The Commentariat -- July 28, 2016
Afternoon Update:
Wanted: President of the United States. No experience required. Steve Benen: Not only aren't Republicans very concerned about Donald Trump asking Russia to spy on Hillary Clinton, they're not concerned about his appalling lack of experience. In fact, Marco Rubio " ma[de] the case yesterday that Trump will become more competent eventually. BuzzFeed reported: 'I view the Senate as a place that can always act as a check and balance on whoever the next president is,' Rubio said on WGN radio on Wednesday." Akhilleus: So does it worry any Republican, voter or pol or pundit or apparatchik, that they are all lining up to give a big thumbs up to a guy most of them realize couldn't start a car with the keys in the ignition?
Shame, Shame, Shame...oh, wait a minute. Maybe not. AP: "Republicans from North Carolina have apologized to Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine for mistakenly critiquing him for wearing a foreign flag during his acceptance speech. The state GOP sent out a tweet Wednesday night saying it was 'shameful' for Kaine to wear a Honduras flag during his speech at the Democratic National Convention.... Kaine's pin was actually the symbol for families with a member serving in the military. Kaine's son, a Marine, is currently deployed." Akhilleus: Honduran flag, Marine symbol, eh, it's all the same.
Aw c'mon, cantcha take a joke? Stephen Collinson of CNN: "strong>Donald Trump said Thursday that he was being sarcastic when he appeared to suggest that Russia should use espionage to find Hillary Clinton's deleted emails.... [Trump] tried to dampen controversy over his apparent call Wednesday for Russia to either stage an espionage cyber hack to find Clinton's deleted emails or to publish information it had already stolen. 'Of course I'm being sarcastic,' Trump said in a Fox News interview that aired the day after his comments at a news conference in Florida sparked a national furor and offered ammunition for Democrats who claim he's not fit to be president." Akhilleus: Oh yeah, because Donaldo is always such a barrel of laughs. A great kidder, that guy. One of the many reprehensible things about Trump is how cowardly he is. Everyone knows that he was in no way kidding when he begged Russia to spy on his opponent with an eye toward hurting her chances in a presidential election. It was only after the shit storm turned his spray tan dark brown that he decided to lie about it and hope he could get away with yet another bulshit excuse. If you're gonna play the big tough guy, it doesn't help your image to keep pretending your tough talk was just a joke. Craven, yellow-bellied jellyfish.
*****
Democratic Convention & Presidential Race
Jonathan Martin & Patrick Healy of the New York Times: "President Obama delivered a stirring valedictory address at the Democratic convention Wednesday night, hailing Hillary Clinton as his rightful political heir and the party's best hope to protect democracy from 'homegrown demagogues' like the Republican Donald J. Trump." -- CW ...
I can say with confidence there has never been a man or a woman more qualified than Hillary Clinton to serve as President of the United States of America. No one. Not me, not Bill, not anybody. -- Barack Obama (CW Note: the second two sentences were not in the prepared transcript.)
... Abby Phillip & Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: President "Obama's address was both a moment of reflection on his presidency, and also a one where he would project forward to the future.... Obama's full throated endorsement is a key part of Clinton's case to the American people.... His address was also a forceful rejection of the worldview presented by ... Donald Trump.... As he concluded his speech, thanking the crowd for 'an incredible journey,' Obama was joined by the person he said he was 'ready to pass the baton' to. The crowd erupted with rapturous applause as Obama and Clinton embraced onstage." -- CW ...
... CW: I swear, every time Barack Obama delivers a major speech, I think he can't make a better one. Then he does:
... Brian Beutler: President Obama's "purpose Wednesday night in Philadelphia was just as much to make the case for democracy itself so that an authoritarian and fascist like Donald Trump is not the coda to his presidency.... The election, he warned, 'is not just a choice between policies or parties, left and right, [but] whether we stay true to this experiment in self-government.'" -- CW ...
... Jonathan Chait: "Obama argues that Trump isn't American enough to be president." CW: Somewhat tangential to Chait's whole point, this graf struck me: "... the president reminded his audience of how deep his own roots in this country -- and its value system -- actually go. If Trump wins the presidency, it will be because he convinced a large number of hardworking white people in small-town America that he is their voice. But in Philadelphia, the first black president argued that he -- not Trump -- is the true inheritor of such 'salt-of-the-earth' folks' collective wisdom." -- CW ...
