Demver -- Day Four

Mercifully, I slept through Bill Clinton's speech. I'd been burning for nearly 18 hours and simply collapsed. But sleep didn't take, and I awoke just in time see Joe Biden stumble through the usual boilerplate, like a hungover tent preacher using every trick he knows to complete his sermon before hitting the bottle again. American liberals are adept at personal spin, turning the false into shimmering truth, so they had their hands full with Biden. From the online reactions I read this morning, they've handled the challenge fairly well. They need to believe that Biden is on the side of working people, a progressive force, a man whose crimes they can excuse or openly champion if necessary, depending on conditions or urgency.

Mission accomplished. Whatever liberal misgivings existed when Obama made his pick have now evaporated. Joe Biden has joined the Liberal Pantheon.

Well, we all knew that was going happen, so it's not too much of a shock. One of the Senate's biggest corporate whores can rail against corporate influence, inside the Pepsi Center, next door to INVESCO Field, at a convention drowning in corporate money where Party bigwigs are feted by telecoms like AT&T, and liberals obediently applaud and wave their Biden placards. That's the power of positive thinking. What, you know of a better political system? Then shut the fuck up and clap along.

This is going to be one beautiful election season.

I did enjoy Biden's promise of expanded war in Afghanistan, possible action against Pakistan, and the requisite Russia bashing on behalf of plucky Georgia. The Iraq occupation will of course continue under Obama/Biden, only it will have a different name, and will be repainted in bright mule colors. Support for Israeli aggression and the Colombian narco-war is so automatic and complete that any mention is superfluous. Indeed, most of the major Dem speakers have openly expressed their imperial desires and designs, primarily through soaring rhetoric like "restor[ing] American leadership in the world," as President Bill put it, whose speech I eventually watched. As I said yesterday, Bubba Mule has lost none of his golden touch. He could talk the straightest man into sucking his dick while humming Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop." Hell, plenty of liberal wonks would line up to eagerly do the honors. You can't teach that kind charisma.

The other highlight that had me laughing like a rural lunatic was Beau Biden's anecdote about how his Pop stared down Slobodan Milosevic and called the Balkan butcher a "war criminal." Slobo's not around to confirm or deny this, but if true, I imagine the late Serbian master villain must have had as big a laugh as me. Being called a war criminal by a senior US Senator with extensive Pentagon ties, who at that very moment supported state violence and ethnic cleansing inside NATO itself, would be hard to take with a straight face, no matter how many bodies were in your crawlspace. Milosevic was a murderous thug, but a rank amateur when compared to Biden's Party and its friends. And I was pleased to hear the delegates cheer the mention of Clinton's air war on Serbia. Nice to know that liberals still love that imperial pounding. It sets up Obama/Biden for whatever violence they plan to unleash or intensify.

And if that wasn't enough entertainment for one night, out strolled Obama for a cameo, reminiscent of Bob Hope crashing "The Tonight Show" set to plug the latest special he was taping across the hall. Is it me, or does it seem like Obama doesn't really care for Biden? Senator Change looked tense when embracing his running mate, a forced smile and stern expression on his otherwise beaming face. Who knows or fucking cares. What I do know is that Obama, when inviting everyone to his outdoor coronation tonight, called INVESCO Field "Mile High Stadium." I half expected John Elway and Floyd Little to appear in retro-Bronco gear. Given all the corporate hose Obama's gobbled so far, I don't understand why he wouldn't call the stadium by its advertised name. No point in hiding behind generic titles at this late date, unless you're being deceptive. But that can't be, can it?

More mule notes later, when/if I get a second wind.