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Night Four Report Card: Grade Obama's Speech

August 29, 2008 12:29 AM

Tonight on Nightline, George Stephanopoulos graded Obama's speech: two A's and two B's. Not too bad. But what do you think?  Was Senator Obama too harsh on his Republican rival, John McCain?   Were the fireworks over the top?

Tell us what you think, and give us your grades below...

August 29, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (85) | TrackBack (0)

GOP Veepstakes: Preparing for a Leak

August 28, 2008 7:52 PM

David Schoetz reports:

Sen. Barack Obama’s vice-presidential pick was supposed to come on his own terms last Saturday -- a text message bomb that would hit millions of people with news that fellow senator Joe Biden was Obama’a much-anticipated choice.

So much for best-laid plans.

ABC News confirmed and reported the Biden pick at 1:49 a.m. Saturday, more than an hour before cell phones started to buzz.

The timing forced "Nightline" to react. The show was updated to reflect the breaking news in West Coast broadcasts -- a situation that could play out again tonight.

The Veepstakes speculation has again moved into overdrive as Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, readies his pick. ABC News confirmed this afternoon that McCain has his mind made up and will announce the choice at an event Friday in Dayton, Ohio.

The McCain campaign may try to stave off a leak, but with the media frenzy swarming and his decision made, that could prove a tall order.

ABCNews' Chief Washington Correspondent George Stephanopolous told "World News" anchor Charlie Gibson that he has his doubts the McCain team will be able to keep a lid Republican vice-presidential pick.

ABCNews’ reporting points to four most likely picks: Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, former Massachusetts Mitt Romney, Democrat-turned-Independent Sen. Joseph Lieberman and former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge.

Stephanopolous, however, cautioned against convention wisdom and said the pick may be a "wild card." "John McCain loves surprises," he said.

Stay tuned.

August 28, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

Night Three Report Card: Grading Bill and Biden

August 27, 2008 11:45 PM

Tonight you heard President Bill Clinton say Senator Obama is "ready" to be commander-in-chief.  You also heard Obama's Vice Presidential nominee, Senator Joe Biden deliver a fiery rebuke of John McCain and the Bush administration. So what did you think about the speeches tonight?  Give us your grades below.

August 27, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (49) | TrackBack (0)

Night Two Report Card: A, A, A 'Good Night'

August 27, 2008 2:09 PM

David Schoetz reports:

An emphatic Hillary Clinton speech, Chelsea Clinton’s emotional introduction and a newfound thirst for Republican blood in the water earned the Democrats in Denver three "As" in Night Two’s "Nightline" Report Card.

ABC News' Chief Washington Correspondent George Stephanopoulos said the New York senator earned the top mark -- even if she failed to "fill in all the blanks" on the man who put a stop to her own 2008 presidential dreams.

That shortcoming at the convention’s halfway point earned a "C-," Tuesday night’s only mediocre grade. In the category of body language, including between the former first lady and would-be first lady Michelle Obama, the players scored an admirable "B+."

Will former President Bill Clinton and presumptive vice-presidential nominee Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., keep pace when they address the party faithful?

August 27, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (12) | TrackBack (0)

George's Report Card: Did Clinton Ace Night Two?

August 26, 2008 6:11 PM

David Schoetz reports:

Substance trumped style as the Democratic National Convention opened Monday night in Denver, with the party earning high marks for tugging at delegate heartstrings but flat-out flunking on the program's aesthetics, according to Night One's "Nightline" Report Card.

ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent George Stephanopoulos awarded an "A" to Democrats for maximizing on the evening's emotional highs, including stirring, surprise remarks from Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., the Liberal Lion who took the stage and moved many to tears.

"A triumphant, human moment for Teddy Kennedy, a historic and healing moment for the delegates," Stephanopoulos told "Nightline" co-anchor Terry Moran.

Success on Night One, headlined by Michelle Obama, wife of presumptive nominee Sen. Barack Obama, slipped to a "B+" when it came to "filling in the blanks" about the party hopeful. Stephanopoulos praised the would-be first lady for assuring delegates that her husband is a patriot, but was cooler on her ability to convince them he is ready to lead.

Any chance of an Honor Roll spot took a knock when Moran asked about the "bells and whistles" of the Pepsi Center stage setting, which Stephanopoulos called "garish and kitschy."

"I hated that stage," he said. "It looks like a slot machine in Reno."

On the Report Card's final subject -- the psychodrama surrounding Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., – Stephanopoulos marked an incomplete.

