My Bowels Were Moved
I TiVo'd the John Edwards speech last night (yes, that is a new verb, I'm certain of it) as Parie was out at a dinner and I needed to concentrate on work, but I listened to bits of it in the background. From what I heard while typing away in another room from the TV, it sounded very familiar, with many of the same themes highlighted from his stump speech from the primary campaign. So I didn't think I was missing much. But I got my first listen to a few portions of the speech this morning on NPR driving to the office, and his passionate delivery is what puts it over the top--I actually got goosebumps while waiting at a stop light and had to remind myself to use the gas pedal.

Seems I'm not the only one. Brit Hume of Fox News was also "moved" (as noted from Salon's War Room columnist, who ran into Hume and Fred Barnes):

"Why the long face, Brit?" I asked. He didn't pause a beat. "I've never experienced a more emotional political night in my life," he said in deadpan style. "Edwards' speech was the most emotional thing I've ever heard in my life. When I heard John Edwards talking about mothers sitting at their kitchen tables I was moved. My heart was moved ... my bowels were moved."

I was somewhat flummoxed by this response, and it was unusual enough that I instantly hit the mental "save" button. I'm not accustomed to hearing about the bowel movements of TV personalities, so the precise wording burned itself into my mind (and five minutes later into my notebook).

"What about you, Fred?" I queried. Hume answered for the moody-looking Barnes. "Al Sharpton's speech got him," said Hume, adding that when people examined the transcript of Edwards' speech they would find that it was lightweight.

It's the delivery, stupid.