I watched the Democratic virtual convention from start to finish. While all the commentary afterwards focused on Michelle Obama and her gracious remarks, the speech that wowed me was that of Bernie Sanders. He was focused, powerful, and passionate.
He spoke for less than 9 minutes. Please watch.
Trump tweeted yesterday afternoon about divisions between the Sanders and Biden camps. That’s not what you will hear from Bernie. Trump is lying and trying to sow division, which is what we have come to expect. Listen to Bernie.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I certainly hope Bernie’s statement will prevent the efforts by some commentators to exaggerate the progressive versus “moderate” camps in the Democratic party. That is minor stuff when compared to the prospect of Trump staying in office and clearly aiming for that by every means possible. Unless Biden wins by a landslide Trump, Bill Barr, and his Republican cronies will pull on every tactic possible make sure Trump will to stay in office, including whatever that “October Surprise” is supposed to be.
Yep. We are living in very dangerous times.
Why do Democrats have to win by a landslide while the GOP can “win” by a few thousand votes, by the Electoral College or by 5 people on the SCOTUS? But you are right, the Democrats will have to win by a landslide or at least by a very large margin. This is the tragic state of affairs we are in for the 2020 election cycle.
I agree completely with this sentiment. But, alas, it all comes down to the ancient idiocy of the electoral college.
Mainstream Democrats have often challenged Bernie’s loyalty to the Democratic Party. This speech was all about working together to put a dangerously flawed authoritarian out of office. Bernie’s speech was about unity and collaboration. He also mentioned that the progressive movement is bigger than he is, and the movement is alive and well. Bernie intends to ensure than progressive voices continue to be heard in the party. I thought Bernie’s message was one that many of his supporters needed to hear. I hope they show up to vote for Biden.
I love Bernie. Thanks, retired teacher.
Where was the love for Bernie before he was torpedoed by Obama and the establishment?
Exactly. And despite his efforts on Biden’s behalf, he’ll be blamed if Biden loses, just like he was when Clinton lost, even though he campaigned harder for her than she did for herself.
The establishment Democrats are still running the DNC. Perhaps the establishment is also seeing that more young progressives are winning their elections, and leaning left is happening in the party whether they like it or not. I also think Biden and Bernie have a genuine positive relationship despite their ideological differences. By the way I hope Katie Porter runs for Kamala Harris’ Senate seat. That would be a big win for progressives.
I second that Katie Porter vibe. She’s so authentic and would be a wonderful partner with her former teacher, Elizabeth Warren (unless she becomes our next Treasury secretary).
NYCPSP, are you not going to answer this?
Where was the love for Bernie when he was telling his supporters to vote for the democrat because Trump was a dangerous autocrat?
Oh yes, the ones who actually respected Bernie listened to him, and the ones who only pretended to support Bernie spent all of their effort to normalize Trump, treating Bernie Sanders as if he was either a lying and untrustworthy crook, or a foolish idiot who should be ignored.
Remember that dienne77 herself apparently knows without a doubt that Bernie Sanders was working tirelessly to elect a democrat to defeat Trump in 2016.
And yet dienne77 has so little respect for Bernie Sanders that she decided to belittle Bernie and not just refuse to vote for the democrat, but also go out of her way to prove what an idiot Bernie Sanders is by working hard to prove that Bernie was 100% wrong and she would prove it by spending all of her time normalizing Trump and demonizing the very democrat that the man she didn’t trust – Bernie Sanders – was supporting.
If anyone treated Bernie Sanders as if he was corrupt and a fool, it was the small segment of his supporters who are certain Bernie is lying to them.
I am a Bernie supporter and voted for him in the primary — however I would never be so racist as to suggest that all of the people who did NOT want Bernie were being mind-controlled by some evil DNC. It is so insulting to them, and the fact that it is usually white people insulting African American voters does not go unnoticed by me.
Notice it is never Bernie Sanders making ugly racist innuendoes that it was the DNC who were mind controlling African American voters to prevent them from supporting Bernie.
It is always his white supporters who only listen to Bernie when they think it will help elect Trump, and dismiss Benrie as a corrupt fool when he is telling them how dangerous Trump is.
Robert Rendo, I am certain that believed every word Bernie said.
I am also certain that dienne77 thinks Bernie was lying and it’s no big deal if Trump is re-elected because the democrat would be just as bad.
Bernie gets a lot of respect, which is why he was given a lot of time to speak (much longer than mainstream democrats who also ran in the primary like Amy Klobuchar).
But Bernie gets trashed by people like dienne77 when he isn’t telling those people what they want to hear. Then they don’t believe one word Bernie says.
Bernie’s message is bigger than Bernie. He has inspired a generation of Democrats that want to retool our democracy so that it works for everyone. We need to get the dead wood out of Congress. Bernie’s revolution will be more of an evolution, I hope.
Reminds me of how LBJ vented about JFK throughout his vice presidency and presidency. Not.
I love Bernie. He’s so smart and ethical.
America needs him.
Reblogged this on Lloyd Lofthouse and commented:
LISTEN to what Bernie Sanders really said at the virtual Democatic Convention, not to Donald-Eek-Thinly-Skin-Trump’s endless lies and hate.
I appreciate Bernie’s unifying message. I only hope all of his followers will heed his call to rally behind Bernie. We need to purge the Oval Office of this orange excrement. masquerading as a President.
Amen to that!
I don’t think anything Sanders says is going to garner enthusiasm for Biden. Its Biden’s job to convince voters that he’s whats right for the country. I’m not going to vote for Trump or anything, but I haven’t seen the case to vote Biden yet.
Are you without any views of your own about what’s right for the country? What is your alternative to Biden, if any? It does not to appear to be Sanders.
If you haven’t seen the case to vote for Biden yet, I’m assuming you’ve just awakened from a four year coma. 🙄
Bernie last night: “The future of our democracy is at stake.” He definitely didn’t make the case.
GregB,
Have you ever seen SPITLOGIC on here before? He is a right wing troll, and nothing Bernie says would convince him to turn away from Trump, who is very popular with right wing trolls like spitlogic.
I know what you mean, NYCSP. Just practicing for the attacks that will come. Helps me to recall thing more easily when I write them out. And what kind of logic can be found in spit? Even a warm bucket of it?
lol! I need to practice more too!
So SPITLOGIC….you’re not going to vote for Trump, but your not going to vote for Biden either. Well, maybe you will vote for the Green Party Candidate or for Kanye West….either of which is a vote for Trump. I can see through your “logic”….you should go and troll somewhere else.
For the record I voted for Bernie in the primaries. He was my number one candidate. Biden was somewhere at the bottom. My vote is not free. I don’t vote to vote against anyone. I vote FOR the candidate. So my question to everyone who has made accusations against me, what is it about Biden that makes you enthusiastic about voting for him? What is the Biden platform that is so much better than Trump?
“What is the Biden platform that is so much better than Trump?”
My goodness, you must pull your head out of your wazoo. It’s already causing brain damage. We now have an example to refute the phrase teachers use far too often. There are such things as stupid questions.
Will you answer my question?
Just for giggles–I’m sure you’ll ignore this, but what the hey–please list how they are similar or where there a little differences. I’ll get the popcorn while you think (?) it over.
Trump and Biden both want to increase funding to the police.
Trump and Biden both have allegations of sexual assault against them.
Biden was responsible for the crime bill and stands by it to this day.
Trump has been associated with Nazis while Biden is associated with (and still defends) segregationists.
I would probably have to dig deeper to find more similarities, but their personalities mean nothing to me. Its their position on the issues. Biden is a corporate conservative. He does not represent progressive ideology.
