Campaign Notes, Elections, Jamie O

Convention Cheers And Convention Boos

One thing you might have noticed is speakers at the Democratic National Convention this week can elicit both cheers and boos. Cheers for the good stuff, like running down achievements, statements about a bright future, and the mere mention of the name Kamala Harris. Boos for the bad stuff, like how GOPers view women, reminders of what Republicans have in mind for the nation, and any mention of the Orange Nightmare.

In that spirit, I am going to do my rundown of convention week with Convention Cheers, the good stuff, and Convention Boos, the bad and the stupid stuff. Let’s begin…

Convention Cheers: The convention planning team should take a long bow. This was FUN! Turn the tedious roll call into a big party? Are you kidding me? What a stroke of genius. Great musical performances, for example, from Jason Isbell and P!nk. This wasn’t the Kid Rock and Hulk Hogan D-List Celebs Convention, this was the star-studded party convention.

Convention Boos: J.D. Vance spent the week calling Tim Walz’s remarkable speech Wednesday night “dark and ominous” and ordering donuts as if he had his first interaction with a human being in that donut shop. No, really, what I guess was supposed to show Vance being a regular guy, he went to a donut shop. It did not go well. And right-wing online edgelords, mocking America’s new Beloved Kid Brother, Gus Walz, is not going to work out well for you, as our own Cassandra laid out so well yesterday.

Convention Cheers: Kamala Harris’s speech was remarkable. I think perhaps the strongest part of it was a little surprising: She had a very good foreign policy section. While I did not agree with saying no to a Palestinian speaker, she did cover the Israel/Gaza section by striking a much different tone about how America will deal with the situation in the future, which included an honest assessment of the horrors in Gaza. Beyond that, her life story is compelling and she covered a variety of domestic subjects, laying out a plan for a strong, bright future for America. And she absolutely pulled no punches on Trump. In fact, I would say she made a strong case he should be disqualified from American social and political life. You can check out more about her speech via Adrastos and his great rundown of it.

Conventi0n Boos: Someone thought it was a good idea for Trump to live troll Harris’s speech. The woman gave the speech of her life, just crushed it, and meanwhile, on Trump’s failing social network Truth Social, he made 37 deranged, strange, petty, angry, all-caps posts. At least I think it was Trump. Could have been staff. But whoever it was, all it did was drive home the contrast between a strong, compassionate, intelligent, and forward-thinking woman and a small, angry, petty, pathetic old man.

Convention Cheers: The Democratic Party has a DEEP bench. So many fantastic speeches the entire week. My personal highlights include Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who gave a remarkable speech that demonstrated she is a generational political talent. Gretchen Witmer’s shoulder brush about Trump calling her “that woman from Michigan” was perfect. My state’s governor, Josh Shapiro, demonstrated how great of a speaker he is. The Dems now-not-so-secret weapon, North Carolina Dem Party Chair Anderson Clayton, the youngest party chair in history, gave an enthusiastic speech that outlined her incredible job turning NC into a purple state. Justin Pearson, the young Tennessee state representative that the racist GOP tried to expel along with two of his colleagues, sounded like a person with maturity twice his age. I could go on.

Convention Boos: Meanwhile, the Republican Party has a giant spray-tanned weight around their neck in Donald Trump. The man is spiraling and becoming more unhinged with each passing day. For example, last night he called into Fox News and Newsmax after Harris’s speech, and he sounded like a person having a breakdown. For example:

That’s what you are stuck with, GOP. And all your people have latched themselves onto him. Who will be your future? Marjorie Taylor-Greene? Josh Hawley? Good luck with all that.

Convention Cheers: For the regular, non-politician people who spoke at the convention. Your stories drove home why this election is important, from your first-hand experiences with the horrors of post-Dobbs women’s healthcare and gun violence, to why you believe Kamala Harris can lead us to our nation’s highest potential.

Convention Boos: Media fact checking is deeply, profoundly broken. The Columbia Journalism Review has an excellent look at this. It was awful during the convention. “Actually, Trump never said SPECIFICALLY that he won’t accept the election results” is bonkers.

Convention Cheers: Will end on a cheer, to keep up the good vibes. But I think a cheer, or two, or a billion for Biden is well-deserved. The man has been arguably the best president of my lifetime, has had a lot of achievements, guided us out of a pandemic and economic disaster, and can look back on a job well done. He deserves better as far as public opinion, but I feel that history will be very kind to the man. He has handed off the future and done a damn great job of it.

The last word goes to P!nk, who just brought the house down at the convention with a powerful version of What About Us that included her daughter, Willow. How did they manage to pull off having a convention this awesome?

 

 

 

One thought on “Convention Cheers And Convention Boos”

  1. The art of fact-checking has been lost. One local station had a Verify segment to test a couple of things Vice President Harris said in her speech. While Verify conceded that Project 2025 had a detailed plan to oppress women who had the temerity to seek health care without first getting permission from a bunch of old ignorant white men, they claimed that the Felon had disavowed any knowledge or connection with Project 2025. Therefore false!

    Yeah, it’s false if you believe anything the Felon says and completely ignore the Project 2025 playbook, which specifically says they want the Felon to distance himself from it.

    The other point, which Verify grudgingly admitted was sorta-kinda true, but it needs context. Lots and lots of context. Harris said that the Trump tax and tariff proposals would cost families $4,000 or more in higher prices, which Verify said was totally true, she also said, “Call it the Trump sales tax.” Verify gallumphed in to declaim that the Felon has never ever called his scheme a sales tax. Therefore false!

    The French have a phrase for it: Couper les cheveux en quatre.

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