The Future

Well, the DNC is over.  Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read me and accompany me on this journey.  Now, as we move onto the next phase of the election, and as I get ready to begin a new phase of life (yay college!), it strikes me as a time to reevaluate this blog.  I mean, it's not like I can write much more about the DNC.  All I have left to do is buy a new camera cord to replace the one I left in Denver and then get the pictures from Invesco up.  Which shouldn't take more than...a day?

So I have to decide what to do when that's done.  

I want to keep this blog alive, and write about the things in my life, and in our country, that I think are worth discussing.  I hope anyone who has enjoyed reading this past week will come back and keep up with the blog as it moves on from the DNC into a broader focus.  If anyone has any suggestions or tips, I'd love to hear them.

Thanks again for reading, and I hope to hear from you.

peace

Anecdotes From Invesco (plus Palin!)

It's taken me a day to decide what I should wrote about last night at the Invesco Field.  I have neither the eloquence nor the experience to critique a speech that even Pat Buchanan called the greatest convention speech of all time.  But what I can do, and what I think really is most important, is describe what it was like to be in that stadium.

I arrived at about 2 pm-- the line was already over three miles long.  I had taken the shuttle over to Invesco from downtown Denver, after getting lunch with some new friends I had made.  A nice latino guy named Gerald sat down next to me.  He was the head of standardized testing in San Antonio, a Clinton delegate, and bitterly disappointed by the lack of extra tickets for the Texas delegation.  When we got off the bus, he had us take pictures with the long line.  After about ten minutes in line, we started talking with some Montana delegates in front of us.

"I loved your Governor," he said.

"We do too," they laughed.

"I saw him after the speech.  I told him I wanted to buy some ranch land in Montana, and he said 'you better hurry, because after my speech it just went up in price.'"

We all laughed.

A campaign worker came up and told us that a new line was opening on the other side.  We ran up a flight of stairs and, winded, were told by a friendly Police officer that we had to join another, longer, line.  Gerald got angry and told me to follow him.  I wasn't quite sure how, but somehow he used his delegate powers to have us skip the line, get through security in five minutes, and get great seats.  He, as a delegate, was on the field, but I was in section 108, row, 9, seat 10.  Which was pretty much straight back from the stage, nine rows up.  I was pumped.  

Sitting around me was a picture of the Democratic Party: to my right, a white couple from Reno, NV.  In front of me, a large black family from Mississippi.  To my left, an older black couple who remembered Dr. King's '63 speech.  And behind me, two young, stylishly dressed professionals, who I later found out were an interracial gay couple.  It was like an ad on steroids.

Throughout the day, the excitement built.  John Oliver walked by-- the young professionals went nuts.  Franco Harris walked by-- the guy from Reno started screaming.  Al Sharpton slowly walked past our seats, and the entire section exploded.  

will.i.am performed "Yes We Can."  Stevie Wonder played.  I saw Sheryl Crow for the second time this week and the second time in my life.  John Lewis gave a moving speech, Bill Richardson ripped McCain apart.  Al Gore told us that even though we didn't believe him in 2000, he could assure us that there were differences between the two parties.  

He also reminded us that he knows a little about close elections, and everyone laughed.

The whole evening build toward Barack's acceptance speech, and as the stadium slowly filled the energy grew more intense.  A few people tried to start waves.  One or two succeeded.  But the crowd was well behaved and speakers, whether they were Vice Presidents, ordinary citizens, or the young Colorado campaign chair who implored us to text message "DNC" to 62262 (which you can still do to sign up for the campaign) were listened to.  The speeches were separated by video segments and music.  It was like a giant party.

Finally, Barack came on.  The entire stadium was a madhouse, people waving American flags and holding up signs, screaming and clapping, chanting "YES WE CAN" and "O-BA-MA" (which conveniently have the same number of syllables).  It took several minutes to quiet everyone down, but even when we were quiet no one sat.  Everyone stood for the first lines of the speech, silent and barely breathing.  Flashes flashed like millions of lightning bolts.  Every time an applause line was delivered-- and there were many of them-- the roar of the crowd rose to deafening levels and flags rose like a sea of red, white and blue.  It was everything my High School Government class told me America should be.  

In the middle of his speech, Obama said that "history teaches us that at defining moments like this one, the change we need doesn't come from Washington.  Change comes to Washington.  Change happens because the American people demand it, because they rise up and insist on new ideas and new leadership. a new politics for a new time."