Spitlogic,
If you see no difference between Biden, a decent man, and Trump, the worlds most indecent man, you are a Trump troll. Go haunt some other blog.
Try this: Every single item on Biden’s platform is better than anything Trump has done for almost four years.
Plus restoration of the rule of law and appointment of competent people to the Cabinet instead of a grab-bag of hardened right wingers intent on destroying the federal government.
Like Bill Barr as Attorney General?
Like Ben Carson?
Like Betsy DeVos?
Like Trump’sreliguous zealots on Supreme Court?
Bernie doesn’t.
You mentioned people he would appoint to positions. Thats different than a platform. For me, there are three things that have been a deal breaker for me with Biden:
1) We are in a pandemic and Joe Biden is still against Medicare for all.
2) We have been going though a reckoning with policing and Joe Biden is still against legalizing marijuana.
3) Joe Biden has not promised to end the foreign wars we are currently in.
If his platform added one of those three things I would more than likely vote for him.
Spitlogic…..so you have your 3 issues. I get it. But Trump and his administration are looking to cut Medicare and SS. Trump wants to further militarize the police (lets just forget legalizing marijuana right now….it’s really not an issue). Trump keeps stirring up crap with other countries to keep the military establishment rolling right along. I loved Bernie Sanders and voted for him both times in the primaries. I hated HRC but still voted for her because I could see what would happen if Trump was elected (I’ve gotten more than I imagined). What I want from Biden is some calmness and some kindness. I want some Democracy….and that is what Biden will deliver…even if he is MEH. I’m tired of political theatrics, temper tantrums, lying, stealing and the general destruction of democracy. I’d vote for a toilet brush over Trump if that was my only option. I’m done….not gonna engage you anymore cause you’re a troll….peace out!
Let’s work our way backward, shall we? There is no such thing as a progressive ideology. There are ideas, but no ideology. Indeed, I would argue if you have an ideology, you fundamentally don’t understand what it means to be American. Theocracies, totalitarian and authoritarian states are built on ideologies; the notion that answers are predestined, immutable and outside the realm of debate, or more fundamentally, can be fallible. The United States is not. Indeed, the idea that an unhindered free market decides all is very much an ideology, one that does not take into account history, experience or is able to deal with realities that don’t fit the ideological framework. That’s what doctrinaire Republicans believe. That’s what racists believe. That’s not what Americans who understand the constitution or our history believe. You may claim to be a Bernie bot, but Bernie would be the first to refute your views, and he has done so consistently. The American experiment is ever-changing; it doesn’t have time for ideologies and when ideologies do prevail, the machinery of American democratic-republican ideas grind to a halt and breed extremism.
Moving backwards, to equate fascism with the reality that one has to work with people who support unpalatable ideas in a democratic process, again, oversimplifies and denigrates the American political system as it is designed to function, warts and all. Please read some history of the civil rights movement and how JFK’s views changed, how LBJ found his voice, Woodrow Wilson and the entry of the US into WWI, Lincoln’s evolving views with respect to national unity and slavery, Madison’s refutation of many of the principles he espoused at the constitutional convention once he became president, Jefferson’s purchase of Louisiana–just for starters. Since Americans are generally not ideologues, their views do not remain static.
I was in DC and worked in the Senate when the crime bill was passed. That was the early 90s. You know what, experience has shown us the error of what was largely common wisdom then. The notion that the Biden of today (or any of us, for that matter) is the same person of the Biden then is ridiculous. You also fail to mention his authorship of the Violence Against Women Act. Was that wrong then? Are there improvements to be made now that we know more? If you are an ideologue, the answer is no. If you are a pragmatic American, the answer is: of course there are.
As for allegations, I’ve heard people say that you are a pig f*cker. At least that’s the allegation. And all allegations are equal, aren’t they? See how that works? Allegations are nothing without evidence. So stick that sentence where it belongs.
Finally, a blanket statement that has no basis in fact such as “both want to”, once again, ignores nuance, experience and facts. If you were a student of American government, you would know that “the police” is, because the of the 10th amendment, largely a state and local responsibility. At the federal level there are incentives that can be shaped by pragmatic priorities.
But you gave yourself away in your final comment. If you adhere to an ideology, you don’t belong here and it’s time to troll elsewhere. This is a place for the discussion of ideas, not of ideological certainty. It is a place of disagreement, often strenuously so, but always with the expectation that our opinions change or remain steadfast based on experience, history and reasonable hopes and expectations. We also understand the American political process, at least how it is designed to function. That means in a we have to make compromises while keeping our principles to fight another day. The very opposite of an ideology.
I’m not sure if what you stated addresses the fact that Biden has not moved an inch on any of these three issues, but talking ideals VS ideology has little to do with my stance on issues and what my leadership is willing to do in order cater to that stance. If I used polling as a metric most Americans want universal health care, legalized marijuana, and our troops home. If there is swelling support for something and you don’t cater to that then why should I vote for you?
Your reqts for voting for Biden seem to me unrealistic/ Utopian/ binary
1) we will reach universal healthcare [“Medicare for all”] only incrementally. This should be obvious from our current system which is all-privatized for those under 65, except for the small window of Obamacare, patching through some while penalizing others. The private insurance empire will not be vanquished in one admin– cannot even be done in one fell swoop without causing huge economic dislocation. Personally I like the current Dem vibe: “Medicare for all” on the horizon, a goal harped on by progressive wing, & a prez candidate promising to move us closer to goal.
2) please don’t tell me you’d stay home or cast a 3rd-party vote because Biden is not pushing legalization of marijuana?!
3) re: promising to end the wars we are currently in: this was Trump’s promise; he has hardly followed through. He sent more troops to Afghanistan, worsened the situation in Syria, betrayed Kurds in Iraq, bows out of Yemen while genuflecting to Saudi Arabia. All very complex situations: I’d be more comfortable w/a prez who had considerable foreign policy experience under his belt.
I want to believe that what I consider fair and right is not unrealistic. I believe that a democracy should reflect the views of most people. Since most people feel the way I do, why doesn’t Biden cater to those demands? Even if he gave lip service to it (which he hasn’t) I would be more likely to support him. I don’t think thats too much to ask.
Biden was chosen by the majority of the Democratic Party. Bernie Sanders enthusiastically supports him. If that’s not good enough for you, vote for Trump.
Bernie Sanders threw down the gauntlet yesterday evening. SPITLOGIC (and a very few others here) are now telling us that nothing that Bernie says should be trusted because Bernie Sanders is a liar, and that’s why they don’t believe a word Bernie said. Those people like SPITLOGIC, who just posted that he doesn’t believe Bernie Sanders is telling the truth, plan to do the opposite of what Bernie asked them to do since they don’t trust Bernie at all.
The people who DO trust Bernie Sanders (like me) voted for Bernie in the primary because they wanted him to win. And they wanted him to win the primary because they trust and believe him. That is why they are now voting for Biden/Harris, because they trust and believe Bernie Sanders.
The people that say that Bernie is lying to them now clearly don’t trust Bernie at all and never did, and thus we can hypothesize that they voted for Bernie only because they thought Trump would have an easier time defeating him.
It is not surprising that those people who are now calling Bernie Sanders someone who should not be trusted are the very same people who were posting that the Mueller Report totally exonerated Trump and that impeachment was a “nothingburger”. They trust William Barr a lot more than they trust Bernie Sanders or AOC.
In short, they are claiming to be Bernie supporters while posting Republican troll talking points. I guess the kindest thing one could say about them is that it isn’t that they are liars with no consciences who pretend to be progressive, it is just that they are no different than the people who paid Trump thousands of dollars to learn how to get rich at Trump U. and they believe right wing propaganda more than Bernie Sanders and science.
