Here is your Morning Brief for the morning of September 7, 2012. Give us your feedback below and tune in to Lubbock’s First News with Chad Hasty for these and many more topics from 6-9 am.

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1. Democratic Convention Thoughts

Last night was the final night of the Democratic Convention. Speakers included Vice President Joe Biden, and of course President Obama.

Vice President Joe Biden's speech was well received by the convention delegates, but I'm not sure how it played to independents. His speech got off to a bit of a slow start and lasted for 40 minutes. Biden also seemed angry near the end of the speech, and anger doesn't always play well. Biden praised President Obama and laid out the argument that he knew who the President was because he had a ring side seat to Obama's major decisions. Biden also attacked Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan throughout his speech. Biden's speech was full of inaccuracies, including one line where Biden accused the GOP and Romney/Ryan of betting against America.

President Obama's speech was interesting. It wasn't the greatest speech I've heard him deliver, and for a convention speech, it was a little out of place. Convention speeches are meant to pump up the crowd and convince the TV viewers to vote for you. Speeches at conventions are also meant to tout your accomplishments, but the President never mentioned Obamacare. In fact, the President really only mentioned 2 promises that were kept and both were dealing with war. I agree with many of the pundits out there that said the speech was like a State of the Union Address on steroids. There were a lot of goals set, which I don't mind, but given this President's record does anyone really think he will meet them?

I don't believe you will see a huge bounce in the polls for either Romney or Obama. There aren't a lot of undecideds out there right now, and those that are might be waiting for the debates before deciding who to support.

What did you think about last night's speakers?

2. Texas to Apply for No Child Left Behind Waiver (link)

Michael Williams, the new Education Commissioner, announced that the State of Texas would be joining up with over 30 states in seeking a waiver from No Child Left Behind. According to the Texas Tribune:

But unlike the other states, Texas is appealing under U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's general authority to waive federal requirements rather than under a specific waiver Duncan began offering states last year. State officials have resisted applying for the second type of waiver, saying the strings attached — like the requirement that states adopt certain college-ready and career-ready standards — amounted to federal overreach.

The request, which the state will officially file in early 2013, is for a general exemption from the law in the hopes that the state wouldn’t have to adhere to the conditions of the waiver Duncan has offered to all the states.

"The state recognizes that the lack of NCLB’s reauthorization in a timely manner has created an obsolete  system that does not adequately reflect the accomplishments of the state’s schools," Williams wrote in the letter, "This, combined with [schools] being required to meet and function within two different assessment and accountability systems, takes valuable resources and time away from the intent and focus of improving student achievement and school accountability."

Thoughts?

3. Dems Struggle to Explain Platform Fight (link)

Democrats just can't get their story together when it comes to the floor fight that broke out on Wednesday. I do have to agree with some Democrats though. It didn't sound like to me that the God and Jerusalem language passed. According to FOX News:

Democrats are still struggling to come to terms with the brief, but raucous, floor fight that erupted Wednesday at their convention over the restoration of references to God and Jerusalem as Israel's capital to the official platform.

Delegates who opposed the move were grumbling about being steamrolled by party leaders. And those party leaders were giving conflicting stories about what actually happened.

Immediately after the vote late Wednesday afternoon, platform committee head and former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland told Fox News the move was merely a "clarification" and not an "error."

But President Obama's deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter contradicted that in an interview Thursday morning with Fox News, as she explained how Obama personally intervened to restore those references.

"They were a mistake and he said we've got to fix it," she said. "President Obama didn't agree with the platform. He sought to change it."

Meanwhile, delegates who objected called the process unfair.

Rashida Tlaib, a member of the Michigan delegation and the state's House of Representatives, told Fox News that delegates had been "shammed" because it was clear the party did not have the votes to change back the language. Tlaib called it "irresponsible" and "wrong."

"It failed twice, and for whatever reason it still failed but was still pushed through," Tlaib said, referring to the three votes that were called during the brief but chaotic procedural move.

The visual from the floor Wednesday afternoon -- of delegates shouting down the convention chairman as he called the vote to restore those references -- is sure to prove ready fodder for Republicans looking to cast Democrats as hostile to religion and/or Israel.

Republicans also used the scene to mock claims that the party is "unified."

"After yesterday's convention floor fight over Jerusalem as Israel's capital and the mention of God in the platform, it's pretty hard to call this 'a unified party,'" the Romney campaign said in an email Thursday.

I'd be struggling to explain myself or my party too if I was with a group that removed God from a party platform, then tried to sneak it in while friends were booing. Pretty embarrassing.

4. Delegate Said She Wanted to Kill Romney (link)

Booing God, booing Jerusalem, threatening to kill Mitt Romney, just call it another week at the Democratic Convention.

A spokesman for the Secret Service told The Daily Caller that the agency is aware of video showing a delegate at the Democratic National Convention expressing a desire to “kill” Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

“We are aware of it,” Secret Service spokesman George Ogilvie told TheDC on Thursday.

He said the department is “taking the appropriate follow-up steps” with the woman.

Video surfaced on Wednesday of a woman identifying herself as New York delegate Julia Rodriguez telling The Blaze, “If I see him” — in reference to Romney — “I would like to kill him.”

In the video, Rodriguez says she’s from Puerto Rico but she now lives in New York. She expressed her desire to kill the Republican nominee after saying “Romney will destroy this country.”

I seriously doubt the woman is a real threat to Mitt Romney. But of course the Secret Service has to follow-up just in case. It's just funny that Democrats always accuse Republicans of being horrible people, when there are vile people on their side as well.

Other Top Stories:

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