So that’s it. Democratic National Convention 2024 is over. It’s hard not to feel a little weirded out by what we just saw. Yes, it was a show full of star power and a few former presidents. But it was also the funeral of a living, breathing sitting president. And then, because of the raucous shotgun wedding that followed, there was a dance party on his grave. Pink performed.
It was a long Monday night. President Joe Biden finally took the stage at 11:30pm EST after most of the nation was asleep. It was a bitter farewell for him. He said he wasn’t angry and that it was his choice to leave, but his own staffers texted reporters multiple times to bring the curtain down. The late-night handling of a sitting president’s effective farewell speech was the final disrespect, staffers said. And Biden was reportedly furious over the Obamas’ involvement, with Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate having to leave the convention when Barack and Michelle spoke on Tuesday night.
Toast-givers tried their best to act as if the funeral had never even happened.
But Monday’s ceremony Tragic form. By sunrise on Tuesday, the old man was buried and gone, and the wedding had begun. As the situation hung precariously in the lead-up to the wedding, those gathered in Chicago did their best to forget that just five weeks earlier, every Democratic Party official in the country had been desperately searching for a candidate other than Kamala Harris. It was a romantic, if unrealistic, quest that was doomed to fail, and which officially ended with the balloon drop on Thursday night.
Newspapers, magazines and television shows did their part to change the narrative by dressing Harris up, doing her hair and makeup, and putting her picture on the cover without a call or interview from the bride herself, and toast-givers did their best to pretend the funeral had never even happened.
Former First Lady Michelle Obama paid tribute to “the sacrifices our elders have made,” but she was referring not to Joe, but to her mother. Biden himself didn’t even get a nod from the woman he worked closely with for eight years. “We have energy,” she said. “We’re happy. We feel like a weight has been lifted off our shoulders.” Hard.
In fact, Michelle Obama spoke about 2024 as if there hadn’t been a Democrat in the White House for the past four years, as if Kamala Harris was the first ray of light she’d seen since the former first lady was in the White House. (Remember, Michelle Obama couldn’t even utter Harris’ name at the 2020 Democratic National Convention, which says a lot about how she feels about Joe.) All the while, cheering Democrats couldn’t help but think how nice it would have been if Michelle Obama had been the nominee. Too bad.
Michelle’s husband took the stage next, and, as always, was more gracious than his wife. Former President Barack Obama gave a brief eulogy for the man who betrayed him, calling him a brother and a friend before getting down to business for the evening.
“I want to say one thing about Biden,” former President Bill Clinton said, bizarrely calling Biden an “unlikely” president before claiming that he had “healed the sick” and “voluntarily given up political power” (neither of which is true).
“Now,” he concluded, “let’s get to it.” But that was not the conclusion, and the former president spoke almost twice as long as any other major speaker — a very poor way to toast.
Oprah Winfrey was the perfect bride. She had nothing to say about the current White House occupant (but she also didn’t engage in any awkward backbiting). Sure, she was the kind of woman the audience might like more than the candidate, but alas, that didn’t happen. Instead, she joined the parade of respectable, elderly retirees who were headlining a convention ostensibly about the younger generation.
Then came the big moment: Kamala’s coronation. Pink played a concert, there was a dance, and then the curtain came down.
Washington Examiner: The Democratic Party passes the baton while playing old songs
Blaze News: Dozens of delegates who voted “abstain” instead of Harris during the convention roll call camped outside the Democratic National Convention
Blaze News: Gaslighting takes center stage as Democratic National Convention drama continues
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The fire is burning: Washington Examiner: Biden Justice Department’s 2024 voting fight is a wake-up call for election integrity advocates
Democrats are taking elections seriously. Not just how they’re run, but how they work. That’s making a difference (just look at 2020). It’s not just about partisan lawyers like Marc Elias. They’re writing the law about elections, waging court battles for elections, and increasingly using the Department of Justice. Ashley Oliver reports.
Under Biden, the Justice Department has become more vocal about elections and is committed to expanding voting access — a stark contrast to the approach taken by the Trump administration. The move is in line with broader Democratic assertions that Republicans want to make it harder to vote, which Democrats argue could disenfranchise voters or discriminate against racial minorities.
Chad Ennis, a longtime attorney and vice president of the Honest Elections Project, He pointed out that Democrats’ push to expand voting access threatens the integrity of elections.
“They’ll try to disguise it as expanding voting rights, but in reality it’s almost certainly an attack on the commonsense rules that ensure our elections are smooth, fair and accurate,” Ennis said. Washington Examiner.
Blaze News: The Supreme Court partially reinstated an Arizona voting law that required proof of citizenship before an election printing deadline.
