memeorandum: Why Bill Clinton's Speeches Succeed (James Fallows/The Atlantic Online)

8:20 PM ET, September 6, 2012

Top Items:

Brooks Jackson / FactCheck.org:

Our Clinton Nightmare — CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Former President Bill Clinton's stem-winding nomination speech was a fact-checker's nightmare: lots of effort required to run down his many statistics and factual claims, producing little for us to write about. — Republicans will find plenty of Clinton's scorching opinions objectionable.

Discussion: Bloomberg, his vorpal sword, Washington Post, Hot Air, The New Civil Rights Movement, Hit & Run, ECHIDNE of the snakes, The Right Sphere, Politifact.com Truth …, Twitter Blog, Poynter and Donklephant, more at Mediagazer »

Dashiell Bennett / The Atlantic Wire:

What Bill Clinton Wrote vs. What Bill Clinton Said — If you were following any journalists on Twitter last night, one of the most remarked upon aspects of Bill Clinton's nomination speech was how liberally he deviated from the prepared text. What was handed out to the media was four pages …

Discussion: Brad DeLong, American Spectator, USA Today, Donklephant, American Prospect, Little Green Footballs and Mother Jones

Daniel Larison / The American Conservative:

The Clinton Speech and the “Campaign of Ideas” — Scott Galupo identifies the main strength of Bill Clinton's convention speech: … It was, and it was all the more devastating because Romney and Ryan made no concerted effort to make the case for their ticket and their agenda last week.

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Washington Monthly, The Daily Dish, ThinkProgress, The Mahablog, News Desk and Outside the Beltway

James Fallows / The Atlantic Online:

Why Bill Clinton's Speeches Succeed — Because he treats listeners as if they are smart. — That is the significance of “They want us to think” and “The strongest argument is” and “The arithmetic says one of three things must happen” and even “Now listen to me here, this is important.”

Discussion: ThinkProgress

Keith Ellison / CNN:

Ellison reacts to Jerusalem reference in party platform — Charlotte, North Carolina (CNN) - Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison, one of only two Muslim-Americans in Congress, reacted Thursday to the controversy over his party's newly-updated platform that references Jerusalem as being the capital of Israel.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:
Fact checking Bill Clinton's speech and other Democrats at the convention in Charlotte

Discussion: Firedoglake, New York Times, GayPatriot, Brad DeLong, Sister Toldjah, National Review, Wake up America and LifeNews.com

Ben Smith / BuzzFeed:
Obama Campaign Won't Join Clinton In Hailing Recovery

Discussion: Riehl World News

New York Times:
Transcript of Bill Clinton's Speech to the Democratic National Convention

Bill Clinton / CNN:
On Facebook, Clinton's speech more popular than NFL kickoff game

Discussion: Politico, Twitter Room and The Caucus

Ezra Klein / Washington Post:
Bill Clinton: wonk-in-chief

Discussion: The New Republic, Balloon Juice, The Daily Beast, A Better Iowa, ThinkProgress, Weekly Standard, Washington Monthly, A plain blog about politics, Washington Wire, Wall Street Journal and First Draft

Maggie Haberman / Politico:
Boston's response to Clinton as of midnight...(Updated)

Discussion: CNN and Daily Kos

Benjy Sarlin / Talking Points Memo:
Romney, Ryan Double Down On False Welfare Attack Clinton Decried

Discussion: msnbc.com, The Mahablog and The Stranger …

Kevin Cirilli / Politico:
Pundits swoon over Bill Clinton's speech

Discussion: CNN, A plain blog about politics, Rush Limbaugh, Hot Air, Taking Note, Angry Bear, The Daily Beast, Associated Press, Queerty and Grist

Ed Kilgore / Washington Monthly:
Entitlement Trouble

Discussion: Hullabaloo, NationalJournal.com and Library Grape

Politico:
How Bill Clinton does it

Discussion: Bloomberg, Washington Post, No More Mister Nice Blog, AEIdeas, Daily Kos and The Atlantic Online

Aviva Shen / ThinkProgress:
Associated Press ‘Fact Checks’ Clinton's Speech By Bringing Up Monica Lewinsky

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, New York Magazine, Associated Press and US Politics

Associated Press:
Transcript: Bill Clinton's remarks at the DNC

Discussion: The Fix, Hit & Run, The Reality-Based Community, Hot Air, Fox News Insider and Swampland

Pema Levy / Talking Points Memo:

Disillusioned Obama Supporter In Romney Ad Is Actually GOP Staffer — Republicans debuted a new ad Thursday in which a frustrated former Obama supporter expresses her disappointment with the president. The only problem: The woman in the video is actually an RNC staffer.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, msnbc.com, Hullabaloo, Naked Politics and The Stranger …

ABCNEWS:

