Barack Obama's acceptance speech

Here are a few of my favorite lines from his speech last night.

Tonight, more Americans are out of work and more are working harder for less. More of you have lost your homes and even more are watching your home values plummet. More of you have cars you can't afford to drive, credit card bills you can't afford to pay and tuition that's beyond your reach.

These challenges are not all of government's making. But the failure to respond is a direct result of a broken politics in Washington and the failed policies of George W Bush.

So it's the government's responsibility to bail out people who buy stuff they can't afford?

But the record's clear: John McCain has voted with George Bush 90% of the time.

Is it 90% or 95%? Why can't the speakers at the Democratic Party convention get their statistics in order? Is this statistic for over the last 2 years or the last 8? And could someone actually explain what this statistic means. President Bush doesn't vote so McCain obviously didn't vote the same way as Bush voted. So this statistic means something like McCain has voted in favor of 90% (or 95%) of the legislation Bush has signed. Or Bush has vetoed only 10% (or 5%) of the legislation McCain voted in favor of.

For over two decades, he's subscribed to that old, discredited Republican philosophy - give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else.

"Give" more? Don't you mean take less than what was being taken from them but still take a larger percentage than is being taken from those with less? This is a perfect example of how liberal and conservatives differ on how they see government. The government is not my daddy who generously "gives" me some of the money I earn as an allowance.

Ours is a promise that says government cannot solve all our problems, but what it should do is that which we cannot do for ourselves - protect us from harm and provide every child a decent education; keep our water clean and our toys safe; invest in new schools and new roads and new science and technology.

And bail us out when we buy stuff we can't afford.

That's the promise of America - the idea that we are responsible for ourselves, but that we also rise or fall as one nation; the fundamental belief that I am my brother's keeper; I am my sister's keeper.

Who my brother's and sister's keeper? Individual people or the government? Who's responsible to help them out when they're down? Their friends, family and faith community or the government?

And for the sake of our economy, our security, and the future of our planet, I will set a clear goal as president: in ten years, we will finally end our dependence on oil from the Middle East.

This quote is hilarious for a number of reasons - 1.) It shows how ignorant Barack Obama and his speechwriter are with regards to who the U.S. imports oil from. Of the top 15 countries the U.S. imports oil from, only 3 are in the Middle East (Saudia Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait). We get more oil from Canada and Mexico than the 3 main exporters in the Middle East. 2.)How is he going to do this? 3.) And if he can magically do this in 10 years, why not just magically do it in 5 years.

The sad part is I'm guessing McCain will make the same kind of silly promise.

John McCain likes to say that he'll follow bin Laden to the Gates of Hell - but he won't even go to the cave where he lives.

When he said this, I couldn't believe he would say something this stupid and that people would applaud it.

Because one of the things that we have to change in our politics is the idea that people cannot disagree without challenging each other's character and patriotism.

Ummm.... Didn't you just claim McCain wouldn't follow the most wanted man in world? What were you challenging there?

If you don't have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from.

This coming from the guy whose resume is so slim he has to take credit for legislation he didn't even vote for and whose campaign's main goal is to link John McCain with George Bush.

But I stand before you tonight because all across America something is stirring. What the nay-sayers don't understand is that this election has never been about me. It's been about you.

Yeah, and that's why Obama uttered the phrase "I will...." like umpteenth times in his speech.