I was in tears.  Usually, I say that I am in tears when I mean that I teared up, but this time tears were streaming down my face and I buried my head in my American flag and thought that this vision of America was a vision of the America in which I wanted to live.  I was so overcome with love for my country, or for this image of my country, that I couldn't stop myself from weeping.

After the speech, the fireworks, and the confetti, I turned to the old African-American man to my left.  "Good speech," I said, simply.

"Yes," he said, and paused.  "I was crying"

"I was too."

He took my hand in his, enveloped it really, and looked at me.  We both smiled.  And then a woman a few rows back started chanting "Yes We Can," and soon isolated pockets of chanters from all around the 84,000 Convention goers linked up until everyone was waving their flags, lifting their signs, and raising their voices as one.  Yes We Can.

peace

PS- Sarah Palin?  I guess if John McCain wants to nominate a creationist, anti-abortion even in cases of rape and incest, Pat Buchanan supporting, wind power vetoing Governor who is under ethics investigation, owes her political career to the indicted Ted Stevens and the under investigation Don Young, has been governor for less time than this campaign has gone on, who has never (ever!) said a substantive thing about Iraq (other than, and I quote, "let's make sure we have a plan"), and who in all honesty was picked merely because the McCain camp thinks it can peel off disaffected Hillary supporters who somehow are dumb enough to not realize that this woman is to Hillary Clinton what, say, T.J. Bohn is to Babe Ruth, more power to him.  But I think it really calls into question whether he has the judgement to be president.

Oh, Bill. You Make It Hard To Hate You.

So, first off, why didn't John Kerry give speeches like that four years ago?  He'd be running for reelection right now if he had...

Second, I had the most amazing hamburger of my life today.  At the Capital Grille, they took sirloin steak, bacon, and sweet grilled onions and ground them all up into the most delicious patty I've ever eaten.  Mmmm.

Third, Bill Clinton is an animal.  I'm watching a replay of his speech right now on MSNBC, and you can't really tell how much energy there was in that room.  I mean, sure, it takes him a good five minutes to get everyone seated, and yeah, they're all chanting "Bill" so loud you can't hear him say "thank you."  But the energy in the room when he came out was unreal.  It was unlike anything I have ever seen before in my life.  And when he said that he came to support Barack, the place exploded.

But he was great.  I can't describe how great he was, you just have to watch it.  He hit every point he needed to make, and even though people were screaming so loud I couldn't hear most of the speech I'm confident he didn't say anything bad.  He was really good.

Now back into my narrative.  We went downtown for lunch, I ate my dank burger, and we went to pick up our credentials.  On the way to the Convention, we went to a reception at the Cru Wine Bar hosted by J-Street, the pro-Israel pro-peace PAC I wrote about the other day.  It was interesting, and I met some cool people, including Dennis Schulman, a blind progressive rabbi running for the House in New Jersey.  He was fascinating, and I learned that I'll be attending school with his daughter next year.

However, we were 18, couldn't partake in the wine, and lacked the business cards that people were handing out like corndogs at a Funk Music Appreciation club fundraiser.  That, by the way, is more of a SAMOHI joke than anything else, so don't worry if it's not funny.  It's mainly for a few low-key Funkers.  We didn't have any of the social currency that you need to fit in at a lobbyist party, so after a few nice interactions we left to go to the Convention.  On the way, we ran into a protest, tried to talk some sense into the "pro-life" demonstrators, and eventually just gave up and went inside.  

Inside, we managed to get some pretty bad seats, which in itself was a miracle because if we showed up 30 minutes later we should have had horrible seats.  How horrible?  Behind the stage.  Which is different from backstage, by a lot.  So we settled in to our seats and waited for Bill.  He was so good, by the way, that I neglected to check the Phillies' score until after they had blown a 3-1 lead and lost to the hated Mets.

Then came Joe.  He was good, and I felt he got better as the night went on, but at the beginning of his speech he was clearly nervous and the audience noticed.  The woman next to me kept tsk tsk-ing until I wanted to ask her to stop.  But before I mustered up that courage, Biden started to catch fire and build up steam.  From then on she was quiet and the rest of the crowd was really loud.  I, for one, was waving my little American flag so hard I almost (accidentally) smacked her.  But by then I was so filled with Democratic pride that I would have felt really guilty.

