Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The revolution will be supervised.

Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.

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

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

Everybody saw this coming.

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

Trumpflation is an intolerable hardship for every American, and it’s Trump’s fault.

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

We will not go back.

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

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Anne Laurie is a fucking hero in so many ways. ~ Betty Cracker

Let me file that under fuck it.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

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

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread and We Just $Met from Our Goal! (with 6x Matching)

Open Thread and We Just $Met from Our Goal! (with 6x Matching)

by | 140 Comments

This post is in: 

We are just $2k away from meeting our fundraising goal for The Civics Center!

We have exactly $500 left on the Angel Match that gets us 6x matching.

Hoping we can finish off this fundraiser before the final day of the convention – anybody up for 6x matching?

Matching: no limit on amount (as long as the $500 lasts) and let us know in the comments or email to me if you want to be matched.

I don’t have the time (or the inclination) to watch ALL the convention speeches.  Besides the big names:

AOC
Biden
Hakeem
Hillary
Barack
Michelle
Pete
Walz
MD Governor Wes Moore(not a big name but I watched him and he was so great!)

Adding:

Doug
Rev. Warnock
Amanda Gorman
Shawn Fein
Jasmine Crockett
Dana Nessel
Angela Alsobrooks
Mallory McMorrow
Gov. Pritzker

I didn’t have the patience for Bill Clinton.  (bad me)  Who else would you guys recommend I watch?

Who were the surprising people who wowed you?

Totally open thread.

Reader Interactions

140Comments

  3. 3.

    BR

    Doug Emhoff was great. I have always loved the Obamas but Doug’s speech meant more to me than theirs in this moment.

  10. 10.

    Anonymous At Work

    Don’t feel badly about Bill.  I think only Bill has the patience for a full Bill and only because he is talking and working the room/people, rather than listening.

  11. 11.

    scav

    MD gov Wes Moore, just to get his name in explicitly (my opinion being extraneous), was very impressive especially with the comfortable, more in the room style.  Clever ideas bouncing through in a sneaky undergirding.  Pete’s was more traditionally polished but still impressive.  Oddly enough, I found Shapiro’s over-polished.  Anyway, random odd thoughts about oratorical style.

  19. 19.

    dm

    Not to rake over coals, but last night there was some talk about “Why don’t they protest Republicans?”

    I admit I fell for the framing myself. Over at DailyKos (https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/8/22/2264832/-Surprise-Trump-is-lying-about-protest-chaos-at-DNC) Mark Sumner says that the number of protesters at the DNC — police estimate 3500 — is the same as for the RNC in Milwaukee.

    So, the right answer is: they are protesting Republicans.

    I suppose we can go back to blaming the media for trying to create a narrative.

  22. 22.

    dm

    Where to go to catch up on missed speeches? I seem to end up having to sit through ten minutes of commercials on YouTube a lot  (but not all!?) of the time.

    Is there a commercial-light youtube channel for these?

  23. 23.

    Litano

    Amanda Gorman was great, as she always is. Shawn Fein’s speech was also amazing, especially for anyone who was infuriated by Sean O’Brien’s bullshit at the RNC. Those two are the big ones who stuck out to me.

    P.S.: I don’t know if the “Adding:” means you haven’t watched Warnock yet, but you definitely should if you haven’t already! The man is very talented, and I’m constantly conflicted between hoping he goes into national politics and knowing that he has the juice to keep his seat blue if he stays in the Senate.

  25. 25.

    Baud

    @dm:

    DNC channel on YouTube. Has every day. It doesn’t clip individual speeches but it’s easy to scroll the video.

  26. 26.

    Xavier

    @WaterGirl: Yeah, I’ve tried to find the right word too. Most political speeches come off like a series of pronouncements. Real people don’t do that.

  27. 27.

    Scout211

    My thoughts on last night’s top 5 speakers:

    5. Olivia Troye for her sincerity and bravery and real first person information about the national security risks of Trump, spoken with strong feelings.

    4. Dana Nessel for her wonderful, exhuberant speech and her personal knowledge of Kamala as an Attorney General and her brilliant one-liner about the R’s and them having to pry the ring off her cold dead gay finger.

    3. Wes Moore for his wonderful speaking style, great engagement with the audience and wonderful message.  (Bone spurs, LOL)

    2. Hakeem Jeffries for his mesmerizing melodic chant through his speech that was almost like poetry, plus a psalm and humor along with Trump criticisms (like an ex-boyfriend who won’t go away).  And his knowing smile all the way through his beautiful speech.