They are no different than the birthers who say Obama and Kamala aren’t eligible to be president and who say that COVID-19 is a hoax. Maybe some truly believe it because they trust in Trump, and others just like saying it to hurt African Americans or other people they don’t like.
In either case, if anyone isn’t to be trusted, it is someone claiming to be a Bernie supporter who keeps saying that they don’t trust Bernie. Um, sorry, not believable.
Spitlogic. Like you, I was fully behind Bernie in the primary. And now, LIKE BERNIE, I am behind Biden in the general election. Four more years of Trump will be disastrous. The fellow who, with Miller and Sessions, created candidate Trump, Steve Bannon, says that if Trump wins in November, we will then see him “off the chain.” Well, we’ve seen him off the wall and out of his mind already, off the chain too will be too much. Do you really think we will make more progress toward reforming our ridiculous drug laws with Bill Barr as Attorney General for four more years? My take, and I hope you will think about this: There will be time enough for squabbles at the family dinner table AFTER Don the Con is removed from office and his Whiter House has been fumigated. If Bernie gets this, why don’t you?
The reason is Bernie does what he is told. He made a promise before the primaries that he would support the nominee. I made no such promise and never will. My vote has value. I will not just give it away because someone thinks I should. I have to be convinced. Otherwise no candidate has to do anything to get elected (similar to what Biden has been doing now) because the vote is already in the bag.
SPITLOGIC,
Go ahead and vote for Trump. It’s your right as an American. Stop wasting space baiting others to persuade you not to. Vote for him. It’s ok.
I’m not voting for trump.
I don’t care whom you vote for. I do ask that you not use my blog to disparage the only alternative to the worst president in history.
My intent wasn’t to use your blog. I was just stating my opinion, which turned into me defending it from numerous individuals. Please accept my apologies.
Well, it sounds like it has value to Donald Trump. Congrats on your support for a racist, sexist, anti-immigrant, classicist, criminal fascist and traitor.
Kant put it this way, Spitlogic. You should act in a way that you would like to see become the general rule. That’s the categorical imperative. If people follow your general rule, Trump will be president for four more years, McConnell will run the Senate, abortion will be outlawed, affirmative action will end, and so will legal immigration from any but Nordic countries. Elephants and great apes and lions will disappear from the wild because they are shot by trophy hunters. The water in many of our cities will look like that in Flint, Michigan. And much, much more. Thanks for nothing, Spitlogic. You can sit atop the disaster and congratulate yourself on how principled you are.
Bob,
You made a list of people who might speak at RNC. It was supposed to be a joke but the couple from St Louis who threatened BLM protestors with guns is on the program! Who else?
They can’t get Mussolini. He’s dead.
But they can have Bill Barr play the bagpipes! Since no performing artist wants to be associated with them, except, perhaps, for Ted Nugent and Kanye.
These folks, Diane, are becoming almost impossible to parody. They do such a great job of parodying themselves.
Please repost your list of proposed speakers and honorees at RNC convention. It may turn out to be prophetic.
Well, I started out thinking that perhaps Spitlogic was an actual Bernie Democrat and just extremely uninformed. Now, I’m thinking that he probably is a Trump troll. He’s a Bernie supporter but believes that Bernie just does what he’s told? He thinks that Tara Reade is credible but that Dr. Ford isn’t? These strain credulity to the breaking point. I hate to think that I wasted my time trying to educate this person.
And, Spitlogic, you asked for real differences between Don the Con and Joe Biden.
Do you care about climate change? Biden has committed to reaffirming the Paris agreement and to an enormous program to shift away from fossil fuels and to convening our allies immediately after his election to form a new agreement that will actually meet reduction goals for greenhouse gases. Trump says that climate change is “just weather” and champions what, in his utter idiocy, he refers to as “clean coal” and is fighting state auto emission standards and has cut federal regulations for energy-efficient appliances. You don’t see a difference?
Do you care about women’s reproductive rights? Biden has committed to protecting those. Trump has stated that women who have abortions “need to be punished,” he has brought suit to allow institutions to eliminate coverage for birth control, he has committed to appointing only anti-abortion judges to the federal bench and to the Supreme Court. You don’t see a difference?
Do you care about the environment? Trump has eviscerated regulations protecting our air and water and endangered species. Biden would reinstate and strengthen these. You don’t see a difference?
Do you care about protecting Europe from invasion? Trump has told aides that he wants to withdraw from NATO. He has alienated all our allies. Do you seriously think that this is the course that Biden would take?
Do you care about the possibility of nuclear war? Trump has withdrawn from the INF and Open Skies treaties at the very time when his handler Vlad has developed hypersonic nuclear missiles. You you seriously think that Biden would behave no differently?
One could go on and on. But that should be enough for any sane person.
At least those are some issues for Biden that I can agree with. Most people on this thread seem to regress to name calling. European invasion and nuclear war is not a likely scenario. I do struggle with the possibility that women’s abortion rights may be taken away. Still, I am not convinced that Biden is the best person for the job. He is the lesser of two evils.
The lesser of two evils (if that were true) would be better. You don’t think the Open Skies Treaty or the NATA alliance matter?
Do you care about immigration reform? About DACA? Do you actually think there’s no difference between Biden and Trump on these issues? Trump yelled at his Secretary of Homeland Security in a meeting because she said she couldn’t follow his orders and SHOOT asylum seekers at or border.
What about clean water and air? Those don’t matter?
It’s not at this point about who might be “the best person for the job.” There is a modern Democratic candidate. And there is a vile, fascist, racist, sexist, classist, predatory, criminal cretin. The choice has never been clearer.
For me the clear choice is neither. I have voted since ’96 and I have voted for the lesser of two evils once. I hated it and will never do it again.
A vote for neither is a vote for Donald Trump. Trump, who systematically excluded African-Americans from his apartments, Trump who calls Nazis “good people,” Trump who has the whitest administration in recent history, Trump who calls the millions of Americans in the streets calling for an end to systemic racism “terrorists,” sends paramilitary goons in to teargas them and beat them up and fire weapons at them. Trump, who wants to preserve monuments to advocates of slavery who committed war crimes against African-American soldiers. Something else, Spitlogic, that you need to read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_views_of_Donald_Trump
Don’t spit on logic. Vote for Joe Biden this November.
And when Trump took a million American poor kids off the school lunch rolls, guess what? Most of those kids were black and brown. Do you really want not to vote against the opponent of the man who steals food from children? Literally, food from the mouths of kids.
Spitlogic, the woman who made the claim against Biden wrote and published what can only be described as a love letter to Vladimir Putin, which she then took down when the press drew attention to it. And Putin, of course, wants his Agent Orange back in office. I don’t think she’s at all credible.
You post about women’s rights in one reply and then seem to say that because a woman wrote something about Putin, she couldn’t have been sexually assaulted? Have you seen the circumstantial evidence around that situation?
I did not say that she couldn’t have been sexual assaulted. I said that all this seems quite suspicious.
I would like to know if you had the same suspicious when Dr. Ford came forward against Kavanaugh.
No, but I didn’t have reason to have such suspicions. Please refer again to my observation and to Dr. Ravitch’s. Thank you. BTW, whataboutism is illogical.
We know, Spitlogic, that Trump is in the pockets of Putin and other Russian kleptocrats. IF this is not obvious to you, you haven’t been paying attention. We also know that the Russians have a long history of using sex charges against opponents. Intelligence services look for weaknesses in their targets. In Biden’s case, he’s an effusive fellow who has been charged with being too inclined to hug women (though he does this with others, too). The media made a big thing of this. So, my take is that the Russian intelligence services saw an opening to continue their well-documented covert attempts to influence the US elections in favor of their oh-so-useful idiot.