Then there was the big surprise:  Obama came out and gave a little pep talk, which I have on video from a horrible angle.  But it really shows you how the crowd loved it, something that I've been told wasn't apparent on TV.  I'll post it later, right now I want to go to bed.

Which reminds me, tomorrow I might now be able to post-- my computer is leaving with its owner on the morning plane to Smith College.  So if I can post, it will be without little links and without pictures.  Which is unfortunate.  Luckily, since I'm too tired to add any of those now, this post can serve as practice for the stripped down version of the blog.

peace

PS- There's more I want to say about tonight but I'm too tired to.  

PPS- I ate dinner at Applebee's tonight.  I'd never eaten there before, and it was pretty good.  We got there too late for the real menu though, so I just had to chill on some buffalo wings and spinach dip.  The leftovers are actually in the hotel fridge right now, so I'll let you know next time I blog how leftover Applebee's chicken tastes cold.

Complete Day 2 Coverage

Well, yesterday was an adventure.  To really understand it, though, you have to understand how I came to be at the DNC.  I'm here because Lauren's aunt is the manager of Sugarland, which played an anti-Global Warming concert here.  Laurie David, the organizer of the concert and the producer of An Inconvenient Truth, got us passes to see the Convention.  On Monday, her assistant Dawn dropped us off our passes, told us to have a great week, and peaced.  The thing is, those were only Monday passes; we had to get a different pass for each day.  Uh oh.

So we spent most of yesterday frantically calling Dawn, running around downtown Denver, and begging and pleading for any help in trying to find our tickets.  Finally, at the sixth place we went, we found the tickets.  The problem?  Only Dawn, who was gone, or Laurie, who was in Martha's Vineyard, could pick them up.  Ouch.

There was a really nice woman from LA helping us though, and she managed to work it out and authorize us to pick up the tickets.  In the meantime, I talked to her brother John, who lived for eight years at 423 Marine St., Santa Monica, CA 90405.  Small world huh?  Until I was 10 I lived at 415 Marine...

Later, when we got out of the office with our tickets in our hands and Lauren in hysterics because she was going to see Hillary, I was really hungry.  I stopped at a little cart and ordered a Philly Cheesesteak.  The guy who was running the cart had bought a "do-it-yourself Cheesesteak maker" at WalMart and turned it into a business.  Talk about American ingenuity!

Unfortunately, he only had mozzarella cheese, but I told him about he joys of provolone.  His main question though was where one could purchase cheese whiz.  I told him to stop going down that dangerous path before something bad happened.

We got to the Pepsi Center, stood in a ridiculous line, went through the equivalent of airport security (no liquids!) and finally got inside.  We got there earlier than the day before but still had terrible seats.  They were marginally better though.

I left them to go walk around and try to find a family friend in the Democrats Abroad delegation, but that was met with complete and utter failure.  Not only would no one tell me where they were sitting, but once I finally found them they wouldn't let me pass a note in.  

Finally, the good speeches started.  Sort of.  I was really disappointed with Mark Warner, and thought that he wasted the keynote address talking about cell phones.  I mean honestly, which of his friends thought that cell phones were going to be a bad idea?  Really... Also, he managed to talk about everything he did in Virginia (which I'm sure was very important) while managing to give absolutely zero reasons why Obama should be elected other than some vague future talk.  I was unimpressed by Strickland as well-- he was a little too slow of a talker for my tastes.

Then the speeches started to get better, with Deval Patrick giving an Obama-esque speech (trivia: David Axelrod runs both f their campaigns) and Brian Schweitzer being a low key animal.  He was getting the crowd riled up with call and response chants and stuck it to the "petro-dictators," a phrase that I think could be used more often in politics.  It just has a nice ring to it.  

Then came Hillary.  All I'm going to say about that is that when she asked whether her supporters were in it for her or for her ideals/other supporters, I finally realized why so many people love her so much.  She's good.  Really good.  I just still think Barack is better.

Afterwards, we met up with a family friend Frances, who was reporting for KCRW.  We got interviewed (the interviews can be seen here).  Then, after a little chile hanging out in the media tent, we went out to go party.  After getting a little lost trying to find downtown, we ended up at the Rising Stars party at this fancy club.  It was really cool except for the fact that after standing in line, getting onto the guest list, being given free water bottles, socializing and meeting people, we were denied entry for being underage.  We spent the next hour trying to catch a cab home.  Which sucked.

