by The Puppet Mistress | I'll post the speech when it's available. For now, here's a list of reviews. As a former Clinton supporter, I can't help loving the kudos she's getting. I just hope this speech will remind the people who have forgotten or who are too young to remember: Real Dems love Hillary. Politically, this might have been the best thing that could have happened to her. It was a shining moment---a redemption from the point of view of her detractors and a confirmation for her supporters. Love it.
There are some unhappy wingnuts tonight. She just annihilated some of their strongest hopes and nastiest talking points. And there are some people who just wouldn't see any merit in anything she does if she single-handedly salvaged the economy, brought world peace, and found a cure for cancer.
Otherwise, Hillary is attracting praise from both her admirers and detractors. This piece focuses on the praise she's received, not only from progressives but also moderate Republicans.
PUNDITRY
The HuffPost has a great round-up of commentary here (with videos). Here is a sample:
Keith Olbermann: "A grand slam." (Olbermann also reported that on Clinton's way out to the podium and after she returned from delivering her speech, she was given a standing ovation by Obama staffers.)
Anderson Cooper: "This speech has electrified everyone in this crowd."
David Gergen: "Perhaps her finest hour in politics."
James Carville: "This is what a major-league fastball looks like."
On the celebrity front, Spike Lee said it was a "great, great, great speech." Footage at the BBC here.
MEDIA REPORTS
Clinton Delivers Emphatic Plea for Unity (Patrick Healey, NYT)
Obama watches, cheers Clinton speech (AP)
Clinton Salutes Obama as Dems at Convention Cheer (David Espo)
Clinton says Election Isn't About Her (Nedra Pickler)
Clinton: Obama 'must be our president' (CNN)
See generally Hillary Delivers and Then Some at HuffPost [good round-up]
BLOGGERS
Hillary Calls for Unity: "No Way, No How, No McCain" (Deb Cupples, Buck Naked Politics)
Hillary also argued that our nation's future depends on electing Obama president. She also argued that all the public-oriented goals she's been working for are shared by Obama. She also listed numerous reasons that she supports Obama. (See other CNN video clips or last night's transcript here).
In short, I don't think anyone's pro-Obama arguments could have been any stronger or better presented than Hillary's were last night (other than Michelle's, but she's married to him).
There is a remote possibility, of course, that Hillary was toting a special mind-control ray-gun but spitefully refused to use it for Obama's benefit -- though I didn't see any conspicuous bulges in her pantsuit. Admittedly, the ray gun might be as slim as an I-Pod.
On her night, Hillary delivers (Alex Koppelman, Salon)
She gave a great speech -- the end was particularly good -- and she said all the things she needed to, I think. But most of all, the way I know it was an unqualified hit? Keith Olbermann loved it, and, at the moment, even Chris Matthews can't find anything bad to say.
In Brief: Hillary Clinton's Speech (The Rude Pundit)
Convention Live Blog, Night #2, Heathers Edition (Balloon Juice)
I am betting that Hillary is going to come out and just light into Bush and McCain, and Bill is going to do it again. Anything less, and I will be upset, because, after all, I was on the receiving end of Clintonian rhetoric for all those years as a Republican. It will be nice to watch them open a can of whoop-ass and have it not be aimed at my head for a change....
11:03. You wanted red meat, you got red meat. And if the idiots in the media keep playing up the Clinton/Obama rift after this, they are hopeless. [More]
HRC Liveblog (Bitch, Ph.D)
8:48: "No way, no how, no McCain." Every line she speaks is very slow, and punctuated by deafening applause. The crowd is WILD. Love this line....
8:56: "Were you in that campaign just for me? Or were you in it for [list], were you in it for all those people who feel invisible?" YES YES YES. This is what we need. Cheers of "sing it, girlfriend" here in the lounge. This is great--she's saying what really needs to be said, and what can only be said by her, which is that her supporters really need to STOP being obsessed with her and upset about the primary fight, and FALL THE FUCK IN LINE....We need to realize that Obama's victory is not a sure thing, and though I plan on criticizing him when I see fit, we NEED this victory and we need it more than we've needed anything in a long time. And this is the most important thing that's been said about party unity since Barack became the presumptive nominee....
0:05: This invocation of Harriet Tubman is fucking genius. "If you see the torches in the woods, keep going...If you want a taste of freedom, keep going." Great oratory, and what a great way to bust open the media's obsession with pitting African-Americans vs. women.... [More]
Liveblogging Hillary Clinton's Convention Speech (Jezebel)
10:46 (ET): Listing her accomplishments. She didn't work all these years for all that shit to watch another Republican fuck it up....
10:47 (ET): "No way. No how. No McCain."...
10:50 (ET): "To my sisterhood of the traveling pantsuits." Man, why didn't she have these speech writers in the primaries?...