    1. Tim Walz for being enthusiastic, engaging in the crowd, bringing up all the important issues with pep and wisdom and humanity. He hit it out of the park in only 15 minutes.

    Most disappointing to me was Bill Clinton. Too rambling and too long and not enough focus on Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.  I’ve been on a stage behind him while I was holding up a “McNerney  for Congress” sign many years ago and he was brilliant and an amazing speaker. Last night he was not.

  28. 28.

    WaterGirl

    I am off to an appointment.  I will catch every body after #17 as soon as I get home in a couple of hours.

    Thanks, everybody!  A quick scan tells me i have a few more names to add to my watch list, thanks for that also.

  30. 30.

    Jay C

    I’ll concur about the big biggies: Michelle O. (and Barack); Wes Moore, Sen. Warnock, Jeffries, etc.

    My vote for most effective, though (and worth a second look) were the four speakers on night 1 for reproductive rights: a stark reminder that the stock “anti-abortion” measures the RW loves to push, are, in so many ways, the disgraceful antithesis of “pro-life”.

  31. 31.

    Memory Pallas

    I was moved by Angela Alsobrooks. I also though Mallory McMorrow, who on the first night read from from a huge prop version of “The Big Book of Project 2025” was effective. She gave the impression that she was going to do that every night, but I guess it got cut for time..

  32. 32.

    JML

    If you haven’t seen Pritzker’s speech, it’s worth checking out. he was to the point, and punched hard. Pretty funny too.

  35. 35.

    KrackenJack

    Quick question for the engaged BJ’ers here. I’ve been giving to our curated causes for the last year because I strongly agree with the methodology. KrackenJill has gotten excited and worried and while she understands my approach, she’d like to give more directly to the campaigns. I assume the Harris campaign is competently managed, but dealing with a tsunami of cash. Has the DNC gotten more effective? Any recommendations?

  40. 40.

    Scout211

    LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The Arkansas Supreme Court upheld the state’s rejection of signed petitions for an abortion rights ballot initiative on Thursday, keeping the proposal from going before voters in November.

    The ruling dashed the organizers’ hopes of getting the constitutional amendment measure onto the ballot in the predominantly Republican state, where many top leaders promote their opposition to abortion.

    Election officials said Arkansans for Limited Government failed to comply with state law primarily because it submitted documentation regarding paid signature gatherers separately and not in a single bundle. The group argued that it should have been given more time to provide any additional documents needed.

    “We find that the Secretary correctly refused to count the signatures collected by paid canvassers because the sponsor failed to file the paid canvasser training certification” in the way the law requires, Justice Rhonda Wood wrote for the 4-3 majority.

    Ugh. Hopefully activist in the state will try again, correctly.

  41. 41.

    Maxim

    @KrackenJack: There was a link a few days ago to an ActBlue account that is targeting the 22(?) races that are rated a tossup by the Cook Report. The idea was that focusing there could be most strategic for the House. There were other races listed, but the tossups were in bold in the list on the left, so if you chose to customize the donation you could give to one of them or all of them, etc.

    Ah — and it turns out I opened that link on my laptop, where I am now, so here it is.

  42. 42.

    Jeffro

    I’m psyched to get home and…do laundry…and go to bed early!  Woo hoo!

    but TOMORROW I’m watching all the DNC speeches!  Except Michelle Obama’s, because I already managed to get that one in. (The rest have all just been snippets posted on Twitter)

    We Democrats are truly blessed to have such a deep and talented bench.  Also, principles – we still have our principles.  The GOP?  Not so much on either front.

  43. 43.

    JimV

    Donated $50. Wish matches just took the total new contributions per day and matched them, so we didn’t all have to clog up the Internet.

  44. 44.

    RevRick

    @JML: Pritzker gave a great commencement address about how to tell who’s an idiot. Spoiler alert: it’s the cruel ones.

  45. 45.

    KatKapCC

    I liked Bill’s speech. I wouldn’t call it rambling, that’s just his style, because his brain is a political encyclopedia. He can say more of substance in a half-hour speech than Trump ever has in his entire life.

  53. 53.

    Old School

    @RevRick:

    Interesting that the Actblue list omits Jared Golden in Maine 2

    Charles Gaba omitted both Golden and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez.