So that was our second day of the DNC.  It was both exhilarating and terrifying, really good and pretty bad.  But it was fun, and we got lots of signs.

peace

I Like Hillary Again (But Don't Like Being 18)

So it's past 1 am here, and we just got home from the Convention and I want to do a quick post before I do a big one tomorrow.  We just spent about an hour walking around Denver, Lauren barefoot because she wore bad shoes, trying to hail a cab.  Oh, and we managed to get on the guest list for a post-Convention club party, stand in line, and then not get let in because we're underage.  Lame.

But Hillary was good.  She was great.  I don't even like her that much and I was screaming my lungs out and waving my Hillary/Unity sign like some barbaric, axe wielding, Iceni tribesman.  How good did I think she was?  Let me tell a quick story.

Right before she went on, I checked the Phillies game on my phone.  The Phillies were losing 6-7 in the ninth against the hated Mets, and had clawed back from a 0-7 deficit to get within striking range.  They had men on base.  They could tie it.  Did I check the score during her speech?

No.  But that was ok because they came back and won 8-7 in the 13th.  But I didn't peek until she was done.  I swear!

Anyway, she was great.  I think (and so did the die hard Hillary supporter I was with) that she did everything she could possibly do to bring people over to his side

.

peace

PS- We spent all day trying to get our credentials (more details on that when I do a full post tomorrow), so I missed breakfast AND lunch.  But I had a really good cheesesteak at a stand outside the Convention Center.  No provolone though; it had mozzarella cheese.  The guy hadn't even heard of provolone!

PPS-  Apparently Brian Schweitzer's speech didn't make cable, but it was much better than Warner's.  He had the best line of the night.  Paraphrasing, it was "even if we drill in every one of John McCain's backyards, we can't drill our way out of our energy crisis."  By the way, when you watch his speech, listen closely at 1:05.  Heard that line before anywhere?

About Last Night

Last night was the first official night of the DNC, and we had a great time, made a few mistakes, and learned a lot of things.  We had our tickets dropped off to us at a hotel in downtown [note: it turns out we may not have tickets for tonight. ew. ] and walked around Denver for a while.  We hung out at the MSNBC set, Lauren ran over to talk to some people in Hillary shirts, and we recoiled in horror when they told us to "support Hillary, vote McCain."  

At the MSNBC set we got to yell things at various anchors as they stood around during commercial breaks, talk to a giant Uncle Sam, and get lots of cool Obama gear.  I got a "terrorist fist jab" and a "taking America back" button.  I needed them, too, because in a moment of generosity I gave our driver my "Jews for Obama" button because he really really wanted it.

I don't think he was Jewish

.

Anyway, we walked around for a while and then, at about 5 pm, decided to hop on a shuttle bus that was going to the Pepsi Center.  Big mistake.  We started about four blocks from the entrance, but the bus took a circuitous route and it took us 45 minutes to get to the rear, bus, entrance.  On the bus, however, I met a lobbyist.  He was a nice lobbyist though-- he gave us invitations to a party!

His name was Joel Rubin, and he is the political director for J Street: Americans for Middle East Peace and Security.  He was young, warm, and open.  We talked about the situation in Israel and Palestine, and he told me about the work that his young organization has done over the last four months to bring about understanding, reconciliation, and a two state solution.  We both agreed that "the vast majority of Jews," both here and in Israel, want peace but are drowned out by those who say that "being pro-Israel means you want to bomb Iran."  I really liked him, and plan on going to the party on Wednesday.  We have VIP passes.

Once we got into the hall, we wandered around trying to find out what to do.  We met Dennis Kucinich, who wanted us to go to his website to sign a petition to impeach Bush.  When I asked him whether that was a good idea, considering we'd get Cheney, he confided that it was more of a symbolic measure.  Then this Hungarian reporter thought Lauren was Mrs. Kucinich, so we left.  Kucinich was just as weird in person as I thought he was on TV.

After we found our seats, which, because we were late and it was on a first-come first-serve basis, were in the absolute last row of the top section of the arena, we sat down to watch Jesse Jackson Jr.  It was then that Adriana, one of our friends at the Convention, told us that she knew a California delegate, Mark Tecano, who would let us borrow his floor pass and explore the floor.  Sweeeeeeet!

