Live from DNC: ‘Ask Charlie Anything’
Colorado native Charlie Martin continues his Denver diary and takes questions from readers. Latest: Charlie serves as Michelle Malkin's impromptu bodyguard...
There are certainly some people at the convention who are still firmly supporting Hillary and hoping something will happen to bring her the nomination. But I haven’t seen any actual altercations; even the “Recreate ‘68″ “riot” was pretty tame. (You’ve seen Zombie’s pictures; I’ve got to say, the only thing I saw that was particularly interesting was a number of pretty young women in summery cotton dresses with bandannas over their faces. The “tens of thousands” of demonstrators turned out to be a thousand who were quickly cowed by Denver police on horseback.)
My feeling of the mood is more or less like Taylor Marsh’s, if not quite so definite: what I’m hearing is that at least some of Hillary’s delegates have resigned themselves to Obama and will vote for him in the first ballot. If I’m right, then the first vote will go a lot more Obama’s way than the current numbers suggest.
What you should watch for is if Hillary or one of her strong supporters stands up during the vote and moves Obama be nominated by acclimation. If I had to bet, I’d bet against it, and I wouldn’t want to bet a lot against a floor fight. So far, though, they’re being civil about it.
Missy asks: “Here’s my goofball question of the day. To the casual eye, what’s the ratio of Obamawear to Clintonwear? Any other candidates represented in a “so’s you can notice” kind of way? What’s the ratio of people wearing some kind of candidate-wear to people wearing regular street clothes? Is there a single conventiongoer without some kind of flair – even if it’s just a badge or a hat?”
I’d say it’s about even. There is a big bunch of Ralph Nader supporters trying to get attention down across the street from the State Capitol; I’ll see if we can’t get some pictures of them later. They’re not getting close to the Convention, though.
That doesn’t mean there’s no goofy dress, though. Vests, buttons, funny hats, and so on are all over. (It actually looks a lot more like a science fiction convention that you’d think. More ties, but not many of them.) We’ll try to get some “local color” pictures of those too.
Okay, got to run.
07:10 am PST
Following up on my interview with Silver, below, there are a couple of interesting McCain ads out today. The first ad (YouTube link) “Passed Over” ends up with “The truth hurts, and Obama didn’t like it.” The second one (more YouTube), “Debra”, ends up with “A lot of Democrats are going to vote for McCain. It’s okay. Really.”
I do think we’re seeing the arrival of a theme. McCain’s campaign is going all out for the Hilary voters. Along with that, there’s the second theme of repeating all the bad things said about Obama by his opponents in the primaries.
I claim to be a futurist, so here’s a prediction: if Obama loses this election, the 20212 campaign will start on November 5, but the primary season will start much later than it did this year, and there won’t be any weekly debates.
06:47 am PST — Meeting a McCain Democrat
I got a note from the Republican Online Media director, Liz Mair, mentioning a Democrat from Pueblo Colorado, Silverio “Silver” Salazar. Silver struck me as an interesting guy. He’s from an old Democrat family from the San Luis Valley — from Manassa, home of Jack Dempsey. In fact, Senator Ken Salazar (D-CO) and his brother Congressman John Salazar (D-CO 3) are Silver’s cousins. Silver came to Pueblo out of the military, and was very active in the county Democratic party, ending up as a precinct chairman for 20 years.
Now, I’m from an old Republican family from the San Luis Valley. In fact Ken, John, Silver and I were all born in the same hospital in Alamosa. Then my folks moved to Pueblo, where I was first politically active.
This might all seem just too too coincidental, but there are only about 10,000 people total in the San Luis Valley; if you’re from there, your family is certain to know their family.
What it also meant was that I was instantly intrigued — I hadn’t met Silver, but I know of his family and I know what the Democratic machine in Pueblo was like when I last lived there; I was curious, frankly, if anyone had offered to break his legs yet. So I was very interested to chat with him. Arrangements were made, then fell through; I ended up talking with him while Stephen Green and I were circling a block in downtown Denver looking for a place to park.