And, of course, after she wrote the love letter to Putin and after Biden announced his candidacy, she completely changed her story about him. All of this stinks to high heaven. I don’t trust it AT ALL. There is no comparison here between Biden and Trump, who has a horrific history with women and has numerous cases of sexual assault and rape waiting in the wings to be brought against him the moment he is no longer protected by Presidential immunity. Do you really want to go on record supporting an accused serial predator who talks about how sexy is own daughter is?
Spitlogic: I recommend that you (and every other voting-age American) review this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump_sexual_misconduct_allegations
In short, there was no credible reason to doubt Dr. Ford’s account, and “Justice” K didn’t exactly acquit himself convincingly in his nomination hearing. But there are significant reasons to doubt the charge against Biden. I’m with Dr. Ravitch. This person sounds like a fabulist.
Justice K likes beer!
Among MANY other crimes, Trump stands accused of raping E. Jean Carroll in a department store changing room. He is currently fighting, in court, a request to supply his DNA in this case (a simple matter of a mouth swab). If the case were meritless, as he claims, why wouldn’t he do this, since it would be certain to exonerate him? Why? Because he is guilty, that’s why. Also have a look at the following, which took place at one of the homes owned by Trump’s pals Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. This woman dropped her case not because she thought she might lose or because it was trumped up but because she was made to fear for her life: https://www.snopes.com/news/2016/06/23/donald-trump-rape-lawsuit/
When asked about Ghislaine Maxwell, who has a year to rot in a horrible detention center before her trial, Trump said he “wishes her well.” Why the good wishes for the accomplice of a convicted sexual predator? What does she have on him?
Trump’s vileness is in plain sight. One has to willfully close one’s eyes not to see it.
Bob, I wrote here that I reviewed the many and varying accounts of Biden’s accuser. I concluded she is a fabulist. What she claimed was literally impossible in the corridors of the Senate Office Buildings. Men who assault women don’t do it just once. Trump brags about his sexual exploits with multiple women.
Thank you, Diane. Very important!!!
I guess we will have to agree to disagree that Biden is fit to be president. There is a big problem with our government and our political process to the point where someone with a questionable record, mental state, and policy platform can have swelling support because the media says so. I have never voted for a candidate just because I hated the competition. I refuse to do so now.
My guess is that you are young. I am 56 yrs old and my voting days started during the Ronald Reagan era. I have ALWAYS had to place the “LOTE” vote. For a time, I wouldn’t vote at all (big mistake on my part). Bernie Sanders was the 1st candidate that wowed me and it was the 1st time that I was voting FOR something/someone. The fact is that Bernie wouldn’t have gotten everything done either had he won……democracy has a process and there are those that will ALWAYS block the process because of their own ideals (greed usually). It’s not really the President that we vote for, it’s the people who will be brought into “the process” to get the important work done. So Biden doesn’t “wow” me, but Kamala Harris does, and I’m sure he’ll tap Elizabeth Warren for some position, and he’s listening to Bernie Sanders. I don’t get exactly what I want, but I really like some of the people who will be doing the very important work and I think that progress will be made on many of the issues you hold near and dear. First though, we need Democracy to be reinstalled in the WH and we need some human decency and some kindness…all things that Biden can handle. Vote Blue like your life depends on it….it really does.
I wish it were that simple. I wish the establishment could be persuaded. I want to believe that Bernie has some influence over the corporatists in our government, but he doesn’t. He won’t have a position in Biden’s cabinet. He will get a platform. He will be able to speak, but thats about it. If things are a serious as everyone is saying then where is the compromise. Has Biden added any of Bernies polices into his own? Even a little? I haven’t seen it, but if you’ve come across some information that would contradict what I believe to be true; please share.
BTW I’m in my 40s…lol.
SPITLOGIC,
You are now demanding that anonymous people on the internet convince you that Biden is not evil, because when Bernie Sanders told you, you didn’t trust him, knowing Bernie Sanders would lie to you, but you do trust random folks on the internet? Not buying it.
You just admitted that you think Bernie Sanders is a liar, so why should anyone here waste their breath “convincing” you when you already have stated for the record that you don’t believe Bernie Sanders?
The problem with your trolling attempts is they almost work, but the big tell is when you (and dienne77) randomly insert right wing talking points. “questionable record” “mental state” and the newest line that demonstrates a man who despises Bernie Sanders and everything he stands for “I have never voted for a candidate just because I hated the competition.”
Bernie Sanders explained clearly that this isn’t about “hate”, it is about whether you believe in democracy and want a progressive future or want Trump’s right wing future. It is not “the lesser of two evils” to preserve health care for the most vulnerable Americans instead of taking it away, even if that is not Medicare for All. And only a Trump voter with no empathy would believe preserving and expanding healthcare is “the less of two evils”.
However, it IS evil to sit back and let someone evil take away healthcare and voting rights and treat the most vulnerable Americans in the most reprehensible way, by saying “Sorrry but working toward Medicare for all and expanding healthcare is just the lesser of two evils when compared to letting Americans die.
And no real Bernie Sanders supporter is that evil. Also, no real Bernie Sanders supporter posts that they don’t trust a word Bernie says, but they do really want some anonymous person on the internet to convince them to vote for Biden.
Bernie wasn’t talking to Trump supporters like you. He was talking to people who have empathy. You do not.
You are a Trump voter and you unfortunately got too cute and revealed your soul. Or lack of one. Trump is certainly your guy.
During all of my statements I have not once accused anyone of being anything. I am providing my opinion on the matter. I have not name called anyone nor have I called anyone here a liar. If you wish to debate policy and data, we can do that all day. I refuse to name call and make baseless accusations.
I know the internet can be anonymous. I know you don’t know me, but that gives you no right to box me into a comfortable label to justify whatever issues you have with my opinions.
Splitlogic: You ask, “Has Biden added any of Bernie’s policies to his own?” In fact, he came up with his platform by working with Bernie to establish a committee, the Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force, chosen by him and by Bernie, to look at the major issues and come up with that platform. So, in fact, he has.
You can read for yourself the many Sanders positions adopted wholly or with minor modifications, here: https://joebiden.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/UNITY-TASK-FORCE-RECOMMENDATIONS.pdf
Bernie has made it quite clear that he supports the recommendations of the Task Force, which have become the platform on which Joe Biden is running.
More SPITLOGIC lies: “I have not once accused anyone of being anything.”
SPITLOGIC accused Biden of raping a woman. SPITLOGIC accused Bernie Sanders of lying to Americans because Bernie lets himself be ordered around — I could not believe when SPITLOGIC said:
“The reason is Bernie does what he is told.’
SPITLOGIC says Bernie Sanders “DOES WHAT HE IS TOLD”.
And yet SPITLOGIC says he voted for a guy who, when that same guy points out how dangerous Trump is, SPITLOGIC then dismisses as a total untrustworthy idiot who DOES WHAT HE IS TOLD.
SPITLOGIC is an example of how truly far the Trump campaign has fallen. They have nothing – nothing – to recommend them.
So they hire people with no moral compass like SPITLOGIC which is probably his lown little joke — “I spit on logic”.
If Bernie had won the primary, SPITLOGIC would be on here saying he voted for Biden but even though he just heard Joe Biden give a stirring speech endorsing Bernie Sanders, he still knows deep isn his heart that Sanders is a socialist who wants to destroy all private property and he just can’t support Bernie.
