Democratic National Convention

[Guinevere]

More unity!

[Lord Jim]

I think the Dems were very fortunate to have Michelle Obama on the speaker schedule last night...

If it had not been for her, the number one narrative that would be dominating the news analysis of the first day of the convention would have been the relentlessly childish and churlish behavior of the hardcore Bernie Bros...

Both on and off the convention floor, it began in the morning, and continued through the day, (I didn't see it, but I understand they even booed the Opening Prayer... ) and continued on through all of the major evening session speeches, (except for Michelle's) including Sanders' speech...(One thing has become very apparent; Sanders has almost no ability to influence the behavior of these cry babies. He seems to have been making repeated good faith efforts to get them to STFU, but so far they've been having none of it.)

But thanks to Michelle Obama's superbly crafted and delivered speech, her compelling and classy performance has become the top narrative in the news for day one, and pushed the truculent , no-class behavior of the spoiled whiners into a secondary position in the coverage...

It will be interesting to see if there is any improvement today, or if they're still going to be spitting their Gerber's applesauce all over the place...

[rubato]

We have been very fortunate to have Barak and Michelle Obama leading the country for eight years. They have done an exemplary job under the most difficult economic conditions since FDR was president and they bore up under a flood of vicious slander.

The same voters who elected them will elect Hillary. And the slanderers will continue to prove themselves moral pariahs.

Yrs,
Rubato

[RayThom]

This was a great speech from a dynamic First Lady.

It will also give Drumpf's next wife a future RNC speech to plagiarize when 'the Donald' runs again.

[Guinevere]

I think the Dems were very fortunate to have Michelle Obama on the speaker schedule last night...

If it had not been for her, the number one narrative that would be dominating the news analysis of the first day of the convention would have been the relentlessly childish and churlish behavior of the hardcore Bernie Bros...

Both on and off the convention floor, it began in the morning, and continued through the day, (I didn't see it, but I understand they even booed the Opening Prayer... ) and continued on through all of the major evening session speeches, (except for Michelle's) including Sanders' speech...(One thing has become very apparent; Sanders has almost no ability to influence the behavior of these cry babies. He seems to have been making repeated good faith efforts to get them to STFU, but so far they've been having none of it.)

But thanks to Michelle Obama's superbly crafted and delivered speech, her compelling and classy performance has become the top narrative in the news for day one, and pushed the truculent , no-class behavior of the spoiled whiners into a secondary position in the coverage...

It will be interesting to see if there is any improvement today, or if they're still going to be spitting their Gerber's applesauce all over the place...

Supposedly the NYDaily News had a different, much less flattering cover planned for today, but Michelle made them re-think it!

[Sue U]

Yeah, Michelle really knocked it out of the park and across the river into Jersey, nearly hitting my house. All the speakers brought their A games last night.

Tonight's headliner is Bill Clinton, who has been known to give a good speech or two himself.

[rubato]

Republicans grossly exaggerated the Hillary-Obama conflict in 2008 (and then never calibrated their beliefs with reality when she was immediately made Sec. State.). And they have tried the same threadbare thing again.

The only real difference is that Bernie is the only person to bring in significant numbers of new people into politics. Which will help Hillary a great deal in the end.

Yrs,
Rubato

[Econoline]

It will also give Drumpf's next wife a future RNC speech to plagiarize when 'the Donald' runs again.

[Scooter]

And there goes Bill O'Reilly off the deep end again, trying his best (and failing) to discredit Michelle Obama's comment about the White House being built by slaves. What "gotcha" point does he imagine he uncovered?

[MajGenl.Meade]

I didn't see O'Reilly but why would he argue with what is pretty commonly known? Slavery was legal in DC until April 1862 and the White House was built long before that. In northern Virginia, slavery was still "legal" until January 1 1863.

Is it not fairly obvious that all major construction prior to 1862 almost certainly involved slaves since both Virginia and Maryland (who ceded the land to the National government) were slave states?

In the case of the White House, it's documented. Why on earth is there any need to deny truth?

[Joe Guy]

What the world needs now... is love, sweet love....

[BoSoxGal]

I didn't see O'Reilly but why would he argue with what is pretty commonly known? Slavery was legal in DC until April 1862 and the White House was built long before that. In northern Virginia, slavery was still "legal" until January 1 1863.

Is it not fairly obvious that all major construction prior to 1862 almost certainly involved slaves since both Virginia and Maryland (who ceded the land to the National government) were slave states?