... ** John Cassidy of the New Yorker makes the same point, that President Obama portrayed Donald Trump as "un-American." "Trump hasn't just insulted Obama personally: Trump's entire candidacy represents an affront to everything that Obama stands for and got elected on -- hope, inclusiveness, reason, and faith in a democratic political system (even if that system is frustratingly deadlocked)." -- CW ...
... CW: The Birther v. the Brahmin. CW: On his mother's side, Trump is a first-generation "natural-born" American; on his father's side, he's a second. Barack Obama, on the other hand, had American ancestors back through colonial times. One ancestor, for instance, was born in New Jersey in 1640. So again, we can explain Trump's birtherism as a product of his own perceived "deficiency": Barack Obama's family has been American since generations before the country's founding, while the Drumpfs are recent immigrants. Drumpf overcompensates for his ancestor-envy by falsely claiming an opponent is not as "American" as he is. ...
... Ben Mathis-Lilly of Slate: Conservative pundits are shocked they loved Obama's speech. With examples. -- CW
"Be-leeeeve Me!" Ed Kilgore: "... if [Tim] Kaine wanted to prove he wasn't too nice to play the attack dog when called upon, he passed the test.... What Kaine's wild outburst of humor and venom showed more than anything is that the campaign he has joined believes that the competition to show which damaged presidential candidate is least dishonest and untrustworthy could be the ballgame":
Gail Collins: Michael "Bloomberg is not, normally, a particularly good public speaker. But he was definitely on a roll Wednesday night. He laced into Trump's 'well-documented record of bankruptcies and thousands of lawsuits and angry stockholders and contractors who feel cheated and disillusioned customers who feel they've been ripped off.'... The convention scrutinizers were presumably able to live with Bloomberg's suggestion that Democrats might be too tough on the private sector in return for having one of the wealthiest guys in the world announce that 'the richest thing about Donald Trump is his hypocrisy.'" -- CW ...
... Conservative Reihan Salam of Slate: "Republicans have built a coalition that is a far better fit for culturally conservative working-class whites than it is for the Bloombourgeoisie. If Donald Trump is any indication of where the GOP is heading, that trend will continue in the years to come." -- CW ...
... CW: Lyndon Johnson was overly optimistic when he said passage of the Civil Rights Act meant Democrats "had lost the South for a generation." But now it looks as if Republicans could end up representing only the South & some pockets of paleoconservatism in northern & western states. ...
No major party, no major party nominee in the history of this nation has ever known less or has been less prepared to deal with our national security. We cannot elect a man who exploits our fears of ISIS and other terrorists, who has no plan whatsoever to make us safer. A man who embraces the tactics of our enemies, torture, religious intolerance. You all know, all the Republicans know. -- Joe Biden ...
... Michael Crowley of Politico: "With Democrats sensing that Donald Trump is newly vulnerable on national security grounds after startling statements about Russia and NATO, Wednesday night's convention speakers blasted Trump’s fitness to be commander in chief.... 'We cannot afford an erratic finger on our nuclear weapons,' [former Secretary of Defense & CIA Director Leon] Panetta said. 'This is no time to gamble with America's national security.' Panetta followed a video presentation which a featured a montage of retired military officials and conservative foreign policy analysts -- from former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, a Republican, to Fox News pundit Charles Krauthammer — labeling Trump as 'unmoored' and 'unfit' to lead the military." -- CW
Eric Levitz of New York: "Last month, Christine Leinonen lost her only son in the massacre at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando. On Wednesday night, Leinonen addressed the Democratic National Committee.... She shared a bill with many experienced orators, including Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, but none spoke with more eloquence and authority than this former Michigan state trooper." Includes video. -- CW ...
... New York Times reporters track highlights of the convention. The Washington Post's liveblog is here. ...
Nick Gass of Politico: Jane Sanders tells Wolf Blizter she doesn't understand why her husband's supporters aren't backing Hillary Clinton. She said she & Bernie would be campaigning "aggressively" for Hillary. -- CW
Jim Rutenberg of the New York Times: "Hillary Clinton has so far been putting on a better television show in Philadelphia than Donald J. Trump did in Cleveland. Expectations had it the other way around. Mr. Trump is the bona fide television sensation, a former maestro of a hit reality series, and he had promised to bring some 'showbiz' to the proceedings. Yet it's Mrs. Clinton who has had the celebrities and musical acts that 'Tonight Show' bookers' dreams are made of.... And at least for the first two nights, it's Mrs. Clinton who has had the bigger ratings, by several million people." -- CW
Jenna Portnoy & Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: "Gov. Terry McAuliffe fueled new distrust of Hillary Clinton among liberal Democrats this week with a declaration that the presidential nominee was likely to reverse her position on the Trans-Pacific Partnership after the election. The Clinton campaign swiftly rejected the idea that she would waver on TPP and called her longtime friend and chairman of her 2008 campaign 'flat wrong.'" CW: Thanks, Terry!...
