Democratic Convention Watch 2008 - Joe Biden

Biopic of Biden. Praise, praise, praise. Family man, politically experienced, and the rest.

He's being introduced by his son Beau, who's the AG of Delaware and is about to head off to Iraq with the Delaware National Guard. Good intro. He's making the whole place cry with the story of his mother and sister's death and Joe's decision (reversed) not to serve in the Senate.

His son is talking about the stutter. The kids called him "Dash," as in the punctuation. That's a better nickname than Bubba, which I liked already. But that's it: he's Dash. Vice President Dash Biden.

And because he's off to Iraq, he's asking people to be there for his dad. Man, he's pulling out the stops. Good intro, Beau my man.

Heeeeeere's Joe!

He's a talker. Let's see how he talks. He's not afraid to express his love for his wife. I like that. I love the missus.

And he accepts the nomination! Whew! That's a relief. I wasn't sure there for a minute.

Joe's doing pretty well so far. He's showing off his mother, telling the lessons he learned through tragedy and more, and I swear to god, I think he's sincere.

There have been a couple of "Freudian slips" calling John McCain "George W. Bush." I'd say they were staged except the speakers (Kerry and Biden) seemed genuinely surprised at their mistake. They're either better actors than most politicians or they really did slip.

The missus likes Dash's hushed tones. He's a better performer than most speakers. He pulls it off, the hushed tones.

John McCain is his friend. Here we go. He profoundly disagrees with John. He just said, "taxes" when he meant "tax breaks." Whoops. "That's not change; that's more of the same." Doesn't quite roll of the tongue of the crowd, but they're trying.

"We don't need a soldier; we need a wise leader." That's a good point.

The missus is chanting, "That's the change we need" with Joe's call and response lines.

I like that Joe's not afraid to call the Bush administration "abysmal." He's questioning McCain's judgment, which is what he's been hired to do. John McCain is wrong and Barack Obama is right. Go to town, Biden. I don't know about this warmongering talk, but I like that you're fighting McCain at least.

And he's done. There we go. I hope that Mitt Romney is McCain's pick for VP. Biden will tear him a new asshole, debatingly speaking. Oh, I would like to see that.

Hey, look! It's Barack on stage with Joe, introduced by Jill. Barack's thanking the great speakers of the rest of the convention. And now he's speaking off the cuff? He's got no prompters. It's a short speech, but hell, he just rattled off a few words there.

And there's the Bruce Springsteen to close the speech, because who better, really?

Shields and Yarnell? Shields said Beau Biden was the highlight of the night for him. There are a boatload of Bidens on stage. Jim Lehrer says, "And here are the little ones," because how often do we see four-year-olds waving at the crowd? Only every convention.

Buzz on the floor afterward? Serious excitement.

Historians? Big night, huge help, giant setup for tomorrow. The historians see Hubert Humphrey in the night. Ah, Hubert Humphrey. Poor Hubert. Historians approve.

Yarnell thinks that this night puts pressure on McCain. Especially with his veep choice. Yarnell thinks that it points inevitably to Lieberman. He's the only antidote to Joe Biden.

And they're done for the evening. So am I.

By the way, the Mets won. Back in first place! A good night for Democrats and Mets fans!