Although the Democratic and Republican National Conventions had many things in common—most notably, a focus on President Obama—there were also a few subtle differences.
For instance:
And, as far as the speakers/speeches:
Also, too:
Other than all that, the conventions were pretty much identical.
Literally.
Morning lineup:
Meet the Press: Republican Presidential Nominee Mitt Romney; Roundtable: San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro (D), Peggy Noonan (Wall Street Journal), EJ Dionne (Washington Post), Former Secretary of Education Bill Bennett and Chuck Todd (NBC News).
Face the Nation: President Barack Obama; Republican Vice Presidential Nominee Paul Ryan; Senior Obama Campaign Adviser David Plouffe; Roundtable: David Sanger (New York Times), John Dickerson (CBS News), Michael Gerson (Washington Post) and Dee Dee Myers (Vanity Fair).
This Week: Republican Vice Presidential Nominee Paul Ryan; Roundtable: Newark Mayor Cory Booker (D), Sen. Rand Paul (R-TN), George Will (Washington Post), Cokie Roberts (ABC News) and Paul Krugman (New York Times).
Fox News Sunday: Romney Campaign Economic Adviser Glenn Hubbard; Former Economic Adviser to President Obama Austan Goolsbee; Mayor of Saratoga Springs Mia Love (R); Roundtable: Brit Hume (Fox News), Mara Liasson (NPR), Kimberley Strassel (Wall Street Journal) and Juan Williams (Fox News).
State of the Union: California Gov. Jerry Brown (D); Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA); Co-Founder of CarMax Austin Ligon; Former Bush Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez; Peter Baker (New York Times); A.B Stoddard (The Hill); Reliable Sources: Jackie Kucinich (USA Today); American University Professor Jane Hall; Bob Cusack (The Hill); Michelle Cottle (Newsweek/Daily Beast); Matt Lewis (Daily Caller); Erik Wemple (Washington Post); Lois Romano (Politico).
The Chris Matthews Show: Michael Duffy (TIME); Trish Regan (Bloomberg News); Kasie Hunt (Associated Press); John Harris (Politico).
Fareed Zakaria GPS: Richard Haass (Council on Foreign Relations); Former Israel Ambassador Martin Indyk; Former State Department Director of Public Planning Anne-Marie Slaughter; Businessman Roger Altman; Niall Ferguson (Newsweek/Daily Beast); Nate Silver (New York Times).
Up with Chris Hayes: Jeremy Scahill (The Nation); Walter Shapiro (Yahoo! News); Sasha Issenberg (Slate.com); Peter Beinart (Newsweek/Daily Beast); Democratic Strategist Bob Shrum; Hawaii Democratic Congressional Candidate Tulsi Gabbard; Michelle Goldberg (Newsweek/Daily Beast); Co-Founder of Facebook Chris Hughes; Yale University Professor Jacob Hacker.
Evening lineup:
60 Minutes will feature: an extended interview with the former member of Navy SEAL Team 6 who has written a first-hand account of the killing of Osama bin Laden (preview).
On Comedy Central...
Jon Stewart was impressed by Bill Clinton's arithmetic.
And Stephen Colbert's heart was warmed by the diversity at the Democratic National Convention.
Note: The Daily Show and The Colbert Report will be airing reruns this week.
Elsewhere...
Failing to understand that America is laughing at them, and not with them, right-wing bloggers tried to make #NationalEmptyChairDay a thing.
Notable conservatives like Michelle Malkin and writers at Breitbart.com, as well blogger Prof. Glenn Reynolds, kicked off the trend, according to the conservative blog Legal Insurrection.
The blog, which had asked readers to send in photos of empty chairs, updated its post midday to say that the response had been so overwhelming — and the backlog of photos so great — that they were forced to close submissions.
"It's fun. It's funny," Malkin explained to POLITICO. "Clint Eastwood resonated with voters outside the snotty, derisive NY-DC-Hollywood axis. He braved derision and ridicule for standing on the convention stage. Activists on the right wanted to demonstrate … their appreciation. As always, humor is the best medicine."
Meanwhile...
During a radio debate against his November opponent, Christine Vilsack, Rep. Steve King (R-IA)—who Mitt Romney hopes to partner with in Washington—argued that comparing immigrants to dogs is actually a compliment.
VILSACK: Frankly, he's been a bully, and he's an embarrassment to the people of Iowa when he talks about immigrants as animals. If my mother were here she would say to Congressman King 'show some decency.'
KING: …This American vigor that we have that comes from legal immigrants who came to this country with a dream — we get the cream of the crop of every donor civilization on the planet — and people that can take a compliment and turn it into an insult are not going to be constructive working across the isle. But that's what that was, was a compliment. And everyone who was there that heard that knows that.
And, finally...
Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD) warned that unconstitutional student loans will lead to 6 million Jews being killed. Or something.
"Not that it's not a good idea to give students loans," Bartlett said. "It certainly is a good idea to give them loans. But if you can ignore the Constitution to do something good today, tomorrow you will be ignoring the Constitution to do something bad. You could. There are more people in our, in America today of German ancestry than any other [inaudible]. The Holocaust that occurred in Germany — how in the heck could that happen? And when you start down the wrong road, it can be a very slippery slope."
When asked about his comments, Bartlett’s office didn’t back down: "Congressman Bartlett has always been a strong believer in limited government," Bartlett campaign spokesman Ted Dacey said. "He is also a strong supporter of making college accessible to all Americans."
This is not the end.
- Trix