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Today's Web Grab

You might enjoy:

• Sean Martin in Coffee House: Timing is everything
• Mike Allen in Politico: Palin dissed veep job
• Jennifer Howze in Alpha Mummy: Would you have sex with your husband every day?
• Patrick Hennessy in Telegraph Blogs: Are Gordon Brown plotters bottling a challenge?
• Dizzy Thinks: A funny satnav tale

Sarah Palin for VP: The reactions

John McCain has just announced that Sarah Palin will be his VP.

Here she is in her own words. And here's what the pundits are chattering about.

John Mcintyre in Real Clear Politics:

I think it is a superbly handled rollout and politically a brilliant pick.

Jonah Goldberg in The Corner:

Quick, and provisional bottom line:  The upside: She's the best of the dark horses because she's an exciting, exotic (yet heartlandish) female pick.  The base will love her. She's a true outsider and the only person in the race with serious executive experience. This will have to mean McCain's flipping on ANWR, which will make gas prices a central issue.

Downside: She may not be ready for primetime. The heartbeat-from-the-presidency issue is a real one. 

Chris Cillizza in The Fix:

In picking Palin, McCain is taking a calculated risk. She is totally unknown and untested on the national stage but also has impressive credentials in her short time in public life.

Michael Cooper and Elisabeth Bumiller in The New York Times:

The pick, confirmed by Republicans familiar with the decision, amounted to a roll of the dice, a gamble that an infusion of new leadership — and the novelty of the Republican party’s first female candidate for vice president — would more than compensate for the risk that Ms. Palin could undercut one of the McCain campaign’s central arguments, their claim that Mr. Obama is too inexperienced to be president.

Howard Wolfson in The Plank:

Yesterday I argued that picking a woman for veep would help re-establish McCain's reputation as a maverick. If the pick is indeed Sarah Palin you are going to have a lot of women voters wondering why Senator Obama didn't tap Senator Clinton as his running mate.

Greg Sargent in Talking Points Memo:

If McCain's entire campaign is premised on the idea that Obama lacks the commander-in-chief readiness for the presidency, how on earth can he possibly continue to make this argument when he's chosen Palin, who's been in high office only two years (half the time Obama has been a Senator) as a back-up commander in chief?

Andrew Sullivan in The Daily Dish:

What this means, it seems to me, is that McCain has decided he cannot win without Clinton Democrats, and this is his attempt to win them over. He has decided that he cannot win on the experience card, so he is trying to pick the change card.

The Wall Street Journal:

At a time when the Republican Party in Washington has become deeply unpopular, in part due to rampant Congressional corruption, Gov. Palin is seen as a symbolic antidote.

Joe Klein in Swampland:

In a weird, clever, way, Palin's inexperience serves to illuminate Obama's...and so Democrats, especially Joe Biden, would probably be wise to tread carefully here. The Republicans can easily make the argument that they got their ticket order rightside up--experience over a compelling new face--and the Democrats got their order upside down. They can make that argument...we'll see how it flies.

Ten great Republican convention moments

Now that the Democrats are done, the Republicans are gearing up for their Minnesota moment.

Here are ten of the most memorable Republican conventions.

1860 Republican Convention, Chicago

It came as a shock to everyone when an unknown politician from a Kentucky log cabin beat out the favourite candidate. Still, Abraham Lincoln didn't prove such a bad choice. And he deserves bonus points for picking a VP who rejoiced in the name Hannibal. 

1940 Republican Convention, Philadelphia

Not so notable for its content - who now remembers Wendell Willkie and Charles McNary? But this was the Convention that ushered in the all-singing, all-dancing spectacle we enjoy today. Why? Well, it was the first one to appear live on national television.

1912 Republican Convention, Chicago

President took on President in this most bitter of convention face-offs. Teddy Roosevelt had high progressive hopes for William Taft when he succeeded Roosevelt in the Oval Office. But the disillusioned master returned to haunt his pupil in 1912. Despite public adoration, Roosevelt lagged at the Convention and eventually walked out with his delegates. His subsequent formation of the Bull Moose Party cost Taft the election.

1952 Republican Convention, Chicago

Senator Taft had power, respect and a great political heritage (see above). After two failed nomination bids, he was sure the third would succeeed. But he didn't count on Ike. Eisenhower's complaints about stolen delegates swung the balance against Taft. He retreated to his summer home and sulked.

1980 National Convention, Detroit

America almost had two presidents for the price of one long before the Clintons. In 1980 Ronald Reagan was on the verge of picking former-president Gerald Ford as his deputy. But when Ford began to make demands, Reagan became anxious that he would have to share his powers. With just 24 hours to go, he picked George H.W. Bush.

