Posted on 08/18/2020 7:53:47 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The first completely digital Democratic National Convention in American history kicked off Monday night, gifting CNN and MSNBC viewers two hours of the Democratic message, and CNN, MSNBC, and Fox viewers with all or much of the second hour. Designed to be part concert, part political commercial, and part digital pep rally, the evening contained easily recognized aspects of a normal rally as well as some surprising imagery for a 2020 Democratic Convention, but above all fell flat, coming across as both dour and canned, and suffering greatly from the absence of a boisterous crowd.
Politicians giving speeches peppered with regular people and flanked by flags are a familiar sight at any convention. Monday was no different, featuring defeated presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar, prominent endorser Jim Clyburn, and well-known Govs. Andrew Cuomo and Gretchen Whitmer, peppered with filler characters. The first hour led up to a party-unity plea from Joe Biden’s ideological opponent, rockstar Bernie Sanders, a call to leave the GOP and support Biden from defeated Never Trumper John Kasich, and a closing speech from party-royal Michelle Obama.
The imagery from minute one was unexpected, however, in how strongly it veered from the base and media messaging dominant over the past few years, choosing instead to make a direct appeal to moderates, conservative Democrats, and disaffected Republicans.
After years of open attacks on the once Democratic white working-class, years of party leaders growing steadily more comfortable mocking, interrogating and attacking Christians, and after months of riots, assaults on the Founders, America-was-never-great speeches, and national anthem protests, the convention went another direction, kicking off with the preamble to the Constitution, then airing the Pledge of Allegiance. After this, a child sang the opening verse of “America The Beautiful,” leading into a stirring, red- white- and blue-colored rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner.” The opener concluded with a Christian prayer from a pastor, and both the programming and pre-show featured Martin Luther King Jr’s call for a color-blind future where all men are treated equally.
From start to finish, day one openly courted dismayed Republicans, featuring Republican John Kasich in a far more prominent role than activist hero Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is slated to get (much to the scorn of those activists), and including a number of former Trump supporters who pledged to switch their vote to support Biden this time round.
The Republican Party just switched to a digital convention short weeks ago, sparking weeks of headlines on their panicked rush to catch up. Those expecting months of careful planning and unlimited Hollywood connections would lead to a spectacular Democratic Convention, however, were left disappointed.
The show fell flat without a cheering, booing, laughing, and jeering audience of party faithful. Dramatic and moving stories lost out to a “Hollywood Squares” effect, political speeches fell victim to the curse of the State of the Union response, and even the concerts missed the mark, as when hours after the East Coast sun went down, a sunlit Maine politician on a beach introduced a singer to lull audiences into an acoustic coma with a song about being lost in Europe while her all-white outfit fluttered in the winds of the Atlantic.
There were a few minor technical missteps, as there are with even the most seasoned live telethons, and it’s likely the digital nature is more to blame for the failure of the pretaped aspects than the content. Go the classic route, as Whitmer did, and you look like the worst of political TV (including an overly sensitive mic), but go full-Hollywood and you end up on the beach in a suit.
If you took a drink every time a field of grain rolled across jumbotrons at a normal convention, you’d be as drunk as the the attendees are, but Kasich speaking from a field of gold, for example, came across more like an attempt at a Sting music video shot by a drone than a moving convention speech.
Beyond the difficulties of the venue, and aside from an uplifting opening, the evening’s messaging was overwhelmingly dour. It’s common for the out-of-power party to give voice to those struggling and losing under the incumbent, and committees are always thrilled to showcase party defectors (sometimes leading to amazing moments), but without an adoring stadium, President Donald Trump loomed large as ever in speakers’ minds, and frequently highlighted death-by-coronavirus hardly changed the mood to a winning message.
While Michelle Obama’s 20-minute closer will undoubtedly receive glowing reviews from her fanboys in the corporate press, its dramatic whispering and theatrical near-tears pleading for a better America are hardly the bang effective pep rallies typically end with, and generally summed up the delivery of the convention’s first night.
“It doesn’t feel anything like it has in the past,” Politico’s began its Monday morning newsletter preview. “There are no throngs of delegates, party faithful, press and hangers-on streaming into Milwaukee, where Democrats were supposed to gather this week to officially pick their next leader. Instead, we’re all still scattered across the country, stuck in our homes watching the whole bizarre spectacle on screens between 9 and 11 each night.”
It’s likely this is the reality both parties will have to deal with for 2020’s political conventions, and it’s a fate Trump was desperate to avoid (and is this week circling the country for mini-rallies to stave off). It’s possible in the next three days the Democratic Convention will pull up, deliver a great show, and excite the activists to support Joe nearly as strongly as they oppose the president. But with months of planning going into a largely lackluster first-night opener, don’t count on it.
"It was like watching an infomercial," mocks Epoch Times' Roger Simon as he reflected on last night's first two-hour segment of this week's 'Virtual' Democratic Convention.
Most of the quotes were variations on the theme of the aforementioned Orange Man Bad.
Only the most devoted, those already convinced, would want to watch this for four nights or even one to the end. It was weirdly disembodied, preaching to a choir without applause or even an amen.
Are overnight tv ratings out for this socialist/communist love fest?
The four prominent former Republican officials all slammed Trump and praised Biden, hoping to speak to what the Biden campaign believes is a big swath of the electorate that remains uncomfortable with the president. Biden’s ability to unite the country has been a centerpiece of his campaign, and on Monday night Democrats tried to show that by cramming as wide an ideological spectrum as possible into a single hour.
“This isn’t about Republican or Democrat. It’s about a person — a person decent enough, stable enough, strong enough to get our economy back on track,” former Environmental Protection Agency chief Christie Todd Whitman said. “Donald Trump isn’t that person. Joe Biden is.”
Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich said he didn’t believe Biden would turn “sharp left.”
Bernie Sanders spoke for the second time in four years as runner-up. But this one felt different.
This time, Sanders delivered an unqualified endorsement of Joe Biden and a harsh indictment of Trump.
“At its most basic, this election is about preserving our democracy,” Sanders said, adding that “authoritarianism has taken root in this country” under Trump. “As long as I am here, I will work with progressives, with moderates and, yes, with conservatives to preserve this nation,” he said.
In another dig, Sanders said: “Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Trump golfs.”
He added a litany of policy examples of “how Joe will move us forward” to address the fundamental economic inequities that Sanders has railed against for decades.
As runner-up, Sanders got his own time slot Monday night. He followed a video montage of more than a dozen other Democratic primary contenders introduced by Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar. They all offered praise of Biden.
And finally, there was Michelle Obama speech, which, as Summit News' Steve Watson details below, was mocked by President Trump, who noted that it was pre-taped and extremely boring.
“These are all taped speeches. Michelle Obama, her speech was taped,” Trump said during a campaign speech at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport.
“You want to go to a snooze?” Trump quipped, adding “You know when you hear a speech is taped, it’s like there’s nothing very exciting about it, right?”
The President also noted that taping a speech isn’t very impressive, stating “I’ll tape my speech, next week … I’ll make sure it’s perfecto, every word will be perfect.”
I wanted to watch Laura and Tucker (rerun) last night but instead Fox had the DNC with commentary by their resident NeverTrumpers. Fortunately there were some baseball games on and Atlanta had a dramatic come-from-behind win in the 9th inning.
Partisan Media Shills update.
Since a lot of Democrats seem to fantasize about President Trump being assassinated, maybe they will feature Squeaky Fromme, the last person to try to assassinate a Republican President. She was paroled in 2009.
Why is Trump taping his speech?
Bad idea.
Good thing ION channel has all those reruns I missed over the years.
Was Obama directly involved in her getting parole?
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