The 2020 Democratic National Convention thread

Thomas Veil

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Screen Shot 2020-08-16 at 11.04.11 AM.png

Well, here we go!

It runs August 17-20 and will feature a combination of electronic and in-person appearances in this Covid-sensitive environment.

Some random thoughts before it starts:

First of all...beautiful site. (Click on the image above.) And everything seems easy to find. So, nice job.

I'm looking forward to seeing how they handle this. Hopefully from a technical standpoint they will follow the lead of those who assembled the 2020 NFL Draft. To my way of thinking that was a terrific example of How To Do It.

I'm puzzled somewhat by this TV graphic I saw the other day which indicated that AOC will be given 60 seconds of time to speak at the convention. I mean, on the one hand I have the obvious thought: really? 🤨 On the other hand, you see of course what they're doing: they're afraid she's going to say something that will end up in a Trump commercial. Even though that's a reasonable fear, it still sucks. It indicates they don't trust her to not go off-script.

I'm probably going to check in more than I normally would for a Democratic convention. Partly because the stakes are astronomically high this year, and partly out of curiosity to see how it works, logistically. This has never been done with a political party convention before.

I can remember years ago when TV networks used to cover conventions practically in their entirety (albeit with network talking heads speaking over some of the proceedings). Then one year Ted Koppel and his crew decided this was more dog-and-pony show than actual news, and they decided to cut back to only the featured events in the evening hours. It's been that way ever since...at least on the non-CSPAN networks.

This time you have a plethora of ways to follow the convention including, according to the site, the entire program on Twitch. Scroll down the page here for a full list of ways to watch.

And then let's meet back here to talk about it.
 

Alli

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I was excited to see that my D senator, Doug Jones, will be given some time opening night. I can’t afford to send him any more money. All I can do now is keep wearing his t-shirt and crossing my fingers.

Should be an interesting couple of days.
 

Thomas Veil

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I just looked at what the broadcast networks will be covering. I guess the love affair with the conventions is over.

In the 8-9 and 9-10 hours...

ABC: Holey Moley, To Tell the Truth
NBC: American Ninja Warriors
CBS: The Neighborhood, Bob Hearts Abishola, All Rise
Fox: 911, 911 Lone Star

With the exception of the 10-11 hour, they’ve left it totally to the cable news channels.
 

lizkat

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On Fox "News" it'll probably be followed by an hour of Sean Hannity telling you the exact opposite of what you just saw.

yeah or he'll just ignore it and so the fox anchor next morning: "there was part of a dem convention and we watched it so you don't have to, here's what happened, nothing, and now on to Fox and Friends for your morning!"
 

lizkat

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First of all...beautiful site. (Click on the image above.) And everything seems easy to find. So, nice job.

I agree... and guess what y'all Rs: the Dems have rounded up some God fearin' folk to preach it for us during this convention. Oops. Thought Trump had a lock on that Book he was waving around in front of St. Johns awhile back.

OK so God's apparently not into politics and not taking a side so it's ok for some evangelical preachers to end up at the Democratic Party's convention. Carry on.
 

Thomas Veil

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Saw this headline on NPR’s site this morning:

Biden Faces A Convention Test, To Offer A Vision Beyond Beating Trump

How about a return to competence?

Basic competence and sanity would look pretty good right about now.
 

lizkat

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We've been gaslighted for four years straight, so sanity on anyone's part is a relative concept. Even peer heads of state and their functionaries have been reduced to rolling eyes and indulging in two-palm head-smacking from time to time while dealing with the Trump administration.... and let's face it, that started right off the bat when Trump kissed off the Paris Accords.

The problem is that Trump's not going to campaign on "We've paved the way for the planet to provide more methylmercury for our citizens to consume than any other president in history."

What's Biden supposed to say.... "we're going to change the FDA guidelines to suggest you eat even less albacore tunafish than before." ?

So yeah, Biden needs to focus on things people still need despite Trump's transitory commissions and "theme weeks" that The Don himself kept trampling on with his tweetbox sidebars.

And Biden must use concrete terms people can understand and tell us how the Dems are going to help us get to a better place on a lot of pocketbook issues. In no particular order: Infrastructure. Housing. Jobs. Affordable health care. Education financing.

Of course in my book any of that in reality has to include replacing the incumbent Senate Majority Leader, a man from the "Party of No". That's a concrete goal best handled by the DSCC's fundraising, not Joe Biden.
 

Thomas Veil

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Watching the daughter of someone who trusted Donald Trump lash out at him for her dad’s death from Covid. Heartbreaking stuff.

Edit: Son of a gun. No sooner do I post this when it makes the lead headline at USA Today.

66965F70-BDCF-4C1E-AC2A-8009F53E37E9.jpeg
A woman whose father voted for President Donald Trump, but who also died from COVID-19, offered blistering criticism of the president’s management of the health crisis.

Mark Anthony Urquiza died June 30 after three weeks of battling the respiratory illness. In his obituary in the Arizona Republic, his daughter Kristin Urquiza wrote that his death was due to the carelessness of politicians unwilling or unable to give clear and decisive direction.

“My dad was a healthy 65-year-old. His only preexisting condition was trusting Donald Trump, and for that, he paid with his life,” Urquiza told the convention. “The coronavirus has made it clear that there are two Americas: the America that Donald Trump lives in and the America that my father died in.”
 
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Thomas Veil

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Michelle Obama is, not surprisingly, hitting it out of the park. 👏🏼

Easy to see why Barack loves that woman.
 

Thomas Veil

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All right, I’ll admit to you guys something I won’t even admit to my wife. This...




...made me teary-eyed last night.

I mean, it’s basically a stupid Zoom call, right? Yet it touched me so much that when I rewatched it this morning (I had it DVRed) I actually broke down and cried like John Boehner. Not just because it’s beautiful, but because it really drives to heart the America I want to live in vs. the America I am living in. 😢

There’s a lot of love in that video. Love of our country, love for each other. I don’t see enough of that nowadays.
 

Alli

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I could have done without much of the entertainment. It’s wasted on me. I want to hear people speak to the matter. I would have preferred Randy Rainbow doing one of his political parody songs. But that’s just me. I’m also an early to bed early to rise, so I hit the sack long before it was over. Loved Kasich. I mostly wanted to hear Doug Jones. I’m more concerned about the senate race than the presidency at this point.

I had to listen to Michelle and Bernie this morning.
 

jkcerda

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Saw this headline on NPR’s site this morning:

Biden Faces A Convention Test, To Offer A Vision Beyond Beating Trump

How about a return to competence?

Basic competence and sanity would look pretty good right about now.
that does NOTHING to keep people employed.
 
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