Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

The willow is too close to the house.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

The unpunished coup was a training exercise.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. keep building.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

If America since Jan 2025 hasn’t broken your heart, you haven’t loved her enough.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Democracy cannot function without a free press.

So many bastards, so little time.

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

He really is that stupid.

In after Baud. Damn.

You are here: Home / Elections 2024 / Monday Evening Open Thread: Welcome to Chicago!

Monday Evening Open Thread: Welcome to Chicago!

by | 230 Comments

This post is in: , , ,

Thank you, DougJ…

Chicago native:

… He’d attended his first Democratic National Convention in San Francisco in the summer of 1984, at age 19, as a volunteer for Walter Mondale’s campaign. Pritzker was a bit of a junkie when it came to party conventions.

“I called JB and said, ‘Hey, I’ve got a crazy idea. What do you think of this?’” recalled Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a co-chair of Biden’s –and now Harris’ – campaign. “He said, ‘Absolutely.’”

Chicago had hosted Democratic conventions nearly a dozen times before, most recently in 1996, when former President Bill Clinton was up for reelection, and in 1968, when activists protesting the Vietnam War were involved in televised skirmishes with the police. This time would be different, party officials insisted.

Yet, there were hurdles from the start. The bid required the city to put forward an irrevocable letter of credit of $30 million, in case the host committee fell short of its nearly $85 million obligation – a record-breaking sum – and convince party officials to recommend Chicago over Atlanta, Houston and New York.

The heir to the Hyatt Hotel fortune and a prolific Democratic fundraiser, Pritzker knew the consequences all too well. He had given $1.2 million of his own money to support Hillary Clinton’s nominating convention in 2016, making him the Philadelphia gathering’s single largest contributor…

Pritzker wined-and-dined the search committee at his Chicago mansion. He had comedian and “Saturday Night Live” alum Jim Belushi perform. During their walkthrough of the United Center, committee members witnessed a test balloon drop.

Other cities put on a good show: Personalized Hawks jerseys in Atlanta. A performance by Broadway singers in New York. But from a policy standpoint alone, Democrats argued, Illinois was a no-brainer.

Democrats hold every major statewide office and have supermajorities in both chambers of the legislature. Pritzker championed initiatives to get the state to 40% renewable energy by 2030 and make Illinois a safe haven for out-of-state patients seeking reproductive and gender-affirming care.

His first year in office, he signed legislation to boost the minimum wage. Illinois banned assault weapons and high-capacity magazines in 2023 after the Highland Park shooting.

“He’s a closer,” said Rep. Nikki Budzinski, D-Ill., senior adviser to Pritzker at the beginning of his first term. “And when I see people want to leave that table, he has an ability to bring them back.”…

Reader Interactions

230Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    and no one is more excited than our small businesses, who are ready to welcome our new visitors to Chicago

    And he means small businesses other than strip clubs.

  7. 7.

    lamh47

    I’m running behind, trying to catch up.

    DNC Chair Harrison’s sons were so cute.  Gotta be a proud moment for dad and mom.

    Soul Children of Chicago sang da hell out of the anthem.

    I’m almost caught up.

  13. 13.

    lamh47

    Alright, I’m caught up. I feel like we haven’t seen Maxine Waters in a while ya’ll. Why is that?

  21. 21.

    SatanicPanic

    @eclare: yes, very eighties

    (I know I’m not supposed to comment on womens’ looks, I’m just admiring her fashion sense)

    Update- lamh47- yes, correct

  29. 29.

    KatKapCC

    @eclare: Not frequently, but one time very notably.

    On August 8, 2004, a tour bus belonging to the Dave Matthews Band dumped an estimated 800 pounds (360 kg) of human waste from the bus’ blackwater tank through the Kinzie Street Bridge in Chicago onto an open-top passenger sightseeing boat sailing in the Chicago River below. The incident became popularly known as the Dave Matthews Band incident[1] or Poopgate.[2]

  31. 31.

    bbleh

    “Where’s that leave him with VP Harris?”

    “… and in 1968, when activists protesting the Vietnam War were involved in televised skirmishes with the police. This time would be different, party officials insisted.”

    I swear the Democrats are gonna be in Disarray if a couple of the Beltway Media have to start a fistfight on the convention floor.

    I’m sorta thinking it may be beginning to dawn on at least some of them how little respect they have from anyone anymore (other than their own little echo chamber of course) and as a consequence how much less they’re beginning to matter.

  35. 35.

