Yes, I'm here at the Democratic National Convention ... in Englewood, CO. Any advice? (More after the video.)
I'm headed to the Pepsi Center in a bit to get my credentials. My thoughts on Biden:
He's a serious, tenacious guy with a stirring biography. And he's charismatic. He had the funniest line in all the debates when he was forced to name his favorite thing about the opponent standing to his left - in this case, Kucinich: "Dennis, the thing I like best about you is your wife." He's good looking, too. Most people don't have HD, so they can't see his hair plugs. (Not being snarky, just realistic.)
The focus on his status as the "poorest" member of the Senate is, of course, totally misguided. The press and many Democrats still haven't figured out that most Americans want to be rich. That Biden is $300,000 in debt is hardly inspiring.
Also his Catholicism, another press obsession, is pretty irrelevant. The constant blather about working-class Catholic voters needing someone like Biden on the ticket is both condescending and just plain off-the-mark. That's because Catholicism isn't really a cultural identity like Judaism. (Filipino-Catholics have as much in common culturally with Irish-Catholics as Aleuts and Aussies.)
Most Catholics who self-identify as Catholic are practicing Catholics -- i.e., their Catholicism is defined doctrinally, not culturally. Most of these self-identified Catholics are likely to take issue with Biden's stand on abortion just as they did with Kerry. In other words, don't expect churchgoing Catholics to move in a big direction for Obama just because "one of them" is on the ticket.
***
ON THE PSYCHOANALYTIC FRONT:
Obama's startling introduction of Biden as the "next president" yesterday was more than a slip, make no mistake.
The anxiety Obama must be feeling since McCain's recent surge spilled out in that moment. Biden is meant to shore up the ticket's foreign policy cred (crucial since Russia's invasion of Georgia), yet Obama doesn't want people to think he depends on Biden in the way Bush depends on Cheney. (Biden will be a strong vice-president, yes, but not an above-the-title V.P. like Cheney.)
Likewise Biden's introduction of "Barack America" was a significant slip.
The campaign is still struggling with persistent nasty rumors that Obama isn't really American. Cementing Obama's love of country is high priority, hence the slip.
Or am I just over-therapied?
By the way, has anyone else noticed that spell check recognizes McCain but doesn't recognize Obama?
Mo Rocca has appeared on a bunch of shows, including 'The Daily Show,' 'I Love the 80s,'...
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Biden My Time in Denver (At a Really Weird Motel)
Posted Aug 24th 2008 12:30PM by Mo Rocca
Filed under: Mo's Videos, Mo Rocca
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Mo Rocca appears on a bunch of shows, including CBS News Sunday Morning (with the indescribably wonderful Charles Osgood), The Tonight Show on NBC, and NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! He's a sometime judge on Iron Chef and was featured on Telemundo's Amore Descarado. Last year he starred on Broadway in the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. His expose "All the President's Pets" was published by Crown in 2004.
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Reader Comments ( Page 2 of 3)
16. MO, DRINK WATER! You are high up and the headache is an indication that you can get altitude sickness if you don't keep hydrated. When I lived in Fort Collins, I was drinking water all the time for that very reason.
Heidi at 2:38PM on Aug 25th 2008
17. Now, all I can ask for is that Jimmy Buffett sings the keynote speech.
Notice the Biden/Buffett resemblance?
xxx
He's doing the republicans this year.
He's starting with Wasted Away In Margaret Thatcherville and then reprising A Pirate Looks At 40 oil producing nations who would welcome us as liberators.
Maybe Steely Dan can show up for the dems:
We're gonna break out the booze and downers
When Cindy finds home
Shoot all the out of towners
Dance on their bones till the state caves in
Cough up when Bear Stearns flounders
When Cindy finds home
When Cindy finds home, her goods
are the pride of 13 neighborhoods
John's the raw flame the spy flier
who squirms like a junkie in the line of fire
(nifty guitar and piano break)
John would you love a Snapple? He'll have to say no.
His prostate's big as an apple,
shake it on down to his shoes he's gonna pee in the street
Cross legged dance in a wet de-pends
You won't read that in an AP poll if cindy finds home.
Clif Kuplen at 3:57PM on Aug 25th 2008
18. Mo! It's all about the water. Keep drinking lots of it. I was born and raised in Colorado and forget when folks visit that the altitude can make them sick. My father-in-law became delusional last time then passed out.
Hope to see you at the festivities!
Fauxlicious at 7:10PM on Aug 25th 2008
19. Aw Mo,
MORE ADVICE:
Get out of that motel!
You are in room #1408 and it is haunted by Nancy Pelosi (who looks an awful lot like Cher today--another Hannah Montana thing.)
There is no such thing as "Mary Callender Pot Pie." Mary Callender was the former occupant of that room. I think you may have eaten her.