Steelworker Featured at DNC Didn't Work for Bain — The Democratic National Convention on Wednesday featured three speakers billed as “former employees of companies controlled by Bain Capital.” — They each told compelling stories about jobs lost, allegedly because of the actions of Bain under Romney's leadership.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit, Jammie Wearing Fools, The Right Sphere, Weasel Zippers, GayPatriot, National Review and Viking Pundit

BuzzFeed:

Republican Staffer Breaks Up With Obama — Could they not find anyone else? — Source: youtube.com — CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Republicans are out with a new web video today highlighting their messaging push during the Democratic convention that President Barack Obama is a disappointment …

Discussion: newsfeed.time.com, Washington Wire, FishbowlDC, Jammie Wearing Fools, CNN and Daily Kos

Michael Finnegan / Los Angeles Times: Romney cedes Ohio TV airwaves to Obama (at least for now)

David Foster / 2012 Democratic National Convention:
David Foster — Former employee at a Company controlled by Romney's Bain Capital

Discussion: ABCNEWS

Eric Kleefeld / Talking Points Memo:

Romney, GOP Groups Pull Ads From Michigan and Pennsylvania — Republicans signaled this week that they might have given up hope in two important swing states. — TPM Slideshow: Romney Takes The Stage At The RNC — The Romney campaign and conservative groups like Crossroads GPS …

Discussion: The Mahablog, Booman Tribune, GayPatriot, Balloon Juice and The Stranger …

Chad Livengood / detroitnews.com:

Conservatives pull ads from Michigan — Pro-Romney groups focus on key states; Obama's campaign off air for weeks — Mitt Romney's conservative allies are bypassing Michigan with their advertising while stepping up efforts in other battleground states — suggesting campaign strategists …

Discussion: Sky Dancing, Hot Air, The Daily Dish, Daily Kos, CNBC, Outside the Beltway, USA Today, GOP 12 and The Political Carnival

James Rosen / Fox News:
Romney campaign to ‘carpet bomb’ airwaves after Obama nomination speech

Discussion: Hot Air, Power Line and Moe Lane

New York Times:

Central Bank to Snap Up Debt, Saying, ‘Euro Is Irreversible’ — FRANKFURT — The European Central Bank on Thursday announced a sweeping program for buying the bonds of troubled euro zone countries, giving the bank potentially unprecedented power. — While the bank's president, Mario Draghi …

Discussion: The PJ Tatler, Business Insider, New York Magazine, FT Alphaville and Via Meadia

Mackenzie Weinger / Politico:
Obama's DNC speech to follow soaring stocks

Discussion: Bloomberg, United States Department … and CNN

Nathaniel Popper / New York Times:
S.&P. 500 at 4-Year High as Stocks Jump

Discussion: Mother Jones, The Political Carnival, The Stranger … and Business Insider

Katie Glueck / Politico:

BET head: Republican Party ‘pandering’ to blacks, women — ‘Does the RNC really embrace African Americans, really embrace women?’ Debra Lee asks. Reuters — Close — CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Republican Party may have featured women like Ann Romney and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and The Hinterland Gazette

Log Cabin Republicans:
Barney Frank Divides, Distracts & Deceives at DNC

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Washington Examiner

BuzzFeed:
LGBT Groups Distance Themselves From Barney Frank's “Uncle Tom” Charge

Discussion: Box Turtle Bulletin, The Daily Caller and Mediaite

Jeffrey Goldberg / The Atlantic Online:

Intelligence Committee Chair Describes Explosive Confrontation Between Netanyahu and American Ambassador — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro allegedly argued over the Obama's administration's Iran policy. — (Reuters)

Discussion: “The Lid” and Israel Matzav

News/Talk 760 WJR:
Next on “The Frank Beckmann Show:”

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

Ben Pershing / Washington Post:

Bartlett suggests federal student loans are unconstitutional, invokes Holocaust — Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.) suggested Wednesday federally-issued student loans were unconstitutional. He also said disregarding the Constitution could lead down a “slippery slope” and cited the Holocaust …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Talking Points Memo, Balloon Juice, Gawker, Outside the Beltway, The Raw Story and The Hinterland Gazette

Politico:

Verdict is in: Obama levels more personal attacks — A crabby, negative campaign that has been more about misleading and marginal controversies than the major challenges facing the country? Barack Obama and Mitt Romney can both claim parenthood of this ugly child.

Discussion: CNN, Hot Air, The PJ Tatler, Outside the Beltway, Wake up America, Rumproast, Betsy's Page and WWBT-TV

Julian Pecquet / The Hill:

'Ask Osama bin Laden if he's better off than he was four years ago' — CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) will seek to boost President Obama's national security credentials in a primetime speech Thursday night that will depict the president as an unflappable commander …

Benny Johnson / TheBlaze.com:

DEATH THREAT FROM DNC DELEGATE: ‘MITT ROMNEY... I WOULD LIKE TO KILL HIM!’ — During the second day of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, TheBlaze took to Time Warner Cable Arena to speak with delegates about the most pressing issues of our time.