Mark was a Harvard educated English teacher from Congressional District 44.  He was a Clinton delegate, who had been a delegate in '96 and a Dean/Edwards delegate in '04.  He told me, when I asked him for words of advice, that "it's important to get a grip on three things: nature, history, and language.  You've gotta understand yourself in these three ways....you have to understand history to be on the right side of it.  you must gain a respect for language.  Politics is the highest expression of our use of language.  The extent to which we misuse or elevate our language is the extent to which we govern, for worse or better."

We then talked for a while about philosophy, and he lectured me on Epicurius just long enough for me to miss Claire McCaskill's speech.

Oh, that reminds me:  there was Kennedy.  Wow.  The electricity when he entered the room, the tears streaming down the faces of everyone, the awe he inspired in not just us, but the concession workers who left their tamale stands to watch him, is indescribable.  And the speech itself was beautiful.  It was a beautiful moment, topped, in my opinion, by only Michelle.

Michelle's speech was on another level.  some of the people I was with went in definitively anti-Michelle.  They left huge fans.  Everyone around us was tearing up.  It was a great moment.  The three older women who sat next to me (we actually sat on the stairs, because someone stole our seats) told me that it was one of the best speeches they had ever heard.  

And then Obama came on the jumbotron and the place went wild.  His kids were really cute, it felt completely unscripted (which I'm sure it was), and it was great.  People even forgave him for getting the name of the city he was in wrong.

After the convention, we declined an invitation from this creepy kid to go with him to a Rock the Vote party and took the shuttle back to our hotel.  Sitting next to us on the bus were, gasp!, more lobbyists.  The one we talked to was the head lobbyist for the American Legion, and he told us about the difference between the lobbying he did -- with a fixed goal that matched his beliefs -- and the "hired gun" lobbying of some of his colleagues.  He told us a short anecdote. 

He was once lobbying to get a bill passed, came up with all these points, and testified for the bill.  The guy next to him argued against him, lost, but the bill died in committee.  The next year, when they went to take it up again, that lobbyist was on his side and used his exact points.  When he asked him why he had switched, he said "I changed my client."  And when asked why he used the same arguments, he said "they were good arguments."

And I guess that's today's story in lobbying.

peace

PS- I've been typing this while watching MSNBC, and I can't believe a) how similar Brian Schweitzer is on TV to how he was when I met him and b) how ridiculous (but scary) these McCain ads are getting.  I'm worried.

PPS- Sweep sweep sweep sweep sweep sweep PAYBACK!

No Time For Michelle Right Now

She gets her own post.  All I have to say about that right now is that my first night at the actual Convention was amazing.  I said it several times to several people at several points during the festivities, but I'll say it again here: the one thing i don't like about Barack is that he married Michelle before I could.  But seriously, I actually do disagree with Barack on a lot of things.

Just not on how cool his wife is.

Anyway, I'll start out by saying that I had one of the finest meals I've had in a long time at an environmentally friendly restaurant called Ted's Montana Grill.  They specialize in bison, which is one of my favorite meats, second only to pork.  Or possibly duck.  But bison, especially good bison, has an almost indescribable richness of flavor that beef can rarely match.  I had a bison burger.  It was good.  It came with french fries.  They were some of the best I've ever eaten.

And I don't say that lightly

.

So it's late here, I'm exhausted, and I can barely type.  So I'll just put up some cool pictures now and write it all up tomorrow.  I'm sure there will be enough prognosticating in the next few days to keep you all busy, so I feel like I can wait until the morning

.

And finally, all of us decked out in our gear:

I Stole Montana's First Lady's Pen (and got two EXCLUSIVE interviews)

So tonight was a big night, mostly on the political side, slightly on the sporting side, and not at al on the food side.  Backstage catering is not as good as it sounds.

Anyway, I went with Lauren and her aunt to a concert called Green Sunday at Red Rocks.  The lineup was Sheryl Crow, Sugarland, and Dave Matthews (who played an acoustic set with Tim Reynolds).  It was great music and it supported a good cause: Global Warming.  Or, as one of the Sugarland band members clarified, STOPPING Global Warming!

Of course, this is a blog about the DNC, and there was plenty of political action.  The coolest thing was that I met Governor Brian Schweitzer of Montana, interviewed him, and made off with his wife's blue ballpoint pen.  The transcript of the interview is below the picture:

HENRY GRUBER: Mr. Governor, it's funny, but, uh, up until a couple hours before that text message some people I knew could have sworn you were the VP.