(Yeah, I know, so what? I want to mention this, though, because as it turned out I wasn’t in any position to take notes. Accordingly, I want you all to know that what I’m writing as coming from Silver is my best attempt at quoting him; if I misstate something, Silver, it’s my fault and I’ll be happy to revise and extend.)
The real question, of course, is why he would come out now as a McCain supporter?
He was pretty direct about it.
Charlie Martin is a Colorado computer scientist and nearly-successful screenwriter who contributes to the Flares Into Darkness political blog as ‘Seneca the Younger,’ and blogs under his own name at the aggressively non-political Explorations blog.
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37 Comments
1. Fortunalee:I couldn’t help but laugh at Wolf Blitzer’s reaction to the tornado and his tremulous reporting that there was nothing to worry about. He didn’t believe a word he was saying, and he was scared spitless!
Aug 25, 2008 - 3:45 am 2. rawdawgbuffalo:well it should be interesting, i mean 2 nights of the Clinton klan and folk from MICH and FLA
Aug 25, 2008 - 6:22 am 3. rebecca:so…are there enough bathrooms out there?
Aug 25, 2008 - 6:40 am 4. They’re heeeear | Explorations:[...] day of of my PJM Convention [...]
Aug 25, 2008 - 7:05 am 5. Chuck Pelto:TO: Charlie (Colorado)
RE: Silver
He showed up at the Pueblo County Republican Party Central Committee meeting last month. Wanted to get together a bunch of fellow Democrats to be on a float in the State Fair parade. The group would hold up a banner stating, Democrats for McCain.
From his speaking, he struck me as intelligent, articulate and not one to ‘follow-the-crowd’. But I’d expect that of military vets.
Additionally, he was there with other Democrats and former Democrats, the latter had recently changed their registration from Democrat to Republican. Obama was the reason they all stated for their presence.
The implication is that the Democrats have swung entirely too far to the ‘Progressive’ side of the Left.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
[Progressive is a one-word oxymoron.]
P.S. Have fun at the convention. Be sure to have your camcorder capable cell phone handy. You might get some interesting shots….one form or another….
P.P.S. Be careful, compadre.
Aug 25, 2008 - 7:57 am 6. Charlie (Colorado):Chuck, thanks. We’ve got a whole video crew here, there should be plenty of amusing antics. I think you’re entirely right on Silver’s position: I think he’s a Jack Kennedy Democrat. That is, pro-defense, more or less pro-business, patriotic, socially conservative. (Okay, Jack was only socially conservative outwardly, but you know what I mean.) The thing about that is that someone who really believes what Jack Kennedy believed — as opposed to Jackie, and Teddy, and Sorenson’s carefully-crafted “Camelot” mythology — would be a Republican today, and maybe a touch to the right of McCain.
Aug 25, 2008 - 8:08 am 7. Chuck Pelto:TO: rebecca
RE: Enough Toilets?
If there aren’t, whoever needs to go can invoke the new Colorado State Statute, signed last May by Governor Ritter, allowing them to go into any public toilet facility they want.
See THIS…..
Regards,
Chuck(le)
P.S. Hmmmm….
….Charlie….
…what was I saying about keeping the camcorder cell phone handy?
Aug 25, 2008 - 8:31 am 8. Bill Perron:How many Democrats does it take to put in a light bulb? ….. None, they are not interested in ever seeing the light !
Aug 25, 2008 - 8:38 am 9. Jen in VA:Chuck, I just read the post you linked to about the “non-gender-specific” restroom regulations. Dear Lord in Heaven. What’s happened to my state?!?
Sincerely,
former-resident-but-still-native-Coloradan Jen
Aug 25, 2008 - 9:21 am 10. Chuck Pelto:TO: Jen in VA
RE: Wha Happ’nd
The Democrats took over the legislature AND the governor’s mansion.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
Aug 25, 2008 - 9:42 am 11. heather:P.S. That’s not the worst of it. But, that’s a different topic for a different venue, and relates to SCOTUS Reynolds v. Simms (1964).
In cruising Blogdom, I have come across your remarks for years, Charlie (Colorado). Congratulations on your gig!