... Jonathan Easley of the Hill: "Hillary Clinton's campaign is furiously pushing back against a close ally's claims that the Democratic nominee will reverse her position on the Trans-Pacific Partnership if elected president. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a longtime friend and surrogate for the Clintons, has been saying in interviews over the last 24 hours that Clinton would support passage of the Obama administration's international trade deal or seek to renegotiate it if elected president. Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta swatted down McAuliffe's claim on Wednesday. 'I can be definitive -- she is against it before the election and after the election,' Podesta told reporters. 'She is not interested in renegotiating the TPP,' he added." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Steve M. on sexuality in the presidential race. CW: For the record, I think Steve and Rebecca Traister, whom Steve cites, have it right, & Rachel Maddow's criticism of Bill Clinton's speech was off. ...
... CW: Thought I linked Traister's take on Bill Clinton's speech yesterday, but I didn't. Here's the key takeaway, apropos of Steve M.'s post: "It was a risk -- a big risk -- for an epically unfaithful man ... to begin his speech with the sentence, 'In the spring of 1971, I met a girl.' But he went for it, with a self-aware grin that suggested he knew what he was doing: challenging the perception of his wife as sexless and his marriage as an empty sham based only on a shared will to power, by laying out a picture of a flesh-and-blood woman for whom he fell hard, more than 40 years ago. He was doing it, in part, by making the joke about his horn-dog impulses, and reminding people that he had once trained them on Hillary." -- CW ...
... Patrick Healy of the New York Times has more on the "controversy" of Bill Clinton's depicting Hillary as, you know, a woman. -- CW
Ben Jacobs of the Guardian: "Donald Trump struck his most stridently isolationist notes yet on Wednesday, following up a day of controversy over his call for Russia to hack into and release Hillary Clinton's deleted emails with an assertion that Nato's principle that an attack on one is an attack on all should be conditional on every member country paying 'their fair share'. 'I want to keep Nato, but I want them to pay,' Trump told a rally in Scranton, Pennsylvania. 'I don't want to be taken advantage of ... We're protecting countries that most of the people in this room have never even heard of and we end up in world war three ... Give me a break.'... The remarks in Scranton came just hours after Trump said he would look into legally recognizing Russia's occupation of Crimea...." -- CW ...
... Unhinged U.S. Presidential Candidate Urges Russia to Breach U.S. Security. Jose DelReal of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump on Wednesday said he hoped that Russia would hack into Hillary Clinton's email server to find 'missing' messages and release them to the public. 'Russia, if you're listening I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press,' Trump said during a press conference at his Doral resort in South Florida on Wednesday. 'They probably have them. I'd like to have them release. It gives me no pause, if they have them, they have them,' Trump added later when asked if his comments were inappropriate. 'If Russia or China or any other country has those emails, I mean to be honest with you, I'd love to see them.'... [Trump] sought ... to distance himself from allegations that the Russian government hacked into the Democratic National Committee to benefit his campaign.... 'It is so farfetched. It's so ridiculous. Honestly I wish I had that power. I'd love to have that power but Russia has no respect for our country,' Trump said." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Timothy Lee of Vox: The thing is, if Trump gets elected president, he probably will have the power to hack into the private communications of his political opponents. And that's terrifying.... Trump has repeatedly signaled a willingness to use the powers of the presidency to retaliate against critics and political opponents." ...
... CW: This was my first thought, too, when I read Trump's "wish." The things Trump says publicly make Nixon's Watergate-related shenanigans look quaint. What Trump would do behind the scenes is, as Lee writes, terrifying. Jokers like Mitch McConnell obviously are kidding themselves -- and us -- when they claim the Congress, the Pentagon & other governmental agencies would keep Trump in check. Nixon used loons, losers & bunglers like the Watergate burglars & the "plumbers" to carry out his dirty tricks. If American institutions defy Trump, he will turn to sophisticated foreign operators to do his dirty work.
