Overheard at the Democratic Convention

I don't think I've ever watched more than 5 minutes or so of any Democratic Convention prior to this year.  But I decided to make a conscious effort to watch at least some of the speeches this time, because I wanted to be able to comment intelligently on the convention and I didn't think I could do that fairly without watching at least some of it.  And I honestly wanted to be able to compare the two conventions without depending solely on the opinions of others.  It was tough but I managed it.  I watched more than an hour of speeches each of the first two nights of the convention, although I missed both Michelle Obama and Bill Clinton.  They were both speaking quite late, and I knew I would read and hear plenty about their speeches the next day.  I was more interested in hearing the speeches outside of the 10:00 hour anyway, because those are the ones that often slip under the public radar and give a more honest impression of what is really going on at the convention.  I found much of what I saw to be disgusting, even sickening.  The thought that close to half of Americans identify themselves with this political party leads me to the inevitable conclusion that we are doomed as a country.
 

1. Celebration of Abortion & Homosexuality 
One of the complaints often leveled against conservatives is that they are obsessed with abortion and homosexuality.  Well.  I watched most of the speeches at the Republican Convention -- and not just the 10:00 prime time speeches either -- and I barely heard anything about either abortion or homosexuality the entire time.  The ONLY speakers I heard who made more than a passing mention of either topic were Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee.  (Actually, they didn't say anything about homosexuality, but did defend traditional marriage and the family.)  By the way, I am not criticizing them for this -- I was truly glad to hear at least a couple of speakers willing to defend the party's positions on these issues!  But I hardly see how Republicans can be accused of being obsessed with these topics.  However, I did find out this week that there is one political party that is obsessed with abortion and homosexuality -- the Democratic Party.  As one pundit quipped, the Democrats only moved the venue for their Dead Baby Fiesta out of the Planned Parenthood clinic up the street because it wasn't big enough to accommodate the crowds.  Of course, they use clever euphemisms for abortion like "women's rights to control their own bodies" and "reproductive choice" and make veiled references to same-sex marriage with phrases like "being free to love whomever you choose."  Nancy Keenan of NARAL Pro-Choice America gave a strident speech entirely about abortion.  She said every woman should be able to abort her child "with dignity," noted that pro-abortion Obama "cares deeply about the next generation of women" (the irony of that statement is entirely lost on her I'm sure), and ended up with "a rousing encouragement to talk to strangers about reproductive rights. That should go smoothly" (thanks, Daniel Foster of NRO!).   

Same-sex marriage (couched in language like "being free to love whomever you choose") was also front and center, led by gay Representative Jared Polis who spoke repeatedly of the son he and his partner are raising.  In fact, every speech and major video presentation I watched over an hour and 15 minute period on the first night, with one or two exceptions, included a prominent mention or discussion of both abortion and same-sex marriage, as well as most of the later speeches that I did not watch.  (The moral preening by the Democrats on the same-sex marriage issue is especially amusing, given the fact that Obama only switched his position on this issue a few short months ago.)  Abortion and contraception remained a big focus of the convention on the second night, which featured the president of Planned Parenthood, Sandra Fluke (more on her later), and the "women of the Senate."

 

Something that especially stood out to me from the convention is that when Democrats refer to "individual freedom/choice" or "getting the government out of people's lives" they are talking about abortion and gay marriage -- exclusively.  Keenan was introduced by one Maria Ciano ("a stay-at-home mom and former Republican voter"!) who wailed that Romney & Ryan don't believe in small government because they "want the government to have a say in [her] family planning" and "want to deny [her] the power to make the most personal decisions about [her] life."  Former Republican Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island gave a speech saying Obama is the right choice for "conservatives" (apparently he delusionally imagines himself to be one) because he believes in individual freedom.  You guessed it -- his two individual freedom examples consisted of abortion on demand and same-sex marriage.  Choice, freedom, and small government apparently do not extend to health care or education or conscience protections for religious employers or union membership or taxation or energy policy or regulations on small business or nanny state regulations on junk food.  Conservatives, on the other hand, want choice and freedom in all these areas and many more.  We just do not think choice and personal freedom justify killing a human life or redefining an ancient social institution critical to the wellbeing of our children.  Reason TV has a great video demonstrating the extent to which Democratic Convention delegates actually believe in "choice":

 

  