11:01 (ET): "We don't need four more years of the last eight years." Ooh, hear the crowd boo John McCain! [More]
Excellent Dog Whistle, Hillary (No More Mister Nice Blog)
Obama campaign, PLEASE MAKE AN AD FROM THIS AS QUICKLY AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE. [More]
Tomorrow’s conventional wisdom, tonight (TBogg)
'No Way. No How. No McCain.' (Scott Hopkins at Taylor Marsh)
She needed to deliver, and she did not disappoint. An incredible speech and one of the finest moments of her political career....A bad night for the Hillary haters, a terrifying night for the GOP, and a deadly night for the PUMAs. [More]
Clinton Shows Class (Mark Daniels at The Moderate Voice)
For weeks now, in spite of her campaigning for Barack Obama, some pundits have said that Clinton wanted to sabotage her former Democratic nomination rival’s efforts to win the presidency this fall.
But if anybody thought that, Clinton’s address to the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday night must have disabused them of such notions. Her speech was, as the New York Times rightly puts it, an “emphatic plea at the Democratic National Convention to unite behind her rival, Senator Barack Obama, no matter what ill will lingers.”...
....She was gracious and enthusiastic in her words of support for the Obama-Biden ticket. Her speech will go a long way toward securing the party unity Democrats know they need to face off against a formidable John McCain. [More]
The Aces (David Schraub at The Moderate Voice)
Gut reaction? Clinton nailed that speech. As it turns out, the best thing she could do to accomplish her aims in that speech was to lay into John McCain. It unifies, it delegitimizes McCain’s outreach efforts, it obviously weakens McCain (to the extent that any partisan political speech does that), it forthrightly lines up her supporters with Obama — attacking McCain accomplishes everything. And she drilled it.
Clinton's Twin Killing (Elrod at The Moderate Voice)
Some people have chided her for talking so little about Obama and so much about herself. But I think the real story was the very public repudiation of the notion that Clinton voters would go to McCain. Of course she talked mostly about herself and her agenda. To do otherwise would have been fake.
More importantly, she tied her own agenda to the Democratic Party as a whole. By explicitly rejecting the notion that her campaign was about herself, she reminded her most devout supporters of the larger stakes in this election.
And her line about McCain and Bush being twins too hard to tell about was pithy and perfect. [More]
Hillary Clinton's Speech (PoliBlog)
I say this as no booster of the junior Senator from New York, but from an active observer of our political process. The first several paragraphs of her speech were spot-on perfect for what needed to be done tonight. The middle portion was a forgettable list of policy goals, but by the time she got to that list, her mission was accomplished (if I may deploy that phrase in this context…). And it took here quite a while to mention President Clinton (longer than many might have predicted). She did a good job of mixing in attacks on McCain as well along with mixing in the women’s rights issues in the end.
I am quite impressed by the whole thing. (Indeed, the more it sinks in, the more impressed I am). The Obama camp could not have asked for more.
Clinton: 'The Time Is Now To Unite' (Jason Linkin, HuffPost)
The Obama campaign would be wise to start printing bumper stickers, because folks, that's the line of the convention so far. Those were the words uttered by New York Senator Hillary Clinton, about seven paragraphs into a speech that received resounding cheers and adulation. "Whether you voted for me or voted for Barack, the time is now to unite as a party with a single purpose." [More]
Hillary Clinton speaking at the DNC right now... (Ann, Feministing)
Aside from the applause line about fighting for women's rights and gay rights, I'd say her "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pantsuits" was a pretty great turn of phrase....
And ooooh, loved that line about McCain and Bush being "awfully hard to tell apart."
No Way! No How! No McCain! (Nicole Belle, Crooks and Liars)
She hit it out the park, no doubt about it.
Night Two Reax (Andrew Sullivan's Round-Up, which is different from mine). I was interested in his reaction because he hates Hillary so much.
He wasn't impressed, but at least he published Dissents Of The Night.
....I hate Hil as much as you. Nevertheless, she BROUGHT IT. Even I was impressed.
Given her mission to get her supporters to go over to Obama she hit every possible note. As a woman, I have to confess even I teared up (shocking) when she talked about her mom being born before having the right to vote and her daughter being able to vote for a woman for president in the primary.
It was enough. Trust me.
Another:
Christ, Andrew! What does it take to impress you? I am not a Hillary fan, but that was an excellent speech, especially in terms of bringing her die-hard supporters around. It was certainly the best I have ever heard from her.
Another:
The members of my household were in tears....[proceeds to call him a "pissy pants" on the subject of Clinton] [More]
I would hate all Hillary-haters, but I don't believe in hating people who are basically on my side. Sullivan can't understand why anyone would have supported Clinton over Obama, a point on which I feel exactly the same, only in the opposite direction. But let's be a gracious loser, Andrew, and give credit where it is due, eh?
Memeorandum has the blogger chat.
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