... Ashley Parker of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump said Wednesday that he hoped Russia had hacked Hillary Clinton's email, essentially sanctioning a foreign power's cyberspying of a secretary of state's correspondence.... Mr. Trump's call was an extraordinary moment at a time when Russia is being accused of meddling in the U.S. presidential election.... At the news conference..., [Trump] refused to unequivocally call on Vladimir V. Putin ... to not meddle in the United States' presidential election. 'I'm not going to tell Putin what to do,' Mr. Trump said. 'Why should I tell Putin what to do?'" -- CW (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Jen Kirby of New York provides a terrific synopsis of Trump's presser. CW: The man is either insane or he is doing everything he can to get out of the race. In either case, it's time to take him away, away. ...
... Looks Like mike pence didn't get the memo. Reuters: "... Mike Pence on Wednesday vowed there would be 'serious consequences' if the FBI determines Russia is behind recent hacking attempt and is meddling in the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential election." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... AND Paul Ryan was never in the loop. Esme Cribb of TPM: "The top spokesperson for House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) had strong words in response to Donald Trump's call for Russian hackers to 'find' and release the deleted emails from Hillary Clinton's private server. 'Russia is a global menace led by a devious thug,' Ryan spokesman Brendan Buck told The Guardian. 'Putin should stay out of this election.'" -- CW (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Update. Somebody in Trump's campaign pulled him down off the wall. Nick Gass: "Donald Trump says he was 'being sarcastic' when he suggested Wednesday that Russia should find Hillary Clinton's missing emails." CW: I don't believe him. As Jose DelReal reported yesterday, Trump several times emphatically repeated his call for foreign hackers to release Clinton's private e-mails. This wasn't a lapse; it's what he still thinks is acceptable. ...
... Lisa Hagen of the Hill: "Donald Trump said Wednesday he doesn't know Russian President Vladimir Putin, contradicting a claim he made last year that he knows the leader 'very well.' 'I never met Putin. I don't know who Putin is,' the GOP nominee said at a press conference.... 'He said one nice thing about me. He said I'm a genius,' Trump continued. 'I said thank you very much to the newspaper and that was the end of it. I never met Putin.'" -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "... Trump actually said something else at his bizarre, fact-challenged news conference Wednesday that could bring a smile to Russian President Vladimir Putin's face. Here's the exchange..: 'QUESTION: I would like to know if you became president, would you recognize (inaudible) Crimea as Russian territory? And also if the U.S. would lift sanctions that are (inaudible)? TRUMP: We'll be looking at that. Yeah, we'll be looking.'... Recognizing Crimea as Russian territory is not something that basically anybody inside the American foreign policy mainstream is 'looking at.'... The official position of the U.S. government is that the Russian annexation of Crimea is illegal and dangerous.... And not only that, but a top Trump foreign policy adviser has previously said ... that Russian business interests have expressed excitement to him about the prospect of a President Trump easing sanctions." -- CW ...
... Louis Nelson of Politico: "President Barack Obama 'has been the most ignorant president in our history,'... Donald Trump said on Wednesday." CW: As we know by now, Trump tries to obscure his own deficiencies by accusing his rivals of having his own shortcomings. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... As if to prove my point ...
... Politico: "Donald Trump mixed up Hillary Clinton's running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, with the former governor of New Jersey during a news conference on Wednesday. 'Her running mate Tim Kaine, who by the way did a terrible job in New Jersey -- first act he did in New Jersey was ask for a $4 billion tax increase and he was not very popular in New Jersey and he still isn't,' Trump said. Corrected by reporters, who suggested he might be confusing Kaine with Thomas Kean, a Republican who governed New Jersey from 1982 to 1990, Trump clarified. 'What? I mean Virginia.' The New Jersey tax increase that Trump may or may not been talking about came not under Kean, a Republican, but his successor Jim Florio, a Democrat." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Hadas Gold of Politico: "Donald Trump once again targeted NBC News correspondent Katy Tur during a Wednesday news conference, telling the reporter to 'be quiet.'... As Tur asked another question a few minutes later, mentioning Trump's poll numbers, Trump once again mocked her.... This is far from the first time Trump has picked on Tur." -- CW (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Philip Bump of the Washington Post "decided to simply 'post the full transcript and annotate ... [Trump's] misrepresentations and falsehoods." ...
... Nahal Toosi & Seung Min Kim of Politico: "Donald Trump's call on Russia to hack Hillary Clinton's emails has shocked, flabbergasted and appalled lawmakers and national security experts across the political spectrum, with one ... William Inboden, who served on the NSC during the George W. Bush administration ... saying it was 'tantamount to treason.'" -- CW ...
