The Gregory Brothers show us how the game is really played.

[nyt]

It's no Clint Eastwood + Invisible Obama, but Democratic National Convention organizers are apologizing for their own strange gaffe last week: During a carefully orchestrated tribute to veterans -- 50 were honored onstage -- the video onscreen behind them included an image of Soviet-era Russian warships.

The gaffe was "due to vendor error" -- but one Navy vet accused Dems of being out of touch with veterans: "Is the Democratic Party that far removed that they can't check up on a simple picture?"

[politico]

I was elected to lead, not to read!

Congresswoman Gabby Giffords almost died when Jared Loughner opened fire on her at a rally in January 2011.

But on Thursday, it was her remarkable recovery that took center stage -- watch as she brings down the house at the DNC with the Pledge of Allegiance.

[abc]

No gaffes from VP Joe Biden, so it's on to President Obama, who accepted the Democratic Party's nomination Thursday night in a speech much more heavy on policy and specifics than his convention rhetoric of 2008. Here are the Cliff's Notes.

The policy checkmarks:

• "I will never turn Medicare into a voucher."
• "Selfless soldiers won't be kicked out of the military because of who they are or who they love."
• "As long as I'm commander-in-chief, we will sustain the strongest military the world has ever known."
• "Climate change is not a hoax."

The GOP-directed zingers:

• "They want your vote without telling you their plan."
• "You might not be ready for diplomacy with Beijing if you can't visit the Olympics without insulting our closest ally."
• "Feel a cold coming on? Take two tax cuts, roll back some regulations, and call us in the morning!"

And the requisite humble brags:

•  "Osama bin Laden is dead."
• "The times have changed -- and so have I. I'm no longer just a candidate. I'm the president."

Obama ended by circling back to his 2008 message of hope, though he projected it onto voters for the occasion: "As I stand here tonight, I have never been more hopeful about America. ... I'm hopeful because of you." 

Slate economics writer Matt Yglesias put it best: "This is the speech you give when you think you're winning and just want to avoid screwing up."

Fact-checking to come, as usual.

[image: andersoncooper]

Awww, besties at long last.

But really -- ol' Bill Clinton more than surpassed the length of his legendary 1988 DNC speech, dropping venerable one-liners along the way, and the Dems ate it up:

• "No president -- no president -- not me, not any of my predecessors, no one could have fully repaired all the damage that [Obama] found in just four years."
• "We simply cannot afford to give the reins of government to someone who will double down on trickle down."
• "I love our country -- and I know we're coming back."

President Obama was smart to get on that stage before the Dems flipped on him and nominated Bill.

The Romney camp, naturally, was dismissive: "President Clinton's speech brought the disappointment and failure of President Obama's time in office clearly into focus."

UPDATE: According to FactCheck.org, Clinton's speech, with few exceptions, checked out:

The worst we could fault him for was a suggestion that President Obama's Affordable Care Act was responsible for bringing down the rate of increase in health care spending, when the fact is that the law's main provisions have yet to take effect.

Clinton said that "for the last two years, health care costs have been under 4 percent in both years for the first time in 50 years." That's true, as reported by the journal Health Affairs in January of this year. But Clinton went too far when he added: "So let me ask you something. Are we better off because President Obama fought for health care reform? You bet we are."

Actually, the major provisions of the 2010 law — the individual mandate, federal subsidies to help Americans buy insurance, and big reductions in the growth of Medicare spending — haven't yet taken effect. Experts mainly blame the lousy economy for the slowdown in health care spending.

[tpm]

Michelle's speech -- and her dress! -- were lovely as always, but the scene-stealer of the DNC's opening night was the late Ted Kennedy.

The Dems' video tribute to the Lion of the Senate included footage of Kennedy skewering Romney in their 1994 U.S. Senate debate:

Romney: "I believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country."

Kennedy: "I am pro-choice, my opponent is multiple choice."

Kennedy, in a speech shown later: "Now he's for family leave, now it looks like he's for a minimum wage, now he's for education reform, and if we give him two more weeks he may even vote for me."

RNC Chair Reince Preibus immediately tweeted that the decision to resurrect Kennedy was "classless."

But The Washington Post's Ezra Klein called BS in a tweet of his own: "I, for one, am shocked that Democrats would inject politics into a video about politician Ted Kennedy during a political convention."

What say you? Was the Dems' use of a dead Kennedy in poor taste or totally legit?

[chicagotribune]

NBC News' Andrew Rafferty spotted this protester -- who pretty much speaks for everyone, Democrats and Republicans alike -- outside the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, NC, two whole days before the convention gets under way.

Perf.

[shortformblog]