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Monday, August 19, 2024

Axios has posted a schedule for the Dems in Chicago. Lingering days of Summer will be good to get outside, exercise, enjoy sunny days.

 From Axios report, lead image -

Shepard Fairey poster with Harris in Chicago
Forward a week, there'll be news then.

Programs generating AI images do exist, which have been improved to where they provide realistic images.

Axios posts a day-by-day schedule.

One speaker who's not on the official agenda but Axios has confirmed will take the stage on Tuesday: former First Lady Michelle Obama.

  • Monday, "For the People": Biden and Dr. Jill Biden speak, along with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and a welcome from Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.
  • Tuesday, "A Bold Vision for America's Future": Former President Obama plus second gentleman Doug Emhoff, with a welcome from Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.
  • Wednesday, "A Fight for Our Freedoms": Vice presidential nominee Tim Walz delivers his acceptance speech, preceded by former President Clinton, Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg (per CNN).
  • Thursday, "For Our Future": Harris accepts the convention's nomination for president.

Other speakers include Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

  • Former President Carter's grandson, Jason Carter, is expected to speak on behalf of his grandfather, who has said he hopes to stay alive long enough to vote for Harris. 

Forward, the poster says. 

Both of the Clintons are noted. (A caution to not go backwards?) Opinions can differ. 

Emhoff's speech may prove interesting.

We know Trump. We know, or are learning about Vance and Project 2025.

A guess - the Democratic Party Platform will show up at some point, differing from Project 2025, and shorter. Or is it out already?

Bernie, not even there is spirit. It is their party to run as they want, not something I can influence. Seemingly not something Bernie can influence either.

Dean Phillips not set to speak, or at least not a keynote featured one.

They are almost all younger than Trump. 

There is Pelosi. Credit her with a younger mind than Trump, more agile, more varied. But still. 

Remember the '60s, the '68 convention, also in Chicago, young and old people in the streets, young ones on TV saying, "Don't trust anyone over thirty." Now nobody under thirty. 

Nothing set on fire. Police overreaction. Back then.

This one certainly looks as if it's designed to not be a barn burner. Boring, more than the Republican's. Lower key. Palestine going unmentioned. Gaza protest news only outside the venue. Calm inside. Did I say boring? Yeah.

____________UPDATE_______________

Online, a how to, but why would you?

_________FURTHER UPDATE__________

Harris looks to be running as lesser evil, but more than that, as positive about the nation, now, as is. "We're okay," and not trashing things as being in some dire straits with a need to be transformed to some"Great Again" paternalism, with women as child bearing ones knowing their place.

In my perfect world AOC would be the candidate. She's young, she's populist progressive, and if the Republicans keep insisting that any Dem candidate is overly, hopelessly leftist, (even calling Pelosi that), then run one who is at least left leaning. Which is what Democratic Socialist AOC is. Calling Harris a leftist insults all who'd like Medicare for All and taxing the rich, taxing wealth as well as income. Leveling the playing field.

Harris is compatible with Biden's middle road to being "not Trump," better than Trump never mind how low that bar is set. So far, the fact is Trump running three times and only the Clintons not successful against him. That says much.

Trump is a greater evil, not by a small margin, but by a frightening gulf. That is reality. Harris seems poised to be a sane choice, which should be enough. And young enough to make it through four years, after which she runs again, while smarter and better educated than Trump. Younger - less worrisome that way, smarter and better educated is a trifecta for which she only has to be cautious to win.

Harris can handle that, and being a decent human while the desperate negative campaign will be never-ending against her and will ultimately step well too far, it should be an election where Trump finally loses his hold on MAGA, MAGA shrinks, or Vance inherits MAGA to fashion it his ways. That latter option is the one that seems viable where we see who Vance is without having to be Trump-like.

Presuming a Trump - Vance loss, what then? Crabgrass foresees traditional Republicans climbing over the wreck and blaming Vance, not Trump, for Trump losing. It will be a shit show, but expect it. Rubio and Cruz. Saying the Vance way is not the high road. As if they'd know a high road.

Trump winning is possible, and then the devil's getting his due. Ugly and then some, should Trump win.

___________FURTHER UPDATE___________

To underline how boring the Dem convention planning is; Guardian, home page screenshot - trying to gin up something resembling interesting news - hey, protest signs, etc. and Gaza exists, don't forget that ---- because, otherwise, Big yawn -

click the image to enlarge and read

 

___________FURTHER UPDATE___________

I was wrong. They gave AOC face time at the show, Monday, to trash Trump's persona and fear-monger against him, according to Guardian.

“Chicago, we have to help her win because we know that Donald Trump would sell this country for a dollar if it meant lining his own pockets and greasing the palms of his Wall Street friends,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “I, for one, am tired of hearing about how a two-bit union buster thinks of himself as more of a patriot than the woman who fights every single day to lift working people out from under the boots of greed trampling on our way of life.”

Well, Vance represents Silicon Valley venture capital, not Wall Street globalization capital, and after Trump crashed the casino venture and stiffed Wall Street banks Trump had to reach out to Deutsche Bank because Wall Street froze against him.

But AOC said what she said. Why she did not say "Silicon Valley confederates" instead of "Wall Street friends" is for her to know and for us to guess. Avoiding nuances with that crowd had a measure of wisdom to it.

"Boots of greed," Harris fighting every single day against them boots? Labor mobility at the border is real, and such, and AOC seems not immune to Potomac fever. Being there tops tending bar, and staying there, having convention face time makes one wonder if she'd campaign again with Bernie. Judging her well, if she thought Bernie again had a chance, she'd be okay. It's hypothetical. Will she sit tight and build seniority, or take on Schumer? If/when it happens, great, but for now she's for Harris over Trump, which cannot be faulted. 

Even apart from party loyalty, Harris over Trump was a no-brainer for AOC.

Better than tending bar.

FURTHER: It would be wrong to leave it where readers might feel I distrust AOC. I do not. People grow and change and she has had a dead-end job, thought to change, and did and ended up in the House. She likely is still learning all of what that means, and what she should expect of herself, what is feasible, what is necessary. It is necessary she takes the opportunity to put her voice behind Harris-Walz. There are many who weigh that in decision making. She was right to go on record as she did. She is adapting to a new job few of us can fully contemplate. Wish her well.

FURTHER: Harris/Walz seems from here to be a generic no-brainer. I've been wrong before but just have the feel that I'm right this time. Humping the GOTV should do it. Harris and Walz will both work hard and smart. Trump seems to be fragmenting. In the kitchen, the heat building up, what can he stand?