... Ezra Klein: "This isn't normal behavior from a major American politician.... After he picked Mike Pence, empowered campaign chair Paul Manafort, and gave a structured convention speech, there looked to be a chance that Trump was unveiling a new, more sober persona for the general election. But he can't do it. He can't suppress his own mania for even a week.... Donald Trump, of late, has been acting pretty crazy." -- CW ...
... Jonathan Chait: "This is Trump's response to the accusation that he is unduly close to a hostile foreign power: to ask its spies to break American law in order to help him win.... When he's openly calling on them to carry out espionage on your behalf, it's not even a matter of speculation -- it's just simple fact."
Jesse Byrnes of the Hill: "A top aide to Donald Trump said Wednesday that the Republican presidential nominee 'will not be releasing' his taxes.' 'Mr. Trump has said that his taxes are under audit and he will not be releasing them,' Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort told 'CBS This Morning.'" -- CW
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Daniel Victor of the New York Times: "Addressing Michelle Obama's remarks about slaves having built the White House, Bill O'Reilly said Tuesday on his Fox News program that those slaves were 'well fed and had decent lodgings provided by the government.' His comments drew swift rebukes online. He fired back on his Wednesday program..., [and] attributed the criticism to 'smear merchants'...." As he characterized his comments as '... fact. Not a justification, not a defense of slavery.'... Jesse Holland..., who wrote [a book about slave in the White House]..., said ... there's no historical evidence either way on the question of how well fed the slaves were, he said. Many of the slaves lived in a structure described as a barn, Mr. Holland said." -- CW
Other News & Views
Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "The United States is poring over a vast trove of new intelligence about Islamic State fighters who have flowed into Syria and Iraq and some who then returned to their home countries, information that American officials say could help fight militants on the battlefield and prevent potential plotters from slipping into Europe." -- CW
Beyond the Beltway
Kevin Rector & Justin Fenton of the Baltimore Sun: "Prosecutors dropped all remaining charges against three Baltimore police officers accused in the arrest and death of Freddie Gray in a downtown courtroom on Wednesday morning, concluding one of the most high-profile criminal cases in Baltimore history. The startling move was an apparent acknowledgement of the unlikelihood of a conviction following the acquittals of three other officers on similar and more serious charges by Circuit Judge Barry G. Williams, who was expected to preside over the remaining trials as well." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Margaret Chadbourn of ABC News: "John Hinckley, Jr., the man who shot President Ronald Reagan in 1981, has been granted 'full-time convalescent leave' and will be released from St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington, D.C., where he has been in treatment. A federal judge granted the leave, which will begin as early as Aug. 5, according to court documents. He is permitted to reside full-time in Williamsburg, Virginia, with his mother at her home, and his monitoring conditions were set by U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman of Washington." -- CW (Also linked yesterday.)
Way Beyond
Alissa Rubin & Adam Nossiter of the New York Times: "The question troubling France on Wednesday in the wake of the attack by a teenager who aspired to go to Syria, but settled instead for cutting the throat of a priest, is whether the crime was a result of failures by the French government, and what more could have been done to prevent it.... Questions [were] immediately raised about how a perpetrator well known to the authorities was nonetheless left free to kill.... The crime was committed during a state of emergency that already gives the government added powers to constrain potential terrorists, and ... one of the perpetrators was essentially on probation and wearing an electronic bracelet at the time of the attack." -- CW
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Reader Comments (16)
Bloomberg said it perfectly. He wants a "sane" person to be President.
One of the best ad- libs of the evening came when some in the audience began to boo upon hearing the name of the ignorant, anti-democratic, anti-American, authoritarian, law -breaking loser of a third rate TV show host nominated by the Confederate Party to fulfill its most fetid fever dreams. The president jumped right on it with his usual uncanny timing and pitch perfect delivery:
"Don't boo. Vote."
A simple declaration that he must hope all those stay at home voters who complain about Trumpskyev but assume some other voters will deposit in history's sump room will take to heart.
True democracy, unlike the sham sort practiced by Republicans, offers the only governing system in the history of the world where evil can be defeated with a check mark. Obama knows this. Trump fears it.
Jesus, I miss this guy already.
Going through the speeches last night gives me an additional view of Trump. He is not running for POTUS. He is running for CEOOTUS. In other words this is just a business deal for him, putting him a great position to make more money. So the real plan is a Trump tower in Moscow, a golf course in N. Korea and a hotel in Crimea. And I am not kidding.
DAY 3 : THE DNC CONVENTION
Guns, God, National Security, & Trump busters for starters.
