MORNING READ

by Walter Alarkon - 08/28/08 9:08 AM ET

Both featured speakers on Wednesday at the Democratic convention, Sen. Joseph Biden (Del.) and former President Bill Clinton, are getting plaudits from liberal bloggers. But bloggers’ loudest praise is reserved for Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), who railed against John McCain in his speech. And as McCain gets set to announce his veep pick, liberal bloggers hope the Republican taps Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) while conservative bloggers oppose the former Democrat.

Clinton gave a “direct, personal and powerful endorsement” of Barack Obama and gave a “statesman-like assessment” of how the country needs change at home and abroad, writes Andrew Sullivan. Clinton made a “sophisticated case” that sounded sincere, and he stayed away from making a “touchy” defense of his own record, writes The Stump’s Michael Crowley. But while Clinton spent much of his time attacking Republicans on domestic policy, Biden, in his veep nomination acceptance speech, fired away and made McCain seem weak on foreign policy, writes Arianna Huffington.

Kerry, who rattled off McCain’s foreign policy goofs, gave the best speech of the convention so far, according to TalkingPointsMemo’s Josh Marshall. Kerry defined McCain by talking about about the “mile-wide gulf” between McCain’s positions in 2002 and his current ones, writes The Stump’s Noam Scheiber. But when Kerry calls for a more bipartisan foreign policy, he forgets that he strongly opposed President Reagan’s Cold War strategy, writes The Corner’s Jay Nordlinger.

If McCain picks Lieberman as his running mate, he’ll shatter the GOP base, according to Scott Hopkins of Democrat Taylor Marsh’s blog. One way or another, McCain is poised to disappoint conservative bloggers; Hot Air’s Allahpundit has only groans for possible picks Lieberman, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) and former eBay CEO Meg Whitman.

FROM THE BLOGS:
A Clinton Masterpiece – Andrew Sullivan, The Daily Dish
The Redemption of Bill Clinton – Michael Crowley, The Stump
On Nat’l Sec. Night, Biden Fires Away – A. Huffington, HuffPo
The Ex-President – Ezra Klein
Gravitas Man Confuses Military Terms – E. Morrissey, Hot Air
John Kerry – Wow! – Josh Marshall, TalkingPointsMemo
Kerry and What Might Have Been – Noam Scheiber, The Stump
Revise, Revise, and Revise Again – Jay Nordlinger, The Corner
Reports: Romney Out, Rove v. Lieberman – Allahpundit, Hot Air
Hoping McCain Chooses Lieberman – YF, TalkingPointsMemo
McCain Makes His Choice – Scott Hopkins, Taylor Marsh
Hutchison for Veep – No – Lisa Schiffren, The Corner