“Guantanamo Bay is coming to St. Paul,” courtesy of Amnesty International. The human rights group is bringing their “live-size model of a maximum security Guantanamo Bay cell” to the Twin Cities. Visitors will be encouraged to experience the cell and push the Bush administration to shut down Guantanamo. Some details about the exhibit:

The cell is a replica of a Camp 5 cell. It brings to life the harsh realities of illegal detention to concerned citizens and highlights the human rights violations that Guantanamo symbolizes. The cell includes a steel toilet, florescent lights and a sliding metal door. Detainees reported being held in isolation in similar cells for as long as 23 hours.