Panetta telling us that Hillary is determined to defeat Isis as she was determined to defeat bin Laden. The crowd explodes when he castigates Trump––"In an unstable world we cannot afford an unstable leader of this country." But somewhere in the latter part of his speech the left of center protesters started shouting:
"NO MORE WARS! LIES, LIES LIES!
Joe Biden–-such an old fashioned guy––the real deal. "I've been made strong at the broken places" (a Hemingway phrase)–-praising the Obama's––"We are family." Praising all the good and decent people –- the heart and soul of this country. when he got around to Trump he asked:
How can there be pleasure in saying, "You're fired!"
It betrays our values to elect Trump, Joe says. He ends with a heart felt "we endure, we overcome, we never back down. The 21st Century is going to be the American century––We own the finish line–-We're Americans!"
Mike Bloomberg: "I'm from New York–-I know a con man when I see one" and proceeded to tell us exactly what this con man had conned. Once again we hear that America is the greatest country on earth and out of love of country let us elect a sane person––Hillary.
Tim Kaine: There's a pixiness about him. His faith is his North Star––Faith, Family, & Work–––said in Spanish and English.
This is a decent man; this is a capable man. And God is on his side. His message to the audience was about trust.
Lovely introduction for Obama by a gold star mother. But before we got the real man we got to see a video montage of Obama at work and play. Michelle's voice telling us that her husband always had "that calm presence–-that is who he is." Tissue number one.
The best farewell speech ever and the best endorsement speech ever. In my lifetime I have never heard a more forceful endorsement from an outgoing President given to his successor.
This great optimism he harbors––still the gleam in his eye and embedded in his center. He literally lifts us up with him as he soars poetically, then practically, then with humor, and finally "Yes, we can" all over again. Tissue number two.
And then in she walks–-"that girl" who wraps her arms around our President who had just finished telling us that there has never been anyone including himself and Bill–-nobody–-that is better qualified to be President than the woman who he once said was likable enough.
Tissue number three.
I have no doubt that Hillary will do one hell of a job, but I weep at no longer having what I consider the very best of men serving as our President.
By the way: Look at our he framed his denouncement of Trump: He equated that "homegrown demagogue" with communists, facists and jihadists. Thems purty powerful slams.
Aside from the Bernie-or-Bust hecklers (mainly the second night); and boohoo, feeling a loser, Susan Sarandon packed up her playthings and left the sandbox...that for the most part, this DNC has been probably the best organized, orchestrated, targeted on message, well-written and delivered speeches that I can recall. Last night, Biden was absolutely amazing, Bloomberg was a bonus (despite the live-blogger low expectations), and Obama... what can I say. He really does have all the good words! and as Marie said...he manages to say it better—time and time again. I'm in full agreement with Ak, I too am missing the guy already. (and @PD, yeah, my eyes welled up several times, too!)
Remember, Trump was going to have the most amazing convention ever? There's no comparison. Notice that in Philly, (there were far fewer silly hats and delegate outfits), the parade of speakers came in a progression that built up to the next story/reinforcing the message, with speakers who had something to add that was relevant, and speakers whose contribution made sense that they were there. The videos and staging were excellent. In Cleveland, on the other hand...there was continual bewilderment as to who and why most of those people were at the podium.
After midnight, I happened upon a full video of TrumpPence in Scranton, yesterday...and forced myself to sit through about fifteen minutes of the nonsense. Incoherent gibberish, which in an embarrassingly obvious black and white transcript via WaPo's Philip Bump (see CW link above)—the journalist didn't need to add a word.
Trump's ignorance and unpreparedness to serve as President shows in his own words, speech after speech. He is nuts!
MAG,
The roster of speakers, the ordering, the collective stories, and the build up from one to the next, all adding to the chain of reflections, observations, personal anecdotes, and the unimpeachable (truly--the other side has tried for eight years to find a way) credentials of those speakers have made the 2016 Democratic National Convention a memorable one. Memorable, indeed. But its success comes largely from the fact that it was conceived and carried out by mature adults with clear goals and vision. Not sycophantic amateurs and blowhard bullies who couldn't give a convincing speech from a soapbox in their living rooms and whose highest goals are "kicking ass" and "locking her up".
