Like everyone else I know, we ate up the Democratic political convention.
- I did not share the love for the DJ playing the state songs during the roll call. Too loud! (Shakes cane at DJ, then offers him hard candy.)
- I did share the love for the Joy theme. And for the narrative that Biden sacrificed for the country, though I suspect things did not go down that way. At all. Joe's a fighter. Nancy Pelosi probably threatened him with a contested convention.
- That led me to research if there has ever actually been a brokered or contested convention, which brought me to this article, where I also read:
"...,nominating conventions in the 19th century were very different from the versions Americans watch on TV today. Back then, the winning candidate didn’t give an acceptance speech or even necessarily attend the convention—an unofficial practice that ended with Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932."
It did not end with FDR. I distinctly remember the Clinton family on nominating night in 1992. He accepted the nomination after cameras followed them as they "shopped" at either Bloomindales or Macys. I think Hillary bought a scarf. The anchor (Tom Brokaw) commented that he failed to see the purpose of this charade, and how we still behaved as if the nomination was a surprise.
Good convention in general. I missed the Walz speech, but that was it.
Yay! I hope the "... look, the enthusiasm is not AI-generated" message gets out so that fewer Trump supporters are skeptical of the numbers when the election gets here. (because he is totally going to try to pull the "I won" thing again and uuuugh no insurrection please)
(ALSO please everyone remember 2016 and vote, even if you get "news stories" or targeted social media ads saying that Harris doesn't deserve your vote for this reason or that reason, because, yes, nobody is perfect, but a bunch of people assuming a landslide win and not voting because they weren't adequately enthused was how we got Trump the first time.)
But the joy and energy and positive reasons to vote are so, so nice as well! (just: there will probably be some sort of October Surprise or other shenanigans to slander Harris/Walz, in addition to the current photoshopped garbage and accusations of fake crowds, and who knows whether the "scandals" will be totally fraudulent or slightly-real-but-inflated, so: everybody vote no matter what, please and thank you, and check your voter registration before your state's registration deadline in case you've been purged from the lists)
Posted by: KC | August 25, 2024 at 09:33 AM
KC - oh, there will be pouts the election was stolen, but there will always be with the Big Baby.
Posted by: theQueen | August 26, 2024 at 09:15 AM
There will 100% be pouts. I mean, he is already saying it's "unfair" that the *vice president we voted in" is the candidate because 'nobody' voted for her (except the populace and also the convention delegates, so...).
The question, for me, is whether there will be enough people convinced either that the election is stolen or that violence and terrorism are appropriate measures if one wants to "take back" a country, because, like many forms of vandalism, terrorism is *very* unequal in terms of effort and personnel required to destroy things (like the North Carolina power station "just shoot at them" takedowns in 2023) vs. effort and personnel necessary to repair them. I think the less contested the election is - the more *obvious* it is to as many people as possible that *most* voters did in fact vote for Harris - the harder it'll be to find gullible recruits for that sort of thing (and hopefully the FBI has a lead on more of the established anti-America white-supremacist 'militia' crews at this point and can block them?).
(of course, that is assuming enough people head out to vote for Harris that not only the popular vote but the electoral vote does in fact go not-Trump, as per 2020. But a landslide would make more of his "interference" noises less plausible to many people.)(... also, though, the number of theoretically grown adults who have backed up the 'stolen elections' thing for 2020 is boggling to me. It's easily disproven? And they know that? But it's political suicide for Rs to say it? So they... lie? About an easy factual matter that's gotten smoke bombs thrown at it so it seems like it *might* be shrouded in mystery to *some* people but honestly not the top ones, but the top ones still lie to keep their jobs? Which is a bad sign for democracy.)
Posted by: KC | August 26, 2024 at 08:50 PM
KC - well, per voting people in, how did he feel about Ford / Rockefeller?
Posted by: theQueen | August 27, 2024 at 09:48 AM
His grasp on current reality, let alone historical reality... I have my doubts as to whether he knows anything about it at all, aside from the generic position towards facts of "I want to do what I want to do so I'll say that what I want is right and anything I don't want is illegal or a witch hunt or wrong..."
Posted by: KC | August 28, 2024 at 11:16 AM
KC - what I find remarkable is how he answers Yes to the people in the Yes bubble and No to the people in the No bubble and no one calls him out on it.
Posted by: theQueen | August 29, 2024 at 07:54 AM
The degree to which his supporters don't care that he has to be lying to someone on almost all this stuff is bewildering to me. Admittedly, it took me until college to learn that just because I was aware of *some* of the times when someone particular was lying, did not mean I was therefore "safe" and knew *all* the times that person was lying, and people do really want to be on the "inside" and know more than others do [for instance, by knowing when so-and-so is tricking people, but not *them* of course], so there is that. (and there are other weird psychological things going on as well)
I would prefer the US to not be in the midst of a major manipulation/propaganda experiment, however.
Posted by: KC | August 29, 2024 at 10:57 AM
KC - I think that this happens: his supporters, when confronted with his lies, say, "All politicians lie." They say it in a superior way to prove they are better than the innocent who accused Trump of lying and also better than all politicians.
Posted by: theQueen | August 29, 2024 at 06:45 PM