I know SPITLOGIC thinks he is funny, but karma often comes back to haunt the ones who pretend to be something they are not. SPITLOGIC may think that Trump’s re-election will reward him, but he doesn’t realize he is just as expendable as everyone else to Trump and as soon as his usefulness to Trump is done, he will be left to rot with the rest of us. Maybe he can debase himself enough to stay in favor for a bit longer but he will always be thrown to the wolves when he has outlived his usefulness to Trump.
What drives people like SPITLOGIC bananas is when people here call them out as the Trump trolls they are and refuse to give their right wing talking points ANY credibility at all.
SPITLOGIC wants us to concede that Biden is really evil, just not as evil as Trump, and Bernie Sanders takes his marching orders from evil people. Call him out as the Trump supporter he is, because no real progressive is still attacking Bernie Sanders the way SPITLOGIC did when he called Sanders a mindless tool who follows orders.
Clearly SPITLOGIC was projecting his own actions onto Bernie Sanders, just like Republicans always do. The only person who mindlessly follows orders (which happen to be to re-elect Trump by bashing Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden) is SPITLOGIC himself.
The reason you never saw SPITLOGIC on here before is because he just got his marching orders to come here.
Bernie and Michelle were wonderful. They set a high bar. They made it clear that there are only two choices in this election. Anyone who does not vote for Biden/Harris will be acting to keep the Idiot in power and destroy this nation for good. The only thing I didn’t like about the evening was the recitation of the Pledge, which has been insidiously divisive propaganda ever since the word “indivisible” was replaced with “under god.”
https://www.ushistory.org/documents/pledge.htm
shifted not replaced, WordPress!!
First version, 1892: “I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” By Francis Bellamy, a Christian SOCIALIST!!!!!! Ha, ha, ha, the Pledge is a socialist document.
Indivisible is still in the Pledge.
I meant to write “shifted by” and I really need to learn how to proofreed. 🤓
WordPress(ure) and Spell Check ghoul are the banes of our online existences.
Various people on Twitter, today, have been suggesting speakers for the Repugnican National Convention. I’ve added a few of my own
The My Pillow Guy
Umbrella Man, the who broke the windows at the AutoZone store in Minneapolis
Ted Nugent
Trump’s handler Vlad
Boris and Natasha
The St. Louis gun couple
Panel of Karens
Can of Goya beans
Ghislaine Maxwell
The Demon Sperm Doc
Diamond and Silk
Kanye West and his psychiatrist
Eric and Don, Jr., ofc, or, in lieu of them, wasp larvae
Don’t forget Alex Jones, Roger Stone, Hannity and the fecal Limbaugh.
The planned game show portion, in which Bill Barr and Jabba the Hut appear together onstage and the audience tries to guess which is which, should be quite interesting.
Tweety Bird?
Tweety Bird is obviously a liberal Democrat. Not sure about Yosemite Sam. Or is that Yo-semite?
I taught I taw a democrat. I diud I diud tee a democrat
lol
Well done, Bob.
You’re making lists great again.
And, yeah, Bernie and Michelle hit ’em out of the park. That was history in the making -in a good way.
Meanwhile….I got a push poll, robo-call today from Republicans.
Something to the tune of, how do you feel about Joe Biden letting city-type criminals take over our nation?
I don’t think there was anyone listening or even recording my ‘you all can go to hell’ reply/rant, ha, ha.
Now ain’t that metaphor for today’s G.O.P.
Try to stir rural voters…then don’t…even…listen to them!
Exactly, John
Yikes! How could I have missed Alex Jones? Clearly, I am not cut out to schedule for the RNC!
Bob, you are obviously not cut out to schedule RNC. You are a sentient being. Disqualifies you right off the bat.
For further proof of my assertion above, here’s one of the amazing items included in today’s edition of Harper’s Weekly Index:
https://www.penncapital-star.com/covid-19/pa-lawmaker-its-not-governments-responsibility-to-try-to-keep-us-safe/
I was thinking Jar Jar Binks and Clippy, the Microsoft Paperclip Guy
How about an Republican National Convention roundtable on law and order consisting of indicted former Trump administration officials?
I just watched the Anderson Cooper with the shallow–I mean–pillow guy last night. How Anderson kept his profanity tempered is truly a gift.
interview with
The My Pillow guy recommends something extract of oleander to cure COVID. No evidence, no studies. Dr. Sanjay Gupta on CNN says oleander is highly toxic, if ingested could be more deadly than COVID. My Pillow Man got an audience with Trump.
Why not take medical advice from a guy who sells pillows?
As I have worked with and for cancer patients the past two decades, it makes me want to bang my head against the nearest hard surface every time I hear someone say they know about miracle medical cures here or there. It is so destructive and there are always naive people who fall for it. It is virtually impossible to dissuade them with facts. Is is so sad to see, especially when I see it lead to their deaths or worse–and there are things worse than death.
It was great to hear Bernie talk about issues, specific issues that affect millions of Americans, and talk about the issues that are and are not supported by Joe Biden. That’s what stood out to me. Everyone else talks about Joe’s humanity. Bernie talked about him as both a human and a humanitarian. Issues.
Bernie did a got job of explaining that he and Joe Biden agree on the general principles of what is good, and that Biden’s ideas may be different, but take America along the same path. They have a lot more in common than not, and Bernie knows that.
Agreed.
Text from my friend Paola during Bernie’s speech last night:
ME: Bernie, talk sexy to me.
BERNIE: We will shift to 100 percent renewable fuels.
So Bernie!! Actually, a talk show host was talking to him in 2016 about how popular he was w/women, & that there were “Bernie crushes.” He laughed (as he often would during interviews: I was SO sick of people constantly calling Bernie “the grouch,” “no sense of humor,” “angry man.” He has always easily joked about himself, cracked some good ones–very witty & sharp at the spur of the moment. Anyway, when told how popular he was, he laughed, but then went on to talk about the 1% & his whole (true) spiel.
Always such lies about him (HRC, even,”Nobody liked Bernie.” Yeah–she should be so popular.)
Anyway, someone who could take a joke, could poke fun at himself, not take himself so seriously, NOT thin-skinned (he’d take way more than his share of guff.
Something you all must watch–a clip from Dacha Baron Cohen’s Showtime series, Who is America in which he debates Bernie (as someone in a wheelchair–who doesn’t need one, & is scamming Medicaid) about the mathematical calculations of the top 1% & the other 99%–beyond hilarious!! (It’s on YouTube.)
I’m sure he got a great laugh from that!
He has always easily joked about himself, cracked some good ones–very witty & sharp at the spur of the moment.
YES!!!!! I love this about the man. He’s real.
Bernie did a great job explaining the critical issues we face and noted that he and Joe Biden differed on methods, policies but not outcomes. Bernie identified Trump’s threats to our freedoms, democracy, our environment, the poor and middle class. Bernie called all of us together to defeat Trump and his oligarchs with their greed for more wealth and subjugation of workers across our country. Let’s march together and keep in mind the words of Congressman John Robert Lewis: We come together to make good trouble and a more perfect union.
Amen to that, Robert!
Bernie’s speech was magnificent, as usual. What a great man.
It will be extraordinarily amusing to watch the Republicans parody themselves at their convention. Models pillow-fighting with My Pillow? wrestling in Goya beans? End with a torchlight parade of skinheads in MAGA hats chanting, “You will not replace us”? They really should have taken me up on my offer to program this for them. These spots would capture the very essence of Trump. And where is Leni Riefenstahl to film this?
cx: to watch
And just think of the musical possibilities to accompany all this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7VDPoKzjlM
Interestingly, the Democrats don’t have to worry that those whose music they use will then sue them to stop using it.