    Delk

    And of course, as the boats go under a bridge they announce,”Don’t look up!” Which means everyone does look up. Oops…

  39. 39.

    wjca

    @Baud: And he means small businesses other than strip clubs.

    When the RNC is in town, strip clubs don’t qualify as small businesses for the duration.  Neither do brothels.

  51. 51.

    Origuy

    Listening to the DNC. My friend the professional parliamentarian is probably grumbling about the proceedings. A committee report does not require a second for approval. Probably the DNC doesn’t follow Robert’s Rules. I know this because she has acted as parliamentarian for our club.

  52. 52.

    lamh47

    I’m was watching it on YT on Kamala Harris page. Thankfully they’ve turned off the comments! I think I’ll switch to CSPAN tho cause they have the ticker letting you know who’s speaking.

  54. 54.

    Soprano2

    @schrodingers_cat: I so wanted us to visit Chicago so my husband could see his sister, but I think that window has closed. I’ve been there once, for my niece’s wedding. I hope to go back someday.

  59. 59.

    eclare

    It’s so nice to see a normal looking crowd.  Yeah, some people have on American flag clothing and hats, but no one has on a “fuck your feelings” or “TCFG can grab my” t-shirt.

  60. 60.

    Betty Cracker

    I’ve never been to Chicago, but I intend to remedy that someday. Maybe in late spring or early fall next year. Also, I’m constitutionally opposed to billionaires, but Pritzker seems like a good dude.

  67. 67.

    eclare

    @Betty Cracker:

    It is a wonderful city to visit.  The museum there has the largest collection of Impressionist art outside of Paris.  And the aquarium, on Lake Michigan, is amazing.  It has Beluga whales!

  72. 72.

    Old School

    Pritzker wined-and-dined the search committee at his Chicago mansion. He had comedian and “Saturday Night Live” alum Jim Belushi perform.

    Well, how could any other city hope to compete with that?

  74. 74.

    prostratedragon

    @Baud:
    What I keep shouting all week. The only way to guard such a large facility. I’m sure Jan 6, 2025 will be different.

  82. 82.

    JaySinWA

    @eclare: It’s so nice to see a normal looking crowd.  Yeah, some people have on American flag clothing and hats, but no one has on a “fuck your feelings” or “TCFG can grab my” t-shirt.

    I didn’t watch the GOP convention so I don’t have a good idea of what people were wearing.

    I just checked for pictures of the Convention and didn’t see the rude shirts that show up at the rallies. The few I saw were  not quite so raw. Maybe the media left out the worst of them, but it looks like they may have policed the attire for the mass audience. The vendor stand photos were pretty tame.

    Were there some that I missed?

    OTOH you didn’t call out the convention. I haven’t seen any equivalent shots from the Democratic rallies so our “both sides” media is failing us. /s

  84. 84.

    eclare

    @JaySinWA:

    I didn’t watch the Rethug convention, so yes I’m talking about rallies.  I’ve seen plenty of clips and photos from Harris-Walz rallies, again, people look normal.

  85. 85.

    Starfish

    @Betty Cracker: If you want to go to any of the deep dish pizza places, understand it will take 30-45 minutes for food to actually be ready and don’t wait until you are really hungry.

  86. 86.

    lamh47

    @Betty Cracker: My uncle’s current wife was born and raised in Chicago.

    Nothing but direct flights from NOLA to Chicago and I’ve never been.  Now I’m on the West Coast, but I’ve def got to get to Chicago.

    BTW…I was meaning to ask you…what the heck is going on in The Villages!  I saw this past weekend another headline story about Kamala Harris/Tim Walz support in the Village!

  90. 90.

    lamh47

    Of course Jen Psaki and the rest of them except Lawrence O, were nightly reporting and even full segments on their shows talking about Joe needs to step down…would all be trying to rewrite history…smh

    @PalmerReport

    MSNBC is now claiming that no one forced Joe Biden to step aside, after MSNBC and its media friends literally forced Joe Biden to step aside
    https://x.com/PalmerReport/status/1825681842592428511

  97. 97.

    Renie

    I wish they would put the speaker’s name up on the screen.  I’m jumping back and forth from youtube to web pages and can’t always figure out who the person is.

  98. 98.

    HumboldtBlue

    @KatKapCC: ​ 

    My dad went by Dick, it was quite common until the term evolved into describing someone’s penis. When I was younger, there were Dicks everywhere.

    You couldn’t swing a dead cat and not hit half a dozen Dicks at once! There were Dicks in school, Dicks in church, Dicks at work, Dicks at the store, Dicks were literally everywhere!