I’ve been concerned that I won’t know what’s going on at the Dem Convention, but PajamasMedia will be all I need, apart from YouTube videos showing someone hitting someone else with a chair…
Aug 25, 2008 - 9:57 am 12. Bruce E. Hayden:There actually are tornadoes in Denver, no matter how rare. Somewhere in the early 1990s, I was working at I-25 and Colorado, and all the guys in the office watched one come through about a mile south. We were on the 11th floor with full length plate glass windows. All the women, of course, were in the basement. But mostly the mountains protect the front range, with I-25 seeming to be the cut-off.
Spent most of my life in CO. Born in Denver, and raised in the western suburbs. So, I am somewhat missing the spectacle going on right now.
Good luck.
Aug 25, 2008 - 11:30 am 13. Chuck Pelto:TO: Bruce E. Hayden
RE: [OT] Tornadoes
Saw one myself, to the southeast of Inverness when I was working for USWest in their USWest Direct headquarters.
Looked out the office window from the 6th floor and saw it form and kick up a schlew of dust and said [in a loud voice], “Tornado on the ground! Southeast! Two miles!” Heads came up out of ‘prairie-dog town’ and swiveled to look out the windows.
It didn’t last more than one minute before it dissipated.
Denver’s a screwy place, weather-wise. You can have all four seasons in 12 hours. Heck. One of the worst snow storms occurred on the last day of Summer, for cry’n out loud.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
Aug 25, 2008 - 1:11 pm 14. David Thomson:[If you don't like the weather, wait a few minutes. -- Colorado Front Range weather axiom.]
I hope that you continuously ask the Democrats about drilling for more oil. This is the question that they would like to avoid. Thankfully, though, it probably won’t get you kicked out of the convention.
Aug 25, 2008 - 1:37 pm 15. Chuck Pelto:TO: All
RE: Hey!
Can we call the Democratic ticket….
Obama bin Biden?
Regards,
Chuck(le)
Aug 25, 2008 - 6:17 pm 16. M. Simon:[A pun is the lowest form of humor -- when you don't think of it first. -- Oscar Levant]
Chuck,
Wrong Oscar, It was Wilde.
However, Levant when asked by Johnny Carson, “What do you think about pornography?” Levant replied, “It helps.”
Aug 26, 2008 - 3:51 am 17. David Thomson:“Obama bin Biden?”
Here is a better joke:
What do Obama and Osama have in common?
Both of them have terrorist friends who bombed the Pentagon.
Alas, this joke will get Charlie kicked out of the convention—even though it is literally true!
Aug 26, 2008 - 4:55 am 18. Chuck Pelto:TO: M. Simon
RE: Quote Attribution
Thanks for the correction.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
Aug 26, 2008 - 7:15 am 19. Chuck Pelto:TO: Charlie (Colorado)
RE: What….
“Charlie (Colorado) got an elbow in the kidney.” — Stephen Green
….did I warn you about? Ya hooligan, ya.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
Aug 26, 2008 - 7:19 am 20. Charlie (Colorado):P.S. Next time, wear a baggie outer garment and a biker’s kidney belt.
P.S. Next time, wear a baggie outer garment and a biker’s kidney belt.
I apparently didn’t need one — it was right after blindsiding me that Alex started shrieking about not touching him. My kidney region was apparently harder than his elbow.
Do catch the video: absent the clown shouting “Kill Michelle Malkin” it would have been pretty funny, in the “leather lunged castrato needs a mob to threaten 95 pound woman” sort of way.
Aug 26, 2008 - 7:44 am 21. NukemHill:Good on ya for watching over Michelle. Though I don’t always agree with her, her’s is a voice worth hearing. The fact that she’s getting the reaction she is from the Left indicates she’s hitting her targets.
Aug 26, 2008 - 8:25 am 22. CR:I watched several videos, Alex Jones was exposing Michelle Malkin for the war criminal that she is, advocating for FEMA camps and child torture on FOX news. This is the issue not anything else. Please be aware people, COINTELPRO will try blur the issue here and in other forums. In the video, the guy with the goofy hat was a provocateur.