The Great Donaldo has been reading his press clippings (the positive ones). Oh, wait. That's all he reads, isn't it? And is he amazed. Just amazed at his own perfectness. Because he was the head asshole on a ridiculous and puerile reality show (and what a silly name..."The Apprentice" had about as much connection with reality as a Penthouse letter) he believes himself qualified to put on, as Ed Sullivan used to say, "A Reeeely big shoew". Producers do all the work. The Donald just shows up, smirks, humiliates contestants, and says "You're fired!" every now and then. This isn't exactly Cecil B. DeMille type work. His inventory of hacks, wannabes, and the smallest of minor celebrities was just as embarrassing as the long list of no shows from his own party, including at least one former president and the party's most recent presidential nominee. The fact that Donaldo deemed his sad sack roundup of losers and lame-o's a stunning success is testament to the level of delusion that is operational for him on a daily basis.
The problem, for the rest of us (you knew there was one), is that too many people don't care. His supporters don't give a shit if he has just asked a hostile foreign power to illegally harass his opponent, a former first lady, senator, and secretary of state. If anything, the no holds barred, stunningly unhinged nature of his campaign has allowed his fans, from the milquetoasts to the most vicious hate spewing douchebags to remove all restraints. And it's no secret that many of these macho assholes are big Putin fans as well. "Hey man, Putin is the balls. Look, he rides a horse with his shirt off and shoots at shit while that wuss Obama sits in some round room talking on the phone with the fucking towel heads. In OUR White House, man! WTF."
And, of course, we have decades of daily lying and disinformation spread by Fox and the right-wing mendacity and anti-democracy machine that has salted the ground guaranteeing the growth of nothing but invasive and slimy weeds.
It's a very good thing that the Democrats have had such a good convention. Anything less would have been more fuel on the bonfire Trump and Fox (and McConnell, and Boehner, and Ryan, and the Rat, and Gohmert, and Bush, and Beck, and Limbaugh, and Hannity, and O'Reilly, and....) have lit under the American Experiment.
Her speech tonight, if it's as good as those preceding it, may not win over the knuckledraggers, but it just might keep more from joining in the Orgy of Republican Hatred and Anti-Americanism. And more importantly, it might convince lazy voters and those who say "Never Hillary" or "They're all the same, what's it matter?" to get up and go vote.
Or hand the keys to an insane person.
Marvin,
I don't think Trump even wants to be a CEO president. We had one of those, remember? His skill as a CEO nearly wrecked the world economy.
Trump isn't even a CEO for his own ventures. He might have the title, but other people do the hard work. He shows up for ribbon cuttings and, a few months later, to sign his Chapter 11 filings.
He's already offered the job of CEOOTUS to at least one VP candidate. He's likely given that job to the Pence half of Trumpence.
He has no intention of doing the hard work of being POTUS. Remember how Reagan used to fall asleep during cabinet meetings? Trump won't even show up. He'll have some flunky sit in and give him a two sentence review of the proceedings while he's off having his picture taken being the Big Cheese.
All he wants is to be Cover Boy President. He wants pictures of himself on board Air Force One looking like a big deal. He wants to be able to tweet images of himself being mobbed by adoring fans "Everyone loves President Donald! See? They love me!"
Some lead from the front, some lead from behind. Trump wants to lead from poolside at Mar a Lago, twitter machine in hand.
@Ak: Trump's needy 'Love me' was in evidence throughout his pandering to the crowd in Scranton. He's gonna bring back mining (there haven't been mining operations in DECADES, last one going was a large strip mine operation outside of Carbondale—and I believe that no longer exists). When mining died in NE Pennsylvania, manufacturing saved the communities—women mostly at the sewing machines. There were large operations that provided ready-to-wear clothing to Seventh Avenue into the 80's. But, I can't think of a single operation that remains.
My brothers worked for Bethlehem Steel. I know what it looks like in that area, too. Steel ain't coming back, either.
Yet, when I watched the video and heard all the supportive whoops for Trump's bizarre promises of a great recovery of these diminished industries, it was all I could do to stop banging my head against the desk.
As to Trump's showmanship skills as an actual producer of his reality show. Baaaaah! Basically, his efforts consisted of a scripted walk-on cameo. Mark Burnett's production crew staged it from storyline to 'I'm a star.' I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the end result is not a Survivor redux. and I'm all in for voting Trump off the island at the first opportunity.
Forgive the light-weight bitch but I find this Trump remark so astounding...
If he is not met by the head-of-state, he is going to direct Air Force One not to land but to turn around and go home.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/07/28/more-than-500-miles-apart-donald-trump-and-joe-biden-debate-compassion/?wpisrc=nl_heads-draw6&wpmm=1
Didyaevah? Just crazy.