Aaannnd…will Melania crib Michelle’s speech? Will she ask that America “Be Best?” Or…will she simply say, “I don’t care. Do you?” and walk off stage.
Waiting with bated breath! (Not really.)
Perfect, retired!
Wonderful speech by an American hero. My only quibble: he says Biden will “end the school-to-prison pipeline”. This is a libelous and stupid term. It implies schools are causing their graduates to commit crimes and go to prison because they had been unjustly disciplined for misbehavior in school. It implies that teacher racism is the cause of disparate rates of suspensions and other punishments. I don’t think either insinuation is true. There are other causes. Stop blaming schools.
America has missed living in Bernie’s world. The world cannot live with an America unwilling to live in honesty. It will take less courage to vote for it (honesty) than it took for Bernie to endorse a man who would not go so far as him. Honestly America – vote for someone willing to speak the truth.
Seasiders22,
Bernie endorsed Biden. I’m voting for Biden.
If you care about truth, you have to help oust the biggest liar ever in the White House: Trump.
Seasiders22 and Diane, I agree with you both 175% . . .
I will not lie about the DNC and say that they are perfect. They are flawed. They were dramatically instrumental in getting Bernie off the mainstream DNC list as the candidate of choice.
However, politics are unfortunately and unnecessarily complex. He and they will work with each other, his influence – as well AOC’s – will continue to fuel a now permanently irreversible progressive movement, and it will be up to ALL of us to continue to monitor and hold accountable our elected officials. The fight does NOT stop once we have the “safer” candidate in office, God willing (I don’t believe in God). Bernie and AOC’s influence to turn the DNC to become more diverse and even more “leftist” (I HATE labels . . . I prefer more “humanist”) are something the DNC can no longer ignore or suppress.
But that’s democracy for you, It’s sloppy, it’s organic, it’s uncomfortable, it’s labor intensive, and its still the best system humans have ever known. Moreover, Bernie’s youth movement and followers are NEVER going way and are are growing rapidly, and many planted seeds of future candidates for elected positions on all levels are beginning to germinate.
It’s a horrifying time to be an American. It’s also a thrilling one.
Robert Rendo,
The only way Bernie’s youth movement and progressives will suffer a serious setback is if Trump is re-elected and empowered.
The threats to progressives is coming from the empowerment of the Republicans. As we know, the Republican Party would rather disenfranchise or lock up peaceful protesters than to move the country in a progressive direction.
The democrats and progressives believe in democracy, which you so perfectly describe: “It’s sloppy, it’s organic, it’s uncomfortable, it’s labor intensive, and its still the best system humans have ever known.”
Trump would rather end democracy than end his power. And he’s not alone — the entire Republican Party is right with Trump.
So yes, the progressive movement will suffer under an authoritarian president. You understand that, as do all progressives, from AOC to Bernie. The threats to AOC come from white Trump supporters.
The only people who still keep posting that they don’t understand that concept are fake and support Trump. It is time to stop believing in the good intentions of posters who pretend that they supported Bernie Sanders and heard his speech and said “sorry, Bernie Sanders is a liar and I don’t believe one word he said”.
If Bernie Sanders didn’t convince those posters to vote for the democrat, then they never trusted Bernie Sanders except as someone who their beloved Trump could more easily demonize.
Don’t let them play you for a fool and give them credibility. They would much prefer Trump win and their non-stop posts attacking Bernie Sanders as not convincing or believable – or even worse, a liar — should tell you for sure that they are not genuine.
NYCPSP,
I will not focus my good or bad intentions towards posters on this blog, but I WILL do is harvest different ideas and viewpoints and learn from them, and I will certainly take them – in my own stye with my own slant – into my advocacy in getting rid of Trump. I’m okay with differences within our own camp, but I am not okay with 4 more years of Trump AND a very complicit and cooperative Senate. Shame on so many other elected officials. The don’t get nearly as much discussion and media coverage as Donald Trump, Why is that? We must pounce on them as well. But then again, as your corroboration points out, democracy and advocacy take heavy lifting and are labor intensive.
Meantime, I will always enjoy reading what you and all other posters have to say. I am so fortunate to have that as a resource and express my gratitude to you and all the others. I am a lifelong learner. And I am lucky to be alive and healthy to benefit from all that you and all others have to say. As long as you write, I will read . . . .
Bernie’s speech was great, but I’m into the second night of the convention, and I must say that I am disgusted. Bernie’s speech was the sole fire I’ve seen. The Democrats have decided to “take the high road” and spend the convention talking in PLATITUDES. We need to build a better future blah blah blah such a good family man blah unite our country blah blah blah build bridges blah blah get this country working again blah blah blah blah for honest working people blah blah for all Americans regardless of blah blah blah. One political platitude after another. A compendium of we’ve heard this all before cliches. Next to of course god america i . . . as e. e. cummings put it. One could assign a freshman computer science nerd to write a computer program to spew out this @$&^&$@&$@&@@$*&$&!!!!!!
This is DOUBTLESS why the ratings for the convention are so low, why THE NATION IS TUNING OUT.
They are running against a profoundly ignorant, racist, sexist, incompetent, traitorous, criminal predator AND THEY AREN’T SAYING THAT. They aren’t, for example, dragging out Trump’s own words and deeds against him. They are leaving all the most powerful cards on the table.
Let me ask you, if someone says, “We are going to be the party blah of all Americans blah blah again” and no one hears it, DOES IT FREAKING MATTER?!?!?!?!
Never in my lifetime have I seen a more consequential election. And Trump isn’t going to play nice nice. IF Joe Biden does this–takes the high road and doesn’t call Trump and his administration out specifically, in all his actual ugliness–during the debates, HE WILL LOSE.
What is it? 27 women who have accused Trump of molesting them? How many of our allies, the Kurds, died because Trump abandoned them? What did Trump recommend for Covid? Hydroxychloroquine and injecting disinfectant and, what is it now, the deadly poison oleander. This is the man who said that if his daughter weren’t his daughter, he would be dating her. This is the man who said that Jeffrey Epstein was a great guy who liked women as much as he did and a little on the younger side. This is the man who thought you could send astronauts to the moon and that stealth planes were actually invisible.
They need to be saying these things. Pointedly. Their cliches will not do the job.
To change my metaphor, you don’t bring your nerf gun to an MMA match.
The election is Biden’s to lose. The DNC and his campaign seem to be working hard to that end. They are going to cliche his candidacy to a halt while Trump fixes the balloting and rallies the Trumpanzees by calling for blood.
Don’t say, “We need a President who will bring the country together.” Say, “He calls Nazi’s ‘good people’. But we in the United States don’t like Nazis. We don’t like them enough that we fought a war against them to wipe this scourge from the Earth. But here we have a President who is a hero to Aryan white supremacists.” [Pictures of the skinheads with their swastikas and Trump flags.]
Bob Shepherd,
I hear ya, but it isn’t the entire speeches that people remember but the moments.
It is a win if Michelle Obama saying “if you don’t think it can get worse, it will”, which I found incredibly chilling.
People already know the worst about Trump and too many of them just don’t care. Or they do care.
I wasn’t even going to watch Jill Biden because I think it’s silly to give a potential first lady so much speaking time. But I cried at the Jill Biden speech. I was struck at the idea of a president who actually cares about people versus what we have now — a made for tv phony with no soul.
If people can’t see that contrast, I don’t think that ANYTHING that is said about Trump will change their mind. Sentient folks can see how unsuitable Trump is. Democrats don’t have to remind people what Trump proudly shows them every single hour of every day. If they don’t know by now, I don’t think a speech will change their mind.