1864 Republican Convention, Baltimore

The only political Convention at which Democrats have happily sat next to Republicans. This National Union Convention (as it became known) took place in the middle of the Civil War and brought all the North together. War Democrat Andrew Johnson joined the Lincoln on the bi-partisan ticket.

1964 Republican Convention, San Francisco

Another convention. Another infighting session. This time the contest was between Nelson Rockefeller, the more liberal candidate, and Barry Goldwater. Goldwater won the nomination and took the prize for most memorable line:

I would remind you that extremism in the defence of liberty is no vice. And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.

Not everyone was impressed. Richard Nixon sat in the front row refusing to applaud.

1888 Republican Convention, Chicago

While Barack Obama battles it out with John McCain, he might want to cast his mind back to 1888. This was the year that Frederick Douglass became the first African American to receive a presidential nomination (and a single vote from Kentucky.)

1992 Republican Convention, Houston

This convention kicked off a war, the culture war to be precise. Pat Buchanan's doctrinaire keynote address reverberated around the Astrodome. His threats of abortions on demand in a Clinton administration widened the split in American values. Many believe his hostility derailed George H.W. Bush's candidacy.

2004 Republican Convention, New York

Zell Miller didn't pull any punches in this keynote speech. The Democratic Senator committed the worst kind of political treachery when he let loose in Boston last time round:

No pair have been more wrong, more loudly, more often than the two senators from Massachusetts - Ted Kennedy and John Kerry.

After slamming Kerry's record on security, he then attempted to challenge Chris Matthews to a duel in a post-match interview. One for the history books. 

Magazine Rack - Issue 295

You might enjoy:

• Caitlin Flanagan in
• Shlomo Avineri in Dissent: After Communism: Travails of Democratization
• Jay Carney in Time: Indecision '08 for McCain's Veep?
• Colin Tudge in New Statesman: The truth about GM
• Jonathan Stein in Mother Jones: Bush's Biggest Achievements

How did Barack Obama do?

If you missed Obama's speech last night, click here to see it and all our commentary.

Here's a roundup of some of the early reactions from America.

The Caucus: Live from Denver

He has been casting himself as an economic populist in the last few weeks, and it was no surprise that he continued to do that here. But it was striking the degree to which he did so, focusing on the economy almost exclusively for the first two-thirds of his speech — a measure both of how central it is for many voters but also of how much he wants to appeal to Reagan Democrats.

Peggy Noonan in The Wall Street Journal: Obama gets serious

The speech itself lacked lift but had heft. It wasn't precisely long on hope, but I think it showed audacity. In fact, by the end of the speech I thought it was quite a gamble.

Jonah Goldberg in The Corner: In all seriousness

I think his shots at McCain were ill-advised. Who the hell is Obama to try to out-hawk McCain on Bin Laden? Please. Not plausible. What is Obama talking about when he tries to suggest there are more Republicans for Obama than there are Democrats for McCain? C'mon.

Joe Klein in Time: Obama's speech 'very tough'

He stood there not as an orator, but as a plausible chief executive. His message was as tight as a power-point presentation, but far more elegant. And tough — above all, tough: not an egghead, not Adlai Stevenson. No, tonight Barack Obama was a politician from the south side of Chicago, ready for the brawl of his life

John Dickerson in Slate: Back to earth

It was the single most emphatic word of his address. Change is all well and good, but when Dad says, "Enough," the kids stop fooling around. It conveys an urgency and determination that talk of change simply does not. You could see that single word printed on placards for future rallies. 

Jonathan Cohn in The Plank: Less glamour, more grit

Four years ago in Boston, I watched Barack Obama deliver perhaps the most perfect speech I’ll ever see....Tonight, on television, I watched Barack Obama give a rather different piece of oratory. Although delivered with equal skill, its content struck me as more unwieldy and, at times, more pedestrian.

Dan Balz in The Washington Post: The message that the party wanted to hear

Obama was under considerable pressure Thursday night to deliver a speech of special force and power. What he gave here was a combination of old and new -- new toughness coupled with the message that got him to this point.

Justin Webb's America: A clever performance

He brought it off. I thought at one stage that the Doric columns (if that is what they were) might fall on him (metaphorically) but they did not. He is too clever for that.

Doyle McManus in the LA Times: Obama gets it in gear with acceptance speech

The new Obama, unveiled before about 84,000 cheering supporters in a football stadium, is more combative than the old Obama -- and more sharply focused on the economic problems of the nation's working class

Andrew Sullivan in The Daily Dish: The hope we confess

Above all, he took on national security - face on, full-throttle, enraged, as we should all be, at how disastrously American power has been handled these past eight years. He owned this issue in a way that no Democrat has owned it since Kennedy. That's a transformative event.

Jacob Heilbrunn in The Huffington Post: Obama goes on the offence

Obama showed that he does not conform to the image of the Democrat as wussbag by directly assailing McCain's foreign policy credentials -- specifically, his claim that he would "follow" Osama bin Laden to the "gates of hell." But why just follow? As Obama made clear, he needs to be taken out.