This morning I cleaned our office space and bookshelves while listening to Chris Hedges debate Robert Reich on the future of the progressive movement (video). This is unnerving to listen to and strips away some of the glow from last night's love fest. But it's worth the listen and worth a discussion. I did a good job cleaning if for no other reason than to quell my anxieties. Scrub away all that accumulated surface dust –––a clean sweep as it were.
http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/chris_hedges_robert_reich_debate_future_of_the_progressive_movement_2016072
@Haley Simon: Thanks. Here's the whole quote from that section of the story:
"Towards the end of the rally, Trump said that if he becomes president, he will demand the respect of other countries and will expect foreign leaders to personally greet Air Force One when it lands on their soil. If that doesn't happen, Trump says he will turn the plane around.
"'I would say: Pilot! Head back. Go on. Head back," Trump said, as the crowd started to chant: 'USA! USA! USA!'"
This is stupid on so many levels, but here's one: It is not traditional for a head-of-state to meet a visiting head-of-state at the airport. It is done occasionally, but usually the first meeting between the two, where a formal ceremony is planned, takes place at the residence or other government facility of the host country. Generally, a high-ranking official, with entourage, is the one who greets the POTUS at the airport.
There are probably quite a few presidents & prime ministers around the world right now dashing off notes to their chiefs-of-staff: "Re: Possible Trump Election: Not. Going. to. Airport. Ever."
Marie
The Bump transcript highlights Trump's character disorder. The content, construction of the language, the repetition and the abject grandiosity is a master class in crazytalk. My favorite line is "I never had a second thought in my life." (in reference to the Pence pick).
Haley,
The story Trumpy tells his adoring audience of cheering simpletons, is an old one, usually told in a much different version involving a scorpion. Trump could have changed it to a snake because he's not sure of what a scorpion is, but I think there was a different reason for the switch.
Trump's story involves a nice, but obviously outlandishly naive woman who takes in a nearly frozen snake and cares for it and nurses it back to health. When it recovers its strength, the snake bites the woman, killing her. Before she dies she asks the snake why he did that since she had been so kind to him and saved his life. In Trump's version, the snake is evil. He tells the woman to shut up and grins at her as she dies saying "Silly woman, you knew I was a snake when you took me in!" Bwah-hah-hah-hah.
This, of course is Trump's rationale for never helping other people, especially ones who don't look like you.
The less juvenile version is the story of the scorpion and the frog. You all have heard this no doubt, but the quick version has a scorpion asking the frog to give him a lift across a rushing stream. The frog, thinking this might not be a great idea, he being a scorpion and all, demurs. The scorpion, sensing reluctance tries to reassure the frog by telling him not to worry, he wouldn't sting him because if he did, they would both drown. Of course, mid-stream, the frog is stung. He asks the scorpion why he did that, because now they will both drown. The scorpion's valediction is "I can't help it. That's my nature."
The stories are somewhat similar except the second is a much more interesting one in terms of how we are wed to our natures, even to the extent that we can allow our worst impulses to destroy us, and others along for the ride.
The first is a simple tale, "told by an idiot" to evoke a sense of outrage and a desire for vengeance since the snake, unlike the scorpion, slithers away unharmed. Also because the snake revels in the woman's death and finds it funny. There is also the feeling that the narrator agrees with the snake's conclusion that the woman was stupid for trying to help someone else, a tale that encompasses many values that are near and dear to Trump: outrage at victimization, hatred of "the other". a desire for vengeance, and a need to humiliate those who aren't "tough" or as "smart" as he is at being able to smoke out an enemy.
But, I guess he can't help being such a cynical, hateful, paranoid asswipe.
That's his nature.
'competent eventually', what after 4 years? My greatest frustration in all of this is the fact we are dealing seriously with a mentally ill idiot.
He didn't make a treasonous statement yesterday. He has no clue what treason means. Not a single credential for anything related to POTUS, just a loud mouth that will embarrass us every day.
And on non political matter Akhilleus, while I certainly agree with your comment about starting the car, the concept is going away. The favorite part of my new car is that it has no keys, just buttons.
Marvin,
I'm sure Donaldo would like those buttons too. He could sit there and watch all the pretty lights on the dashboard while concocting foreign policy.
Someone asked: "When were Americans last presented with two such starkly different views of the country as Mr. Trump’s bleak portrayal of a country under siege, and Mrs. Clinton’s 'best days are ahead of us' optimism?" That's easy; 1972 Nixon vs. McGovern and we know how that turned out.