BRIAN SCHWEITZER: Really?  Well, lots of people from the West and East coasts kept calling me about that, and I just told them that they should stop smoking whatever pinecones they were smoking.  But does your friend blog?  Because I read something about me being the VP on fivethirtyeight.  

HG: No, but it's funny you say that, because I actually just started a blog.  I was wondering if I could ask you a few quick questions.

BS: Sure, go ahead.

HG: So, Montana is a red state, but it's becoming more blue--

BS: Well, actually, Montana's not a red state, it's not a blue state, and as Obama would say, it's a United State.

HG:  I mean, it has two Democratic Senators and a Democratic Governor.

BS:  We are one of, I think, only 11 or 12 states with the trifecta.

HG:  So this election may be decided in the West.  As a Western Governor, what do you think the electoral key is to the West?

BS:  That's absolutely true.  What's going on in the West is, we're live and let live people.  Some of us are Democrats, some of us are Republicans, but hell, let's be honest: all of us are libertarians.  We're less likely to be ideologues, on the left or the right.  We're just looking for common sense.

HG:  In all honesty, I only found out about you in the last few months, but I love what you're doing and I'm looking forward to your speech on Tuesday.

BS: Well, a Denver paper told me that I was one of many Governors speaking, and I told them they'd know when the Governor of Montana was speaking because, I quote, "I'd have cow shit on my boots but no bullshit in my speech."

HG: Governor, thank you very much for your time.

-------------------------------------------------------------

We also met other cool people, like Robert F Kennedy Jr., Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia, and hung out with Sugarland a lot.  I interviewed Kristian Busch, half of Sugarland, about his music and his life.  Here's the transcript:

HENRY GRUBER: How long have you been Sugarland?

KRISTIAN BUSCH: Well, Jennifer and I have been playing together for about 5 1/2 years.  My son is six, and I know he was just born when the band started.

HG: So, you're from Atlanta.  Are you a Braves fan? [note: I hate the Braves.  Utterly.]

KB:  I'm a spit with the wind fan.  

HG: I'm a Phillies fan.

KB:  Do you know about any old Phillies.

HG:  Does Mike Schmidt count?

KB: No.  Older.  I know this musician, Chuck Brodsky, who wrote an album of ballads about true  baseball stories.  The album is in the Baseball Hall of Fame.  There's great stuff in there.  A pitcher who threw a no-hitter while on LSD.  A catcher for the Yankees who was in the CIA.

HG:  Wow.  So this is a Global Warming event.  Do you have a message to pass on about Global Warming?

KB:  I'd be the first to tell you, I don't know WHAT I can do, but I'd be willing to learn.  I'm not here because I know, but because I don't.  

HG: Yeah, that's me too.  

KB: I mean, I'm still figuring out the three trash cans here.  

HG: I put something in the wrong one.  I felt really bad.

KB:  Well, all we can do is read the wall [note: there were signs on the wall explaining the recycling policy] and try to follow the rules we come up with.  [pause] But it's a worthy cause.  A very worthy cause.

------------------------------------------------------------

Anyway, it was a great event.  There were speeches by Kaine, Kennedy, Sen. Salazar (D-CO), Laurie David, Reggie Bush, the Blue Man Group, and more.  But the most moving speech was by Van Jones, the founder of a green company that helps pull people out of poverty, a self described "father trying to raise two African-American kids in Oakland" who has "been to more funerals than graduations these past couple years."  He told us that although certain people in the media say that "hope is so last year" and that we should be cynics, "the only people to whom hope and change are cliches are those who don't need it.  This party stands for those who do."

He finished, to a standing ovation, by commenting that "politicians always talk about taking America back-- but we can take America forward."

I'll finish that way as well, at least for tonight.  It's late and I want to sleep.  

peace

PS-  Best song of the night?  Check it out.

Morning Musings

Watching Fareed Zakaria interview Barack Obama on what must be the CNN equivalent of ESPN Classics, I'm reminded of two things:

1) I read Zakaria's book The Future Of Freedom this summer, and it was an excellent (if rather depressing) view of what little-D democrats must do to try and foster freedom in the world.  Basically, we've gotta suck it up and ignore the fact that some free places aren't democracies and work with them to give their citizens more freedom.  Other places that are democracies, he says, aren't really that free.

2) Barack Obama is a manimal.  Total, 100% beast.  Once again, I was reminded (by the interview and by my interview-watching-partner Lauren) why I like Obama so much, and the article that last December really sold me on his candidacy.  It's a long read, but it's worth it.

