Trump Acceptance Speech Video

Here it is, for those who missed it and for those who wished they had:



YouTube link

Hate and fear and nothing whatsoever of substance.

If you are really a masochist, you can read the text of the speech to see how far he strayed from the material. In truth, he didn't wing it too much.

However, at 75-plus minutes, it was at least a half hour too long.

At least one GOP observer mourned the death of the Republican Party:

Republican National Convention Live Stream: Day 4

The final day of the festivities, mob mentality, or whatever you want to call it can be viewed live here:



Or at the official YouTube channel link.


For the most part, the festivities, until Ted Cruz arrived on the scene, were quite low-key. It made me wonder whether the Secret Service paid a call to some officials, who in turn had a talking to with the delegates.

Tuesday night bordered on inciting violence against a person who has been receiving Secret Service protection for many years. Not good.

Anyway, Mike Pence, the VP nominee for the GOP, was there giving his speech introducing himself to the American public, but he was a bit overshadowed and not by Trump:




However, it really was Ted Cruz's night. In case you missed the speech:



It was a good speech, I will admit it. It was also Ted's "I don't give a shit what you think" speech, which showed to millions the reason why he is so beloved by his colleagues in the United States Senate. It also tells people that his speech, as well as the non-attendance by many party regulars, that the GOP has written this election off and is preparing for 2020.


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Ivanka Trump introduced her dad, and, surprisingly, she gave one of the best speeches of the convention. I cannot say the same about her father, unfortunately.

Tomorrow I will post Trump's acceptance speech video. It ran about 75 or 80 minutes, which was way overlong, but even worse because it was just a bunch incoherent rhetoric. It was a lousy speech. No specifics. HRC will tear him apart in the debates because he has NO policy proposals. That is because even though Trump isn't stupid, he just doesn't have the background in government or in the military (as with previous presidents) that would even remotely qualify him for the White House. You have to have the background to be able to even discuss issues that affect millions of people. Trump is basically a third-party candidate running on a major party ticket.

The Speech of the Night

It wasn't Mike Pence's acceptance speech.



Cruz is running in 2020. This despite the widespread belief Cruz's political career is over.

To Incite Violence is Not Free Speech

Chris Christie came very close with his demagoguery last night by employing his kangaroo court-style speech.

Don't ever forget this is really about sexism. No, HRC doesn't get a pass on everything because of her sex, but face it, the GOP criticisms, to say nothing of many of the Sanders supporters in the primaries, and Sanders himself, have been openly employing misogyny. You cannot underestimate this. HRC's candidacy is WAY more revolutionary in this country's history than Obama's ever was. If HRC succeeds, and she will, in being elected president, the "farm system" of running for public office will be far more favorable to women than it is now. Up to now this is what has held women back from the political big leagues. The floodgates will be open for women to run for office in greater numbers. Many men (and not a few women) cannot stand the thought of women getting real power in this country.

Christie would never be this vile if the Dems had selected a man.

Snip:

Certainly, there’s nothing new about Republicans hating Clinton; they’ve been doing it for decades. Nevertheless, American presidential campaigns are not typically built around the dream of jailing the opposing candidate. Prime-time convention speakers usually pay lip service to the cliché of disagreeing without being disagreeable. Convention planners have not, in the past, staged their events like fantasy show trials. They have not sought to work their crowds into ecstasies of hatred. Those chants of “LOCK HER UP!” might be common among conservatives nowadays, but we haven’t seen their like at a modern political convention.

Christie’s speech was logically incoherent. Even if you buy his damning interpretation of Clinton’s foreign policy errors, it doesn't make sense to discuss them as matters of criminal malfeasance. Emotionally, though, that’s in keeping with how Clinton’s bitterest foes talk about her: as a person of absolute corruption, who, through some sort of occult trick, moves through the world with intolerable impunity. As many people pointed out on Twitter, the way that Christie punctuated his inquisitorial brief with the crowd’s cries of “Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!” made him sound less like a contemporary politician than a magistrate condemning a witch.

Christie's vile little speech:

Republican National Convention Live Stream: Day 3

From the official YouTube link:



Or the YouTube link, which at some point will have a live chat feature.


The dubious "highlights" of the convention so far in addition to the Melania Trump debacle:

It was all hate, all the time. Vilifying Hillary Clinton, while skirting very close to making open threats against her safety. Never seen anything that horrible in any convention, but then again, this is not a normal convention.

