Spencerblog was otherwise engaged (the Mets were in town) when Joe Biden took to the podium at the Dem convention and accepted the nomination for Vice President.

Spencerwife thought he was awesome. But then she thought Hillary should be the Democratic nominee, not to mention the next president of the United States.

Biden can certainly be charming and he has a compelling life-story to tell. (Why he ever thought he needed to borrow the life Irish pol Neil Kinnock -- which caused him to drop out of the 1988 presidential race -- remains a mystery of human psychology.) But as has been said, a little bit of Joe goes a long way.

The whole idea of Obama putting him in the ticket was build support among middle-class and blue-collar whites, a voting cohort with which, so far, Obama has failed to connect. And to have someone on the ticket who can boast some real foreign policy experience.

Biden blasted his friend McCain last night for getting the Iraq war completely wrong.

Yet it is Biden who voted for the war (before he was against it) and forcefully argued that "the surge" of troops to beat back al-Qaida wouldn't work.

It was McCain who went out on that limb. He forcefully criticized how the Bush Administration was conducting the war. He said we went in with too few troops (and he turned out to be right). When the war was at it's least popular and in danger of being lost, he supported the surge and the tide was turned.

Biden puts on an excellent show but when push comes to shove, his judgement is not all it's cracked up to be.

Tonight, it's Obama who has to impress America, especially those Democratic and Independent voters who aren't sold on the inexperienced freshman senator from Illinois.

George Will rains on Obama's coronation here.

WSJ's Peggy Noonan is quite generous with her assessment of how the Donkeys' convention is going.

Ralph Nader is not.