By The Way, How Was The Speech? By: Mark W Adams

You know what national problem Barack Obama did not mention last night? It's a pet complaint of bloggers on the right and left every day. Our shitty corporate media.

However, faced with such an extraordinary evening culminating a week of outstanding choreography, not even the most jaded right wing tool could deny the historic nature of what they witnessed. (Note that Hannity and O'Reilly fled back to New York instead of making insta-analysis after the speech, opting for data mining and eating boogers found under their beds and waiting for Limbaugh to write their talking points for their radio hate fests in the afternoon.)

Pat Buchanan calls a Democrat's speech the best and most important political convention speech he had ever heard, going back 48 years. MSNBC to it's credit, along with CNN backed off the commentary and just let the show unfold for the most part.

David Gergan calls a Democrat's speech a Symphony and a Political Masterpiece.


WaPo/Fox's Charles Krauthammer? Obama was "Brilliant." Even the neocon's neocon can't deny what was right in his face.

"[A]wfully impressive performance," Bill Kristol.

Greta Van Sustren: "It was a great speech." "Dazzling," "Dazzling," "Dazzling," "Dazzling," but can he deliver, deliver, deliver, deliver? (She truly is awful.) Pollster Frank Luntz answered her, predicting a predictably inflated 10 point Obama bounce, that the change Barack talks about will not come from him, but from the American people. Luntz reminded us of the line from the speech that change doesn't come from Washington. Change is brought to Washington. [Ooo, make that 5 Greta "Dazzlings."]

Bubba got their notice too.

Karl Rove had enough integrity (I can't believe I wrote that) not to simply parrot Sean Hannity disingenuously trashing Bill Clinton's speech the night before, but talked about Clinton being the first to lay the groundwork for an anti-McCain argument at the Convention -- an argument Obama ran with last night. Peggy Noonan swooned for the Clenis as well.

Even some conservative commentators were impressed. Karl Rove said on Fox's Hannity and Colmes, "He gave the best argument offered thus far on the third day of the convention for Barack Obama. He gave a comprehensive view domestically and internationally. It wasn't his endorsement tonight that mattered...but what he did do is he set a theme: Restoring the American dream at home and America's leadership abroad." Peggy Noonan writes in the Wall Street Journal that "halfway through" Clinton's speech "I thought: The Master has arrived. Crazy Bill, the red-faced Rageaholic, was somewhere else. This was Deft Political Pro Bill doing what no one had been able to do up to this point at the convention, and that is make the case for Barack Obama."

So, how did Rove assess Obama's acceptance speech? "Clintonian." High praise, at least in what passes for gray matter between Rove's ears. Rove mostly played the role of wonk instead of speech critic, examining the argument Obama make that he saw coming from the Bill Clinton preview, and advising how to counter it. I think he knows there's just no use fighting rhetoric and symbolism against our guy with their guy, who just isn't up to the task.

They're all putting a happy face on everything, but you can just tell the GOP punditocracy is freaked. It must be even worse in the lobbyist encrusted trenches of McCain Central.

Lone Fox nay-sayer Juan Williams was unsatisfied that not enough inspiration, not enough emotion, not enough MLK (even though having MLK,III and his sister speaking should pretty much cover that). Williams felt Obama didn't take advantage of the moment, not giving us enough of the stuff McCain and Co. says is the reason Obama is all fluff.

To Williams, I say: ENOUGH.