In the case of the White House, it's documented. Why on earth is there any need to deny truth?

He felt the need to point out that the slaves were well fed, housed, had guaranteed lifetime employment and were the property of contractors and not the federal government.

[Long Run]

Don't know why he wanted to step in this, but according to Time, this is the story:

After Michelle Obama looked to American history Monday night at the Democratic National Convention, when she spoke of what’s it’s like for her to live “in a house that was built by slaves,” Bill O’Reilly had a reaction that likewise looked to history—but not in the same way. The host of The O’Reilly Factor said on Tuesday that though the First Lady was “essentially correct,” the slaves who worked on building the White House, he said, were “well-fed and had decent lodgings.” He followed that up on Wednesday by emphasizing that she was correct and he was merely providing extra facts about that moment in time.

[BoSoxGal]

What a fantastic speech by President Obama! I was inspired to dial up the old speech from 2004 that I watched alone (with my dogs) in my living room in Maine and cried and said to myself, PLEASE let me live to see him as our first black President - and it HAPPENED!

And guess what? He wore the same tie tonight that he wore 12 years ago for his first DNC speech! That's the kind of thing a regular person does. He's such a decent regular guy! I will miss him terribly.

THIS was a lovely moment:

[Bicycle Bill]

I was inspired to dial up the old speech from 2004 that I watched alone (with my dogs) in my living room in Maine and cried and said to myself, PLEASE let me live to see him as our first black President - and it HAPPENED!

And with any luck, in a little less than six months you will get to see the first woman take the oath as the President of the United States.

Although .... you mentioned that you were asking (some higher power) that you be allowed to live to see Obama as our first black POTUS.  Was there something going on back in 2004 that made you think that you were not long for this world?

-"BB"-

[BoSoxGal]

No, I phrased that awkwardly. I meant only that I wanted to see HIM be President, our first black President, in my lifetime.

And later the next spring I read his book "Dreams of My Father" and saw a little bit of what kind of person he really was, what a decent human being, and then I wanted it even more!

I think he's just such a great person, a real mensch.

eta: And yes, I'm very excited to see the first woman elected president. I hope it's Hillary because we can't let the Chump happen to this country.

[Burning Petard]

I was listening to NPR for coverage of the convention last nite. Some 'astronaut' came on blathering about the mysteries of the universe and I let him drone in the background while I worked on writing something of my own. Suddenly the actual content broke thru and I realized that was Congress critter Gabby Gifford talking--AND I WAS UNDERSTANDING EVERY WORD !

I ran out to the room with the tv where my wife was doing quilting with the tv music channel in the background and I switched it to PBS tv.

There she was! Smiling, speaking as clearly as I can, but making more sense than I ever would. By the end of her speech, she was slurring the last syllable of long words. But OMG! [that is not an expletive. That is my sincere prayer of praise and thanksgiving.] She took bullets to her head! And she walked off under her own power without even a dressy walking stick!

I stayed for the last words from Brooks, telling me what I already heard, the way tv 'news talent' thinks they have to. What a night.

BUT. I think the Donald is right. He could stand in the middle of the street and shoot someone at random, and it would not cost him one vote. I only hope those people are not enuff voters. I'm with Obama. I am gonna work for the whole ballot, not just the name at the top.

[Bicycle Bill]

BUT. I think the Donald is right. He could stand in the middle of the street and shoot someone at random, and it would not cost him one vote. I only hope those people are not enuff voters. I'm with Obama. I am gonna work for the whole ballot, not just the name at the top.

I know that's what he said; maybe we can convince him to try it?
I'm sure there are die-hard Trumpanzees (like wes) out there who would probably consider it an honor to be his target.

-"BB"-

[rubato]

I'm glad to hear Gabby Giffords is doing so well. She is a real hero in fighting the gun plague.

But really I wanted to say how outstanding Obama was last night and as president. Few have done as well or against such adversity and none have exceeded his grace. His endorsement of Hillary was sincere and grounded in her record, in facts, not airy platitudes.

The Democratic speakers have shown leadership, intelligence, grace, and a positive vision for the future. The republicans speeches were uniformly negative based on hate and fear.

Yrs,
Rubato

[Joe Guy]

BUT. I think the Donald is right. He could stand in the middle of the street and shoot someone at random, and it would not cost him one vote.

He's wrong about that. What if he shot someone who was planning to vote for him?