11:27 - From Devilstower: "John McCain's Theme for the Evening: I will reach across the aisle and work in a bipartisan manner with anyone who will help me enact every single item on the radical conservative wish list."

11:20 - Andrea Mitchell said these are the biggest balloons she's ever seen in her life.

From the comments: "Didn't know Andrea Mitchell had a balloon fetish." - Oddity

11:17 - Well, one thing's for certain.  John McCain put country first.

11:12 - From Andrew Sullivan: "And then a final sudden, almost surprising rally of energy. He seemed to me to have more energy and passion in the last two minutes than the rest of the speech combined."

That's because Andrew Sullivan is wrong.

11:08 - "zzzzzzzzzzzzz....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...oh wait, its over?" - Zach.

That's because Zach is right.

11:07 - Keith Olbermann agrees with Michael. That's because he's also wrong.

11:06 - "Barracuda?" Either Sarah Palin just walked on stage, or Joe Lieberman is playing Guitar Hero III on that giant screen. - Eric March

11:06 - Look, it's John McCain and his two beauty queens.

11:05 - Michael thinks the end was genuinely stirring. That's because he's wrong. This "Raisin' McCain" song is the best part of the speech.

11:04 - Manufactured excitement there at the end. There must be an applause sign.

11:02 - But I don't want to teach George Bush to read.

11:01 - "The Mavrick"? Guess we found that illiterate adult. - Eric March

11:01 - "I will fight for her as long as I draw breath, so help me God." Unless a younger, hotter country comes along.

11:00 - From the comments: "New sign outside of Oval Office: You must be this bloodied from torture to enter this ride." - Punditphoelia

10:56 - I think "POW" is the new "9/11."

10:53 - So, he's attacking Obama for never having been a POW? Serves Obama right!

10:51 - You hate war? Then why is that the only thing this convention ever talks about? Well, besides drilling.

10:50 - "We can't turn a blind eye on aggression." Unless it's ours! And then, we should never relent.

10:49 - Did Georgia's lobbyist add that part to the speech?

10:47 - This is not inspiring me to donate to the DNC. That can't be a good sign for McCain.

10:45 - Faster, baby! Drill, Drill!

10:44 - From the comments: "'We believe in communities.' But we can't f($&ing stand anyone who organizes them!" - Derrick Clement

10:42 - My opponent's three-cent tintanium tax doesn't go too far enough.

10:39 - Boooo!!! Wait, what was that? Oh, yeah... Boooo!!!

10:38 - We believe in women making almost as much money as men for equal work.

10:36 - We believe in off-shore drilling.

10:35 - From the comments: "Last night was like a drunken, one-night stand. The day after you wake up with this and wonder what the Hell were you thinking." - Biff

10:34 - I've seen Sarah Palin's speech. And this, sir, is no Sarah Palin's speech.

10:33 - Bill and Sue Neeby! Yay!!!

10:31 - He's really marrying himself to Iraq, isn't he?

10:30 - Now he's in front of a blue screen!

10:29 - More distancing himself from the Republican brand. Pay no attention to that elephant in the room behind the curtain!

10:28 - Change is coming? Is he co-opting Obama's slogan?

10:27 - This isn't a particularly riveting speech so far, is it?

10:25 - Wow. The only interesting things in this speech so far are the Code Pink protesters and Sarah Palin.

10:24 - What the fuck is wrong with security that they can't keep a bunch of women dressed all in pink out of the stadium?

10:23 - Code Pink! Code Pink! Code Pink! Code Pink! Code Pink!

10:21 - Wow. He respects Barack Obama. And Sarah Plain respects Hillary Clinton.

But who respects John Edwards? Must be David Vitter.

10:20 - That's right. Show his mother. Tell everybody she's "96 years young" so that 72 seems young by comparison.

10:18 - Why didn't they just cut out the middle man and put him in front of a rampaging dinosaur or an Iraqi mosque?

10:16 - It's not even a green screen!  It's a lawn.  This was very very poorly thought through.

10:15 - OMG he's in front of a green screen again!  Didn't they learn their lesson?

10:14 - The "John McCain" chanters are competing with the "U.S.A." chanters.  Don't they know it's "Country First?"

10:13 - Geez, and I thought Obama looked like a rock star.

10:12 - The audience didn't know it was time to applaud, and to be fair, the VO guy did sound like he was about to say something else.

10:11 - Even his mom knows the talking point.  Country first.  Country first.  Country first.

10:11 - This is actually quite touching.

10:08 - I bet we're about to hear the words "footsoldier in the Reagan army."

10:05 - At his core he's a mama's boy?  This is a plus now?

10:04 - The McCain biopic has started. Is this the theme music to Dallas?

9:56 - Cindy McCain finished ahead of schedule.  Now they're going to have put on some filler act to entertain the audience.  I'm hoping it's Karl Rove, that guy get jiggy with it.

9:54 - Cindy sounds very rehearsed, like she's just reading lines.  I have trouble even believing her when she said "I have loved him with all my heart for almost 30 years."

9:51 - Which is more beautiful?  Cindy McCain or the vista behind her?

9:49 - I've heard the adoption story before and it's very touching, but in this rendition, Cindy made it sound as though she'd kidnapped them.

9:42 - Cindy McCain: "I hit a home run with John McCain." And I'm not the first. - MK

9:40 - Just said that America is the most generous country in history. That makes me really proud. Especially when I don't think very closely to the actual meanings of the words.

9:33 - Jesus! We actually made it out of that peace protest jumblefuck. But only by dressing up as a cop and an arachist and pretending to beat each other up. Extra special thanks to Matt for liveblogging the O'Reillybamarama thing.