2. "War on Women" Theme 
There was a huge emphasis on appealing to women at the Democratic convention, at least the portions of it that I watched.  I admit I saw a little of this at the GOP convention as well, especially from Mitt and Ann Romney.  But the Democrats were trying to develop this major theme that Republicans are waging a war on women and want to take away all their rights.  Bizarrely, actress Kerry Washington claimed that Republicans were trying to take away women's rights to vote, to get an education, to access health care, and to receive equal pay (and was wildly applauded for it too).  Ironically, a video clip of an Obama speech shown early in the convention warned that women "are not an interest group."  Yet, throughout the entire convention, women were treated like an interest group.  They were assumed to be a monolithic group whose chief concerns are abortion on demand and free contraception guaranteed by the government.  Karol Markowicz has a great piece in the New York Post in which she notes the condescension in all of this "painful pandering."  Yet, the Party of Women did a lengthy tribute video showcasing the late Senator Ted Kennedy, who drunkenly drove a woman into the bay and then left her to drown.  And they chose noted respecter-of-women Bill Clinton to give the keynote address for the second evening of the convention.  Do they think women don't care about this kind of behavior from their politicians as long as those politicians hold the right position on abortion?

3. Class Warfare
And then there was a heaping dose of class warfare.  I heard repeated attacks on Mitt Romney's personal wealth from several different speakers.  One of the worst offenders was former Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, who claimed that Romney was unpatriotic for earning overseas profits and having overseas investments and who made nasty and completely unfounded accusations about what Romney was hiding in his unreleased tax returns.  He also lied by claiming that Romney's tax plan would eliminate capital gains taxes on Romney's own income.  Michelle Obama spoke later that evening and assured everyone that she and her husband have never resented wealth.  OKKKK...she must have missed the rest of the convention.  On the second night, three former Bain Capital employees spoke and talked about how cruel and heartless Romney was for taking over their companies and then laying them off.  (Fact-checkers discovered that one of the three was a union negotiator who never even worked for Bain.)  Ironically, they kept saying that they understood that in the real world there are winners and losers and that sometimes it is inevitable that unprofitable companies must shut down, but they turned around and attacked Romney in the next breath for participating in such capitalist activities. and "fiscal responsibility."  Throughout the convention there were allusions to "fairness" and Republican attacks on the "working class" (by such luminaries as the presidents of the UAW and the AFL-CIO) and claims that the "system was rigged" against those working class people (Elizabeth Warren).  It was grievance politics at its finest.

4. Controversy Over God and Jerusalem
One thing that deservedly got a lot of attention was the brouhaha at the convention over changes to the party platform.  It came out on the first day of the convention that Democrats had removed the only remaining reference to God in the party platform (it was a reference to people realizing their "God-given potential" and they took out the word "God-given") and had also removed language in the platform that recognized Jerusalem as the legitimate capital of Israel, called for the increasing isolation of terrorist group Hamas, and acknowledged the right of Israel to exist as a nation.  The platform also inserted wording that said the Democrats support legal and taxpayer-funded third-trimester abortion.  The removal of God and Jerusalem from the platform, in particular, garnered a lot of attention.  Senator Richard Durbin flipped out when asked about these changes on Fox News and started ranting about how people were trying to claim the Democratic Party was "godless."  Realizing that these changes made their party look extreme, the Democratic leadership decided to call for a voice vote to reinsert the God and Jerusalem references into the platform.  The vote required a two-thirds majority vote of "yes" for the motion to pass, but the delegates on the convention floor appeared to be equally divided between yes and no.  The presiding officer seemed startled and unsure of what to do so he tried the vote again two more times, with the exact same results.  After the third time, he summarily announced that two-thirds of the delegates had voted yes and claimed the motion had passed, and the crowd booed loudly in response.  This resulted in the headline "Democrats boo God, Jerusalem."  Of course, it's one of the worst-kept secrets in politics that many liberal activists are hostile toward the state of Israel.  Hadley Arkes pointed out on National Review Online that "God-given" rights are a key component of the Declaration of Independence and one of the most fundamental beliefs underlying the American republic.  If we give ourselves rights or if those rights are granted to us by leaders or governments, they can just as easily be taken away.  The reason our rights are unalienable and permanent is that they are given to us by our Creator God.  Once we lose that notion of human dignity and worth due to the image of God, our rights are in grave danger.    　 