    I removed her and Jared Golden (ME-02) after they not only called for President Biden to drop out but actually went so far as to call for him to RESIGN FROM OFFICE and/or said that they might not even vote for him if he was the Dem nominee.

    Those were a bridge too far for me.

  54. 54.

    scav

    @HumboldtBlue: The camera operator wasn’t giving them much to work with either, wandering away immediately from the first person actually responding to him in more than a spare single sentence.

  57. 57.

    Anonymous At Work

    @Scout211: Not unexpected.  Arkansas is a state with a lot of progressive voters and support for progressive causes as long as they aren’t labeled as progressive or liberal or Democratic.  And Republicans know it and have stacked the system accordingly.

  58. 58.

    Belafon

    @Bostondreams: When he was commenting on how many more conventions he could make, I started really wondering about him, and the shaking hand made me wonder more.

  60. 60.

    Geminid

     

     

    @RevRick: Mr. Gaba also left out freshman Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (WA), who represents a 50-50 district across the Columbia River from Portland, Oregon. But Gaba did not exclude the 3rd Blue Dog Caucus Co-Chair, Mary Peltola (AK). Peltola is much more popular among Democrats than Golden or Gluesenkamp  Perez.

  61. 61.

    Baud

    @Belafon:

    We killed our bench in 2010.

    On a separare note, Barrett is proving to be the least bad of the bad 6.  Many cases are now a real battle of the sexes.

    5-4 today to allow AZ to require proof of citizenship to register to vote.

  63. 63.

    Old School

    I’ve been sworn to secrecy, but you don’t want to miss the DNC tonight. If you thought the Oprah surprise was big, just wait.— Angry Staffer 🌻 (@Angry_Staffer) August 22, 2024

  64. 64.

    KatKapCC

    @BR: He also seems spectacularly unenthusiastic about donuts, which just proves that he is not human. Who doesn’t love a donut???

  66. 66.

    The Audacity of Krope

    @Baud: 5-4 today to allow AZ to require proof of citizenship to vote.

    That could be dealt with by those processing the registrations with minimal fuss or extra paperwork. Something tells me this is not what AZ Republicans had in mind.

    This could prove onerous for even natural born citizens.

  69. 69.

    scav

    @JimV: mmmm, but then

    “I should like balls infinitely better,” she replied, “if they were carried on in a different manner; but there is something insufferably tedious in the usual process of such a meeting. It would surely be much more rational if conversation instead of dancing were made the order of the day.”
    “Much more rational, my dear Caroline, I dare say, but it would not be near so much like a ball.”

    – Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 11.

    Social momentum and communal efforts have their own logic.

  70. 70.

    Baud

    @scav:

    I’ve got big balls

    I’ve got big balls

    They’re such big balls

    And they’re dirty big balls

    And he’s got big balls

    And she’s got big balls

    (But we’ve got the biggest balls of them all)

     
    — AC/DC

  71. 71.

    Scout211

    Here’s a good surprise: CNN

    The Chicks will perform the National Anthem on Thursday night at the Democratic National Convention, multiple sources told CNN.

    P!ink and now The Chicks? Sweet!

    I’d prefer Not Ready to Make Nice, but the National Anthem is fine, too.

  72. 72.

    geg6

    @WaterGirl:

    Hmmm, I think maybe that’s just the way he is.  I’ve never seen him any other way and I’ve been in a room where he was casually talking to people.

    Personally, I took a long bathroom break for Oprah.  I’m not a fan at all (anyone who has thrust assholes like Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz and Maryanne Williamson on us can FOAD) and the little I heard wasn’t very inspiring to me.  She lives in a woo woo bubble that is little different from the one RFK, Jr. lives in.

  79. 79.

    CaseyL

    @Old School: I’ve made excuses for Gluesenkamp Perez, who beat the absolutely vile Joe Kent in 2022, but the more I hear about her, the more I think the only reason she runs as a “Democrat” is because she wouldn’t make it past the primary as a GOPer.

  80. 80.

    Jackie

    First? honest thing TFCG has ever admitted to?

    But no one will believe him! 🙄

    Donald Trump told the Daily Mail he would not be getting intelligence briefings as the Republican nominee for president for fear of being accused of leaking classified information.

    Said Trump: “I don’t want them, because, number one, I know what’s happening. It’s very easy to see what’s happening.”

    He added: “We have a Marxist that’s going to try and be president, and this country is not ready for a Marxist or a communist president, and that’s what she is… So I don’t want that, because as soon as I get that, they’ll say that I leaked it.”

