Convention Madness

A lot of discussion on This Week about Trump’s  attitude toward the military and specifically about  Tim Walz’ military service. Interestingly enough the whole discussion was overseen by Martha Raddatz whose work with the American military is well know to most viewers.

Reince Priebus worked very hard to try and make Trump’s draft dodging equal to Walz’ twenty-four years of service, but only succeeded in making himself look foolish.

There are still areas in which Harris must clean up the fallacious misrepresentations nurtured by the GOP.  Probably the most important is in the area of economics.  There is still an unbelievable lingering belief among voters that Trump is better economically for the middle class than Harris. This is easily disproven and must be actively attacked by the Democrats.

Harris’ speech, just before the weekend, in which she laid out  plans for several programs aimed at helping the middle class, was a good beginning but only that. The fact that she addressed it again in her acceptance speech shows that she is serious about it, but  now we have to see the specifics.

If  implemented, Trump’s tariff programs would cause huge and permanent inflation, and would be a  staggering blow to the middle class, as would Trump’s already implemented  tax cut for millionaires.

Don’t forget people, Trump’s at least a millionaire himself, and if there’s anything we know for sure about Trump it’s that he will always legislate for his own benefit.

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Kristen Welker during an interview with Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer seemed to be locked in on the fact that Tim Walz wanted to issue drivers licenses to immigrants. What’s wrong with that? It’s another form of identification. It gives legal status to those driving a vehicle, thereby allowing them to drive a car or truck but restricting how they drive said vehicle. It also expands the talents they have to sell  to potential employers. What is so bad about this?

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“If we have a policy debate, he wins.” That’s Lindsay Graham speaking about Donald Trump and the various strategies he should be using against Kamala Harris. But what the hell policy is Lindsay talking about, because from where I sit, I see only one scrap of policy in Trumps whole suitcase, and it is a born loser. I’m talking about his make the rich richer attempts that led to the only piece of legislation that came out of four miserable years of a former Trump Presidency. If you want to call that pathetic attempt at governance, policy, please go ahead but don’t try to sell it as a plan for four more years.

Everything that Lindsay and the rest of the Trump sycophants are trying to sell as policy are either rebranded Democratic discards or something that will help destroy the middle class.

Unfortunately, Trump thinks that policy making involves Steve Millers failed attempts at finding funny names for Trump’s opponents while he and his cohorts are letting the fat conman cheat them at golf.

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It was Monday night in Chicago and the Democrats opened up the vault and rolled out some of their biggest sluggers to make the point that this nation  was in fine shape and that the destructive and depressing message of Donald Trump and the GOP was about to go in the dumpster where it belonged. This bunch of Democrats are happy campers with a resounding message. “America is great and we’re going to make it even greater.” They came at their audience with a lineup of forceful and dynamic speakers culminating with the retiring President, Joe Biden in a scintillating, farewell that sounded like nothing, if not a victory speech.

The most excited and exciting convention crowd in memory, roared its approval as the likes of Hillary Clinton, Raphael Warnock and, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stirred them into one frenzy after another.

They were almost exhausted by the time Biden appeared and he revved them  into a final frenzy.

The pathetic NY Post, unable to find any legitimate criticism with which to attack the rhapsodic presentation  was forced to fall back on the nonsense that it ran past their bedtime. That may be, but if I ever saw a political show worth losing sleep over, it was this one.

But that was only the beginning.  In succeeding nights, we saw both Obamas, Bill Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, and a compliment of the Party’s  young and scintillating orators speak to the solidity of their Presidential and Vice-Presidential choices and expound on a platform that they see as endorsing our nation’s ability to expand the middle class, thereby enabling the American dream for greater numbers of our nation’s citizens.

It all led to Kamala’s slam dunk acceptance speech which drew a wide line between  the negativity of the GOP and the hope for a better future expressed joyously by the rollicking conventioneers.

It’s going to be tough for the Democrats to keep up this level of excitement for the next seventy odd days but if they can do it, it will bode well for the future of the nation.

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Like many of you, I  watched Barak Obama the other night and marveled at his ability to speak to people. I always liked Barak even though I was never convinced he was a great President. It was his seeming inability to function in the political mosh pit that always  bothered me.  He seemed to be lacking the element that made Joe Biden a great President, the ability to wheel and deal in the Lyndon Johnson mode in which deals are made or arms are twisted, and important legislation is passed. I believe it’s called, “the art of getting shit done.”

Turns out I was wrong. Not about Obamas abilities but about his greatness. As I watched his brilliantly conceived and artfully delivered speech the other night, I realized that there are many ways to be great and Barak Obama’s way was in his ability to speak to people. To make the clear, precise points that make what he is saying easily understandable. Right now, the Democratic Party is blessed by having a plethora of such speakers on the bench. Josh Shapiro is probably the most bombastic, but he is followed by the likes of Wes Moore, Pete Buttigieg, Gretchen Whitmer, Gavin Newsom, and Tim Walz, all of whom know how to deliver a message clearly and concisely without doubt or confusion.  It’ a tremendous advantage to have a group of speakers like that laying out your message when you are trying to get a point across to voters.

What makes them interesting is that they’re not all the same. While Shapiro and Walz can raise the roof off the building and rev up a crowd like the hottest cheerleader at Old Miss, Whitmer, Newsom, and Buttigieg can make the most complicated points appear as clear  as glass and Wes Moore can do both.

It’s not like the Republicans don’t have any decent speakers. They do. The problem is that they have nothing to say. They keep trying to create talking points on which to base a campaign and the dumb clown they are promoting keeps attacking everyone who won’t kiss his ass on Broadway at high noon.   It would seem that Trump is just as interested in attacking his perceived enemies as he is in winning the Presidency, or maybe it’s just that he no longer sees any way to that goal and figures he might as well just get even.

In any case he has stolen from his defenders the ability to help him in his search and in doing so has doomed his campaign to the same result it achieved in 2017, ‘18, ‘19, ‘20, ‘21, ‘22 nd ‘23. He’s just too screwed up to see it.

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