This convention is really about getting people out to vote who didn’t bother to show up last time. It isn’t going to change anyone’s mind about how awful Trump is because people already know how awful he is, and if they don’t, nothing said at the convention is going to change their mind until their own family member dies of COVID-19 or their medicine stops being delivered or they are directly affected.
The democrat didn’t lose in 2016 because of what was or wasn’t said at the convention. The democrat lost because there was a concerted and targeted propaganda effort to convince people who already didn’t like Trump not to vote for the democrat because that democrat was no better. It was about suppressing the vote of people who already didn’t like Trump but were being told there was no difference. This convention marks what is different. It doesn’t have to be like this – America can actually have a president who isn’t about sowing hate and division and doing nothing good.
I saw a better democrat tonight. Better than I thought I would.
Anyone who said last week “I just don’t know if it’s worth going out to vote against Trump” isn’t paying attention anyway and it is doubtful anything negative said about Trump at the convention would surprise them or convince them to go out to vote. Biden made a good case tonight for EMPATHY being necessary in a leader and CHAOS and selfishness being bad. That’s an appeal to the people who aren’t already determined to get Trump out of office, despite the many things you mention that they are well aware of already.
I heard the word “chaos” said a number of times, and I suspect it was done because what so-called “independent” voters worry most about Trump is chaos and his erratic behavior. He scares them and painting Biden as someone who would end their anxiety may be a brilliant move. Of course, it’s only brilliant if Biden wins, and terrible if he loses. Hindsight is always 20/20!
I, too, was moved by Jill Biden’s speech. I agree entirely. Anyone who can’t see the difference between these two men is hopeless. Nothing will reach such a person. BTW, I tuned into the convention 10 minutes late. The opening of this second night was also quite powerful and took it to Trump as I said, above, was necessary. So, perhaps I was too harsh. But I do strongly believe that Biden must take it to Trump in the debates. Part of being Mr. Nice Guy is being horrified, being angered, by the ugliness that Trump has embodied and stands for. And this needs to be made as clear as possible. Straight up, no wavering from looking at the ugly truth.
I’m not watching it, but I believe you and I agree that spouting mush is a mistake. The Dems need to be lucid, engaging, compelling TEACHERS of the public. They must teach them why Trump is a disaster. Yes, this “lesson” will be a review for many; but for very many, the lesson was never learned well. The facts are fuzzy to them. The convention is a chance to clarify and solidify understanding by laying out concrete particulars, not hazy platitudes. Perhaps this failure is an outgrowth of pathologies in the education world, where actual stand-and-deliver teaching is viewed as malpractice.
I wonder about the wisdom of the DNC leaders.
I’m also very concerned to hear that the DNC is giving up on door-to-door get out the vote operations because of the pandemic, while the RNC is carrying on with it. This is a very dangerous gamble. Send out volunteers with masks and have them yell from 6 feet away. People are lonely and many will answer the door, for Christ’s sake. Many are motivated, but still there are many voters who will need a push.
They must teach them why Trump is a disaster. . . . The convention is a chance to clarify and solidify understanding by laying out concrete particulars, not hazy platitudes.
Absolutely. A lot of people who follow politics have no idea how ignorant many Americans are of what’s been going on. Ofc, those are the people least likely to tune in, but if the convention presentations were aggressive enough, they would generate a lot of interest.
I’ve seen this movie before–the Democrats not bringing the fight. It’s sadly predictable.
Future DNC leaders need to read more Machiavelli and less Judith Butler during their years at Oberlin, et. al.
Instead of watching the convention, I have been tryin to navigate the avenues of virtual learning with regards to my daughter. Tomorrow I will go teach children who are in school and a few who are virtual as well. Sorry, no time for conventions.
My fear is that the Biden campaign will assume its poll lead will hold like they did in 2016, and ignore the states where they have a chance. Tennessee is a lost cause. Everybody, at least a substantial majority, here thinks that the Covid is a hoax and that trump is the best ever. He will take the state 60-40.
The disheartening thing is that the minority of people in the trump states have no voice at all in national politics. This is not sustainable representative government. It will devolve into chaos. A slim majority that governs as though it is a landslide creates too much I’ll-will. It cannot stand.
Yup. And you are not alone, RT. The ratings for this convention are historically low.
Well, finally, John Kerry, bless him, is saying something.
Keep on keeping on, Roy. You’re doing important stuff.
Roy,
I’m not banking on the polls because of the 2016 debacle. But bear in mind that Hillary had some negatives that Biden doesn’t. Trump hammered her daily as “corrupt,” something we had never seen in presidential elections in our lifetimes. For some, a woman President was unthinkable. But above all, Comey’s 11th hour surprise that he was reopening the investigation into her emails was a death blow to her candidacy. It seemed to confirm Trump’s vicious claims. The email investigation eventually turned up nothing But it finished her off. This time, watch for a last minute attack on Hunter Biden.
I’ll quibble with some of your characterizations, but where we agree, I think, is that the bar was set so high with Bernie and Michelle on the first night, I doubt any other speakers can go that high again. We’ll see with Barack. But anyone who needs to be “inspired” at this stage of the game is probably someone who is a coward who never would have voted for Biden in the first place.
On another note (I will be hypocritical and go “off topic” for a change), as I write this, I have tortured myself with having the two shallow commentators Brian Williams and Doris Kearns Goodwin in the background. Wrote this earlier today in a review I’m writing of a bio of Gerald Ford written by Douglas Brinkley that’s kind of written with you in mind, Bob (it was one of my better paragraphs of the past year), which, I think, underscores our mutual frustration of tonight:
Brinkley is part of a quadrumvirate of popular American historians—I include Michael Beschloss, Doris Kearns Goodwin, and Jon Meachum in the pack—who are regularly featured in endless chat shows that masquerade as news and analysis, the kind of which have poisoned and trivialized domestic political discourse in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. They are prolific, write for popularity rather than posterity, and are more interested in the simplicity of a popular catch phrase or what passes for “gravitas” at the expense of the gritty complexity of real historical scrutiny.
But Jill done good IMO.
Beautifully said, Greg.
Just after I wrote the comments above, there were two GREAT short talks by John Kerry and Colin Powell. I hope these get a lot of airplay. They both did what I was calling for–they took it to Trump with some specificity.
People need to be inspired to stay tuned in and to get out and vote. Cliches won’t cut it.
I am not so sure that bland positive feel-good stuff is not the way to go, this time around. Surely Biden’s campaign must have thought long & hard on this. First off, not many are watching [& won’t be watching some low-attendance canned zoom Rep Convention either]. And why feed the Trumpistas a bunch of harsh anti-Trump soundbites to boost their Trumpista enthusiasm even further, churning media into further polarization-baiting? Biden’s campaign should be friendly fireside chats, enticing voters who long for an end to polarized gridlock & look forward to govt functioning once again.
Well, I’m sure that’s what they are thinking. But just after I wrote the comments above, John Kerry and Colin Powell both did what I was calling for. They delivered fiery, pointed, pithy, and extremely damning speeches about specific Trump failures. This material should not have been buried at 11:30 at night on the second day.
Bob,
On the east coast, the DNC ran from 9pm – 11pm (maybe Jill Biden’s speech went a bit over?) But I don’t think Kerry and Colin came at 11:30 since Jill Biden surely began speaking before 11 EST.
Any thoughts about a Biden campaign strategy to confront what
a Minnesota nun who is involved in a social service network describes? She was asked by media to respond to the Minnesota archbishop’s announcement that the Minnesota Catholic Conference advises it is in the bishop’s legal purview to ask priests to abstain from voting. The nun’s reply, “The Minnesota Catholic Conference has a political interest in accomplishing its agenda. This is about trying to control the vote and create discord in advance of the election, all for some political goal of the Conference.”
