“It was like watching an infomercial,” mocks Epoch Times’ Roger Simon as ne 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.
The night was ‘diverse’ for sure, signaling the “wide net” Biden’s campaign is hoping to narrate.
As AP reports, the first chunk of the convention’s primetime hour was dominated by a quartet of Republicans – part of Democrats’ effort to emphasize the breadth of their party’s coalition, and implicitly contrast it with the narrower one Trump has built.
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.”
Trump also continued to mock Fox News for covering the DNC
“Fox will broadcast them more than they broadcast us,” he said, adding “You know that.”
During her speech, Obama said Trump was “in over his head,” urging that “Donald Trump is the wrong president for our country.”
“He cannot meet this moment. He simply cannot be who we need him to be for us.”
The first night of the DNC was widely slammed by those who managed to get through watching it.
Former Democrat presidential candidate Marianne Williamson compared watching the speeches to “binge watching a Marriott commercial”:
Watching the #DemConvention. It’s so good to see so many diverse people coming together addressing racism and the promise of America. There is a sweetness and kindliness about this production.
— Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) August 18, 2020
She also bemoaned the complete lack of policy prescriptions:
Truly would love to hear about policy.
Did I miss it?#DemConvention2020
— Briahna Joy Gray (@briebriejoy) August 18, 2020
Even leftist ‘reporters’ begged for it to stop:
The DNC so far feels like one long ad on YouTube you’d usually skip
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) August 18, 2020
Holy cow. I’m dying watching #DNC.
Message is good but wow, just unwatchable. pic.twitter.com/IADaBwyAid
— Elvia Diaz (@elviadiaz1) August 18, 2020
However, as painful to watch as it may have been, we don’t expect the GOP convention to be much better. Virtual is virtual and, as most online students can tell you, it’s a bore and a chore and doesn’t add up too much.