Wow. Just wow. Watching Hillary Clinton speak last night made me remember just how much respect and admiration I have for that woman. I know that a lot of people out there don't like Hillary. Very few of them can give me a real reason (and no, saying she's a socialist or a bitch are not reasons). I can't see it. She gave me chills, and if you know me at all, that's hard to do.
But more on Hillary later. There are many more convention stories to be told before that.
We'll start on Sunday. Sunday was actually a kind of lazy day for the convention unless you were going to one of the secondary kickoff parties (which I wasn't). I wandered around town though and got a feel for where everything was going to be. FYI, the coolest part of the convention might just be the Big Tent, where all the bloggers are being housed. Now, the convention should have given out more blogging credentials, especially to state-based blogs, but the people who were there were having a blast and just seemed to be ecstatic about being here. More importantly, they have free New Belgium beer flowing for everyone. It's crowded, but a sweet set-up (and somewhere I'd love to be in 4 years, depending on my location at the time). Sunday evening, Ash and I went out to dinner and were right next door to the Chicago Democrats party, and caught some of Dick Durbin's interviews and saw Tammy Duckworth, one of my political idols. For those of you who don't know her, Tammy lost a leg in a helicopter crash in Iraq and ran for Congress as a Democrat when she came home. She's tough as hell, and it's too bad she's not in Congress right now.
Fun convention kitsch: I got handed an XL condom from a street vendor that said "Protect Yourself from John McCain." There are 10 of them, apparently, all with facts about women's rights on the back. Mine said "#10: John McCain has voted against women's rights 125 in Congress." When women, especially Hillary women, even think about supporting McCain, know that this is where he stands. He's also spoken out against a bill that would guarantee women equal pay for equal work. Yeah, sounds like someone that we Democrats should support...
Monday though brought me my first taste of riled-up convention street life. I've never seen Denver this bustling. You can't walk down the street without seeing protesters and police every block. I got to see a protester get beat down (deservedly) by a cop for trying to charge a group of anti-abortion protesters. These weren't your run-of-the-mill anti-abortion protesters though. OH NO. One was shouting about how the Old Testament tells women to stay in the kitchen (funny, I don't remember reading that) and one had a sign about how God was a Republican. Now, I think these people are pretty abhorrent, but they shouldn't be hit. So good job Denver PD (who have actually been phenomenal this week. I can't speak highly enough of the interactions I've had with cops so far).
Now Scott Weaver (or Scoots, as I'll call him here) and Mike Freeman (Hustler) both came down to see me Monday. We decided, after a couple of drinks, to go to a party I was invited to by a member of our think tank, Liz. It was the "40 under 40: Emerging Young Dems" party, sponsored by Google, and it was at Lure, possibly the most pretentious place in Denver. Well, turns out that there was a list. And they weren't letting you in if you weren't on it. SO needless to say, I refused to be deterred. I go right up to the girl, and tell her my name. When it's not on the list, I tell her "that's funny," and then ask if two other names are on the list. I knew a couple of people supposed to be there, so I took a stab. Well, both of them were on the list. I'm giving her my ID to write down my name when a bouncer comes over and says that only people on the list can get in right now, and to come back in 30. Ugh...so close. Well, we leave, only a little dejected, and go to a bar to grab some drinks. This ends up being way more fun anyway, and all in all it was a good night 3 for the convention. I found out that the 40s party ended up being a real bummer, so I wasn't too upset.
Hillary really deserves her own posting, so I'm going to leave it at Sunday and Monday for this one. I'll write about Hill later tonight though, before I go out to a political comedy show (because I'm a dork) and spend the night on the town. I hope life is as fun for you wherever you are as it is here.
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