  86. 86.

    CaseyL

    @Jackie: Yes. Unfortunately.

    I don’t know if any other Democrat – or “Democrat” – would have a chance in that district.  I don’t live there,  but if it’s that deep red, then her disloyalty to Democrats would be a plus for her.

    (Sigh)

    So it’s a choice between not-really-a-Dem and an incredibly awful MAGAt.

  87. 87.

    Scout211

    I don’t do social media for many reasons but sometimes I realize how it does serve an important purpose.

    Politico   The sight of Tim Walz’s 17-year-old son, Gus, weeping with pride Wednesday night during his father’s speech accepting the vice presidential nomination instantly became an iconic feel-good moment of the convention.

    That is, until the inevitable turn on social media.
    Conservative firebrand Ann Coulter posted an article on X about Gus’ emotional reaction, with a lead photo of the teenager in tears. She captioned it “Talk about weird…”

    The online backlash was swift and snarky.

    “I can see why a child loving their parents would feel foreign to you,” wrote Tommy Vietor, the Obama staffer-turned-liberal podcaster.

    Many commenters pointed out that Coulter’s jab was especially cruel given that his parents told People magazine that their son has a nonverbal learning disorder, ADHD and an anxiety disorder.

    “I am neurodivergent. When I was 14, I was diagnosed with ADHD, OCD, and several learning disorders, including dyscalculia,” wrote Shannon Watts, the founder of gun safety groups Moms Demand Action and Everytown. “We’re not weird, we’re wonderful. And we’re your family, friends and fellow Americans.”

    Coulter soon became a trending topic on X, as was Gus Walz and the term “He’s 17.” Coulter deleted her post, but that so far hasn’t stemmed the online pile-on.

    Ann Coulter, chaos agent has been. Still trying, but the right wing mean girl schtick is only scorned and mocked these days.  Good on social media.

  93. 93.

    Jackie

    @CaseyL: I have it worse: I’m forced to hold my nose and vote for (R) Dan Newhouse. His opponent is TCFG’s endorsed MAGA Jerrod Sessler. Newhouse is a ”RINO traitor” who voted to impeach TCFG after J6.

  95. 95.

    Jackie

    YAY!!! Mark Robinson’s going DOWN – AND possibly taking DonOLD down with him! Knock on wood!!

    Far-right North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s bid for governor appears to be in trouble — and furthermore, it seems to be jeopardizing former President Donald Trump’s own chances of carrying a state he narrowly won twice.

    A new poll from SurveyUSA found Robinson trailing Democratic state Attorney General Josh Stein by a whopping 48-34. Vice President Kamala Harris, meanwhile, is up on Trump by a hair in a near-tie, at 46-45.

    https://www.rawstory.com/mark-robinson-poll/

  96. 96.

    Fake Irishman

     

    @Baud:

    Christ, they just overturned another precedent using the shadow docket. Four directions I suspect will be helping a lot of tribal folks register now, because it just got harder.

  97. 97.

    Areyougonnaeatthatsandwich

    Been sitting in the United Center for 3 nights now soaking in our amazingly deep bench. You have to check out Jasmine Crockett. And Wes Moore has a future for sure. Never heard him speak before but he wowed us.

    Also, there was a lot of love for Bill. And he’s lost a step, but was still worth watching.

  99. 99.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @Scout211:

    Ugh. Hopefully activist in the state will try again, correctly.

    Hm. I think I disagree with that as a closer. I mean, yes, I hope they do what it takes to get the initiative before the voters. But to me, the Arkansas establishment did the equivalent of requiring the petitioners to guess the number of jellybeans in a jar in order to be allowed to vote. I think The People would be within their collective rights to storm their state house and burn it to the ground.

    But I’m a “let’s you and him fight” sorta guy, so take with a grain of salt.

  103. 103.

    Hoodie

    @Jackie: Not too surprised to see Robinson cratering. He’s an obvious wacko and he’s lately been hit with a bunch of stuff about some crappy daycare he and wife ran.  There is a pretty long history of ticket-splitting in NC,  the presidential race will be close because people have strange perceptions on a lot of issues.

  106. 106.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @cain:

    @Old School:

    Beyonce is showing up!!!??!

    With Taylor Swift???!

    And Dolly Parton!!!

    You heard it here first!!!!!!!!!

  107. 107.