Linda, you will not be surprised that Cardinal Dolan is giving the opening prayer at Trump’s Convention. I’m disappointed. Dolan claims to care about life, yet honors a man who daily allows 1,000 Americans to die of COVID.
And, guarantee- if any politician criticizes Dolan’s endorsement, the bishop will claim the USCCB is non-partisan and, the Dem is an anti-Catholic bully.
The only action that will stop the American Catholic church’s grab for power is if enough congregants sever ties.
It’s a shame that Catholic women don’t understand the church leadership just isn’t that into them.
CX: This is the man who thought you could send astronauts to the sun
I totally agree with you. Bernie’s speech was spot on–clear, highly focused, and the issues he raised (climate change, health care) are the ones we really need to start focusing our energies and resources on.
Yes, a great speech – which seems to have not been covered by the media.
Bernie’s speech is right here. Share it with everyone you know.
The Biden campaign should probably consider what a nun involved in a social service network advised, “The Minnesota Catholic Conference has a political interest in accomplishing its agenda”. She was quoted in reference to the report that the Minnesota archbishop told priests not to vote in the February 2020 primary. The archbishop said, “The Minnesota Catholic Conference advised bishops that asking priests to abstain from voting was in their legal purview”. I presume the authority could be selective based on which party the priest supports. The second part of the nun’s quote was, “This is about trying to control the vote and create discord in advance of the election, all for some political gain of the Conference.”
Evidently, it’s not a concern for Minnesota Catholics that their priests are denied an American right. (After the Biel v. St. James Catholic school SCOTUS decision, all employees of Catholic organizations -3rd largest U.S. employer-have been denied employment rights guaranteed by civil rights law).
The Catholic Conferences are winning their political goals. IMO, they disingenuously spin actions that benefit the GOP as moral and non-partisan and, they reject as partisan, actions of the faithful that support the political left.
I’d bet that if the archbishop and his Conference thought the priests could be counted on to be GOP, his directive wouldn’t have been sent.
Does this need to be said? I am enthusiastic that Biden is not a fascist! Trump is. Biden is not a progressive. Maybe the DNC convention is facade. I don’t care. What facades are put forth reflects norm expectations. Trump’s presentation has little facade. It is designed to normalize all the darkest aspect of America. I’d prefer they stay hidden because that would indicate that most Americans reject the darkness. The Democrats’ leaning into racial, social, economic, and environmental justice in their presentation even in limited fashion reflects their strategic assessment that those values are becoming normalized. That is what we want. It is the result of grassroots organizing, people in the streets, letter writing, and progressives running for office (and often winning). I wish the DNC had not featured a right-wing Republican governor at the convention. I think AOC would have been a far better strategic choice. On the other hand, haven’t we all been saying, “How could any Republican continue to support Trump?” So, highlight one who has not is not all together illogical. Of course, we should keep up all the pressure that has already produced some shift in mainstream Democrats. What we should NOT do however, it to do it in a way that increases sky high voter cynicism that reinforce voting reluctance. Bernie’s speech and AOC’s remarks model that. Let’s follow their lead.
It is long past time to marginalize those who say “I won’t vote for the lesser of two evils” as having the exact same morals as Trump voters, whether or not they are Trump voters. (And I believe many of the ones who say they aren’t are actually Trump trolls).
None of them trust Bernie Sanders, and yet they keep spouting the lie that they were supporting the guy they now keep posting is a liar — Bernie Sanders.
They need to be marginalized, not treated as if anything they say has value. Just keep asking them why they think Bernie Sanders would lie to them and see what their answer is. They change the subject, as trolls do.
Only a Trump supporter with no empathy would watch people dying and suffering every day and say “I’d rather have your health insurance taken away from you than vote for a man who will fight to expand your health insurance because he isn’t fighting for Medicare for All”.
The convention is clearly not designed to change the mind of anyone who doesn’t have an ounce of empathy or integrity. It won’t change the mind of anyone who thinks Bernie Sanders is untrustworthy.
The people who actually don’t like Trump’s policies are listening to Bernie Sanders and voting for Biden. It doesn’t matter whether they are conservatives or progressives, or on the left or the right.
Those who lack empathy post here saying “the lying Bernie didn’t convince me but I want some of you anonymous posters to try”. Anyone who thinks Bernie Sanders would lie to them is going to vote for Trump, period.
It’s sad that Trump believes the only way he can win is with trolls who think all of us are as foolish as the people who enrolled in Trump U.
Reade didn’t have any witnesses!!!! She told people one story at the time and a completely different one years later. Get your facts straight.
SPITLOGIC is a troll. If Joe Biden had given a stirring endorsement of Bernie Sanders as the nominee, SPITLOGIC would be dragging out all the Bernie attacks and saying that Biden only endorsed Bernie because he was ordered to do so.
Everyone except the most rabid Trump supporters understands the difference between the credibility of Tara Reade, who has a long history as a grifter who has a documented history of lying in order to gain a financial benefit, and Christine Blasey Ford, who was unimpeachable when she testified under oath about Kavanaugh. There were many other women whose stories about Kavanaugh were not given the benefit of doubt that Tara Reade got because of minor credibility issues that were significantly less serious than Tara Reade’s lifetime of untruthfulness.
It is telling that those who keep saying “what about Tara Reade?” also say “who amongst us has not told a veterinary practice to bill a charity for their personal pet’s medical care because they decided they just didn’t want to pay the bill themselves?” “Who amongst us has not falsified their education credentials to get into a law school?”
And of course, that is true because when they live in a world that idolizes Trump, saying “who amongst us has not cheated and lied and swindled money from a person and then whined that it was because they felt they deserved that money?”, they mean Trump.
Anyone who believes Trump should be able to lie and swindle people and still demand that Trump be believed when he attacks democrats with lies would of course demand that Tara Reade be able to act like Trump and live a life of dishonesty, yet still be believed when she accuses a democrat of a crime.
Remember, these are the same people that demand that Trump be believed when he says he has a copy of Obama’s birth certificate, because who are they to judge whether Trump is telling the truth.
Of course, that benefit of the doubt is only extended one way. A person saying anything that hurts Trump must be assumed to be a liar. Thus SPITLOGIC says Bernie Sanders is a liar who is only endorsing Biden because he was ordered to do so.
In other words, SPITLOGIC is a troll.
Yes. It certainly appears that way.
Bob, you are right…this is Biden’s election to lose, just as it was HRC’s. In so many respects, the Dem side has got it going: so many honest-to-goodness, real Americans talking, surrounded by two strong women, hearing from a diverse field of both elected politicians, people who didn’t win office but are continuing to fight in other ways, etc. Haven’t really been watching the convention (except for Bernie’s speech), but saw most important parts on Democracy Now! (all the news we really need–the stark truth) & some on what is now called A Late Show (Bernie was on, tonight, serious yet poking fun at himself, saying he wasn’t going to “rant & rage because it was too late & folks were tired” (all the network shows started late, & it was live & already 12:20 AM, ET).
Anyway–the big plus–I’ve had yet to see the sniveling Tom Perez (have any of you who’ve been watching it in it’s entirety?). Best to keep him off.
Finally, to me, at least, the election boils down to voting for a real feeling, thinking, caring, human being & an…it. it~ no heart, no soul, no brain, no compassion, no spine..nothing, nada,zip. “It is what it is”…Sharpie…”the virus will disappear”…”I don’t remember that”…”I don’t know, never heard of him”…Kelly & Porter would remove dangerous papers off (its) desk & throw them away, & (it) would forget about them”…
24,000 lies…over 170,000 deaths, & still counting…
Easy choice.