"We just don't know yet," he said.

Of course, Clinton will have the chance to change that tonight when she takes the stage as the Night Two headliner.

Did she make the grade? Tell us what you think.

August 26, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (83) | TrackBack (0)

Closing Arguments: Time to Change the Drinking Age?

August 19, 2008 10:54 PM

Our Closing Argument tonight:  Is it time to re-think the drinking age?

College presidents from more than 100 schools across the nation, including Duke, Dartmouth, Morehouse, and Texas A&M, are calling on lawmakers to consider changing the drinking age from 21 to 18.

They argue that the current law encourages "a culture of dangerous, clandestine, binge drinking -- often conducted off-campus."  But opponents argue that lowering the drinking age would lead to more drunk driving and fatal accidents.

What do you think?  Should they lower the drinking age?

August 19, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (71) | TrackBack (0)

Closing Arguments: Candidates at Faith Forum

August 18, 2008 10:33 PM

Senators Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) appeared at the Saddleback Civil Forum this past weekend, where the church's pastor, Rick Warren, questioned them about a range of topics from abortion to stem cell research and gay marriage. Warren says that while he believes in the separation of church and state, he doesn't believe in keeping the church and politics separate. It's imporatant to know a candidate's world view, he says, before you vote for him. Do you agree?

August 18, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (60) | TrackBack (0)

On the Road With Stephanie Meyer

August 15, 2008 6:20 PM

Stephenie Meyer says she had a dream several years ago about a teenage girl sitting in a meadow talking to a vampire.

  "I was sort of observing a very normal girl and a beautiful, sparkling vampire and overhearing their conversation and it was so intriguing to me that I wanted to write it down for me so I wouldn't forget it," Meyer said during an interview for "Nightline" shortly before a book signing event in Chicago.

  She wrote it down, and wrote some more. The mother of young children, she wrote all night and took care of children during the day. She wrote until the end result was "Twilight," a best seller about a teenage girl named Bella Swan who falls in love with the other-worldly handsome vampire Edward Cullen, who has born more than a hundred years before her.

Now, less than three years after the publication of Twilight, Meyer has published more than three thousand pages of fiction and has fifteen million books in print in the U.S. Her loyal readership of teenage girls has made her a publishing phenomenon often compared to J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books.

On the final night of her recent book tour, Meyer packed a Seattle auditorium with 2,200 fans.
"I do think there is that hole in literature right now for a girl who isn't the most popular girl in school or who has a magical power," Meyer said. "There isn't a lot of fiction with just a normal girl where you could say 'I could be her with without a lot of changes. I could step into this novel.'"

  Now with the Aug. 2 publication of "Breaking Dawn", Meyer wraps up the four-volume saga of teenage love that lasts forever.  Meyer's books take license with reality and with the tradition of vampires. Edward Cullen comes from a family of vampires that has decided it's unethical to kill and drink the blood of humans. And Edward is a boy about which a girl can only dream; good looking, considerate, always thinking about what is best for the girl he loves. He wants to devour Bella with love, and devour her at the same time.

  Meyer said, "That's what sort of gives it its tension. It's that extra aspect. It's not just life or death because your heart could be broken. It's life or death because you could die at any moment and that makes it pretty exciting for me as a writer."

  It is moral fiction with occasional lessons in life, although Meyer says that is not what she set out to write. She has written the kinds of books she would like to read. Raised in the Mormon faith in Arizona, she says she wrote the stories for herself.

"I'm a moral person so I do tend to see the world in black and white," she said. "Not big black and big white, you know little tiny checkers of it. There's always a right and a wrong in the situation. Because I'm that way I think that comes through in a lot of my characters."

Given that vampires live forever, you'd think Meyer would go on cashing in with Edward and Bella. "I could but you know I've never written stories for anybody else. And I couldn't do it now. I couldn't decide well gosh this is making a lot of money I'll throw in a another chapter. That really isn't who I am."

-Brian Rooney

August 15, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (9) | TrackBack (0)

Closing Arguments: Greatest Olympian of All Time?

August 13, 2008 10:35 PM

He eats twelve thousand calories a day, has size 14 feet and has already won eleven Olympic gold medals.  Michael Phelps is the swimming phenomenon of the modern era.  But is he greatest the Olympian of all-time?  Greater than Jesse Owens, Nadia Comaneci or Muhammad Ali? Send us your thoughts.

