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One Last Look at the Republican Convention: the Balloon Drop!

Sat, 09/06/2008 - 9:00am by CitizenSugar
775 Views - 76 comments

I was listening to McCain's nomination acceptance speech on the radio on the way to the airport yesterday and it sounded so different than it did in the arena. I actually got to hear the fiery end to the speech, the part where he said:

Stand up, stand up, stand up and fight. Nothing is inevitable here. We're Americans, and we never give up. We never quit. We never hide from history. We make history.

In the arena that night, the whole last minute was drowned out by cheers — and then when the soaring music swelled, the confetti rained down as the harbinger of balloons and the hopeful first family took the stage, forget about it — it was a perfect end to a convention that last Monday, no one even knew if it would happen. But it did, and I'm so glad to have been there.

To see the balloon drop, read more.

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76 Comments Add a Comment

  • stephley's picture
    stephley
    1

    One positive about the Republican Convention:
    judging by the new voices on Citizen, it deeply stirred the Democratic base.

    12 weeks 5 days ago Report Comment
  • wadewifey3's picture
    wadewifey3
    3

    I thought 200,000 balloons is overkill, but I thought the confetti with their faces (Cindy is kinda cool, not McCain) on it was cool. But the big white ones with the stars I would have taken home with me.

    12 weeks 5 days ago Report Comment
  • True Song's picture
    True Song
    6

    Steph, it also boosted the dems' fundraising. Obama raised $10 million dollars the day after Palin's speech.

    12 weeks 5 days ago Report Comment
  • CitizenSugar's picture
    CitizenSugar
    8

    There was one adorable little boy I saw leaving the arena with one of the huge white balloons with the stars on it--it was as big as he was. So cute!

    12 weeks 5 days ago Report Comment
  • pinkprincess1101's picture
    pinkprincess1101
    10

    OBAMA/BIDEN 2008 change and real change that we can believe in is on its way come november 4, late birthday gift to me by three days

    12 weeks 5 days ago Report Comment
  • Michelin's picture
    Michelin
    11

    Now, now, Organic, "McCain/Palin '08!" is just as insightful. Only more relevant to the post Eye-wink

    12 weeks 5 days ago Report Comment
  • Jude C's picture
    Jude C
    13

    Now that preseason's over, it's time for the real business to begin.

    12 weeks 5 days ago Report Comment
  • stiletta's picture
    stiletta
    14

    It was a great convention. Classy, tough and dignified. Everything a Republican should be. Thank you Citizen for the reports.

    12 weeks 5 days ago Report Comment
  • hausfrau's picture
    hausfrau
    17

    Am I the only one who watched the balloon drop and thought, OH man the hippies wil be PISSED! I don't think balloons are recyclable.

    12 weeks 5 days ago Report Comment
  • yesteryear's picture
    yesteryear
    20

    actually helium is a non-renewable resource and we're running out of it... so i'm glad they let them drop.

    12 weeks 5 days ago Report Comment
  • Vespa's picture
    Vespa
    23

    Pretty sure they're not.

    What I think is interesting is that this convention was only really 3 days. I wonder if there will be a move in 2012 to shorten both to 3 days.

    12 weeks 5 days ago Report Comment
  • lickety split's picture
    lickety split
    24

    everyone i've talked to thought it was a good convention. more people are sure of their choice now. bet that was exciting there in the middle of everything Smiling

    12 weeks 4 days ago Report Comment
  • UnDave35's picture
    UnDave35
    25

    It was a great convention. It stirred the party from the "We're gonna lose" doldrums into a "We can win" attitude. I'm excited for this election again. I only hope the republican party can keep this excitement throughout the debates.

    GTR

    12 weeks 4 days ago Report Comment
  • seabee's picture
    seabee
    28

    Watching the end of the DNC on MSNBC, you'd think that the lack of a balloon drop at Invesco Field was the most interesting and bizarre thing to come this way.

    RIDICULOUS.

    12 weeks 4 days ago Report Comment
  • raciccarone's picture
    raciccarone
    29

    When the balloons drop, does that means another republican has hit puberty.

