DNC Live Blog: Day 3
Posted: September 6, 2012 Filed under: 2012 presidential campaign, Barack Obama, Live Blog, Mitt Romney, Reproductive Rights, The DNC, the GOP, U.S. Economy, U.S. Politics, War on Women, Women's Healthcare | Tags: American Crossroads superpac, Charlie Crist, Democratic National Convention 2012, Dodd-Frank bill, Eva Longoria, hotel workers, housing crisis, Joe Biden, Michigan, Nate Silver, North Carolina, Paul Ryan, right to work states, Sandra Fluke, union workers, Wall Street 46 Comments
Here we go . . . This is the last night of the 2012 Democratic National Convention. We can only hope the speeches will be as thrilling as the ones we heard last night.
Tonight Vice President Joe Biden and President Barack Obama will accept their nominations to run for reelection. In addition, there will be a who slew of celebrity appearances, including Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson, The Foo Fighters, Eva Longoria, Mary J. Blige, James Taylor, Earth Wind & Fire, Marc Anthony, and Kerry Washington. Former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords will lead the pledge of allegiance.
At 8:00, former Florida Governor Charlie Crist will speak. At 10:00, we’ll hear from Eva Longoria, Joe Biden, and President Obama. The rest of the night’s schedule has not been released.
Just a few headlines to get you going:
Amanda Marcotte: Sandra Fluke’s Speech Made Republicans Crazy. Which Is Just What the Democrats Want.
For a short period yesterday evening, a moment of panicked confusion broke out among those of us obsessively watching and tweeting the Democratic National Convention, when Sandra Fluke did not go on stage as scheduled. It turns out that we needn’t have worried; convention organizers made an apparently last minute decision to move Fluke’s speech to later in the night, giving her a prime-time audience. It’s a move that indicates Democrats have finally stopped freaking out at the first sign of reactionary histrionics, and instead have embraced the strategy of taking the fight to conservatives.
After decades of playing along with conservatives who dress up their hostility to female sexuality as nothing more than an interest in “life,” Democrats have finally realized that baiting the anti-choice right into showing its misogynist, sex-phobic side may just be a winning strategy.
Marcotte posts some of the rageful Republican tweets at the link.
HuffPo: Unions Hope Democratic National Convention Draws Attention To Plight Of North Carolina Workers
North Carolina passed right-to-work legislation in 1947, barring contracts that require all workers at unionized companies to pay union dues. North Carolina is now the least-unionized state in the country, with about 3 percent of workers belonging to one, according to the Labor Department. The state also bans collective bargaining for public-sector workers. Feeling snubbed, some activists skipped the convention in favor of what was billed as a “shadow convention” for organized labor in Philadelphia.
“This entire saga, from the beginning to today – the site selection, the state selection — the way it’s been handled is just nothing more than confirmation to me that the standing of organized labor in the eyes of the Democratic Party is lower than it’s ever been in my time,” said Chris Townsend, political director of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America union, who has been in the labor movement for more than three decades.
CNN Money: Is Wall Street Being Bamboozled by Romney?
FORTUNE — Wall Street is taking quite a pounding at the Democratic National Convention this week as speakers, like Massachusetts Senate hopeful Elizabeth Warren, fire populist missives so inflammatory it would cause even the most liberal banker to cringe. While the speeches are meant to fire up the Democratic base, they are also likely to induce some financiers to double their contributions to Republicans, namely, Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney.
But is that a safe bet? Much of Wall Street’s concerns derive from the passage of the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill, even though some of the most controversial aspects of the bill seem permanently lost in regulatory limbo. Going forward, there remain questions as to what, if anything, a Romney Presidency could truly deliver in the next four years that would be so different from a second term Obama presidency. Given that uncertainty, Wall Street could possibly be better off sticking with the devil they already know.
New York Observer: We Can All Breathe a Sigh of Relief: Mitt Romney Has a Plan to End the Housing Crisis
Is Mitt Romney really the man to solve the housing crisis? Well, consider this: Mr. Romney may not have ever struggled “to put food on the table” as folksy politicians are so fond of saying, but he has four houses. Four. So he knows a thing or two about home ownership. And, unlike some homeowners who took out mortgages and couldn’t pay them back, Mr. Romney is wealthy enough not to have to take out mortgages (although there’s a possibility that he did—the man does have the common touch, at times).
In any event, the Republican candidate has revealed his four-point plan while taking a few swings at Obama, like: “the dream of home ownership is out of reach for many Americans as a result of President Obama’s failed policies and stalled economy.”
Because Americans were doing so well with home ownership before Mr. Obama took the helm. Ha! Good one! As though the “stalled economy” and, well, the “economic crisis” weren’t a result of the fact that many Americans were actually really horrible when it came to assessing risk and making responsible choices about home ownership.
The consensus is that it’s not much of a “plan.”
ABC News: Paul Ryan Anticipates and Counters Obama’s Convention Speech Tonight
COLORADO SPRINGS–Just hours before the president takes the stage at the Democratic National Convention, Paul Ryan attempted to counter Obama’s speech by reminding voters in this battleground state of then candidate Obama’s promises in his 2008 speech in Denver.
“Right here in Colorado, four years ago with the Styrofoam Greek columns, the big stadium, the president gave this long speech with lots of big promises,” Ryan said. “He said … that Democrats have a very different measure of what constitutes progress. By those very measurements, his leadership has fallen woefully short.”
Yawn. . . Lots more of Lyin’ Ryan’s psychic predictions at the link. Frankly, after the spanking he got from Bill Clinton last night, the little twerp would do better to just STFU; but I’m hoping he continues making a fool of himself. I guess he doesn’t know that he has lost all credibility with everyone but obsessive Fox watchers.
Detroit News: Conservatives Pull Ads from Michigan
Mitt Romney’s conservative allies are bypassing Michigan with their advertising while stepping up efforts in other battleground states — suggesting campaign strategists don’t believe his road to the White House leads through his native state.
The pro-Romney groups American Crossroads and Americans for Prosperity are pouring nearly $13 million into advertising in key states, indicating they remain eager to lend considerable financial muscle to Romney in states viewed as truly competitive.
There are no presidential campaign ads of any kind airing in Pennsylvania and Michigan, according to information provided by media trackers to the Associated Press.
Nate Silver: The Simple Case for Why Obama Is the Favorite
…our forecast has moved toward President Obama over the past several days. It now gives him about a three-in-four chance of winning the Electoral College on Nov. 6.
I’ll explain a little bit more about how the model comes to that conclusion in a moment, but the intuition behind it is pretty simple:
1. Polls usually overrate the standing of the candidate who just held his convention.
2. Mitt Romney just held his convention. But he seems to have gotten a below-average bounce out of it. The national polls that have come out since the Republican National Convention have shown an almost exact tie in the race.
3. If the polls overrate Mr. Romney, and they show only a tie for him now, then he will eventually lose.
The first point is the simplest of all, but perhaps the most important. There is a lot of focus on the bounce that a candidate gets after his convention — that is, how the polls conducted just after the convention compare with the ones taken immediately beforehand.
Silver predicted the 2008 election results almost perfectly.
I’m looking forward to reading your comments tonight, so bring it!
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Sky Dancing 
Speaking of rude people (see previous thread), Mitt Romney doesn’t plan to watch Obama’s speech tonight.
It’s seems kind of stupid not to watch what your opponents are saying and doing.
He may be too lazy to watch but his people will be watching for him!
New snotty ad from Romney:
That just makes Bill’s testament last night that much more powerful!
Hi BB … I can’t decide if this is good or bad news … they are finally holding a bishop accountable but look, it’s a misdemeanor.
Missouri bishop found guilty of one count misdemeanor for failing to report priest
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/09/06/missouri-bishop-found-guilty-one-misdemeanor-count-for-failing-to-report-priest/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
That’s sounds like a pretty light sentence.
Romney, not known for his honesty, says that he won’t watch Obama. Hmmm – oh snap, of course, that’s for his paid minions to do, so he can stand on his high horse and project as someone who is not worried in the least. Took me awhile to figure it out, but I think it’s fairly accurate.
bb – you are on every little detail – much appreciated. I did see the Mitt’s response to the question ‘ is he was going to watch Obama’s acceptance speech?’. Just reading his body posture – snippy. He does stay in character – one of his biggest problems – thinking he is above all others. Maybe that is why Mittens was selected – they are so superior – chosen by God to reap the bounty.
Yes, but he’s so well turned out – his hair, his teeth, his (very expensive) preppy clothes, his robotic personality, his etch-a-sketch policies. What’s not to love?
Good one HT, my sister and I were laughing about his teeth yesterday. She said he looked like he had 100 teeth all the same size!
That’s why Robert Reich recently wrote about how Romney “lies through his big white teeth.”
Romney and SuperPACs have pulled all their ads in Ohio also, for now at least. MI and PA, ok but Ohio?
Maybe they’re up to something sneaky?
I can’t help but think that. Maybe they want the Obama campaign to cancel their ad buys, then they swoop in and buy everything in sight?
Obama hasn’t been running ads in PA for weeks and isn’t running any in MI right now either.
Speaking of Sandra Fluke, did anyone see Morning Joe, Jim VandeHei said some horrible things about abortion rights and the way the DNC had a program about abortion. I wish i could find it. And of course Mica just sat there.
My comments tell another story of North Carolina and I’m compelled to tell it here after listening to John Lewis speak about his heroic fight for Black equality. When the bus for equal rights in 1961 traveled through Charlotte, he and a friend were brutally beaten up. Much later one of these men went to his Congressional office apologized and asked for his forgiveness.
In 1965, Swann v. Mecklenburg County challenged school segregation. Federal Judge James McMillan issued his crosstown busing order in 1970 after an unacceptable integration plan was offered by the school board. James McMillan was one of the last judicial appointments made by President Lyndon Johnson. McMillan’s order went to the U.S. Supreme Court and was unanimously upheld by Chief Justice Warren Burger’s court. The Nixon administration supported the school board’s plan.
A cousin of mine married James McMillan’s sister and I worked as a social worker with his niece. His family encountered innumerable death threats and he had to be escorted from his regular court business by federal marshals. I knew the toll that this case took on this family.
What I want to stress is please vote, vote your values, vote for the future. A president selected the right person at the right time to become a federal judge who fought with John Lewis for equality and school integration.
(Btw, in the 1970s Charlotte and Mecklenburg County became a national model for broad busing plans.)
I am crying , peregine, what a story, I too think John Lewis is a hero. I was called a ni**er lover in grade school thru high school because I had black friends. One of the reasons I love my parents for showing me the truth.
Inspiring story! John Lewis is also one of my heroes.
Thank you for sharing that story with us. It’s important to remember the fight for equality for all is not over yet. The GOP’s attempts to suppress the vote through state-issued photo ID laws is proof of that.
Great Story Peregrine, Thanks for sharing. Those of us who saw it will never forget the ugly racism of the south we grew up in. It took courage beyond imagination to do what John Lewis and those who stood with him did. They are champions.
His speech was very moving.
Read that Rmoney put a new ad out with Clinton in it. That was probably a very bad idea! 🙂
Clinton To Tour Midwest For Obama
That was my family – my people who tried to stop them from voting, from their rights, I had nothing to do with their hate, and I apologize for their behavior, for the blood that they shed, the killing they approved, and I am not thrilled about that past, and I have never approved of their behavior and their judgement against other people. I am here to fight it to the end of my day.
I feel I had the best childhood now even though it was hard as a child. My parents were brave, they sent three daughters off to school everyday with the message “to be nice to everybody”. As we got older it became clear why they were right and I am so thankful because I did what they said. My schools were not integrated until June 1965.
Was nothing nice about growing up in the south, New Orleans during the 50’s and 60’s……….nothing nice about Mississippi then either. We are talking piss ass poor, and uneducated. Like today, people were lied to, every day lied to, every week, every month, lied to, people were hurting, and someone had to be blamed for their problems………….just like today. Just like Bush, just like the wars, just like the Texas and everyother damn state that thinks they will be allowed to get away with the bullschitt.
I was talking about the ideas my parents had, made it good for me to see everybody the same.
I understand, I just wish that were my case – it was not to be.
We can’t answer for the crazy world we grew up in or how the people around us behaved or thought. I was asked to leave a dance in 1962-63 for doing the twist with a black boy. It was a catholic priest who asked me to leave. When I was 14-15 I worked at a dept store where my job was ironing clothes for the women’s dept. I had to iron 2 sets of clothes, one for the white women, those clothes were hung on the display racks and one for the black women, those were kept inside the dressing rooms. In my naivete I questioned the sense of it and was basically told “that’s just the way it is”. My family was low income. Hardly anyone in my family knew how to swim. I remember my grandfather saying that he was going to take his grandchildren to the public park in the upscale section of town for free swimming lessons. When the day arrived my grandfather was unable to take us because of work. He worked with a black man named Tom who used my grandfathers car to escort me and my cousins to free swim lessons. Tom had to watch us through the fence,,he wasn’t allowed inside. If I live to be 100 I’ll never forget Tom standing at that fence watching the white children getting free swim lessons in a public pool where black children were forbidden to swim.
Moving on, I thought those times were done, and our rights won, but there are those who want to stomp all over equal protection, and justice. Like Sandra said, take a stand, speak out.
I agree, Fannie.
Lordy, Gov. Gramhold is killing!
They’re hot tonight
Yea, she screamed, all the battleground states.
I’d give a lot if they would stop yelling. They have a microphone and are on TV. Speaking normally, like Bill and Michelle Obama did, is much better. It keeps you from seeming just a little deranged. 😉
Your are likely right about the yelling, but it got the hall going. And i kinda liked it.
I think that’s why they do it. I’m just thinking of the more middle of the road people at home, it any are watching.
Ralph, it wasn’t in prime time and it really was a union speech. I think they are relying up the troops to go out and help get the vote out.
She is she is…………
That’s was a nice surprise seeing Geraldine Ferraro.
John Kerry is up.
Great line from Kerry. “Before you debate foreign policy with Barack Obama, you’d better finish the date with yourself.”
Kerry is doing a great job
They are playing the He Got Osama card… bet the Republicans shriek in pain over that one
Tough.
Hell yeah, Cry me a river!!!