The Delegates

9:02 PM: They save the Springsteen (taped) and Sister Sledge (covered by the house band) for last. Word is the Boss won’t be there tomorrow night; instead we’ll get Stevie Wonder and Will.I.Am. I.Hope.Not.

Biden fawns over his grandchildren during the family waves, the old softie.

8:54 PM: And there he is.

8:52 PM: After Kerry’s pointed critiques, Biden peppers McCain with hits like a hailstorm of golf balls. Feel free to use your own metaphor about a torrent of hard, round objects impacting things.

Why are only the eminences grises permitted to go after McCain?

8:43 PM: We are lapping Biden up here in Blogijuana, laughing and clapping in all the right places. Gaffes, jokey counter-gaffes and all.

Maaaan, why didn’t I get to the blogger seats in time? Dave Winer hasn’t twittered a thing in over an hour. Stupid punctual Dave Winer…

8:38 PM: God, he’s good. There are good politicians in this party. They are good at making speeches. This is perhaps obvious — how do you think they got where they are? — and telling stories about your tough, white-haired mom is going to be a winner every time, but still.

8:36 PM: Hot tip from our feedwatching soundman Josh: Marc Ambinder hints that Obama will make a surprise experience.

Biden shouts out his mom, a wizened and beaming woman who chokes up. For the first moment during the convention, I’m just a tiny bit verklempt.

8:31 PM: A couple of references, in the video and Beau Biden’s speech, to the complexity of Joe Biden’s family: Joe he says he has four children (implicitly including his lost daughter in the tally), and Beau refers to his stepmom as his mom.

It’s not an unusual situation by any means, certainly. But contrast the appropriately respectful reception given Biden’s family story, which is seen as the combination of beauty and tragedy that it (and indeed any family) is, and the way that Obama’s mixed family and bevy of half-siblings is seen as a profoundly alien and unfortunate circumstance.

8:26 PM: A troubling note from the Biden introductory video: he says that “most of the guys in my neighborhood didn’t like the term ‘working class’”. He goes on to explain that they called themselves middle class because they were “proud”.

There’s a PhD thesis or two on how “working class” became a dirty word in America, how a frank admission of rank in hierarchical workplaces became synonymous with a lack of “pride”, and I know three or four people who would love to write it. Interested grantmaking agencies, feel free to drop us a line and we’ll hook you up.

8:19 PM: An anti-domestic-violence activist to introduce Biden. Nice highlight for an insufficiently prominent part of his legislative history.

She nominates Biden with a Kermitesque cheer that gets a big laugh here in Poggibloggsi.

8:15 PM: You know, when I mentioned “Hurricane Ho” earlier tonight, I think I was misreading a CNN graphic talking about “Hurricane HQ“. Nobody in Coral Gables is that waggish. In a Suge Knight update, AP has the mug shot and reports that he’s out on bail.

8:08 PM: I found Edwards to be kind of a dud, BTW. Why put him in the hot seat?

Rick Noriega is also a congressman, also a retired general, and also from Texas — except he’s running a tough race this fall, against the odious senator John Cornyn. He could have made far better use of a platform like this.

8:05 PM: The video about vets is genuinely affecting and interesting, but voiceovers, effects, soundtracks, and agendas detract from the stories to be told.

7:58 PM: The conservative Texas congressman Chet Edwards is said to be, inexplicably, Nancy Pelosi’s protege and a future House leader. Wags say that Obama vetted him at Pelosi’s behest, to get her surrogate into the headlines (if not into serious contention). This is his coming-out party; let’s see how he does.

7:55 PM: Breaking it up a bit again.

Rear Admiral John Hutson, an ex-Republican who recently made the Folger’s Switch, lets loose with a zinger on his former party: “No longer grand, just old.” Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn!