DNC Day 4: Madame President

Written By: - Date published: 1:16 pm, July 29th, 2016 - 103 comments
Categories: International, us politics - Tags:

The last day of the Democratic Party’s National Conference. Chelsea Clinton will introduce her mum around 2.30, then Hillary Clinton will presumably give the speech of her life at around 3pm.

In other news, the 1% candidate Donald Trump has removed his foot from his mouth long enough to splutter that he was only kidding about getting Russia to spy on American citizens. Too little, too late, according to commentators.

EDIT: Clinton’s final lines, echoed in a tweet from supporter Bernie Sanders:

That is the story of America. And we begin a new chapter tonight.

Yes, the world is watching what we do.

Yes, America’s destiny is ours to choose. So let’s be stronger together.

Looking to the future with courage and confidence.

Building a better tomorrow for our beloved children and our beloved country.

When we do, America will be greater than ever.

Thank you and may God bless the United States of America!

 

Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) July 29, 2016

I congratulate @HillaryClinton on this historic achievement. We are stronger together.

 

 

Live coverage of the speeches here:

 

 

Bonus: Video of Barack Obama from yesterday. It’s brilliant.

 

103 comments on “DNC Day 4: Madame President ”

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  1. Liberal Realist 1
    29 July 2016 at 1:54 pm

    TRP I wouldn’t be so sure your preferred candidate will be ‘Madame President’.

    Yes her coronation as nominee has proceeded as planned, regardless of stench of corruption surrounding Clinton and her DNC collaborators but that doesn’t mean she’ll win in November.

    The polling trends I’ve observed don’t look great for HRC, especially around trustworthiness (IMO Americans have good reason not to trust her). Then there’s the torrent of attacks that will soon come from the Republicans – that won’t let up until election day.

    I’ll close with a link to a very interesting documentary on the Clinton’s and their ‘Global Initiative’. If anyone is interested in how Bill and Hillary came to be so wealthy, do spend the time to watch this. No tin foil hats, no sensationalism.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LYRUOd_QoM

  2. Colonial Viper 2
    29 July 2016 at 1:55 pm

    Bernie Sanders has announced he will give up his Democratic Party membership and return to being an independent.

    • te reo putake 2.1
      29 July 2016 at 2:03 pm

      Gotta link? I’ll put it in the post. If that’s the case, he’s probably done almost as much in a few short years to reform the Democratic party than anyone has in decades. If his influence lasts, that is!

      • Andre 2.1.1
        29 July 2016 at 2:07 pm

        Less than a year, he only joined the Dems November 2015.

      • te reo putake 2.1.2
        29 July 2016 at 2:12 pm

        Just had a quick look at the news sites, CV. It appears not to be the case.

        He’s going to return to the senate after the Presidential campaign where he was already elected as an independent. So basically just going back to the status quo (no pun intended!). That’s kind of like Goff or Dalziel running for mayor as an independent. It doesn’t affect their party membership.

        I simply can’t find any mention of his resigning from the party. If it he had resigned, I imagine it would be leading the news everywhere, particularly if it was done on Hillary’s big day.

        • Colonial Viper 2.1.2.1
          29 July 2016 at 2:20 pm

          Bernie confirmed to the media that he will return to being an independent senator in Vermont, and will not be a Democratic senator.

          • McFlock 2.1.2.1.1
            29 July 2016 at 2:36 pm

            Meanwhile, as Joe90 posted five hours ago, WHAT’S FALSE: Sanders did not formally “leave” the Democratic Party, nor did he do so in protest.

            He’s just returning to the job for which he was elected.

            • dukeofurl 2.1.2.1.1.1
              29 July 2016 at 2:48 pm

              Thats right never was ‘formally a democrat’

              Bonus tip, Eisenhower too was an independent until he got the GOP nomination when he changed to Republican

              Bonus tip . Hillary Clinton was a Goldwater Girl ( in high school)
              https://youtu.be/WycwDYlOCDw

              • DS …
                29 July 2016 at 9:09 pm

                Hillary was a Goldwater girl because she came from a staunch Republican household.

                She (and Bill) campaigned for George McGovern in 1972.

            • Colonial Viper 2.1.2.1.1.2
              29 July 2016 at 2:48 pm

              No one suggested he left the party in protest. But he clearly does not want to extend his Democratic Party stay either.

              • McFlock …
                29 July 2016 at 2:56 pm

                We’ll see in two years, I guess.

              • Phil …
                1 August 2016 at 1:09 pm

                Bernie currently caucuses with the Democrats in Senate, but he was elected, and remains, an Independent Senator.

                He’s more than likely going to continue to caucus with the Democrats, because that would be consistent with his previous position.

    • dukeofurl 2.2
      29 July 2016 at 2:11 pm

      Left the party, hardly hes just saying what he was all along

      “Asked after the event whether Mr. Sanders considers himself a Democrat or an independent, a campaign aide said, “He ran for president as a Democrat but was elected to a six-year term in the Senate as an independent.”

      “His Senate website and press materials continue to label him as an “independent” while his campaign website lists him as a “Democratic candidate.”

      “”I am not now, nor have I ever been, a liberal Democrat,” he said in a 1985 New England Monthly profile, according to Politico.
      “Socialist is the political and economic philosophy I hold, not a party I run under,” he explained in 1988, when he unsuccessfully ran for Congress.”

      “Unlike elsewhere in the world, joining the two major parties isn’t contingent upon membership fees or an application process. Party leaders also don’t have the power to say someone isn’t a Democrat or a Republican.”

      “When asked if he would officially join the party on April 30, 2015, when he announced his candidacy, Sanders said, “No, I am an independent who is going to be working with the —” cutting himself off mid-sentence.”

      http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2016/feb/23/bernie-sanders-democrat/

  3. Reality 3
    29 July 2016 at 2:34 pm

    Listening just now to the introductions to Hillary coming on was awe-inspiring. Trumps’ silly circus acts show him up as being hopelessly unprepared and unsuitable for the role of President in comparison. Good luck to Hillary.

  4. Bill 4
    29 July 2016 at 2:55 pm

    From the Guardian – This opinion piece by Jean Hannah Edelstein makes some bloody good points if accurate (I didn’t listen to Bill Clinton warbling. Btw, is it just me who gets reminded of that fucking awful purple T-rex character from some years back (Barney?) when he ups and opens his mouth?

    Bill Clinton’s speech was sweet. But it put Hillary the ‘girl’ firmly in her place.

    Hillary Clinton’s candidacy is a sign of progress, but it’s also a sign we have yet to progress to a point where a woman isn’t defined by her relationship to a man

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jul/28/bill-clinton-hillary-clinton-speech

  5. swordfish 5
    29 July 2016 at 2:56 pm

    “Bonus: Video of Barack Obama from yesterday. It’s brilliant.”

    Counterpunch’s Jeffrey St. Clair

    This was a night dominated by the hollow men of the Democratic Party: Panetta, Kaine, Biden and Obama. Men who knew better, but did worse. The theme was liberal virility, strength, and managerial efficiency. Missing was any empathy for the homeless and the hungry, the poor and the downtrodden. It was a frontal embrace of the neoliberal order, a demonstration that the Democrats have the competency and toughness to manage the imperial order in a time of severe internal and external stress.

    The last three hours weren’t a full-throated repudiation of Sanderism, so much as a casual dismissal, as if the core concerns Bernie’s movement gave voice to regarding the ravages of economic inequality didn’t even merit their attention. And Bernie sat passively in the imperial box seats with Jane squirming at his side, watching it all unfold.

    Barack Obama possesses so many scintillating skills, perhaps more skills than any other political figure of the modern era. Yet he put those magical gifts to such meagre, timid and often brutal uses. What a waste.

    Oh, and …

    Tim,Kaine, the Jesuit Missionary, talked about witnessing the horrors of the Honduran dictatorship without mentioning that it and its death squads were entirely supported by the US government and that the same generals were put back into power in a coup supported by Hillary Clinton!

    And …

    Almost every speaker on stage today has repeated the phrase “scary Donald Trump.” They are working overtime to scrub away the image of Madeleine Albright from last night, which caused so many Democratic children to have a sleepless night.

    • Colonial Viper 5.1
      29 July 2016 at 3:07 pm

      And Hillary is just another in a long line of Democratic Hollowmen. Interesting how the Thorndon Bubble set have such admiration for the DC beltway/K Street set. I guess it’s becoming increasingly clear which camp various commentators here are in.

      • te reo putake 5.1.1
        29 July 2016 at 3:50 pm

        Yep. It’s not a hard choice; progress or the bigoted billionaire. I forget, which side are you on again? 😉

        • Colonial Viper 5.1.1.1
          29 July 2016 at 3:55 pm

          I’m with the “bigoted billionaire.” He’s the one who won’t cause wars of regime change in poor, brown, secular Middle East countries, unlike the proven regime changing neocon, Hillary Clinton.

          She’s the candidate you somehow label as “progress.”

          • McFlock 5.1.1.1.1
            29 July 2016 at 4:03 pm

            Except he wanted regime change in Libya.
            And he reckons the only problem with obama in syria is that Obama tells people how many troops he sends in.

            • Colonial Viper 5.1.1.1.1.1
              29 July 2016 at 4:56 pm

              Where did Trump say that he wanted regime change in Libya? The Libyan regime change disaster was led by neocon Clinton, of course.

              Trump has been very critical of how Clinton left her Bengazi embassy staff to die.

              • McFlock …
                29 July 2016 at 6:13 pm

                Really? I linked to his podcast just a few days ago.

                In Feb 2011 Trump was advocating for regime change in Libya. NATO went in on 19 march 2011. So I guess it’s really Trump’s fault /sarc

                I guess your blinkers let you miss the link the first time.

                • Colonial Viper …
                  29 July 2016 at 6:27 pm

                  Trump was a good friend of the Clintons at the time, including Hillary Clinton who was pushing the neocon agenda to take down Libya. So I’m not surprised that he was repeating lines from the pro-war structural status quo media at the time.

                  Since then he’s wised up by distancing himself from the Clinton neocon warmongers, and got good advice on foreign affairs.

                  • McFlock …
                    29 July 2016 at 6:30 pm

                    lol
                    So now what Trump said is Clinton’s fault?

                    [headdesk]

                    • Colonial Viper …
                      29 July 2016 at 6:35 pm

                      More subtle than that. Trump was accurately reflecting what the Clinton State Department was feeding to the MSM about Gaddafi and Libya, and how the USA needed to act in regime change.

                    • One Anonymous Bloke …
                      29 July 2016 at 6:36 pm

                      …not to mention Trump parrots whomsoever he’s cosy with today. A coherent narrative simply brimming with credibility and truthiness.

                    • McFlock …
                      29 July 2016 at 6:43 pm

                      bwahahaha

                      So, basically, Trump’s geopolitical analysis then was based on simply reflecting popularly-held beliefs regardless of reality, and that’s how you manage to blame Clinton for what comes out of Trump’s mouth.

                    • Colonial Viper …
                      29 July 2016 at 6:45 pm

                      In a way. Trump was reflecting the views of the press like the New York Times and the Washington Post; papers of record who were being fed the pro-war drum beat by Hillary’s State Department and her neocon friends.

                    • Andre …
                      29 July 2016 at 7:01 pm

                      Is it just me or is our local Putin Puppet particularly unhinged and shrill today?

                    • McFlock …
                      29 July 2016 at 7:01 pm

                      So simply by what he got from TV he turned on the guy he had played host to just a year and a half before. (h/t andre)

                      lol

                      I suppose that was Clinton’s fault, too.

                    • Colonial Viper …
                      29 July 2016 at 7:11 pm

                      Hi Andre. The US is step by step inching the world to first cold war then hot war against China and Russia. That’s a very bad thing for everyone.

                  • One Anonymous Bloke …
                    29 July 2016 at 6:30 pm

                    🙄

          • te reo putake 5.1.1.1.2
            29 July 2016 at 4:05 pm

            Ha! I guess that makes two bigoted billionaires you’re backing, Trump and Putin. One more and you get Bond villain status!

            • Colonial Viper 5.1.1.1.2.1
              29 July 2016 at 4:59 pm

              Hillary Clinton your favourite – who has several hundred million in the Clinton Foundation if not more – is the one who has been destroying the countries of poor, brown people with neocon wars of regime change, and also faux “colour revolutions” funded from Washington DC.

              • Liberal Realist …
                29 July 2016 at 6:23 pm

                CV, TRP appears to have had far too much ‘koolaid’ buying the narrative “Clinton” = Good, “Trump = Bad”. They’re both bad! Clinton is simply far worse, by orders of magnitude.

                You’re correct about the Clinton Foundation. I encourage you to watch the doco I posted at the beginning of this thread, if you haven’t already seen it. Billary has some great mates in Paul Kagame, for example. Another is Billion dollar donations to their foundation in return for political favours, the list goes on.

              • D'Esterre …
                31 July 2016 at 10:24 pm

                Andre and trp: so: your issue with Putin is…..?

                • Colonial Viper …
                  31 July 2016 at 10:56 pm

                  IMO that Putin is determined to have an independent foreign and economic policy which dares to pursue Russia’s own national security interests, in a backdrop where only the US empire is permitted to conduct strikes against civilians, destabilise governments around the world, fund insurgencies and colour revolutions against democracies, mass surveil the populations of “allies”, and send carrier groups to sit off the coast of faraway countries in the name of “freedom of navigation.”

            • infused 5.1.1.1.2.2
              29 July 2016 at 8:58 pm

              you’ve lost the plot.

            • Nic the NZer 5.1.1.1.2.3
              29 July 2016 at 10:01 pm

              Further item to add to the long list of Hilary’s virtues as a presidential candidate. To recap in full,
              1) She a woman.
              2) Her Husband is Bill Clinton.
              3) She’s (only) a (Multi-)Millionaire.
              (this one should be brought up in juxtaposition to Billionaire opponent)
              If that list doesn’t make your mind up, well…

          • DoublePlusGood 5.1.1.1.3
            30 July 2016 at 11:09 am

            No, he’ll just save his stoking violence for vulnerable Americans instead.

        • billmurray 5.1.1.2
          29 July 2016 at 5:33 pm

          I’m with you ‘trp’, bigoted billionaire is the least of Trumps faults. What about ‘con man’ ‘liar’ ‘draft dodger’ there are more but that’s enough.

          • D'Esterre 5.1.1.2.1
            29 July 2016 at 11:42 pm

            billmurray: “…bigoted billionaire is the least of Trumps faults. What about ‘con man’ ‘liar’ ‘draft dodger’ there are more but that’s enough.”

            Now remind me: which presidential candidates from which years would you be referring to here? Shysters, con artists, liars, draft dodgers, hand-up-the-skirters: we’ve seen ’em all over the past few decades. Not much honour or virtue to be found among them.

            Obama has been an all-talk-no-do president. He (and his missus) can give a rousing speech, but that’s about the limit of his abilities. He’s rubbish at the political process: evidence being his utter inability to get the Republicans to work with him. A pacifist he most certainly hasn’t been, he and his pernicious little drone programme. And Guantanamo remains open. And troops still in Iraq. Change we can believe in: bah humbug! Many of us will be glad to see the back of him.

            And the thought of Clinton getting the nod, and bringing that randy old goat of a husband into the White House as first chap: gah! What the hell did the rest of the world do to deserve that?

            Have other people noticed how stringy he looks now? I’ve heard that the rumour around Washington is he’s got AIDS. I snorted at the idea, but he sure does look ill. On the bright side, maybe he’s no longer got what it takes to molest the interns? Sure hope so. Bet Hillary does too.

            • red-blooded 5.1.1.2.1.1
              30 July 2016 at 7:29 am

              How about we stick to political argument? I don’t give a shit what marital arrangements the Clintons have (or had). As for looking stringy; age does that to people. Get over it.

              • D'Esterre …
                30 July 2016 at 11:15 am

                red-blooded: “I don’t give a shit what marital arrangements the Clintons have (or had).”

                You may not care, but it by no means follows that it doesn’t matter. Of course it does. Remember what Clinton did in an attempt to divert attention from the Lewinsky scandal. His inability to control himself had significant consequences for a bunch of innocent others.

                We have the right to expect better of people in such positions; a fortiori, the White House interns need to be protected from predation of that sort.

                “As for looking stringy; age does that to people.”

                Haha! Not me that’s spreading the rumour, but Washington insiders. ‘Twould sure matter to any interns molested by him, though. And he isn’t so very old: one member of this household is older by a couple of years, yet looks much better than Clinton. Who looks ill, not old. Such things are of moment in the political process, especially since she’s said that she intends to put him in charge of economic policy if she’s elected.

                • Phil …
                  1 August 2016 at 6:39 pm

                  His inability to control himself had significant consequences for a bunch of innocent others.

                  And the inability of Trump to control himself… that doesn’t have consequences for a bunch of innocent others?

        • Liberal Realist 5.1.1.3
          29 July 2016 at 6:15 pm

          TRP – how can you call HCR progress? Progress to what exactly? Bombing the shit out of more countries? Progress toward a hot war with Russia?

          I simply do not understand how anyone that thinks of themselves as from the left, could support Clinton! She’s corrupt on a grand scale and there’s a figurative mountain of evidence to support that assertion.

          It sucks that American’s only have the choice between a bigot and a crook, that surely is the fault of their system and the behaviour of both major parties.

          Presented with this choice myself, I have to choose Trump as has CV. My reasoning is the same, Trump is far less likely to start a major war than Clinton. Sure he’s not going to be good for the US or for the world at large but one term is only 4 years. Much much better than a nuclear winter and the extinction of the human race bar the elites hiding in their bunkers…

          Clinton is a faux liberal, hawk, interventionist, neoliberal …. stop pretending she represents progress when she really represents the status quo. What’s the status quo? Everything the empire does in service of itself. Hillary is an agent of empire, an agent of progress she is not.

          • te reo putake 5.1.1.3.1
            29 July 2016 at 7:33 pm

            Your choice says a lot about you. eg am I an arse? Why, yes, I am. If you are putting Trump ahead of the best interests of the rest of the world, you, my friend, are an arse.

            • the pigman 5.1.1.3.1.1
              29 July 2016 at 9:52 pm

              Because the interests of the rest of the world are more US war-mongering and interventionism, right?

              Oh – right – you do actually believe that! *shrugs*

              • Colonial Viper …
                29 July 2016 at 10:04 pm

                And transnational corporate rule, corporate lobbyist written free trade agreements, shadow banking financialisation, …

          • Ad 5.1.1.3.2
            29 July 2016 at 10:55 pm

            Read her policies.
            Compare them to the Trump policies.
            Really read and compare.
            Consider the effects of those policies on the uS and global public.

            Then make your choice.

          • locus 5.1.1.3.3
            30 July 2016 at 10:35 am

            We already know that Trump is both bigot, crook and a lot more besides…… which matters little if he can con the Trump uniform wearers that they will be part of a great USA again – make them believe that he can save them from the threat posed by all those mexicans and moslems

      • D'Esterre 5.1.2
        30 July 2016 at 10:30 pm

        CV and swordfish:in case you haven’t seen it, this is worth a look.

        http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/11156794

        In particular, reason 5.

    • Cemetery Jones 5.2
      29 July 2016 at 4:21 pm

      Cheers for mentioning this, full article was a good read.

  6. One Two 6
    29 July 2016 at 3:10 pm

    WINNING!

  7. Karen 7
    29 July 2016 at 4:12 pm

    Tweets from Bernie
    Bernie Sanders ‏@BernieSanders 37m37 minutes ago
    I congratulate @HillaryClinton on this historic achievement. We are stronger together.

    Bernie Sanders ‏@BernieSanders 8h8 hours ago
    We must end the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality that we currently experience, the worst it has been since 1928.

    Bernie Sanders ‏@BernieSanders 9h9 hours ago
    Trump wants to abolish the Affordable Care Act and throw 20 million people off of health insurance. We can’t let that happen. #DemsInPhilly

    Bernie Sanders ‏@BernieSanders 12h12 hours ago
    What we are dealing with now is quite honestly, the worst Republican candidate in the modern history of the United States of America.

    Trump wants to abolish the Affordable Care Act and throw 20 million people off of health insurance. We can’t let that happen.

    Bernie Sanders ‏@BernieSanders 12h12 hours ago
    What we are dealing with now is quite honestly, the worst Republican candidate in the modern history of the United States of America.

    More

  8. One Two 8
    29 July 2016 at 4:40 pm

    Blatant censorship and fraud by the blue team in a ‘win at all costs’ to ensure that Clinton will be ok ‘installed’

    It’s about winning, it’s about control and it’s about subverting my any means necessary any semblance of truth

    DNC gives the world a front row seat to the most corrupted ‘democracy’ money can buy

    Endorsement and enactment of censorship is at the core of the authoritarian agenda

    • Ad 8.1
      29 July 2016 at 4:59 pm

      You should have a read of LBJ’s rise in Robert Caro’s The Ascent To Power.

      Now there you have proper Texas-scale skullduggery, to lay waste a far better politician than Bernie or Corbyn could ever hope to be, and enable the rise of LBJ.

      Still, despite himself, he did some good.

    • Wayne 8.2
      30 July 2016 at 9:10 am

      Pretty understandable action by the DNC I would have thought. This was Hillary’s big day, and the last thing that was needed is blatant disruption by Bernie dead enders.

      Actually Bernie also understood this. In any nomination contest you have to know when you have lost and do so with good grace. And be prepared to back the winner.

      Any well organized political party staging such an event would have done the same thing. As one of the show biz speakers at the conference said earlier in the week, “stop being ridiculous”.

      • te reo putake 8.2.1
        30 July 2016 at 9:33 am

        Indeed, Wayne. These are stage managed events and I think it’s to the Dem’s credit that they accepted the dissent with good grace. While some of Bernie Sanders supporters who attended the event may have left still sour about losing out, the TV audience, who are far more important, will have got a good impression of the event. The speeches by Sanders, Biden, the Obamas and the Clintons are what voters will remember, not the moans of a few.

        • Wayne 8.2.1.1
          30 July 2016 at 10:14 am

          Thanks, and yes the DNC allowed some dissent, but made sure it did not dominate, which would have been a terrible disaster for the Democratic campaign.

          I watched the speech. It was good, but too long. She lost some energy about half way through. If it had been shorter, say 30 to 40 minutes with all the best lines, it would have been a really great speech.

          She certainly fired some zingers at The Donald including the nuclear button one. But he had it coming to him. You can’t describe your opponent as”Crooked Hillary” or an enabler and expect any level of mutual respect. The gloves are off.

          Incidentally I have never understood the hatred against Hillary. I have met her and she seemed a throughly decent person. Hopefully the stories from Bill and Chelsea, plus her own story about her mother, will have gone some way to humanize Hillary for those middle voters who could go one way or the other.

          • Colonial Viper 8.2.1.1.1
            30 July 2016 at 10:29 am

            Geeezus the issue is not whether Bill and Hillary are congenial cordial people to have a cuppa with.

            As to why people don’t like Hillary here is a quick clue up:

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_6fOuQtd38

          • te reo putake 8.2.1.1.2
            30 July 2016 at 10:34 am

            Interesting comment about humanizing Hillary. We tend to depersonalise public figures, whether it’s sports, politics, entertainment or whatever. We speak as if we know their essential character, but what we know is their public face, something they may have little control over and probably rarely reflects their actual personality. I’ve met many politicians and it’s my observation that they generally believe themselves to be decent people doing what they think is the right thing.

            Mind you, if the reports from former staff and friends are correct, what we see of Trump in the media closely resembles the man in person. That might be a first in political life.

            • miravox 8.2.1.1.2.1
              30 July 2016 at 10:45 am

              “Mind you, if the reports from former staff and friends are correct, what we see of Trump in the media closely resembles the man in person. That might be a first in political life.”

              Possibly a first, however Berlusconi was another self-aggrandising bigot with suspect friends who never pretended he was anything else. And he did get to ruin a country while enriching himself.

      • Anne 8.2.2
        30 July 2016 at 10:32 am

        I agree Wayne. The DNC handled the situation well. As far as I could tell there was no rancour expressed towards the dissenters by any of the speakers. Actually I felt sorry for them because they were experiencing their first taste of political grief and didn’t know how to handle it. Many of us have been through it. As a young woman I remember the untimely death of my political hero, Norman Kirk. I was devastated.

        I’ve never warmed to Hillary Clinton but, imo, this attempt to demonise her at every turn has been grossly overdone.

    • locus 8.3
      30 July 2016 at 10:57 am

      well I’ve worked and lived in authoritarian countries and although there’s a heap of crazy things wrong with the US, thank goodness they still have some semblance of a democratic system and democratic institutions. I’m not sure that Trump will allow for so much democracy or differing opinions if he gets into power….

      I did find it odd when working in the US that so many intelligent and decent republicans I met lost all sight of reason when getting on to healthcare, guns, women’s rights, racial equality, Islam

  9. Ad 9
    29 July 2016 at 4:57 pm

    You’ll need a full 1.2 hours, but download Trump’s whole speech, put it on a big screen at home, pour your favourite beverage, and have a wallow.

    I did that last weekend, with the fire on and the lights low, and it is freaking awesome politics.

    And then, to shower yourself in virtue, download this third day’s worth of speeches + Michelle’s, pour your favourite beverage, and take a drink every time you hear the word “children”, “future”, “hope”, “qualified”, “woman”, and “America”.

    That is a better night out than anything you can get at the movies right now.

    • Colonial Viper 9.1
      29 July 2016 at 5:04 pm

      Yep watched the Trump speech but couldn’t get through the Michelle Obama one, knowing what her husband has actually done with his 8 years. Although I give him credit for 2 things – the nuclear deal with Iran, and not going full regime change invasion in Syria.

      • Ad 9.1.1
        29 July 2016 at 5:25 pm

        For Trump, you get a tiny rehearsal in Season 3 of the West Wing when the Speaker takes over the Presidency.

      • DoublePlusGood 9.1.2
        30 July 2016 at 11:40 am

        ObamaCare? Glasnost with Cuba? It hasn’t all been bombings and extrajudicial killings.

      • dukeofurl 9.1.3
        30 July 2016 at 3:24 pm

        Dont think that was the choice: which was bombing the Assad regime HQ, they were allready up to their neck on regime change via proxies.

        Balkans was much the same , everyone was supplying arms or intel to one or other of the sides. Even in Israelis were in , supporting the Serbs for strange reasons.
        Its one of the great myths of our time, that the ordinary public rises up and sustains a civil war, when they all want peace and to be left alone. Global politics supporting factions or ethnic groups makes a bit of civil unrest into a bloody civil war with refugees and or ethnic cleansing.

        Yugoslavia, Syria, Ukraine, the travel guide book changes but the background players never do.
        This is the real reason Russia moved on the Crimea, they could see that ‘ethnic unrest’ would spread very quickly, helped by nato to de-stabilise the russian bases there.

        • Colonial Viper 9.1.3.1
          30 July 2016 at 4:35 pm

          Balkanisation was a US/NATO plan.

          So yes, this is the same western imperial/colour revolution/regime change play over and over again.

        • D'Esterre 9.1.3.2
          30 July 2016 at 9:59 pm

          dukeofurl: “This is the real reason Russia moved on the Crimea…”

          At the risk of upending your rationale here, it wasn’t anything like as passive on the part of Crimea as this account suggests.

          Without doubt it suited Russia geopolitically to take back the Crimea, but the Crimeans themselves initiated the process. Immediately following the coup in Kiev, the Crimean government, having seen who’d taken power, acted to decamp. That was the third time since independence that the Crimea had attempted to leave the Ukraine: this time, they made sure it happened. An overwhelming proportion of citizens voted in a referendum to leave. Following the referendum results, the Crimean government petitioned Russia for annexation. Pictures of the celebrations even showed on TV news here: Rossiya! Rossiya! they shouted as they waved flags.

          Scarcely surprising that Crimeans wanted out; it was traditionally a Russian area, given to the Ukraine by Krushchev in the early 1950s, so well within living memory. People will act to reverse decisions of that sort, over which they had no say. We would do the same, I’m guessing.

  10. One Anonymous Bloke 10
    29 July 2016 at 6:45 pm

    Dylan Ratigan nailed it years ago.

    In these circumstances, why on Earth would anyone expect the DNC to be immune?

    What can we do about it in NZ? Get the money out of politics: close Cabinet Club with extreme prejudice.

  11. Ovid 11
    29 July 2016 at 7:14 pm

    Joe Biden’s speech yesterday was something special. I think he will be a key part in gaining any white working class men for Clinton.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zK8NuU2N_Rc

    • AsleepWhileWalking 11.1
      29 July 2016 at 7:54 pm

      Why isn’t he running for president? A much better choice imho.

      • Ovid 11.1.1
        29 July 2016 at 7:58 pm

        He decided he wasn’t in the right place emotionally after his son died last year. I think he has a certain avuncular charm that is rare in VPs.

      • Lanthanide 11.1.2
        29 July 2016 at 9:02 pm

        The 538 opinion (for what it’s worth) is that he probably would have lost to Clinton. But they also made the observation, that if he’d stayed in long enough, it likely would have produced a contested convention, since Hillary wouldn’t have gotten enough to beat Bernie outright.

  12. Byd0nz 12
    29 July 2016 at 7:21 pm

    Ah the entertainment,
    The 2016 Presidential race,
    Contenders in the ring
    As the slagging gathers pace.

    Lying Hillary [r0b: del – sorry to spoil the metre] Clinton,
    And the manic danger of Donald Trump,
    Tearing bits out of each others credibility
    trading a blow for a thump.

    The greatest nation on earth
    On this they both agree
    As the world looks on, shaking heads
    With either scorn or glee.

    A circus could not provide such sights
    As the protagonists gag and choke
    But either one as President, makes it sure
    The future, will be no joke.

  13. adam 13
    29 July 2016 at 10:31 pm

    Every news piece I’m seeing is saying the same thing.

    The majority of people voting for trump or h.r.c,

    are voting for them because they hate either or h.r.c. or trump.

    We have a clear winner – the politics of fear.

  14. Macro 14
    30 July 2016 at 1:09 am

    As usual The First Dog sums it all up.

  15. Ad 15
    30 July 2016 at 6:38 am

    Pretty dignified speech there at the Democrats’ Conference.
    I was hoping someone was going to quote the US Constitution at some point:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xzkkk-oJ6bo

  16. Ad 16
    30 July 2016 at 11:09 am

    A summary of Republican reaction to the Democratic convention: Takeout is Republicans got creamed.

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/conservatives-agree-dnc-was-disaster-for-gop

  17. CynicalJester 17
    30 July 2016 at 2:15 pm

    If you think hillary will win the presidency youre as blind as the neoliberals you worship trp.

    Trump will destroy her, itll be a landslide defeat.

    Make peace with it.

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