    You couldn’t escape running into a Dick, there were so many Dicks!

    It was a time filled with Dicks. Ya had to be there.

  99. 99.

    lamh47

    @KatKapCC:

    What bothers me most is, you WORKED for this man.  You talk about how good a man he was to work for and was to you…and you spoke of him the way that she did…uneccesary.

    Notice Symone Sanders was in that same WH, and yet she managed not to do the same as Psaki.  She spoke on the struggle of it, but she spoke of it respectfully.

    That’s what bothered me the most.

  102. 102.

    lamh47

    Let me just say…everyone killing it on stage, but the Black Congresswoman are really killing it.

    That was a great speech from Congresswoman Beatty.

    Followed by Congresswoman Waters and Congresswoman Underwood!

  110. 110.

    Ken

    Gov. JB Pritzker was Biden’s man in the Midwest. Where’s that leave him with VP Harris?

    Well, duh, USA Today. Obviously he will be dragged in chains before her and forced to choose between swearing fealty and agonizing death, just like in any other transition here in the United States.

  119. 119.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Omnes Omnibus: hey now the Bears got rid of that punk ass bitch Justin Fields and replaced him with Caleb Williams who’s…also a punk ass bitch. Damn it!

  129. 129.

    kindness

    Chicago deep dish is a great casserole.  It isn’t a pizza though.  Yea I did grow up on NY thin crust.

  132. 132.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Baud: can’t have yin without yang!

     

    @SpaceUnit:
     

    As a Steeler fan I’m going to be doing a lot of drinking this season.

    This is an evergreen statement and not a response to my post, right?

  133. 133.

    Origuy

    @phdesmond: When Meg Whitman was the CEO of HPE, Jesse Jackson came one year during Black History Month and spoke to employees. He and Whitman got to be good friends working on some of his programs. This was several years after her run for governor. He was still a dynamic speaker, although starting to have difficulties.

  134. 134.

    cain

    @zhena gogolia:

    Truly. Chicago has an almost ‘small town’ mentality when walking the streets. Lot of people with that chatty midwestern vibe. I’ve always enjoyed being in Chicago. It’s only 1.5 hours from my home town.

  137. 137.

    SpaceUnit

    @Steve in the ATL:

    Right.    But I think this season is gonna be worse than usual.

     

    ETA:  I live in Colorado now, so I got to see the Russel Wilson disaster up close.

  138. 138.

    Suzanne

    Austin Davis repping Pittsburgh’s bridges. Fun fact: there’s more here than in any other city in the world. It needs its own infrastructure bill!

  140. 140.

    Soprano2

    @Jackie: I’m not sure, she has a disabled son in his 40’s who I believe still lives with her, and her long time partner just died a few months ago. I don’t know what kind of health she’s in, either. I’d be surprised if she came here.

  143. 143.

    3Sice

    ’68 DNC was at the International Amphitheater in the Union Stockyards. As were ’52 & ’56. That just seems a poor site choice.

    The cop riot was at Grant Park in front of the Hilton, about six miles away.

  148. 148.

    Old School

    @cain:

    I’ve always enjoyed being in Chicago. It’s only 1.5 hours from my home town.

    By my calculations, with traffic, that puts your home town as O’Hare.

  151. 151.

    Fake Irishman

    @Baud:

    interesting Senate note about “ayes/eyes” and “nays” Apparently when voting on cloture for the 1964 Civil Rights bill a partially parlayzed California Sen. who was dying of cancer and couldn’t speak was wheeled into the chamber and pointed to his eye during the roll call to break the filibuster.

  154. 154.

    MisterForkbeard

    @lamh47: I don’t think anyone “forced” Biden in the sense that he had no choice or they held a gun to his head. He absolutely could have continued on.

    What they did do was help make the decision to step aside much easier by reinforcing a lot of the “questions” about him and his overall performance. It was pretty clear at the end that Biden made the decision because he thought winning would be difficult and if he stayed he’d be a force for division rather than leading the party.

    My own thought is that the moment Biden said repeatedly that he was the nominee and he was staying and that didn’t stop the campaign to get him to step aside, he realized he wasn’t the defacto party leader anymore

    @lamh47: And yes, completely agree with you here :(

  157. 157.

    zhena gogolia

    @cain: Once we were there, and I was trying to put my finger on what was different, and it was that cars were stopping for us even when there wasn’t a light.