August 13, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (33) | TrackBack (0)

Last Flight to a 'Whole New' Beijing

August 11, 2008 11:52 AM

"Nightline" recently dispatched Segment Producer, Karson Yiu to Beijing to help cover the olympic games for ABC News.  He landed in Beijing just before the opening ceremonies started, and he's been checking in with us since then.

I was on one of the last flights into Beijing International Airport last Friday. I landed around 7:00 P.M. Beijing time, an hour before the Olympic Opening Ceremony was set to begin. As I got off the plane into gleaming, yet slightly sterilized new Norman Foster designed terminal, the airport staff already seemed to be in their last rounds of clean-up. The airport was effectively shut down; all other flights would have to be diverted to the neighboring city of Tianjin. There would be no more incoming flights into Beijing until morning. The airspace had been cleared over the Chinese capital to make way for the biggest show the city has seen in a while.

On my way into the city, it was eerily quiet. New constructions lined the freeway, dormant and dark. The roads were practically empty. The city, it seemed, was on complete lockdown. That or everybody was crowding around a TV. Every couple of minutes we would drive by an army or police squad car, with an officer standing at attention outside.
You could almost feel the pull of gravity towards the National Stadium A.K.A. the "Bird's Nest."

One of the things I noticed immediately upon arrival in Beijing, was that it didn't feel like Beijing, or at least what Beijing had been like in my mind. I have visited Beijing every couple of years since 1992 and even studied here for a semester during college, but it remains unfamiliar to me, mainly because it keeps changing. The historical landmarks stay the same, i.e. Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, etc... but the rest of the city has gone through a drastic transformation.

Back in 2002, a year after the won the bid for the Olympics, the entire city was one big construction pit. The pollution was worse than it was now (imagine), dust was everywhere and people packed the streets. None of vehicles on the road followed the traffic signals and the bigger vehicle always wins. Rusty old buses jam-packed with passengers would cut across three lanes at once, smaller cars would narrowly survive from being crushed.  Streets were also filled with the homeless and beggars. Many of them were young children who roamed the streets in groups and would literally hang on to you until you gave them something or had to physically remove them.

The rough edges had its appeal. There were "unofficial" street vendors everywhere, people selling antiques on blankets on the side of the road. Couples dancing to music pumped through the public announcement system at sundown. Barbers who set up shop on a street corner, armed only with a pair of scissors and a stool.

Fast forward to 2008. Beijing seems like a whole new city. Parts of the city are immaculate. City-sanctioned volunteers, not barbers, sit at the end of each block making sure there is no litter. Gleaming new skyscrapers like the Rem Koolhaas-designed CCTV headquarters dot the city's skyline. New air conditioned buses and taxis line the streets in an orderly fashion. The streets are no longer uncomfortably crowded and the beggars and the homeless have completely disappeared (which leads me to wonder what happened to them?). It's all very new, all very sleek, all very unfamiliar...

I know Beijing has made every effort to put on a great show but I can't help but think that Beijing has lost some of its charm. It's sort of like that scene in the recent Will Ferrell movie, "Step Brothers" where having spent much of the film in arrested development, Ferrell's character is forced to grow up and act responsible. It all seems a little forced and unnatural, like a corset bound too tight. Which begs the question, what's going to happen after the Olympics? Will Beijing maintain this gleaming image or will bindings snap loose once the international attention goes away?

I guess we'll wait and see. But at least in the meantime, enjoy the show.

August 11, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Closing Arguments: Sen. Edwards' Confession

August 08, 2008 10:27 PM

Tonight, exclusively on "Nightline" former Senator John Edwards sits down with Bob Woodruff to discuss his extramarital affair with filmmaker Rielle Hunter.  For months, Edwards had been denying reports of the affair, calling it "false," "completely untrue" and "ridiculous."  And he continues to deny reports that he is the father of Hunter's daughter. 

So what do you think?  Send us your thoughts on Senator Edwards' recent admission.

August 8, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (60) | TrackBack (0)

Closing Arguments: Hillary Clinton on the Ballot?

August 07, 2008 10:21 PM

For tonight's closing argument, we focus on the other woman in Barack Obama's life -- Senator Hillary Clinton.  A video emerged this week of Clinton delivering a strong message to supporters:  She wants her delegates recognized at the Democratic National Convention later this month. “I happen to believe that we will come out stronger if people feel that their voices were heard and their views were respected.  I think that is a very big part of how we actually come out unified,” Clinton said. Does this signal that she wants her name part of an open ballot at the convention?

August 7, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (117) | TrackBack (0)