LIVE: Palin's speech & McCain's nomination

9:36pm - Talks about being an advocate for parents of children with special needs. The Republican party has and continues to cut funding for special education programs and job training programs for people with special needs. Huh?

9:42pm - Speaking about PTA and city council experience. The youngest daughter just licked her hand and tried to change the direction of the baby's hair. Someone was escorted out!!! Haha, exciting.

9:44pm - Guns, religion, bitter, again. "...wherever he goes and whoever is listening, John McCain is the same man." Wrong? Yeah, I think so. "If you're not a member of Washington's elite, then some of the media consider you to be unqualified." NO, really? What has "conservative" media been spouting for the last 19 months about Senator Obama?

9:46pm - "The point of going to Washington is...to challenge the status quo and leave the nation better than we found it." Isn't that directly quoted from someone's speech LAST week?

Hahaha, there is some trouble with chanting the same phrase in unison...and the vertical signs don't have poles to hold them! Maybe bc someone that worked their way inside would start beating people with it.

9:53pm - Talking about energy independence. She's pushing for offshore drilling, and saying that not pushing for it is "doing nothing at all." I spoke to a guy that works for a company that builds oil rigs for drilling, and it'll take at least 5 years before a new one can even be put offshore to start drilling. We could be soooo much closer to another energy technology by then.

9:55pm - Claims that Senator Obama never authored or created any type of reform in the state or national senate. What? Not the reforms on questioning capital crime suspects? Or government transparency and spending? "He won't use the word 'victory' unless it's about his campaign." "Victory in Iraq is in sight and he wants to forfeit." What victory?!?! "Al-Qaida terrorists want to inflict harm and destroy America, and he's afraid someone won't read them their rights." For all of those who were racially profiled and singled out and are "supposed" terrorists...ok, they don't deserve rights, even if they are citizens.

9:58pm - Claims that Senator Obama will raise taxes on everyone...no, just those who are past the "middle class" threshhold.

10:01pm - "Our nominee doesn't run with the Washington herd." Really? Voting w/ Bush 90% of the time isn't "part of the herd?" "A leader who's not looking for a fight, but sure isn't afraid of one either." Hahaha, ask his wife about when she joked with him about his hair!

10:03pm - "Although Senator Obama and Senator Biden say that they quote, 'fight for you,' there is only one man in this election that has ever truly fought for you." I applaud the man's service to this country, and I appreciate it, but I don't see that as an absolute reason to vote for the man as President!

Lol, new game! spot how many token black ppl you can find in the crowd! And then, count how many times each of them is shown on tv. They will get SO much face time, it's ridiculous.

10:08pm - "If hope is the theme of this election, and change our shared goal, then I ask you to join our cause..." Yeah, she HOPES we'll CHANGE our minds and join their cause...of the same failed policies, poor decisions, and "good ol' boy" deals that have plagued us and caused problems for the past 8 years.

10:10pm - Finally Senator McCain comes out. Not much of a surprise now, is it, lol. Haha, the littlest daughter is scared of Senator McCain! He leaned over to talked to her, and she def just backed away. And he definitely didn't say anything other than, "Didn't we do a great job choosing the next VP of the United States?" and "What a beautiful family!" and he told Palin, "Great job!"


Final comments: The crowd is DEFINITELY not as diverse as the DNC was. Almost every single person is in a suit and tie, and the crowd is overwhelmingly white. Way to "represent the people." The closing music was some staid bugle music...military sounding, but idk about crowd-energizing. I guess that's what they assume all white ppl want to hear. The program format is unusual - the choice of background pictures during the Palin's speech kept rotating through pretty typical "national photos" - soaring eagle, Lincoln Memorial, Mt. Rushmore, rolling plains, but def no beaches! (Haha, we don't want to conjure up images of "exotic" Hawaii, even though it IS a state.) After Palin's speech, everyone is trying to leave, and they decide to have Gretchen Wilson, John Rich, and Cowboy Troy (3 country singers, one of them a token Black person) come on to sing THE NATIONAL ANTHEM. Really? That's the "entertainment?" I thought that was supposed to make you proud of your country and get a political event started. Now the song is something about "Raising McCain." They spoke between every couple of lines of the National Anthem with bits and pieces of the preamble to the Constititution and MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech. Also now, they're having the roll call of the states now, AFTER the main speaker of the evening and the entertainment. It is 10:24pm in Minneapolis...say what? Aren't these delegates and the presumptive Republican presidential nominee 2 seconds away from sleep? (j/k, j/k that wasn't nice.)

I think it's hard to "represent the people" when your delegates definitely aren't anywhere near proportionate to the demographic makeup of the US. I think it's hard to "represent the people" when the majority of the delegates seem to be 65+. I mean, how can you represent everyone's interests when the people sent to represent those interests are all seemingly the same? I know everyone has different backgrounds and experiences, but I'm pretty sure there are few people who represent the people who are in poverty and urban decay. I just think your delegate makeup should look like the country they're representing.

Hey, 2 more token black people and they're from TX! Hahaha, AND TX is right up front, it seems. The chairman asked for any more nominations for president besides John McCain, and someone yelled, "RON PAUL!!!" and he was just like, "hearing none..." lol and that guy was DEFINITELY loud. I'm surprised TX is up front too...I mean yes, current home of the president, but also current home of Ron Paul. I wanna see how many people vote for people other than McCain.

Alaska just had 5 votes for Ron Paul, and the counter ignored them! What about the rules? She didn't even acknowledge them, even though C-SPAN has the tally up.

The chairman of the D.C. delegation is so proud to be a Republican, but they have consistently voted against allowing D.C. full representation in Congress and the Senate. HAHA, the FL chairman is saying that they're putting Floridians first...by messing up ballots, asking for multiple forms of ID, disposing of people's names on the voter rolls? Riiiiiight...