  158. 158.

    prostratedragon

    @3Sice:  Probably the 1968 convention was to have been at McCormick Place. Which burned down in 1967. The new place, called Lakeside Center at McCP opened in 1971.

    The International Amphitheater was about 5 miles due south of the UC.

  171. 171.

    sab

    That seven year old columnist-to-be was traumatized by Chicago ’68 and the cop riot. I don’t believe him. He was seven.

    In 1968 I was 14 and outraged. Then other elections happened and I got over it. Some years are good. Others suck. That’s life and government and politics.

  172. 172.

    VFX Lurker

    @KatKapCC: They seem to have skipped over a bunch of speakers. Wonder what’s going on.

    I did notice for “Joint Remarks on ‘Investing in the Future'”, the four speakers spoke in a different order than the one listed on the programming page. Instead of speaking first, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounaliakis spoke last.

  174. 174.

    lamh47

    Someone said for inauguration for POTUS, constitutionally is has to be the Chief Justice, but I’m not 100% sure if they can allow an Associate Justice to do the inaugural with the Chief Justice’s permission?

    Is that correct?

  175. 175.

    Suzanne

    Can someone explain to me how kids seem to have this incredible instinct for kicking you in the junk nonstop?! FFS.

  177. 177.

    trnc

    @lamh47: ​
     

    MSNBC is now claiming that no one forced Joe Biden to step aside, after MSNBC and its media friends literally forced Joe Biden to step aside

    I assume that “literally forced out” translates to “numerous bad faith stories about his age and inflation.” That’s absolutely true, but even if he hadn’t been slagged by the media, I think a robust campaign would still have been required and I don’t think he would have been able to maintain that along with his presidential duties. IOW, more favorable coverage still wouldn’t have nullified the need to campaign.

  178. 178.

    KatKapCC

    @Baud: According to the program, Debbie Wasserman-Schulz was supposed to speak before Sen Butler. And after Butler was supposed to be Linda Haskins of NH, the president of a firefighters union, and someone from a childhood development group.

  179. 179.

    lamh47

    @Angry_Staffer

    Dems were advised to not lean into Project 2025 too heavily in the DNC. I’m glad they ignored that advice. This is their best opportunity to get eyeballs on Trump’s plan. You have millions of people watching. Capitalize on that.

    @Angry_Staffer

    Because traditional pollsters don’t understand how to win elections anymore

    https://x.com/Angry_Staffer/status/1825695182085407226

  180. 180.

    MisterForkbeard

    @lamh47: If I was Kamala, I’d ask that Alito have to be the one to swear her in. Just to watch his fucking face as he had to do it.

  184. 184.

    Ken

    @lamh47: The oath of office is given in the Constitution, but there’s nothing about who administers it — it doesn’t even have to be a judge.

  185. 185.

    frosty

    @Steve in the ATL: We just passed that Quaker Oats sign this afternoon! And  the Herbert Hoover Highway.

    Currently eastbound for home after our 4th Cross Country National Park trip in five years  Glacier is now my favorite!

  188. 188.

    LAC

    @SpaceUnit: Guyton is actually a country music singer from Texas. “Black Like Me” and “what are you gonna tell her?” are some powerful ballads.

  189. 189.

    M31

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    yup, the 5-minute rule was doing so well

    she’s fine but this is not normal speech time, it’s rally the troops, get off a couple of applause lines, a zinger at the weirdos, and sit your ass down

  191. 191.

    narya

    For those of you visiting Chicago, I volunteer to be your guide to the many local breweries.

  193. 193.

    Leto

    For a complete 180 from Faux Hillbilly in Philly, here’s Walz:

    Still Teaching Us: What the heck is a Runza? Walz touts iconic Nebraska treat in home state rally

    Walz: “Do you think JD Vance knows one damn thing about Nebraska? You think he’s ever had a runza? That guy would call it a Hot Pocket. You know it. Every one of you in here know it. A damn Hot Pocket.”

    For those not in the know, a runza is simply a bread pocket with meat filling, but as AllRecipes notes, the treat — a “a rectangular pocket of yeast dough filled with ground beef, cabbage, and other fixings”

    Great video at the link.

  196. 196.

    CaseyL

    I watched for a little while, but I really don’t like warmup speakers.

    Raimondo’s speech hit me a little oddly. I realize she’s contrasting Harris with Trump, but to give a speech about rebuilding manufacturing in the US, and rebuilding a middle-class based economy in the US, without mentioning all the work Biden has done on that issue just struck me as… off.​

    ETA: She could have said something along the lines of “Kamala Harris will continue the great and important work President Biden has started…”

  202. 202.

