Republican Convention Ends On A Whimper

AOC, who I still wish remained my representative after the last re-districting do-over, gave an after midnight Instagram statement explaining the problems with replacing Biden on the ticket. She included a denunciation of Democrats who are cowardly saying so off the record. 

I generally agree with her. The remarks are summarized at the link (update). I agree with the person that the remarks were not compact and rambled some. I assume Rep. Ocasio-Cortez didn't suddenly give an Instagram statement. She did those things before. For instance, I saw one where she discussed her experiences in the days before 1/6.  It was also a long down to earth sort of thing. 

As I noted in my reply on the thread, I remain off the "remove Biden" bandwagon. It looks like even those off it (including one who posts sparingly) are starting to go to the acceptance position. No. Let's not go there, any more being on the "Biden will lose" (in July) bandwagon. 

One basic issue here, as AOC notes, is that the whole thing started too late. Suddenly, as if they just noticed it, people wanted to push him off the ticket after a bad debate. It's just too damn late. The underlying problems didn't just pop up. They were there before. That's when you had to address it. 

Meanwhile, while so many Democrats and liberal media outlets [or whatever Slate and NYT are these days] are one note trying to pressure him to leave (it surely isn't "neutral" coverage as I have noted in multiple unpublished letters to the NYT -- they did publish my letter in the 1990s!), Trump continues to show he is and should be beatable.

Note, for instance, Heather Cox Richardson's latest Substack. First, there is a reference to Russia's prosecution of  Evan Gershkovich (a journalist) for espionage. Trump earlier said if he was elected that Putin would free him shortly thereafter. And, we would need to give nothing in return! Sure. His election alone will provide Putin a lot of things. 

The convention (which Kevin Kruse separately has called "boring") had Hulk Hogan (the wrestler) on. As Richardson says, this was fitting since Trump is about as true to life as wrestling. He also was involved in wrestling programs. With both, we are supposed to suspend belief and go along with the show.

She also notes -- as have others -- that the media has continued to let Trump get away with not providing medical records arising from the assassination attempt. The one multiple Republicans (including in Congress) alleged Democrats had something to do about by calling out how dangerous he is. 

He has said that he was "shot" when the evidence suggests he was hit by shrapnel. His acceptance speech seems to have elided the fact by suggesting he thought he was shot. No. Doesn't work. It is appropriate that when a presidential candidate is targeted that we know the damn details.

The acceptance speech became -- after an opening attempt at "unity" -- a rambling bunch of lies and whines. The guy is a tiresome loser:

MSNBC’s Chris Hayes watched the unhinged speech and concluded: "This is not a colossus, this is not the big bad wolf, this is not a vigorous and incredibly deft political communicator. This is an old man in decline who's been doing the same schtick for a very long time and it's really wearing thin."

(Hayes has been on the "Biden must go" bandwagon. I have not been a big fan of multiple things he said lately. But, when he's right, he's right.) 

Can we stop with the Biden circular firing squad and focus on beating this guy and his underqualified loser of a running mate?

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Sigh. This seems to be the month of dying.

Checking the news, I see that Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) has died. I was not aware she was that sick but she was in her 70s and had cancer. 

She was first elected in 1994 to her Houston-based congressional seat, which was once held by the charismatic African American congresswoman Barbara Jordan. Rep. Jackson Lee quickly established herself as an outspoken advocate for racial and gender equality, voting rights and the revision of the criminal justice system.

The obit also notes she was (not surprisingly for a politician) known to be a "showhorse" and so forth. She was one of many outspoken liberals in Congress that we sometimes take for granted but should not.