It was an historic speech. Some have quibbled that the Democrats were not tough enough on Bush, Cheney and McCain during this convention. Barack Obama took it upon himself to deliver the toughest punch.

Meanwhile, John McCain’s campaign is having trouble getting 10,000 people to attend his event tomorrow in Dayton to introduce his VP.

No wonder the Republicans are trying so hard to distract everyone with idiotic talking points like the stage in the stadium.

At what point do they start to look pathetic and desperate?

He did, however, lay out the choice at hand in very stark terms. The Bush presidency is a failed presidency, and John McCain offers more of the same.

Kerry rips into McCain and the GOP, mocking them for some of the pathetic personal attacks we’ve seen so far despite McCain’s claim that he would run a respectful campaign.

Here’s the speech. It’s worth watching.

I suspect Al Gore will be the guy to rip McCain to shreds tomorrow night. Gore has nothing but contempt for the current administration, and he will gladly link McCain to Bush’s failed presidency.

Obama needs to be tough as well. I have no doubt he’ll rise to the occasion given his history with speeches. He needs to show some passion, and he needs to draw very clear distinctions with McCain.

The best part of the speech was his authenticity and sincerity. Biden is a regular Joe with an inspiring family story, and that came across in the speech. He demonstrated how deeply he cares about the issues at hand.

Having Obama join him onstage was a great idea. Obama and Biden look very comfortable together.

Overall it was a good night.

I always said she would do what was needed at the convention. She did more than anyone could have expected. Great job.

Bob Casey actually introduced a pretty good line. After pointing out that John McCain voted with George W. Bush over 90% of the time, he said that McCain shouldn’t be referred to a “maverick,” but instead should be referred to as the “sidekick.” Frankly, if this was written by the Obama campaign, they probably should have had a better speaker deliver it, but at least Casey did a decent job with it.

Michelle Obama gave a great speech, which was capped off with a great moment when the Obama daughters came onstage. Michelle needed to soften her image, and she accomplished that last night. I suspect the speech went over very well with Hillary’s female supporters.