Joe Scarborough Rubber Room watch: The Day After

This morning I'm going to spend some time watching "Morning Joe" to see how The Scar manages to spin last night as good for John McCain.

Perhaps our first indication came at 6:03, when the news crawl under the clip from Obama's speech was about Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.

6:09 - Scar refers to Joe Biden as "a real guy", then catches himself and says "Well, Obama's a real guy too...", but his heart isn't in it. And his point has been made.

6:14 - discussion of how the economy grew by 3.3%. Scar says it's because "Wal-Mart and other stores were doing better." David Shuster, looking as if he's been relegated to being the guy who scopes out locations for "Dirtiest Jobs" on the Discovery Channel, reminds him wryly that a weak dollar makes our exports cheaper and more attractive.

6:32 - Logrolling in our time. Scar quotes WaPo's Eugene Robinson, who is also a ubiquitous presence on MSNBC:

All Americans, regardless of race or party, should think of John Lewis bleeding on that Alabama bridge -- and then think of him at Invesco Field, watching a black man accept his party's nomination. Tears are entirely appropriate.

6:33 - Hide the children. Peggy Noonan is coming. And Mika quotes from her Column of Unusual Vapidity:

I think he was saying, I'm a surprising person, but I can be president. I'm attractive, but I have depth. And by the way, the past eight years? I will be so much better than that. Take a chance. Not a gamble, a chance.

Will it work? We'll see the polls on the final convention bounce soon. We'll know some of the answer then. But I have a feeling this speech will be like the Europe trip. It will take time for people to let it sink in, and decide what they think. And I'll tell you, Mr. Obama left a lot of space for Mr. McCain to play the happy warrior next week. He left the Republicans a big opportunity to wield against him, in contrast, humor, and wit, and even something approximating joy.

Mika didn't quote that last paragraph, and I don't blame her one bit. I mean, after all, think about who's likely to speak at the Republican National Convention next week. Think about John McCain and his rendition of the Bush Beavis Giggle. Somehow "joy" isn't the word one would associate with this bunch.

7:03 - Buchanan calls last night's acceptance speech "a manly speech." This is followed by the Obligatory Obama is a Wuss remarks. I guess we ought to let these guys enjoy it while they can.

7:07 - Joe Scarborough decides that using the metaphor of "lining the bullets up" and then "firing the gun at John McCain", used in the context of a black nominee, is a good idea. Buchanan, who decries the demise of "White America", is still in manlove, says "More Rambo, less Alan Alda." Scar says "Americans love millionaires."

7:09 - They run John McCain's congratulatory ad. Funny how they don't mention the one that even a Fox affiliate questioned, that contains a frame of Obama speaking in front of a crowd with people holding up letters reading C H A N G E -- except the "C" is darkened out of existence, and the "E" is out of the frame.

7:24 - Mika opines that early reports on the speech had said it wouldn't go on the attack, and wondered if there was a last minute change. Obviously Mika has never heard of the head fake.

7:26 - Chuck Todd, who is usually more sane than this, remarks that chants of "USA!" are unheard of among Democrats. And worse, he says that this is a gesture of patriotism.

7:27 - Joey Scar makes the obligatory "San Francisco Liberals" reference, implying "gays aren't patriotic." Then he refers to "Jews and everybody else." Everyone, presumably, except Muslims.

7:43 - It seems McCain's running mate is not going to be Tim Pawlenty. Scarborough apparently didn't listen to the Clintons' speeches, because he puts out the name of Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska. He belittles the notion that a 72-year-old man with cognitive difficulties and three bouts of melanoma needs a running mate who's ready to be preisdent. Scarborough's love of John McCain is so deep he thinks McCain is immortal. Buchanan makes me laugh by saying Mitt Romney is up to the task of debating Joe Biden.

I'll tell you this much: Next Tuesday, when I wake up and don't have a job, I have plenty to do. But I'll tell you one thing I won't be doing -- sitting in front of the TeeVee watching this bunch of nimrods.