The other thing that I noticed was that there is absolutely no difference between really expensive, steel-cut, slow-cooked oatmeal and the stuff you get in the cardboard tube.  Although that could be because everything that comes in cardboard tubes tastes really really good.   

peace

PS- We can't figure out why so many people are mad at Obama for picking Biden; even Lauren, who hates everything Barack does, thinks it's a great pick.  I like him too, and think the brilliance of the choice was pretty well summed up by Ilan.

Day One: Done

Well, since there isn't much political news other than the fact that Joe Biden is an animal and John McCain still can't remember how many houses he owns, I'll focus on the food and the sports.  Before dinner we went on a walk around downtown Denver.  Denver is beautiful, and right in the middle of it is Coors Field.  Now, I hate the Rockies as much as the next Phillies' fan after last year's sweep, but that is one really nice stadium, and it's in the middle of downtown, which is great.  Anyway, basking in the glow of the Phillies' excellent 9-2 drubbing of the Dodgers, I checked mlb.com to see the score of the game.  Cincinnati 5, Colorado 3.  At that moment, the crowd roared so loud we heard it from the street.  Cincinnati 5, Colorado 7.  It was fun to hear.

After that, we went to dinner at Zengo, a great Latin-Asian fusion restaurant in downtown Denver.  I'm not really a fan of fusion, but this was really good.  The best things were the shortribs and the table-grilled Kobe beef.  They were amazing.

The company was pretty good too.  

After dinner, we went for a walk down the 16th Street Mall.  The Mall is a huge, ten-block-long Promenade-esque street that has tons of stores, restaurants, and horse-drawn carts.  It was a lot of fun.  We saw the MSNBC set up which, in all honesty, really did look like the place for politics.

 

Unfortunately, Rachel Maddow wasn't there and I had to postpone my marriage proposal for another day.

Finally, we met up with some friends (both old and new) and went to the Colorado State capitol.  We wanted to go to the Discobama event, but it turns out that that was reserved for those over the age of 21.  So no luck with that...

Anyway, tomorrow we're going to go to a concert in the Red Rock amphitheater featuring Sheryl Crow, Sugarland, and the Dave Matthew's Band.  Nancy Pelosi is speaking at the show, and we've heard rumors some other cool people will be there.  Stay tuned for an exclusive interview!

peace

Chillin' in Denver

So I'm writing this from my iPod, watching Bill Richardson talk about Putin on MSNBC. However, as good as Bill is, he cannot distract me from the sinking feeling in my stomach caused by either a sudden worry Biden will say something stupid this weekend or (more likely) the cold Burger King "chicken" sandwich I paid $9.84 for at LAX.

At LAX though I met a great woman who was coming to Denver to work at the convention as a volunteer. She was kind of worried though that she wouldn't be able to see anything because of all the work she has to do. But she's really nice and she volunteered for Obama in CA, PA, and TX. She had some great (and some depressing) anecdotes about openness and racism and how the two interacted in small towns in PA.

Anyway, my thumb hurts, so I'm gonna wrap this up. But for tonight, I'm going out to dinner with Lauren, who brought me here, her Aunt, and the band Sugarland. Apparently they're pretty popular, but it's not my style. I like some of their songs though. Afterwards, I think we're going to "Discobama," a dance sponsored (I think) by the GLBT Democrats. Should be fun.

Peace

PS- check in tomorrow, I'm hoping to swing an interview with a certain prominent Democrat. No hints who though.

Just Got My Text

At 12:58 am here, according to my cell phone, the Barack Obama for President campaign text messaged me that Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) will be Obama's running mate.  It was kind of anticlimactic.  I had climbed out of a swimming pool earlier in the night and realized I had several friends who were way more on point than I was who texted me "Obama-Biden."  So by the time I got to opening the text from the campaign, I knew what was coming.  In all honesty, it kind of made me sad to not have the surprise of opening the real one.  But I still smiled.  Enough about that.  Here's little bio pulled from the NY Times:

