This Convention is Done...

[Blue Belle]

Title: Alex Castellanos, GOP Strategist: Clinton Speech Was 'Moment That Probably Reelected Obama'
Source: Huffington Post
By: Sam Stein

Appearing on CNN shortly after Clinton finished, Alex Castellanos, a longtime cable commentator and former aide to Mitt Romney, spoke in awe of the 42nd president's address.

"I would recommend to my friend Paul Begala here, tonight when everybody leaves, lock the doors. You don't have to come back tomorrow. This convention is done," Castellanos said. "This will be the moment that probably reelected Barack Obama. Bill Clinton saved the Democratic Party once, it was going too far left, he came in, the new Democrats took it to the center. He did it again tonight."

READ THE WHOLE THING

There is a video of it too, but I couldn’t get past the commercial about Goldman Sachs being “good for women” without having a visceral reaction.

[derby378]

1. I just got finished reading how the liberals had retaken the party

Am I missing something here? Or are the "new Democrats" firmly in charge of the party now?

[fleur-de-lisa]

2. HA HA HA, HA HA HA HAAAAAA !!!!

[JustAnotherGen]

3. I'm of the opinion

That Bill Clinton called us to stand up and vote for our Liberal and Progressive values last night - not 'centrist' values.

[seabeyond]

4. no, wrong. want to hear our VP and our prez.... nt

[Blue Belle]

5. This guy is hoping/praying we don't come back tonight...

he knows their party is going down in flames and we're just getting warmed up. You can almost smell the post convention bounce from here.

[Sugarcoated]

6. I caught several segments he did analyzing the Clinton speech, here's a transcript.

COOPER: Let me go back to something Alex Castellanos has just said. I want to bring Gloria Borger in on it as well.

Alex, did you say that Bill Clinton's speech tonight will reelect President Obama?

CASTELLANOS: If Barack Obama is reelected, I think tonight will be one of the big reasons why. If a Republican convention is a hall full of crazy right-wing lunatics, this is a hall full of crazy left-wing lunatics. And Bill Clinton just gave them all a master class tonight on how to move back to the middle and win an election.

BORGER: Right. Absolutely.

CASTELLANOS: And -- but it comes at a cost. And the cost is this. This party does not belong to Barack Obama now. Daddy Bear is home.

BORGER: That's not true.

CASTELLANOS: No, no. Let me finish. He came home tonight and he said, give the kid another chance. The next four years will be better. This is the new Democrat Party again.

BORGER: Here's the thing about Bill Clinton and what he does so well, which hardly anybody does anymore, is he tells a story. He turned the last four years into a compelling story. Yes, it was wonky, had a lot of numbers, but he explained the $716 billion Medicare stuff better than anybody has said.

CASTELLANOS: It's a brass protection --

(CROSSTALK)

BORGER: And then he said, you know the thing about Paul Ryan is it takes some brass, it takes somebody who did the same thing you do. So he's speaking everybody's language. He takes complex problematic issue and then he did one other thing. To put it all in the context of the big story he said about President Obama, he said, he had it worse than I did. When I came in, we had economic trouble, but he had it worse. And you can't expect him to turn this around as quickly as I did. You've got to have some patience. He's doing the right things.

And people stayed with this speech.

[Blue Belle]

8. I friggin' hate it when they call it...

The "Democrat" party. It's insulting and no one calls them on it.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

11. Chris Matthews does

CNN, forget it.

[hifiguy]

7. All that is left is for the VP and the Prez to tie the bow

on this beautifully wrapped package.

[sadbear]

9. They're just fishing for reasons not to blame their own pathetic candidate right now.

Of course, that will come on November 7, but they can't give it away quite yet.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

10. Another Republican mind trick

A lot of backhanded slaps there.