Aug 26, 2008 - 8:40 am 23. Charlie (Colorado):I watched several videos, Alex Jones was exposing Michelle Malkin for the war criminal that she is, advocating for FEMA camps and child torture on FOX news. This is the issue not anything else. Please be aware people, COINTELPRO will try blur the issue here and in other forums. In the video, the guy with the goofy hat was a provocateur.
CR, honey, I don’t care who was the provocateur; Alex was the one with the mob, and I’m the one who was assaulted by Alex. And Michelle is a 95 pound woman who he couldn’t even get up the courage to assult directly without a mob of supporters to help. That is not the way we do things here.
So, not to be too subtle about it, bugger off.
Aug 26, 2008 - 9:06 am 24. rocketeer:CR – Are you nuts or do you really believe the drivel you just wrote? Do you know what a war criminal is? FEMA camps and child torture? You are the perfect example of why no-one takes you people seriously. You just throw out the names and expect everyone to wet themselves because of it. If you disagree with Michelle, that’s fine, you’re entitled to, but to advocate physically harming her because of it is inexcusable, and that’s where the left crosses the line.
Aug 26, 2008 - 9:06 am 25. Charlie (Colorado):It is amusing to hear someone rant about COINTELPRO again, though. Another 60’s flashback.
Aug 26, 2008 - 10:40 am 26. George Seaton:Just hoping Charley Martin’s “bodyguarding” of Michelle Malkin was an act of chivalry, rather than an affirmation of her particular skewed view of the world. She and Alex Jones are both, ahem, nutcases of the first order. Thank you, Charley, for interposing your hulk between the wee lass and the crazies. But, of course, your smile into the camera belied the potential seriousness of the encounter. But, then, the event was the levitation of the U.S. Mint which, in itself, probably begs a likening to the theater of the absurd, i.e. National Political Conventions.
Aug 26, 2008 - 11:08 am 27. Charlie (Colorado):George, I like Michelle personally quite a lot. That doesn’t keep me from yelling at the TV sometimes when she’s on. But nobody should be doing that in a civilized place. Or even Denver duiring the Convention.
Aug 26, 2008 - 11:32 am 28. nick:the GOP put up such bad candidates
is why DEMs took state house and governor.
i dont hide like you cowardly GOP
Aug 26, 2008 - 12:00 pm 29. Charlie (Colorado):my email is nwerle@yahoo.com
Nick, I don’t disagree with you about the election, but why do you think I’m hiding? You know my real name and my blogs.
Aug 26, 2008 - 12:12 pm 30. Pajamas Media » Live From the DNC: Eyewitness to Mayhem (Day 2):[...] Read Day 1 of Charlie’s diary here. [...]
Aug 26, 2008 - 12:57 pm 31. Chuck Pelto:TO: Charlie (Colorado)
RE: Is That You…
…in the black, red and white t-shirt? Couldn’t make out what it said.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
Aug 26, 2008 - 1:05 pm 32. Chuck Pelto:P.S. No wonder we have so much fun in discussions, we look like twins separated at birth. Including the beard.
TO: nick
RE: Cowardly?
“i dont hide like you cowardly GOP” — nick
Click on my name, buckie.
Regards,
Chuck(le)
Aug 26, 2008 - 1:10 pm 33. Deranged Man Boobage | Democrat=Socialist:P.S. How much time have YOU done in the infantry? Airborne? Ranger? Or gutless wonder?
[...] UPDATE: The Darth Vadar t-shirt wearing hero that kept the “man boobed freak” at bay. Charlie Martin [...]
Aug 26, 2008 - 6:52 pm 34. Javelin:Wow, Wolf was hyping a tornado, while Charlie singlehandedly fought off a bloodthirsty crowd. Such drama.
Aug 26, 2008 - 11:15 pm 35. odrady:Charlie-
Call Mike Rosen about the Malkin story; he’s buddy-buddy with Hickenlooper
Aug 27, 2008 - 7:42 am 36. theropingeffect:Video footage suggests otherwise. Are you the guy in the green shirt shouting “Kill Michelle Malkin”?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-DoxqvqjxM
Aug 28, 2008 - 4:10 am 37. david:you ate all the pies, you ate all the pies!
Sep 4, 2008 - 1:13 am