11:10 Sarah "Barracuda" Palin just came out and the music switched to "Barracuda" by Heart. By far the night's best moment. She should really be topping this ticket, experience be damned. 11:09 Fake fireworks! On the big screen! My friends, these are not entertainment-only explosives we can believe in. 11:06 McCain has a theme song! "We're all just raising McCain." 11:05 It's over? Really? 11:04 It would be nice if McCain would release a comprehensive list of things I should, and should not, do for my country. Yes to becoming a teacher, no to being in a teacher's union. Yes to fighting, no to community organizing. I need some sort of pocket guide. 11:01 It's testament to the pain of McCain's experiences that his story remains powerful even after such relentless overuse. But can it change minds? 10:55 POW! 10:54 Dana landed an insta-interview with the McCain heckler who was escorted out. His name is Adam Kokesh and he's an Iraq War veteran angry about McCain's voting record on veteran's issues. 10:51: We're getting into storytime. For instance: Did you know McCain is old enough to remember Pearl Harbor? 10:49 I'd sort of forgotten what a bad speaker McCain is. I'd call it a collection of one liners, but it's more a string of lonely clauses. There's no overarching theme or message. The speech doesn't build, and thus the applause doesn't carry it along. Instead, it punctuates it, exhausting the force of McCain's words and forcing him to start all over on the next sentence. 10:43 Let's do good things, and oppose bad things! 10:40 "My opponent's health care plan will put a government bureaucrat between you and your doctor!" Spoken like a man who, on the one hand, has never used an HMO, and on the other, has never been off government health care a day in his life, and is healthy enough to run for president at 72. 10:39 CNN fun fact is "McCain was a vice president of Hensley and Co., the beer distributor owned by his father-in-law from 1981 to 1982. 10:32 "When the pundits said my campaign was finished, I said 'I'd rather lose an election than see my country lose a war.'" So Giuliani and Huckabee and Thompson would have signed papers surrendering to al Qaeda? Or is this just proof of his skill with non-sequiturs? 10:31 This "I've fought" litany actually strikes me as effective. The whole change message doesn't much fit McCain, but he does come across as a pugnacious guy. "I've fought" works. 10:28 "I've been proud to introduce the next vice president to America, but I'll be even prouder to introduce her to Washington." Which will be easy seeing as how McCain is a 30-year veteran and know everyone there. He also says "change is coming," and takes a brave stance against the "country second" crowd. 10:26 Deafening "U-S-A" chant in response to "many of you are struggling to put food on your table and keep your home." Definitely makes me feel patriotic! 10:23 Now the screen is blue. HOW IS HE DOING THIS!? McCain accepts the nomination with "gratitude, humility, and confidence." Can you do that? McCain is back on the green screen! But why!? Don't they know people are watching this? Is this, as my friend asked, representing the lawn John McCain wants the kids and the terrorists to get off of?