Here is a video of the floor vote and reaction of the delegates:


 

 

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/09/04/4787078/2012-democratic-national-convention.html#storylink=cpy

5. Sandra Fluke

I watched Sandra Fluke's speech on the second night of the convention.  I was stunned that this woman was given not just a speaking slot, but a coveted prime-time speaking slot during the 10:00 hour, just a few minutes before keynoter Bill Clinton.  What is her qualification for being a prime-time speaker?  She's a 30-year-old graduate student and "activist" with no major accomplishments or life experiences other than law school.  She's only famous because she gave laughable testimony before a few Democratic congressmen about the financial hardships she and her rich friends faced because the health insurance provided for them by their Catholic law school did not cover their birth control, and she was turned into a sympathetic victim because Rush Limbaugh insulted her.  All this happened months ago, and the Democratic Party is still trying to use her as a tool in their "war on women" meme.  Her speech seemed angry to me and she continued to milk her victim status, complaining about how she was "verbally attacked" and attacking Romney for not defending her.  The whole spectacle sickened me to my stomach...it all seemed so silly and childish and unserious.  I was glad to see I was not the only one who felt this way about her speech.  Jay Nordlinger expressed so many of my feelings in his excellent NRO post about her.  And I was surprised to read these strong words from usually mild-mannered Peggy Noonan:
 

What a fabulously confident and ingenuous-seeming political narcissist Ms. Fluke is. She really does think—and her party apparently thinks—that in a spending crisis with trillions in debt and many in need, in a nation in existential doubt as to its standing and purpose, in a time when parents struggle to buy the good sneakers for the kids so they're not embarrassed at school . . . that in that nation the great issue of the day, and the appropriate focus of our concern, is making other people pay for her birth-control pills. That's not a stand, it's a non sequitur. She is not, as Rush Limbaugh oafishly, bullyingly said, a slut. She is a ninny, a narcissist and a fool. And she was one of the great faces of the party in Charlotte. That is extreme. Childish, too.
 

6. Other Observations

Lincoln Chafee, former Republican, said he left the GOP and now supports Obama because he believes in "fiscal responsibility"!  I'm really curious about what his definition of "fiscal responsibility is . . . . The DNC showed a video the first night of the convention that had this priceless line: "Government is the only thing we all belong to."  Who knew we were all owned by the government? . . . . Several speakers, including first night keynote speaker Julian Castro, claimed that Americans are better off now than they were four years ago.  I can't believe they think this is a winning message . . . .  The sheer nastiness and pettiness of the repeated and sometimes personal attacks on Romney really struck me and stood in sharp contrast to the Republican Convention last week.  Several of the GOP speakers went out of their way to say that Obama was not a bad person and all attacks on Obama stayed focused on his record.  By contrast, Democratic speakers accused Romney and the Republicans of all sorts of ridiculous things.  They even used their tribute video of Ted Kennedy to make fun of Romney.  And even Obama in his acceptance speech took cheap shots against Romney such as attacking a relatively minor gaffe he made during a trip to London.  Democrats clearly demonstrated they have no class . . . . Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chairwoman of the DNC, managed to demonstrate once again her extreme dishonesty and lack of class.  During the convention, she claimed in an interview that the Israeli ambassador had told her that Republican attitudes toward Israel were dangerous.  When the Israeli ambassador angrily denied ever saying such a thing, Wasserman Schultz subsequently denied ever saying that he had - until an audio tape of her initial claim surfaced.  When confronted with her two blatant lies, she refused to apologize . . . . And then there were all the extreme comments made by top delegates.  The Palm Beach County Democratic Party Chairman said that fundamentalist Christians want Jews to die.  The South Carolina Democratic Party Chairman compared the state's GOP governor Nikki Haley to Hitler's mistress Eva Braun.  The chairman of the California delegation compared Paul Ryan to Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.

I was struck by the crowd at the convention.  They seemed so easily manipulated, wildly cheering even the most extreme statements made by the speakers (such as the Republicans wanting to take away women's right to vote).  When Nancy Keenan gave a strident, sharp-toned, and flatly prosaic and unemotional speech on abortion, the cameras showed women in the audience crying.  I couldn't help but ask myself what was wrong with these people.  Daniel Foster of NRO summed up my thoughts this way: "Republicans don’t love Mitt Romney the way Democrats love Barack Obama. And thank God. Interacting with the delegates in Charlotte and watching them on the floor was scary. Not in a I’m-going-to-be-jumped way — they seem like good and decent folks — but in a holy-crap-these-people-worship-this-guy way. I’m pretty Hamiltonian, but I’m constitutionally incapable of revering a politician the way some of these folks revere Obama."  

 

Bottom line: this was a stridently left-wing convention that reflects the extreme beliefs of the leadership and the base of the Democratic Party.  On everything from abortion to health care to illegal immigration to welfare to taxes to same-sex marriage to our free market capitalistic economic system to the power of unions to the role of government to welfare, the party doubled down on left-wing ideology.  David Harsanyi summed up the convention pretty well in his column in the New Hampshire Union-Leader.  I also liked Peggy Noonan's description of "the Democrats' soft extremism" in her Wall Street Journal column.  I will never for the life of me understand how anyone with Christian values or traditional American values would want to be associated with the Democratic Party I saw on display this week in Charlotte.