    12 weeks 4 days ago Report Comment
  • chellybean's picture
    chellybean
    30

    I have never seen so many old white people in one place in my entire life.

    12 weeks 4 days ago Report Comment
  • wadewifey3's picture
    wadewifey3
    33

    Ya there was a heck of a lot of old white people. But I really loved was how the cameras tried to get close ups on all of the 15 black people who went.

    12 weeks 4 days ago Report Comment
  • sexylibrarian's picture
    sexylibrarian
    34

    I want to know why you have to be a hippy to care about cleaning up the environment?

    12 weeks 4 days ago Report Comment
  • stiletta's picture
    stiletta
    35

    So there were white people at the convention. That argument has an undertone of racism I don't particularly care for. Are you implying that the party that ended slavery is racist? Yes, I agree, since Obama has entered the campaign, minorities would probably feel that he has their interests at heart, but that is also racist, is it not? Assuming one's stance on an issue merely from their skin color?

    Ha, ha! Now who's the racist?

    12 weeks 4 days ago Report Comment
  • stephley's picture
    stephley
    36

    This is 2008 - considering that the minorities in this country are fast becoming the majority, the lack of minorities at the Republican convention suggests that people of color do not feel that Republican policies represent or respond to their needs and hopes for the future. It is not racist to analyse what a party says and to determine that it does not speak for you. If minorities automatically supported anyone of color, Alan Keyes would have a government job today.
    It is wrong for a party to claim that it speaks for real Americans, when the racial makeup at the convention clearly suggests it speaks largely for conservative, white Americans.

    12 weeks 4 days ago Report Comment
  • hausfrau's picture
    hausfrau
    37

    When you point out an abundance of a race in a single place, thats racism. Period. I wouldn't expect anyone to be accepted walking around saying, WOW! I've never seen so many black people in one room!

    35% of the hispanic vote went to a republican in 04... At the convention that year, minority attendance was up by 70%, i can only assume thats its probably continued that trend.

    12 weeks 4 days ago Report Comment
  • hausfrau's picture
    hausfrau
    39

    i don't think you can base anything off of convention attendance since the people there are either 1) those who can afford to take the time off work and go or 2) have to be there because its their job.

    12 weeks 4 days ago Report Comment
  • myladybloom's picture
    myladybloom
    40

    Oh for gods sake i cannot stand this! I cannot stand the venom of you guys! I cannot stand you guys looking down on other people! That's it, I'm never coming back again! Not until you stop using vitriol and calling each other hippies and racists! I'm sick now and this has made me even sicker!

    12 weeks 4 days ago Report Comment
  • yesteryear's picture
    yesteryear
    41

    i'm a hippie AND a racist, and frankly i'm relieved that me and my people are finally being represented in the angry attack comments here.

    12 weeks 4 days ago Report Comment
  • stephley's picture
    stephley
    43

    When my daughter was 4, we went to a movie in a predominantly black neighborhood - she noticed that I was the only white person on the parking lot and started to laugh and said 'Look at all the brown people Mom! I feel like you're surrounded by my family now.'
    It was a startling and educational comment for me - but it certainly wasn't racist on her part.

    12 weeks 4 days ago Report Comment
  • raciccarone's picture
    raciccarone
    44

    Was Ladybloom talking about some other thread? That was like a drive by shooting.

    12 weeks 4 days ago Report Comment
  • Jude C's picture
    Jude C
    47

    Off reading Jerome Corsi's "The Obama Nation" to gather some more ammo, I assume. Smiling

    12 weeks 4 days ago Report Comment
  • myladybloom's picture
    myladybloom
    48

    Sorry, I was feeling really sick and when I'm sick, I'm much more sensitive then usual. (But then I'm sensitive all the time.) Quite frankly though, all the rampant name calling and such really gets on my nerves -- even though I know it's an election season and therefore, tension is high. I just really needed to get that off my chest, that's all.

    BTW, I'm also a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat (and proud of it!). But I think we all need to remember the words of Voltaire: "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."