2020 DNC thread (starts at 9pm ET)

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

Bowser is an...interesting...choice.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

The Mayor of DC didn't impress in my view, but George Floyd's family certainly did.

her teleprompter was real far to the left

Hard not to be when it's next to a Bloomberg supporter. 

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

I understand why they have to have this “police are good, actually” stuff to balance things out, but it feels incredibly tone-deaf.

The Democratic leadership should consider Garner's mother a huge FF for managing that. I hope what she did is kept in mind when police reform bills make it to Congress.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

I have to say I am concerned about the emphasis on African Americans and racial identity politics.  I think it could turn off potential white Midwest voters.

It's the first 20 minutes or so of the first day and the polling suggests white voters are readier than ever to support racial justice reform.  I thought Lori Lightfoot's bit on using economic empowerment to fight racism was hard to construe as exclusive or (allegedly) "anti-white".

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

Why couldn't they pick someone like Lamont instead? By putting a relative of a COVID-19 victim on after Cuomo, they've invited the GOP to dunk on his awful record.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

I have to say I am concerned

...and five minutes later Susan Collins' opponent starts speaking.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

Cuomo blows, but I do agree that the presentation was good for his bit. I hope he doesn’t run in 2024, doubt he’s going anywhere if he does though.

How would a Cuomo 2024 campaign even work? I'd have to assume Harris is the frontrunner assuming Biden wins this year. Unless Cuomo goes full #woke and runs from the Left, I don't seem him finding a lane to run in

Scorched earth electability focus and outreach to Biden Cabinet members who are not on board with Harris 2024.

N.B. this probably wouldn't work but I'm not sure what else would for Cuomo.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

who cares, he was just one of the "regular guys" chatting it up.  It's not like he gave a speech or anything.  If they'd gone and thoroughly vetted all the "regular, average people" y'all would be complaining about how artificial it was.

"lol, Biden secretly watches InfoWars" come on now.

People can evolve, but it seems pretty grim to me that they put Ms. Garner in that position (couldn't they have found a more unambiguously "good cop?").

I sincerely hope she was aware of it beforehand.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

Klobuchar and Buttigieg have been brought to speak in succession. The latter's projected win of SDEs in Iowa has also been acknowledged as an outright victory.

Grab your popcorn! Both the convention and Twitter are about to be on fire.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

The first gay man to win a state presidential caucus

Uh oh, will Bernie be ok?

It's Pete I'd worry about. The binders are out.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

"Even though Trump hates the Post Office, he will still have to fill out a change of address form come January."

AMYJOKES ARE BACK BABYYYYY

So I wrote back

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

On reflection, it might have tone deaf to schedule Klobuchar so soon after the racial justice bit.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

If they show Moulton and not Bennet I will kill someone

BENNET OR BUST

THE REAL MIKE 2020

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

Any bets on which of the 29 candidates won't feature?

So far we've had Booker, Gillibrand, Harris, Inslee, Klobuchar, Moulton, O'Rourke, Steyer and Yang. Buttigieg and Sanders are scheduled.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

This nation would be much better if we elected Kasich in 2016

You could replace Kacisch with any other person in this country other than Trump and it would still be true.

Counterpoint: Tom Cotton, or anyone half as malcontent and twice as competent as Trump.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

Very refreshing to hear Bernie talk positively about Biden and not just negatively about Trump. An unironic well done from me.

The Biden campaign needs to do more of this in general.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

Anyone remember when Bill Clinton wanted to lower the Medicare age from 65 to 55?

The more Biden's allies campaign on this, the harder it will be for the worst sorts to push him away from it in office.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

Okay, this is the first time that I truly loved Bernie. Getting the man with the image of a radical to introduce the term 'Authoritarianism' into the mainstream is genius, since it will quickly disseminate among the activist base. It makes sense given how the dems are branded as Socialists, so why not return the favor...especially when it is relevant. It is also straighter to the point, and less easier rebuffed, and more accurate than the term 'Fascist'' which is presently used by certain groups to describe the Trump administration.

