Night 2 of the Democrats' Dog and Pony Show Convention

Once again the world owes a debt of thanks to Wikileaks, an organization dedicated to revealing what the powerful want to hide. Wikileaks released a trove of more than 19,000 emails hacked from the Democratic National Committee (DNC). The emails revealed the extent of establishment fears of the Bernie Sanders campaign and also the incompetence and pettiness of Democratic “leadership.” They also made clear what critics have long contended. The Democratic party is devoid of any ideology. It exists to further the interests of rich people and corporations and to expand imperialism. All claims of concern for workers or people of color are marketing gimmicks meant to get votes and keep their racket in business.

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The Democratic role in the political duopoly is to engage in pretense about inclusivity. Yet these people who claim to welcome diversity referred to Latino voters as “brand loyal consumers” who “respond well to story telling.” Of course every part of the Democratic constituency is viewed as a consumer who must buy what they sell. They are corporate actors after all.

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Hillary Clinton had nothing to fear from Bernie Sanders. She had more money, the support of black voters in the early southern primaries and obviously support from the party establishment. Sanders never wanted to challenge Clinton, he passed up every opportunity to seriously attack her and made clear that he would endorse her in the end. Yet the DNC went out of its way to hit a fly with a sledge hammer.

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While the Democrats went about the business of hammering the nails in Sanders’ coffin he went along with being the sheepdog who keeps progressives in line and in the Hillary camp.

  Margaret Kimberley at Black Agenda Report

"Sen. Sanders was a true champion," [Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, longtime best friend to the Clintons] said. "He sent out texts, his speech last night said we have to come together. He's done everything we've asked him to do. This is a hard business, it just takes time. I think this convention made a lot of progress."

  Politico

Bernie obediently played his part in the ritual nomination of Hillary Clinton for presidential candidate on the Democrat ticket.



Don't try to click on that to play the video, I haven't provided the link, but if you really want to see that bit of theater, go to the Guardian article.

Clinton said, in part: “And if there are any little girls out there who stayed up late to watch, let me just say: I may become the first woman president but one of you is next.”

  Guardian

Awwww. Hillary and Obama - firsts. They'll share that, but I'm feeling confident that if Hillary is president, her major legacy point won't simply be the fact that she was the first, which is pretty much what I suspect Obama's will be. Unless it's that he was actually a Republican. As I think of it, the Democratic Party some time back morphed into something else: The Neoliberal Party. They just didn't change their name.

The Republicans released a statement that said in part: “Tonight Democrats formally nominated the most scandal-plagued and disliked candidate in the history of their party.”

While true, I think the same could be said of their candidate. Pot, meet Kettle.

An overwhelming number of voters don’t trust Hillary Clinton. That credibility and character gap is the one thing that might stop Americans from electing a second President Clinton. And so the master of persuasion bragged on and on about his wife: career highlights, familiar anecdotes, and enough warm and cheesy sentiments to launch a thousand wedding toasts.

“If you were sitting where I am sitting and you heard what I heard at every dinner conversation and … on every long walk, you would say this woman has never been satisfied with the status quo about anything,” Bill Clinton said. Having been the candidate of change in 1992, Bill Clinton knows his wife faces headwinds against Donald Trump’s promise of radical, unruly change. “She always wants to move the ball forward,” Bill Clinton said. “That [is] just who she is.”

  The Atlantic

I love Bill Clinton. But I didn’t love his speech Tuesday night in Philadelphia. Given the job of humanizing his wife, he came across as genuinely smitten. But he failed to do what he’s done in every convention speech he’s delivered since 1992: tell a story about where America is today and what can be done to move it forward. He called his wife a great “change maker” but didn’t define the change America needs right now.

But the worst moment of the speech came near its end, when Clinton began to riff about the different kinds of people who should join Hillary’s effort.

  The Atlantic

This will come as no surprise to anyone who reads this blog on any kind of regular basis (if anyone like that exists):  I didn't watch the convention proceedings either of the two nights it's been going.  And I won't be watching any time in the future.

Clinton said something dreadful: “If you’re a Muslim and you love America and freedom and you hate terror, stay here and help us win and make a future together, we want you.” The problem is in the assumption. American Muslims should be viewed exactly the same way other Americans are. If they commit crimes, then they should be prosecuted, just like other Americans. But they should not have to prove that they “love America and freedom” and “hate terror” to “stay here.”

Indeed, a subtle (or maybe not) implication that only Muslims in this country who need to show they "hate terror".

Clinton hedged his opposition to Trump’s Muslim ban by suggesting that America should welcome good Muslims, the ones who don’t hate secretly hate America.

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It’s a time for clarity. And Bill Clinton failed to provide it last night, thus reminding even those of us who admire him that his political instincts sometimes overwhelm his moral ones.

Sometimes?

The Democratic convention is a sterling affair if you have [a] credential. If you don’t, you will be herded behind steel gates to stare at those who do. You will be mocked by reporters who sit in an air-conditioned fully comped lounge as you sweat outside. You will be simultaneously asked for your support and threatened with a materially worse life if you withhold it. The dynamic is the same in the Republican Party, but the repugnance of many of the positions its outsiders hold make it harder to sympathize with them.

Everything is not good. The Democrats can enjoy this convention behind the security barriers and closed doors. When they emerge, an angry country will be there waiting for them.

  Gawker

The Democrats must be replaced. The task of leftists is to work towards the establishment of a party that represents the interests of working people.

  Margaret Kimberley at Black Agenda Report

And while the Democrats were congratulating themselves in their police-protected bubble, this was happening in St. Paul...



...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.