Rudy Giuliani foamed at the mouth about terror Monday night.
A grieving mother was despicably exploited by the RNC in its attempt to toss the Benghazi non-scandal around HRC's neck.

Yesterday:

Donald J. Trump, Jr. was trying like hell to be a bigger asshole than his dad. Spewed one ignorant talking point after another.
Tiffany Trump gave a generic speech about what a great dad her dad is, despite the fact he dumped her mother in favor of her current stepmother.
And who could forget has-been and never-was politician, Governor Chris Christie, who played judge, jury, and executioner of Hillary Clinton in a despicable show trial-type speech.
Trump showed up via video to give his blessing on the unruly affair.

Live Stream of GOP Convention

Day 2 of the coverage, right from the source:



You Tube link:

link

Live Stream of the Republican National Convention

You can view it in many places.

Here is the official stream:




YouTube link:

GOP convention


There is a chat on the sidebar.

Mitt Romney's Speech

Yes, Mitt did accept the nomination and gave a workmanlike speech that nobody remembered because of Clint Eastwood:

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The WSWS made the interesting observation that Mitt's speech, and the convention as a whole, made a heavy, heavy pitch for identity politics. That of course has to do with the dramatically changing demographics of this country. Not only are women the majority of the population and voters, but minorities will become the majority of the population mid-century, if the projections are correct. No longer can the GOP be a "white man's party." Unfortunately, the party is still heavily intertwined with the racist "Southern strategy."

Harvey, the Remake

In case readers didn't see the bizarre performance by Clint Eastwood last night:



At least it took people's minds off of Mitt's tax returns.

To be fair, Clint never could act even with a script, and he of all people was aware of it; that is why he turned to directing with huge success. But for the Romney campaign to have asked him, at 82 years of age, to get up on the podium in front of a national and international audience without any kind of script is an act of elder abuse.

I am sure somebody pointed out to Eastwood after the speech that Romney has a law degree from Harvard, just like Obama.

Eastwood appeared to be channeling Jimmy Stewart as Elwood P. Dowd with his rambling, befuddled performance.

Some sixty years of show business experience, including Oscars, went down the drain. So did his reputation as a Hollywood icon. Nobody will ever remember Eastwood for his very real achievements. Everybody will remember the unspeakable act at the Republican National Convention.

Michael Moore, who had opined earlier that it was a real possibility Mitt Romney would be elected president in November:

The footage of Eastwood rambling and mumbling to his "Harvey" - President Obama - will be played to audiences a hundred years from now as the Most Bizarre Convention Moment Ever. The people of the future will know nothing about Dirty Harry or Josey Wales or a Million Dollar Baby. They WILL know about the night a crazy old man hijacked a national party's most important gathering so he could tell the President to literally go do something to himself (i.e. fuck himself). In those few moments (and these days, it only takes a few moments—see Anthony Weiner), he completely upended and redefined how he'll be remembered by younger and future generations.

I am not buying the claim being made by Eastwood fans and people on discussion boards and the like that he was putting over a "brilliant satire" or that his befuddled and rambling manner was just a clever act in order to promote his latest film. Eastwood isn't a good enough actor to pull that off, even if he were thirty years younger. He's clearly in mental decline. I don't care how many times one watches that, the performance doesn't get better. He is a sad, doddering old man.

Rawhide

I much preferred watching the Very Bad Men episode about Robert Acremant and the horrendous 1995 murders of a lesbian couple in Medford, Oregon, than the spectacle that was going on in Tampa at the same time:



It was "epic" but not in a Oscar-nominated sort of way. It was a giant, epic, humongous FAIL.

I felt sorry for Eastwood because he is clearly feeling his age at 82. It didn't help that he wasn't using the TelePrompTer; he was winging it all the way through.

I hadn't seen him in many years, and I was just horrified. Not horrified enough to watch the thing all the way through, but horrified enough to think dementia had started taking its toll on him and quit watching after a couple of minutes.

Very, very, very sad.

I wouldn't be surprised if conspiracy theorists will say Eastwood is an Obama campaign plant.

In Case You Care,

YouTube, among many outfits, is offering a live stream of the hurricane down in Tampa, also known as the Republican National Convention.

As we know, it was canceled yesterday because of the weather.

Republican Convention

Because of Hurricane Gustav, Bush and Cheney will not attend the Republican National Convention at St. Paul.