    Maxim

    @Betty Cracker: One of my brothers lives in Chicago and is a music lover. It sounds like Bill is pretty clued in already, but if you’d like recommendations once you get around to planning, let me know.

  203. 203.

    zhena gogolia

    @trnc: I’m all in for Harris-Walz, but let me say that I’m not convinced she will be a better president than Biden or that he will be a better VP than Harris, with her connections in the Senate. Are they better campaigners than Biden? Absolutely. Will they be a million times better than Trump-Vance? Absolutely. But the ticket that 14 million of us voted for would have been the best possible Pres/VP for the next four years.

    I promise not to repeat this, but I had to say it once.

  207. 207.

    MisterForkbeard

    @tam1MI: I’m watching this now. First few things that come to mind:

    Walz and his wife look positively ecstatic when she comes out – they’re having the time of their lives. (EDIT: Doug Emhoff, too – it looks like Walz is asking him “did you know about this?”)
    Kamala is stunning when she comes out, and she’s really happy looking too. Huge contrast with the Republican piles of angry fat screaming blobs
    Her speech was short, excellent, and really big on thanking Joe Biden. Good for her.

  208. 208.

    Quinerly

    PROUD TO BE A DEMOCRAT.

    PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN.

    We can do this with KAMALA/WALZ!!!!!!!

  209. 209.

    Percysowner

    Somebody must be stuck in traffic or unable to get there. This is Prime Time and the anticipation for Joe has been built up. They are going to want to get him out there pretty soon. I was hoping to see his speech live, but my bedtime is coming soon, and I may not be able to make it.

  210. 210.

    Quinerly

    @zhena gogolia:

    Would be incredibly cool if a two way street. But, I have little to no hope.

    So many people are happy and joyful. It’s cool to ride that wave.

    “Win, baby, win!!!!”

  212. 212.

    Geminid

    @eclare: Malcolm Kenyatta is a Pennsylvania state legislstor who ran for Senate in 2022. I think Kenyatta finished 3rd in the primary, behind Conor Lamb and winner John Fetterman. He seemed to impress people as a good candidate.

  214. 214.

    wjca

    @lamh47: Someone said for inauguration for POTUS, constitutionally is has to be the Chief Justice, but I’m not 100% sure if they can allow an Associate Justice to do the inaugural with the Chief Justice’s permission?

    Is that correct?

    As @Baud: said, it doesn’t have to be. For example, Federal District Judge Sarah Hughes administered the oath to LBJ after the Kennedy assassination.

    EDT Others got there first.  Showing how many of us are old enough to remember the photo in the news.

  216. 216.

    XeckyGilchrist

    Does anyone else have trouble with the embeds from Elmo’s Nazi Bar taking forever to render?

  222. 222.

    Betty

    @zhena gogolia: Maybe I misunderstood , but I thought this was supposed to be the night Joe was honored. I was surprised to see Kamala’s childhood friend featured tonight.

  223. 223.

    Eric S.

    @narya: I live in Albany Park (northside neighborhood for those not in the know) and would be happy to attend your brewery tour.

  224. 224.

    Annie

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Just found that others got to this already:

     

    LBJ was sworn in by a federal judge, named, IIRC, Sarah Hughes.

    calvin Coolidge was sworn in by his father who was a Vermont justice of the peace.  Of course both of those were emergencies after the death of a president.

  225. 225.

    Gvg

    @zhena gogolia: Maybe. A lot of why Biden has been so successful is the people he picked and the fact that he followed Obama and saw the republicans devolve into the party of no and insanity lead by a traitor. He not only learned, the other democrats in office and the democratic voters learned and that gave him available choices that Obama didn’t have.

    Assuming Harris wins, she needs to pick good people. Her first test, the VP is excellent and her campaign staffing choices are looking great too. Then there is governing. Biden is still around and on her side and she does have experience but we will have to see.

    The last part is if we can hold or gain in the Senate and take back the house, the bigger the margins the better. If we do well over all the President will end up being more successful. Being an exciting campaigner could really help that. It’s not just about her, it’s the whole party, but she will get a lot of the credit and blame.

  230. 230.

    AnnaC

    Also a native Chicagoan here.  We are so fortunate to have JB Pritzker as our governor!  I will say the coolest thing, for me, with having the DNC here in Chicago is that I got to attend the live showing of Late Show with Stephen Colbert last night!  It was amazing and so much fun.

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