Gathered did a group of men in a hall like this one many years ago. And with simple words like these, launched did they America’s improbable experiment in democracy, yessss. Farmers and scholars, they were; statesmen and patriots! Traveled across an ocean they did, to escape tyranny and prosecution and…
It’s not often that you can mute an Obama victory speech and still get the full weight of the message. His fine oratory, sharpened and grounded by the five-month primary season, is still his best political weapon, one that will doubtless be called upon relentlessly to smother the woeful delivery…
Pass the lutefisk! Do those Minnesotans know how to party, or what? Last week, Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty signed a bill that will let local municipalities push back closing time from 2 a.m. until 4 a.m. at bars across the seven-county Twin Cities area — but just from August 31…
View larger image Rhode Island Total Number of Delegates: 33 Pledged: 21 Unpledged: 12 How to Recognize a Rhode Island Delegate: Rhode Islanders are the third-thinnest of all U.S. residents, which is a miracle, considering that there is a Dunkin’ Donuts shop on every corner in the state. It’s because…
If Chris Matthews has to ask someone “Why are you screaming?” then you know something interesting must be going on. And that it was, on Hardball this week. Conservative Los Angeles political commentator (and occasional talking head on CNN and CourtTV) Kevin James was on to address President Bush’s recent…
At 2 p.m. today, the Denver 2008 Convention Host Committee was scheduled to officially unveil its “Freewheelin” bike-sharing program, in which 1,000 bikes will be distributed around the streets of Denver to be freely used by visitors and the public during the Democratic National Convention, August 25-28. Local luminaries are…
With hindsight being 20/20, the minute after Barack Obama finished his keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston, Hillary Clinton should have been on the phone to party leaders in West Virginia, setting the wheels in motion to allow the state to move its primary up in…
As detailed in a More Messages blog, University of Colorado Boulder Chancellor G.P. “Bud” Peterson is spearheading a long-term project (estimated price tag: $9 million) to bring more conservative professors to the famously liberal institution. Well, at least one high-profile aspirant is ready, willing and able to share his rightward…
This afternoon, the office of Congresswoman Diana DeGette, vice-chair of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, sent out a release noting that she was supporting legislation to suspend the filling of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve through the end of the year, which the House will vote on tonight: “Congress is…
There’s a lot of wizardry at CNN these days. There’s Wolf Blitzer and his enchanted beard. There’s Andersen Cooper and the mystical way he made everyone forget that he was ever the host of a reality show. And then there’s John King and his magic board of election elucidation. The…
At the rise of a gently rolling hill in the Alleghenies on the road from Washington, D.C. to West Virginia, someone is building an arc. The skeletal wooden outline of a massive ship catches the sun as it dips below the horizon and reminds all passersby that the flood is…
View larger image Puerto Rico Total Number of Delegates: 63 Pledged: 55 Unpledged: 8 How to Recognize a Puerto Rico Delegate: Puerto Rico probably should have dumped America a long time ago, but like all sexy long-distance relationships, there have been “benefits” for both parties. Not that it has been…
Let the dialogue continue! Christine Marie Davis has already posted a response to Michael Paglia’s “Ridiculous Dialog: City” blog. But she expanded on that response in a letter that we’re posting here — in the spirit of a true and open Dialog dialogue:…
Is the winner from Tuesday’s pair of primaries Barack Obama, with his narrow defeat in Indiana and powerful showing in North Carolina? Or are the real winners the Denver waiters, valets, taxi drivers, doormen and hotel maids who look forward to seeing two entrenched delegations come to town, fighting for…
So Tent State University is on the outs with their protest brethren at Re-create ’68. What gives? Last Friday, when the ACLU held a press conference to declare it had filed a civil rights lawsuit against the City of Denver and the Secret Service, it seemed that all was well…
Tent State University has folded up its tent and moved on — at least from Recreate ’68’s efforts to organize protests at the Democratic National Convention. “Recreate ’68 has demonstrated an inability to fulfill the needs of a growing list of individuals and organizations,” said Adam Jung, the local representative…
View larger image Pennsylvania Total Number of Delegates: 187 Pledged: 158 Unpledged: 29 How to Recognize a Pennsylvania Delegate: No state in the union suffers from poor self-esteem issues more than Pennsylvania. Quaker Staters have played pivotal roles in the history of religious freedom, civil rights and labor laws, and…
Gosh, wouldn’t it have been smart to come up with a visual art event that would promote Denver’s burgeoning culture and higher national profile in the arts during the Democratic National Convention? Doesn’t that make it dumb to instead bring in a bunch of second-tier art stars from around the…
The ACLU announced today it had filed a lawsuit in hopes of compelling the Secret Service to release security perimeter plans for Democratic National Convention in August. At a press conference this morning, ACLU of Colorado Director Mark Silverstein, pictured, said that the Secret Service’s delay in announcing how close…
The ever-popular bar/bat mitzvah location for my friends of middle school days, the Jewish Community Center on Dahlia St. takes a break from such festivities to host John McCain today starting at 10 am. McCain is in town holding a town hall meeting to discuss his health care plan. McCain’s…
This is our past eight years in American political quotes. No commentary, no comedy, no frills. Just the statements themselves, the situation in which they were said, and the people who said them. Twenty-three lines that have come to shape America in the twenty-first century:…
On April 28, Roseanne joined the cast of characters dreaming about riots in Denver. Guest-hosting a show on Air America, she let loose with this: But you know what, I think I am old and I’m okay with being a baby boomer being older and everything like that. ‘Cause I…
