All in all, he helped Obama more than he hurt him. Hillary's gesture to nominate him by acclimation was gracious and generous (ok you can tell who I voted for in the Md primary, LOL) I guess knowing both of their personalities– this is the best the Obama campaign could have hoped for. The Clintons certainly have shown that they are capable of maintaining a longterm feud– they still are barely on speaking terms with Al Gore- so I guess I see their concessions as a success for the party.

Biden's speech was great, too, and so was Kerry's, for the record.

The Clinton people have no basis for complaint and should not be angry about or ashamed of the nomination of Obama. As some such as T-Steel will know, there once was a great rivalry in the NFL several years ago, during the time when the San Francisco Forty-Niners changed from being a West Coast “branch-plant” or mere “satellite” of a league based in and dominated by eastern teams, to becoming the greatest, best-achieving professional sports organization in history. Several years ago, the periodically good-to-great Dallas Cowboys became good to great again, to the point where for a while, year after year the Niners and the Cowboys were in the playoffs, and frequently played in the NFC championship game for the right to advance to (and subsequently win) the Super Bowl.

Those NFC championship games were contested by the two best teams in the NFL, year after year. These games were routinely called “The Real Super Bowl.”

Everyone knew it, including AFL fans and those who hated the Cowboys (mainly) or the 49ers (too smug, mere newcomers, they think they're so perfect with their Forty Niner Excellence). It was the two best teams — The Real Super Bowl.

Hillary Clinton versus Barack Obama has been The Real Super Bowl this year.

That is, it has been The Real General Election — The Real Presidential Election — this year.

It — concluding with this convention and the official nomination — has been The Real Presidential Election this year. Clinton and Obama are the strongest two contestents this year; they both happen to be in the same (Democratic) party.

We all know it, even GOP-leaners and critics of Clinton or of Obama.

Of course if hurts if “your” candidate Clinton lost. One of the best two had to lose because both of them are Democrats this year.

But this Dem contest really was The Real Presidential Election this year.

Take time out to remember that, Hillary Clinton fans, as you relish Bill's speech.

Just so I be clear, as they say in Philly, I had no problem with the speech per se, only that Bubba played out the hurt power monger string to the very end.

Maybe he's had better moments, but for me it was the best speech of the night, possibly the entire convention, because he tied the party's past together with its present and future and “passed the torch to a new generation”. If you compare it to what came before and after he spoke with conviction and strength, and conveyed his intense love for this country.

Thank you for the clarification. I agree with everything you said.

The GOP has always been far better at putting on their unity face. The fact that these tremors are coming to the surface is huge. I mean the Dems are always messy and the PUMA's story really isn't anything new, the fact that someone leaked that story about Rove is pretty shocking. And all of this doesn't even include the potential mischief of the Ron Paul supporters.

These are real potential issues, and I know I have seen some posts regarding them here, but most of the media is completely ignoring these rifts in their PUMA frenzy. The fact that Tom Brokaw declared the POW issue off limits is sending the signal that they are going to parrot the talking poins of the GOP and not cover any of these other stories. However, they way I mentioned the POW point was confusing and took away from my central point and I apologize for that.

I know you're just askin, but I'm not connectin.

The PUMA story has been driven by the media. The POW story has been driven by the McCain campaign because anything that can divert attention from what a sorry-assed successor to Bush he would be is beneficial. The Hanoi Hilton angle is tailor made.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0808/12922…