    Ken

    @Jackie: Robinson and Trump should immediately arrange some campaign events. Voters need to see them together and know that they share the same principles and goals.

    Well, mostly.

  108. 108.

    West of the Rockies

    @Scout211:

    So hilarious that Coulter has become a pariah across party lines.  And the fact that Bill Maher dated her should have utterly revealed him to be a scammy, mean-spirited phony.

  110. 110.

    Old School

    @Chief Oshkosh:

    And Dolly Parton!!!

    With George W. Bush!  And Melania!

    The trouble with this sort of secrecy is that the reveal is bound to be a disappointment to some folks.

  113. 113.

    Cowgirl in the Sandi

    Thanks to whoever mentioned watching the convention on CSPAN.  After 2 nights of continuing annoyance by CNN putting on nail fungus commercials or creepy Scott Jennings instead of the speakers, we watched the whole thing on CSPAN last night and it was great!

  114. 114.

    Litano

    @West of the Rockies: I would assume Clooney is still a persona non grata after the Biden op ed. Dems probably wouldn’t say no if a Clooney speech fell into their lap, but I doubt anyone went too far out of his way to book the guy. My guess is still Taylor but I wouldn’t be shocked if it was Beyonce instead

    Edit: Lmao, I missed the chain of comments this was replying to. Ignore me

  115. 115.

    Areyougonnaeatthatsandwich

    @mrmoshpotato:

    nope. A friend who I guess donated some serious money invited me. It’s honestly been amazing. Our access is pretty low level, getting in and out can be a sh*tshow. But it’s so worth it!

  116. 116.

    Mike E

    @Hoodie: There is a pretty long history of ticket-splitting in NC

    That being said and true, Robinson is a bridge too far for a supposedly “independent” electorate who like their crackers crispy if you know what I mean and I think you do.

    I’m unusually sanguine about Harris Walz getting over the top in Nov here but Dems lose ~3 congressional seats if this enthusiasm doesn’t trickle down ballot and mend splits.

    @West of the Rockies: you forgot Poland Ann dated Keith Olbermann too

  122. 122.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @WaterGirl: Hey, alive been trying to have a new nym approved. I posted with it on the Con man’s gonna con open thread. Any chance for an assist?

    ETA: Saw it. Thank you.

  126. 126.

    Geminid

    @CaseyL: The Washington 3rd CD that Marie Gluesenkamp Perez represents has a Cook’s PVI of R+5. People talk like Gluesenkamp  Perez is some crypto-Republican but that’s bullshit in my opinion. If the district was D+5 she could conform better to what some people think of as a “good Democrat.” But she has to work with the district she has, hence the triangulation strategy.

    This comes up all the time with Democrats winning R+ districts. People say they want the party to win these seats, but they still don’t like the politicians who win them.

  127. 127.

    WaterGirl

    Hey everybody!

    The $1,250 Angel match has been more than met, so I just contacted exburrowboy to let him know he can add his Angel Match to the thermometer.

    That will put us at about $25,500 – with our goal being $25,000.

    Go us!  Thank you to all who contributed funds or encouragement!

  128. 128.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Old School:

    Hmm. I’m guessing Beyoncé and/or Taylor Swift. Preferably and.

    Trying to think of political or even political-adjacent names that might bring that kind of “WOW!” power, and I really can’t think of any we haven’t already seen.

    ETA: Oh, drat you, KatKapCC. GMTA, but you got there first.

  130. 130.

    KrackenJack

    @WaterGirl: She’s very much a “The Fierce Urgency of Now” type person. She’s appreciates the strategic donations that I make, but for her own direct contributions she’s not interested in anything that needs an explanation. Very much a normie approach to political action.

    She is concerned about foreign interference, so there is an opportunity for the FBI to setup an ActBlue page. jk

  133. 133.

    KrackenJack

    Wow. Great job WG and everyone!

    Looks like the thermometer is already gone from the homepage. I realize we don’t want to rest on our laurels, but could we perhaps savor the win for a day? Let the second shift see it…

  136. 136.

    Jackie

    @WaterGirl: Is a new post starting SOON? The convention is starting shortly. Looking forward to hearing The Dixie Chicks sing the National Anthem!

  140. 140.

    Quinerly

    @Mark’s Bubbie:

    Ingraham dated Bill Maher, George Conway, Keith Olbermann, and Dinesh D’Souza.

    Coulter dated Dinesh D’Souza.

    I’ll never forgive Keith Olbermann.

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