Get out while you can, Mo!
and Nancy sings:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=eWeezUxIzaE
JG^^
John Giza at 6:37PM on Aug 25th 2008
20. Aw Mo,
btw, I thought it was Pueblo, Colorado that was the Free Pamphlet Captial of America?
Or, maybe, this spatial displacement is just part of the curse?
JG^^
John Giza at 6:58PM on Aug 25th 2008
21. Hey Mo, I know you don't usually take requests but...
I'd like to dedicate the following song to all the Hillary supporters out there who are remaining faithful to their woman and who refuse to endorse Barack Obama as the Democratic nominee for President:
***
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hTGFU949hE
Wasting my time,
Resting my mind
And I'll never pine
For the sad days and the bad days
When we was workin' from nine to five.
And if you dont mind
I'll spend my time
Here by the fire side
In the warm light and the love in her eyes.
And if you dont mind
I'll spend my time
Here by the fire side
In the warm light of her eyes
http://inplacenews.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/hillary_clinton.jpg
***
Oh come on, even gypsies would like that song!
Rocca the Convention '08
FINN at 8:05PM on Aug 25th 2008
22. FINN:
Cheers!
Loved it!
Now, if you can just explain that Kuplen song...
Thirteen houses? Eight, maybe?
JG:)
John Giza at 8:25PM on Aug 25th 2008
23. Re: Hillary (the horse that just wouldn't die).... And suggestions re: Things to Do in Englewood (which is why I live in Lakewood, CO)
It's not race. It's not gender. It's that women over 40 (yup, I'm one of those lucky ones) have a second sense about men who aren't who they say they are. AND having lived in a society that both subtly and overtly discriminates against women - from the bottom (any maids named Miguel in your Englewood hotel, Mo? Bet you can find a Juanita or Maria) on up through education, corporation, and the judicial system (and here I mean the treatment of women in Court - sexism abounds) - well, since we're a trickle down society, we women are just not going to accept a presidential candidate who pales in comparison (pun intended) to our Ms. Clinton. We aren't angry. We're savvy. We don't expect satisfaction from someone who can't give it.
BTW, check out http://www.all4fundenver.com/ - you can get your 350-lb sumo wrestler suit, rent a mechanical bull, and never have to leave your hotel room, well, until Prime Time Tuesday, that is! :-)
WildHorses at 9:42PM on Aug 25th 2008
24.
Or to the Dead's Casey Jones....
Biden that train,
slappin McCain,
Barak Obama you better watch your speech.
Elections ahead,
Hillary's behind,
Don'cha know that Billy's lost his mind.
mac at 10:03PM on Aug 25th 2008
25. Thirteen houses? Eight, maybe?
JG:)
John Giza at 8:25PM on Aug 25th 2008
xx
there are apparently five on the sedona property. I'm just reporting those things, the media makes them up.
Clif Kuplen at 10:27PM on Aug 25th 2008
26. Sure JG,
Clif has rather creatively combined the 8 Hensley-McCain homes with the 7 dry cleaners owned by George Jefferson, played by none other than Sherman Hensley!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb6ErLPt4t8
The juxtaposed symbology of this classic television theme song is tri-fold:
1) John McCain's second marriage to Cindy Hensley gave him desperately needed Senatorial campaign financing thus allowing him to move on up to the east side (namely Washington DC) and get himself a piece of the political pie.
2) Of course, some would say the Jeffersons would more accurately represent the Obama family's precipitous rise to prominent political power on the national stage... but I just say that's racist!
3) Finally, The Jeffersons is all about the everyday struggle to obtain and retain the American Dream we all seek no matter what our background or political affiliation - be it Democrat or Republican or even a vote-wasting Independent.
This is our time, America, to finally get a piece of the pie! And that, my friends, is what I think Clif was really saying...
FINN at 11:07PM on Aug 25th 2008
27. Lamont, come in here and SHOOT this dummy!
Clif Kuplen at 11:36PM on Aug 25th 2008
28. Bring it on Lamont...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly21gNZbG0g
George Jefferson at 11:51PM on Aug 25th 2008
29. Clif has rather creatively combined the 8 Hensley-McCain homes with the 7 dry cleaners owned by George Jefferson, played by none other than Sherman Hensley!
xxxx
8+7=13? Mr. Kottah, there's a funny man named quayle in here trying to teach us math.
Clif Kuplen at 11:56PM on Aug 25th 2008
30. LOL! You got me there but Clif but...
Creative writing and creative accounting go hand in hand... doesn't take an Arthur Anderson to understand that... of course we might need one to figure out Cindy Hensley's prenup agreement with John McCain or exactly how many houses they own.
By the way, I absolutely enjoyed your Steely Dan spoof which is why I commented in the first place but pardon me for not being as "creative" as you... I certainly wasn't trying to start a fight... we can leave that to the bitter Clinton supporters who'd rather vote McCain than accept Obama.
Now back to the political sideshow...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5djylp-Kao
FINN at 12:46AM on Aug 26th 2008