Full Name: Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr.
Party: Democratic
Political Office: U.S. Senator from Delaware; elected 1972; reelected 1978, 1984, 1990, 1996, and 2002
Business/Professional Experience: Attorney (in Wilmington), 1968-72; Councilman, New Castle County (Delaware), 1970-72
Date of Birth: November 20, 1942
Place of Birth: Scranton, Pa.
Education: B.A., University of Delaware, 1965; J.D., Syracuse University College of Law, 1968
Spouse: married (2d) Jill Jacobs, 1977
Children: sons Joseph R. III, born 1969 and Robert, b. 1970 (with first wife Neilia Hunter, m. 1966; died 1972 in auto accident with infant daughter Naomi); daughter Ashley, born 1981
Religion: Roman Catholic

The whole article is here

Anyway, while my thoughts as a pundit really don't amount to much, as a voter I can try to say what think about Biden.  I like him, even if I didn't always think we'd get him as the VP.  But I'm a little disappointed in the choice; while I like Biden on a lot of issues, like his charm, think it's great that he has so much experience, I just can't get over the feeling this is a typical Democratic move with a known quantity.  I like Obama when he goes with a three point shot, something that can change the dynamic of a race beyond Ohio and Florida.

But I still like Biden a lot.

He was the most qualified (except maybe Richardson) and by far the most ready to step into the Oval Office if something bad happened to Obama.  Even though he supported it at first, he's been pretty good recently on the War.  And he's a charming attacker.  I like him and I think he brings a good gravitas to the ticket.  I just hope his selection (and the fact that he's pulling ads in red states) doesn't herald a new Obama strategy that abandons his map-changing appeal and campaign.

As for what McCain is thinking now...maybe this will help highlight Obama's inexperience?  maybe Biden will stick is foot in his mouth?  I just think nominating Romney will invite a thrashing by Biden in the VP debate.

peace

PS- Bonus update for all you Dodger fans out there:  BAM!

The boys are starting to hit again... Utley had a jack, so did Howard, and the bottom of the order stayed strong.  Chris Coste is an animal too, by the way.  I just wish Jimmy Rollins was in MVP form this year.

Vice Presidents

Well, I've spent the past few days expecting a text message from Barack Obama, but every time my phone buzzes at some horrible early morning hour, it always ends up being someone wanting to go get breakfast at Rae's.  Which isn't a bad thing, considering the $1.85 biscuits and gravy, but it's still not Barack telling me who his VP will be.  So I've had to fill my time with idle speculation, some of which is below.

Everyone seems to think that there is a definite short list, comprising Biden, Bayh, Chet Edwards, maybe Hillary, Sebelius, Kaine, and then possibly other people (Schwiezer?).  I don't know any of these people, obviously, but I think some of them are better than others.  And some are really bad.  Like Chet Edwards.

I mean, Nancy Pelosi likes him, he's from Texas, he LOOKS like a nice guy, but his last name happens to be...Edwards.  I just don't see how anyone, not to mention someone as smart as Nancy Pelosi, still thinks putting anyone with the last name Edwards on the ticket is a good idea.

Obama-Edwards?  C'mon guys... you realize how bad those bumper stickers would sound, right?

On to Biden.  I don't really have a problem with him, but I told my friend that I didn't think it would be him a couple weeks ago and I really don't want to look dumb.  So I'll no comment him, even though the odds are he'll be it and I'll look dumb.

Bayh... eh.  I don't like pro Iraq War people.  So no Hillary either I guess.

Finally, I have to say I really like Kaine and Sebelius.  They've always been big Obama people, they're nice, and they have that whole new-fresh-not-involved-in-the-trainwreck-of-the-past-lots-of-years thing.  And they can help out in swing states!

However, much more important than any of this VP speculation is the fact that, once again, the vaunted Phillies offense managed to score only 3 runs last night against the SINGLE WORST TEAM in the division--and possibly in baseball.  Ugh.

Peace

About Me

First of all, thank you for reading this.  I'm assuming you're a friend, a family member, or most likely, both.  Otherwise, I'm flattered that you're here but can't quite fathom why.  

But in case you don't know who I am, I'm Henry Gruber.  I'm eighteen, and I hail from Santa Monica, CA.  I like baseball, politics, and unfortunately have picked the perennially heart breaking Philadelphia Phillies and the equally soul crushing Democratic Party to root for.  My happier addiction, however, is food.  Especially Chinese food, Thai food, Mexican food, Barbecue, Italian food, biscuits and gravy, and more recently French food.  

I'm writing this, however, not because I think anything I would do is interesting-- it's because tomorrow, August 23, I'm going to the Democratic convention in Denver and I've been told not many people will be blogging about it.  So I decided to try.

That's me, guys.  Thanks for reading.