Disagree. Loads of people just aren't going to care about "authoritarianism" if it seems too abstract to them, which - disappointingly - it does. The administration's grift will always be an easier target than the administration's authoritarianism.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

Michelle Obama's speech has been great so far, but "This is who we [still] are," will always set off a million alarm bells in my head.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

What's most interesting to me is she said "vote in person, if you can"

The tragedy of the USPS voter suppression is that even if the actual effect amounts to nothing, it dissuades people from requesting mail-in ballots who might ultimately be too afraid to vote in person on e-day (e.g. if there's a local surge in COVID-19 cases). This achieves Trump's aim of reducing use of VBM.

On the plus side, a larger partisan split in votes cast by mail could have benefited Republicans due to disproportionate rejection of mail-in ballots that already existed in certain states (NY, apparently).

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

Can’t help but notice Bernie’s speech was the only one to mention Biden’s policies!

That had better change tomorrow, or I'll consider it a bad omen for the campaign. Biden should want to keep the Republicans fighting on the policy territory where the Democrats lead by large margins and especially in the rust belt. Some are even foolish enough to think that this is where they do best and only need a little goading to start defending corporate abuses and alienating lots of Obama-Trump types.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

https://twitter.com/HowardMortman/status/1295546645589852160

Does this show anything other than the Democrats are moving further right and are now on par with where the GOP was a quarter century ago?

Oh yes, I remember the GOP of 1996 that supported a $15 min wage in 1996 dollars, universal healthcare with a public option and large factions supporting Medicare for all, had a majority who supported marijuana legalization and had large factions calling to defund police departments.

And I see now how the Democrats of 2020 support English as the national language, prayer in schools, a balanced budget amendment, bans on gays in the military, and eliminating any government involvement in Healthcare. They’re basically the same as the GOP of the 1990s.

There's been a lot of progress on social issues (with exceptions like the issue of democracy), but on economics, it's best to keep things in perspective and that means appreciating changes in the status quo as well as the policy platforms revolving around how to change it. The rich are much richer and the poor are getting poorer, the incremental progression of tax loopholes over multiple administrations means the de facto income tax rate is now higher for said poorer voters, the GOP is increasingly authoritarian and obstructionism dominates politics like never before. Amidst the ruins of political norms, the loosening of campaign finance laws (among others) means powerful individuals unaccountable to the populace have a strong grip on many elected officials from the local to the federal level.

The world is also rumbling on towards a 2 degree increase in temperature. The Democratic platform provides much room for optimism that the challenges of the times will be met and tackled, but I think it's fair to argue those challenges are greater than those faced at the turn of the century and that most people are further from equity now than then.

Whether the platform will be realised depends on how many elected Democrats there are in 2021 and how may of them are prepared to hang onto that platform when the obstructionists (both elected Republicans and "Democratic" lobbyists) come out to play.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

https://twitter.com/HowardMortman/status/1295546645589852160

Hold up...the GOP had their 1996 convention in San Diego? I doubt we'll see a GOP convention in California again in a loooong time.

San Diego still has a Republican mayor who succeeded a Democratic one in a special election in 2013 and hung on in 2016.

Edit: however, in 2020, the top two in the primary to succeed the term-limited incumbent were both Democrats.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

>Putting on a guy from Alaska
>It's not Al Gross

VoteDem and Election Twitter are probably on suicide watch now

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

JESUS ING CHRIST OF ALL THE ING DEMOCRATS IN MY STATE YOU PICK THE ER WHO ENDORSED THE REPUBLICAN IN OUR ING SECRETARY OF STATE RACE

I'm done. I'm ****ing done.                                                                                                                                    

Let them have it. A convention, especially a virtual one, is the ultimate insider event and for all the DNC conspiracy theories, much of the real power in the Democratic Party lies elsewhere (Congressional leadership, donors etc.).