Paul Krugman in The New York Times: Feeling no pain

My first reaction to Bill Clinton’s convention speech was sheer professional jealousy: nobody, but nobody, has his ability to translate economic wonkery into plain, forceful English.

Editorial in The New York Times: Mr. Obama’s Party

Mr. Obama long ago proved his skills as an orator. He went further on Thursday night, using his acceptance speech to add detail to his promises of hope and showcase a new theme that could find resonance with Democrats, new and old, and a broader range of Americans.

Friday's comment from the papers in...

Today in Times Comment

• Nader Mousavizadeh: How to navigate the new global archipelago
• Gerard Baker: John McCain isn't George Bush - and the voters know it
• David Colquhoun: Regulating quack medicine makes me feel sick
• A.C. Grayling: Religion and its mortifying history of self-inflicted pain
• Natalie Haynes: Purely academic interest in Helen Mirren
• Theodore Dalrymple: Titan prisons will only brutalise their inmates
• Roger Boyes: Surely, it's not a flight of fancy to want decent air travel
• Leading Article: A plague on houses
• Leading Article: Iraq's Sticky Future
• Leading Article: Here be dragons

And from the rest of the papers...

• David Blair: (The Telegraph) - Iran's secret weapon isn't bombs but oil
• Iain Dale: (The Telegraph) - Tories must harness power of the internet to spread the word
• Jeff Randall: (The Telegraph) - Watch out for falling dividends... your nest-egg could be smashed
• Leading Article: (The Telegraph) - That's enough of Sir Ian
• David Marquand: (The Guardian) - Labour has got Cameron wrong: this is no crypto-Thatcherite but a whig
• Martin Kettle: (The Guardian) - McCain could yet ignite a bonfire of the liberal vanities
• Mark Lawson: (The Guardian) - Never before have I been so moved, or enraged, by a play
• Leading Article: (The Guardian) - Belligerent bluster
• Dominic Lawson: (The Independent) - Don't believe obesity figures – they're spun for a purpose
• Johann Hari: (The Independent) - The parasite that reveals good news from Africa
• Matthew Norman: (The Independent) - Passion, drama and democracy
• Leading Article: (The Independent) - Art for whose sake?
• Andrew Alexander: (The Daily Mail) - When the art of PR fails to paint a clear picture
• Philip Stephens: (Financial Times) - Putin maps the boundaries of greater Russia

And from around the world...

• David Brooks: (The New York Times) - A Speech to the Delegates
• Eugene Robinson: (Washington Post) - So many miles from Selma
• Charles Krauthammer: (Washington Post) - The perfect stranger
• Dan Senor: (The Wall Street Journal) - Biden Wanted to Break Up Iraq
• Timothy Egan: (International Herald Tribune) - When FDR found 'the forgotten man'
• (Der Spiegel) - EU considers sanctions as Russia looks for friends

Today's Web Grab

You might enjoy:

• Matthew Yglesias: Kerry's Transformation
• Steven D. Levitt in Freakonomics: An economic haiku contest
• Iain Dale's Diary: Who to Interview? The President of the USA or a Child Molester?
• Deborah Haynes in Inside Iraq: Wedding singer in Baghdad
• The Economist in Certain ideas of Europe: Being there

Could it be a two-Joe race?

There's already one Joe in the running for VP. And now the buzz is that Senator Lieberman might be set to make it two.

Drudge suggests that McCain might leak his choice during tonight's DNC festivities. Tim Pawlenty, Mitt Romney and Joseph Lieberman are the most likely picks.

And while many think that McCain can't get away with picking the pro-choice, Democrat turned Independent, the news that Karl Rove tried to kill the idea has only heightened speculation.

Barack Obama: everyone's new favourite name

If you already think Barack Obama is everywhere, prepare yourself. There are about to be five more.

According to O Globo, the Brazilian newspaper, several local politicians have thought of a new campaign strategy. Why bother knocking on doors when you can simply change your name to capitalise on the US success? Here's Alexandre Nunes Jacinto, soon to be Alexandre Barack Obama, explaining his decision:

It was my idea to use Barack Obama’s name. I am going to be the same as that guy. Initially, everybody thought it was a joke, but now instead of Alexandre, they’re calling me Barack.

No news yet on the number of John McCains.

Saved by the bell: the British phone box

Bells will continue to ring out from everyone's favourite British icon after a telephone box reprieve.

BT had announced final call for the seldom-used symbols. But today they've announced that areas can keep them - at a price. Councils must pay £500 for a working phone box or £250 to adopt one of the ideas put forward by Comment Central readers.

We know which one we're rooting for. Bring on the Tardis.