Not the kind of press that bothers to ask questions, mind you:

Corporate Giants Fete Blue Dogs

The scene outside “A Blue Night in Denver,” a party aimed at the pro-business Congressional Blue Dog Coalition, was nearly as raucous as the expansive, jazzy festivities going on inside Mile High Station, an event venue festooned with blue and white lights....

Inside, it was clear that the pricey shindig was not paid for exclusively by AT&T. Television screens throughout the event rolled the names of seemingly endless sponsors: Bank of America, Wal-Mart, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, Nuclear Energy Institute, Microsoft, Citi, PepsiCo, Credit Suisse, America’s Health Insurance Plans, Amgen, Comcast, Time Warner, the Investment Company Institute, Pfizer, Greenberg Traurig, Home Depot, Verizon, National Association of Broadcasters, and others.

The party featured two stages, one inside, and one outside in a large tent with a view of Invesco Field, where Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) will give his acceptance speech on Thursday.

A bluesy band, the Informants, serenaded the guests, and later K.T. Tunstall took center stage while party-goers munched on mini grilled cheese sandwiches, tiny ham and cheese biscuits, corn on the cob, a variety of skewers and plenty of sweets. http://www.rollcall.com/news/27521-1.html

Party Time '08: Who Can and Cannot Dance in Denver

Due to strict new gift rules, members of the Blue Dog Coalition of conservative House Democrats had to pay to attend their own party Sunday night. While everyone else walked in for free to the Blue Night in Denver bash to enjoy loads of free booze and a live show by pop rocker KT Tunstall, House members -- and House aides -- had to pay what sources described as fair market value: $22. (Which, by our estimation, is a cheap KT Tunstall show.)...

Lawyers involved in vetting ethics rules for parties being thrown in Denver and St. Paul say the House ethics committee has expressed reservations about whether dancing at a party would be allowed. There were plenty of people dancing at the Blue Dog party after Tunstall's live performance ended but come to think of it -- we didn't see any members of Congress cutting a rug. Maybe they had been warned. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/sleuth/2008/08/party_time_08_who_can_and_cann.html

"In order to have the right to condemn the Bush years, the Democrats needed to have presented, and forcefully, another side of the story. And they didn't."

That's exactly what I've been thinking.

Harry Reid's speech about the "snake oil" that is off-shore drilling struck me. It's one of the few things he actually could speak about, because it's one of the few things he hasn't handed to Bush on a silver platter...well, yet.

The few members of Congress who could speak about "the sheer radicalism and extremism of the last eight years" don't seem to be on the agenda.

Please pass along my wishes to GC! for a speedy recovery. Both his gardens miss him.

Includes Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar's accounts of their arrests and an interview with Rep. Keith Ellison who is in St. Paul.

democracynow.org

CargoCult: ...Amy Goodman refuses to cover the Iraq Veterans Against the War march at the Republican National Convention...

As RNC Opens, Iraq Veterans Against the War March in St. Paul

(video/transcript: http://www.democracynow.org/2008/9/2/as_rnc_opens_iraq_veterans_against)

We return to the streets of St. Paul where more than one hundred members of Iraq Veterans Against the War held a rally on Monday. The anti-war vets marched to the site of the Republican National Convention. Jaquie Soohen of Big Noise Films filed this report.

A Debate: Iraq Veterans Against the War vs. Vets For Freedom

(video: http://www.democracynow.org/2008/9/2/a_debate_iraq_veterans_against_the)

Democracy Now! speaks with Geoffrey Millard, chapter president of the IVAW in Washington, D.C., David Bellavia, Vice-Chair of Vets for Freedom and Steve Russell, founder and chair of the group Vets for Victory.

to keep reading.

(No arugula for you, Kitt.)

Chuck Todd: Mike Murphy, lots of free advice, we'll see if Steve Schmidt and the boys were watching. We'll find out on your blackberry. Tonight voters will get their chance to hear from Sarah Palin and she will get the chance to show voters she's the right woman for the job. Up next, one man who's already convinced and he'll us why Gov. Jon Huntsman.

(cut away)

Peggy Noonan: Yeah.

Mike Murphy: You know, because I come out of the blue swing state governor world: Engler, Whitman, Tommy Thompson, Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush. I mean, these guys -- this is how you win a Texas race, just run it up. And it's not gonna work. And --

PN: It's over.

MM: Still McCain can give a version of the Lieberman speech to do himself some good.

CT: I also think the Palin pick is insulting to Kay Bailey Hutchinson, too.

PN: Saw Kay this morning.

CT: Yeah, she's never looked comfortable about this --

MM: They're all bummed out.

CT: Yeah, I mean is she really the most qualified woman they could have turned to?

PN: The most qualified? No! I think they went for this -- excuse me-- political bullshit about narratives --

CT: Yeah they went to a narrative.

MM: I totally agree.

PN: Every time the Republicans do that, because that's not where they live and it's not what they're good at, they blow it.

MM: You know what's really the worst thing about it? The greatness of McCain is no cynicism, and this is cynical.

CT: This is cynical, and as you called it, gimmicky.

MM: Yeah.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/212920.php

Out of the mouths of narrative-pushers. Precious!