As I mentioned the other day, I haven’t watched the Democrat National Convention, but I have been reading about it. Sort of makes me glad I haven’t been watching. But last night I watched Joe Biden’s acceptance speech.
Televised political conventions are one part programming, one part business meeting and eleventy parts auditioning. What we’re watching is a scripted performance over several nights that is meant to woo the party kingmakers, impress the masses and solidify support for the presidential nominee.
But just like the self-licking lollypop events—the Grammys, the Oscars and the Golden Globes—the Democrats were mostly talking to themselves (the remarks during the virtual event were pre-recorded, so they were really just talking to themselves). Viewership was way off from the 2016 convention.
The first night of the virtual 2020 Democratic National Convention was largely a snoozefest and that was reflected in its dismal TV ratings, which tanked compared to the opening festivities of 2016. Among the six, MSNBC drew the most eyes during the 10 p.m. hour, with 5.1 million viewers.
But last night was the most important, since the Democratic nominee gives a speech that lays out his vision for America. Biden did that in a well-rehearsed speech that, apart from a persistent slurring of his words, he managed to get through coherently.
Generally I thought he painted a rather dark picture of America. He began with the themes of bringing light, love and hope to a season of darkness. I can’t help but be a bit cynical since I thought the Lightbringer already brought us “Hope” (and Change!). But it sounded like we’re all out of hope and need another infusion.
Biden of course pinned the “perfect storm” of a pandemic, economic implosion, racial injustice and “the accelerating threats of climate change” on president Trump. Which is nonsense.
Covid-19 came from China, which stayed mum about the virus until they couldn’t deny it any longer. Could Trump have done some things better? Of course. But the numbers are looking better every day.
(Later in his speech, Biden claimed that “wearing a mask is not a burden but a patriotic duty to protect one another.” In light of my recent post about masks being symbols of misplaced responsibility, I firmly disagree.)
To blame Trump on the economic ruin in the wake of the Peking Lung Pox is better placed with all the governors who have kept their states locked down with uneven and arbitrary restrictions that shut down restaurants but allow marijuana dispensaries to remain open or that demand churches remain closed but allow crowds of “protesters” to march through the streets.
Speaking of protesters, Biden claimed that George Floyd, whose death sparked the current spasms of violence, was “murdered.” He forgot his safe word, “allegedly.” The officers involved are charged with second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, but they haven’t been tried or convicted yet. Is Joe trying to sway the jury?
Biden made a point of thanking former president Obama, the Bringer of light and hope, with whom he served for eight years. He used that moment to denounce Trump as someone who “fans the flames of hate and division.” Newsflash: it’s not conservatives or Republicans marauding like feral shock troops through our cities, burning, looting and murdering.
Biden hit all the right liberal talking points including healthcare, Medicare, guns, climate change, the pandemic, racial divisions, the rich paying their “fair share,” and many other tropes meant to appease the different factions within the party.
He also trotted out the Charlottesville lie in which he accused president Trump of saying that there were “very fine people on both sides.” It is true that Trump said those words, but it is not true that he was referring to the neo-Nazis and white nationalists. As even CNN admitted, he immediately clarified his comment by saying,
“I’m not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists, because they should be condemned totally – but you had many people in that group other than neo-Nazis and white nationalists, okay? And the press has treated them absolutely unfairly.”
So Biden, while denouncing Trump as being a divider, lies about Trump being a divider. Then he goes on to say that he’s battling “for the soul of this nation.” Which is funny, too, because that’s what I thought Trump was doing.
Biden had a few moments where he seemed to have a genuine resolve, but most of the time his voice sounded like that of an untrained actor trying to convince me of his sincerity.
I never planned on voting for him. His audition tonight, while performed well, didn’t move me one iota. I don’t trust Joe Biden and I hope that he never steps foot in the White House again.