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As a tech savvy young professional, I see many of my peers Tweet, post and podcast about how McCain doesn’t use email so he certainly can’t understand the world or be President.  What a bunch of hogwash.  Most CEOs and executives don’t even read their own email, their staff does.  Obama even went so far as to make an ad about it (1982) and Scott Ott of Scrappleface fired back with this great response.

I finally have internet access and provide everyone with some convention coverage. It is REALLY cold in the Xcel Energy Center. Brrrr!

The Center is extremely crowded, everyone is revved up to hear McCain speak. I wonder how many people will be watching tonight. I’m sure he won’t get as many viewers as Sarah, but I think he’ll get quite a bit. I’ll post my comments on Palin’s speech later. But you can view the speech here.

Lindsey Graham just spoke. Did a great job!

They are showing a video on Sarah Palin at the moment. Alaska is a very pretty state! This is a great profile on Sarah. I like how the announcer said, “Sarah likes integrity, frugality, and moose stew.” Haha, I’ve never tried it!

Now Tom Ridge, the first Secretary of Homeland Security, is speaking. Ridge outlines McCain’s campaign journey from an assumed hopeless cause to an amazing nomination on the Republican ticket.

Ridge says that only McCain understand that the security and prosperity of American will only be sustained if the rest of the world is also security and prosperous as well.

Highlights McCain’s boldness, maverick quality, and his desire to put country before self.

Urges us to rise to the occasion to honor the mission and vision of our founders and “call this maverick forward.”

Crowd chanting “That’s John McCain!”

Ridge is proud to be able to call John McCain a friend. He makes a funny wave and asks God to bless everyone.

Short break before McCain comes on.

Showing Republican Party video on Cindy McCain. I think McCain looks the same when he got married, minus some wrinkles.

Cindy McCain is giving the keynote address.

Cindy has quite the achievement record.

Cindy is speaking and introduces all her children.

She urges us to help those in the Gulf Coast who have been devastated by hurricanes and tropical storms. Country first!

McCain’s mom is in the crowd. She’s a fiesty lady.

She makes a great jab at intrusive federal government. Champions individual initiative.

Reminds us that the campaign is not just about the McCains, but about America as a nation.

Recalls the origins of the Republican Party born in 1854. The GOP has been grounded in the notion of service, community, and self-reliance. Notes this is why Americans are the most generous people in history. Helping others is embedded in our “national DNA.”

A more important question to ask is “What would our forefathers think of us?” not “What do other countries think of us?”

You can definitely tell Cindy is reading off of the teleprompter…

She reminds us these are perilous times and McCain’s strength and character can lead us to better times. Makes a joke about how a woman’s involvement is essential.

Introduces Sarah Palin. Of all her adjectives, only one referred to her political ability. I don’t know if the emphasis on Palin’s hockey mom status will get old…

Recounts the military service experience in the family. Very impressive.

Side note: I think they put the most random scenary pictures in the background.

Going on about the integrity and work ethic of her father, her service experience. She brought home two girls from Bangledesh. One is her daughter, Bridget.

If America wants honesty and straight-talk, then America should take a close look at John McCain.

Major roar from the crowd.

I think she did an ok job. She isn’t that natural of a public speaker, but that was a nice tribute to her husband.

By the way, I can’t wait to put a McCain-Palin bumper sticker on my car.

Almost one million views and it was just posted yesterday!  This must have really hit a nerve….
Update: 1,227,604 views

Watching Obama speak makes me depressed. Why? Because his great political abilities are being used to ply Americans with platitudes when they need real economic changes like tax cuts to save our economy and real spending reform, not socialized healthcare.

Alas, the man can and will sell ice cubes to Eskimos and bad policy to US citizens, many of whom are convinced he is a true “uniter” (although they can provide no evidence of this). James Pethokoukis sums up the situation well when he describes the conservative view of Obama:

Please. Obama is actually Jimmy Carter, a guy elected president by a dispirited country who is then unable to deliver on his promises of “healing.” After a catastrophic four years of higher taxes and more government—who knew “unity” cost so much?—and more division, America will turn to Bobby Jindal/David Petraeus/John Roberts/Mark Sanford/Sarah Palin for true leadership.

This description of the Obama campaign is the most telling:

Obama’s transformation, if you go by his campaign so far, would mean higher income taxes, higher Social Security taxes, higher investment taxes, higher corporate taxes, massive new domestic spending, and a healthcare plan that perhaps could be the next step to a full-scale, single-payer system.

Is that the “hope” that is best for America? I think not. I have to agree with this quote from McCain’s campaign manager:

“Davis also commented about Obama being ranked by National Journal (full disclosure, NJ is Hotline’s parent co.) as the most liberal senator: “I don’t know if all 17,000 people who were in his audience last night know that. … But they will.” He also made it clear that he believes McCain can easily compete with Obama’s message of change, saying of McCain: “Nobody has been a bigger catalyst for change.”

How about some real “hope”…

“Hope, my friends, is a powerful thing,” McCain said. “I can attest to that better than many, for I have seen men’s hopes tested in hard and cruel ways that few will ever experience. And I stood astonished at the resilience of their hope in the darkest of hours because it did not reside in an exaggerated belief in their individual strength, but in the support of their comrades, and their faith in their country. My hope for our country resides in my faith in the American character, the character which proudly defends the right to think and do for ourselves, but perceives self-interest in accord with a kinship of ideals, which, when called upon, Americans will defend with their very lives.

“To encourage a country with only rhetoric rather than sound and proven ideas that trust in the strength and courage of free people is not a promise of hope. It is a platitude.”

You have to admire Scott Ott of Scrappleface. Despite the conservative depression sweeping the nation and this blog today, he is throwing out new ideas and trying to find a way to win in his latest Townhall column.

Recall that the inept, personality-free Sen. John Kerry did not get stomped by the marginally-conservative George W. Bush, and the unhinged former Vice President Al Gore actually won the popular vote. A Democrat-nominated inflatable porpoise would pull at least 49 percent of the popular vote in a general election. So, what chance does maverick McCain have against a ruthless machine like Hillary ‘08, or a well-organized, well-funded messianic movement like Obamamania?

Short story: Sen. McCain can’t do it alone…but Team America could.

To bring principled fiscal, and social, conservatives into his campaign, Sen. McCain must take steps to neutralize his toxic flaws. The Team America strategy calls for the war hero to run as Commander-in-Chief, and to surround himself with Lt. Generals who compensate for his weaknesses in almost every other area.

Here are his suggestions for Team America:
Vice President - Fred Thompson
Director of the Office of Management and Budget - Mitt Romney
Director of U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services - Tom Tancredo
Director of the Department of Homeland Security - Rudy Guiliani

And his suggestion for Gov.Huckabee?

You can’t make him Secretary of Health and Human Services, because he’ll ban smoking, trans-fats, salt and sugar, and create a massive new government program to fight obesity by forcing fat people to rebuild America’s crumbling infrastructure. However, he would make an excellent chaplain of the Senate, where his daily prayers would stir the hearts, and wring out the eyes, of the sternest legislator.

I’d back this ticket, especially if it’s our only choice. It’s about the only thing that would motivate me to put my time into a grassroots general election McCain ticket.