To close out his speech accepting the Democratic nomination for president on Thursday, Joe Biden turned to a passage by the Irish poet Seamus Heaney:
"History says,
Don't hope on this side of the grave,
But then, once in a lifetime
The longed-for tidal wave
Of justice can rise up,
And hope and history rhyme"
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History says “don’t hope on this side of the grave” In other words, don’t wait. Don’t wait to hope. The time for hope is now.
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“once in a lifetime, the longed-for tidal wave of justice can rise up” In other words, it does not happen often — the world is often cruel and dark and difficult — but with HOPE and perseverance we can bring the justice we have longed for.
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Biden continued:
This is our moment to make hope and history rhyme.
and then:
For love is more powerful than hate.
Hope is more powerful than fear.
Light is more powerful than dark.
This is our moment.
This is our mission.
May history be able to say that the end of this chapter of American darkness began here tonight as love and hope and light joined in the battle for the soul of the nation.
And this is a battle that we, together, will win.
“This is out moment. This is our mission.”
What are you doing to make sure that we win on 11/3?
We can win. Even with their cheating and dirty tricks and fear mongering, we can win. We can bring that once-in-a-lifetime tidal wave of justice.
How? By holding on to hope and working our asses off.
We have less than two and a half months.
If you aren’t already devoting as much time and money and effort as you can to this, you need to start right now. And not the generic “you” — I mean you
This is not an equal call to everyone reading: some people have more time and some people have more money and some people have more emotional energy. No one person can or should do everything.
But every one of us needs to do all we can. if you aren’t a bit exhausted — and a bit exhilarated — from how much you are giving to our efforts, then you are not doing enough.
Here are some ideas for things you can do:
Click here to donate to Biden.
and/or donate or join one of the great organizations dedicated to fighting voter suppression
Fair Fight builds a robust network of grassroots activists to strengthen democracy
And I still Vote works to empower our communities to act.
Black Votes Matter goal is to increase power in our communities.
Let America Vote ensures people don’t have to pick between safety and their vote
ACLU — Since the start of the COVID-19 crisis, has filed 20 lawsuits and counting to ensure every eligible voter can vote by mail.
In addition (or instead) of donating money here are 12 ideas for Non-financial ways to help:
- Volunteer with the Democratic party Explore their centralized hub for grassroots volunteer opportunities to take action on your own time.
- Volunteer with the Biden campaign You can get training to text for Joe, make phone calls for Joe, host an event, or attend an event.
- Get involved with Postcards to voters. Postcards to Voters are friendly, handwritten reminders from volunteers to targeted voters giving Democrats a winning edge in close, key races coast to coast.
- Volunteer with Beto to turn Texas Blue Over the recent months, thousands of Powered by People volunteers have stepped up to help us reach the Texas voters who will decide the most important elections of our lifetime. Join them!
- Register voters in key battleground states. Vote Forward has active campaigns going in 8 key states to encourage under-represented (potential) voters to register. In 6 of them, the packet you send to each potential voter will include the actual voter registration forms and instructions with pre-paid postage for that state. The folks at Vote Forward have collected data on this technique and determined that it does, indeed, appear to increase voter registration.
- Text voters in key Senate races Payback Project has a comprehensive, four-pronged approach to make sure Republicans Senators are held accountable for their actions, their votes, and their enabling of Donald Trump.
- Organize your community online The Democratic National Committee’s digital organizing team put together a list of ways you can keep organizing in your community online.
- Do whatever we can to promote Biden in tweets and posts and emails and wherever. The same goes for other D candidates. Help them get positive recognition!
- Find out how to be a poll worker on election day. Use this link
- sign up to be a voter protection volunteer with the Biden Harris campaign
- Swing Left offers virtual tools to help you maximize your impact on the closest races in Super States across the country. Swing Blue has a wonderful list of ways you can help from your home and links for each one of you are motivated
- register for protect the results which is building a coalition of voters to mobilize if Trump refuses to accept the election.
Now onto the good news:
We Had a Great Convention
The Democrats did exactly what they needed to do — made a firm contrast with Trump, built enthusiasm with the base, and showed that Biden has what it takes.
Let’s bask in the good reviews ❤️
The kindness is the point
The DNC’s best argument in the time of coronavirus: Joe Biden, unlike Donald Trump, is a decent man.
he defining moment of the 2020 Democratic National Convention was neither a slickly produced policy video nor a speech from a former president. Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s address, arguably the best oration of his long career, wasn’t it either.
Instead, it was a testimonial from a 13-year-old boy from New Hampshire named Brayden Harrington.
The underlying message was clear. Joe Biden is the kind of man who takes time out of his day to help a person with a disability. President Donald Trump is the kind of man who uses his platform to mock one.
Throughout the convention, the Democrats spotlighted stories like Harrington’s — of Biden going out of his way to treat ordinary Americans with kindness and decency.
Biden’s personal kindness offers an off-ramp.
Joe Biden likes you
There isn’t enough charisma in the world to save you once a segment of the public thinks you hold them in contempt. The most damaging gaffes come when a politician insults, purposely or accidentally, a segment of the electorate — Barack Obama’s comment that voters get bitter and cling to guns and religion, Mitt Romney’s dismissal of the 47 percent who pay no taxes but leech off the public’s largesse, Hillary Clinton calling half of Trump voters “deplorable.” We forgive our leaders for being cold, dishonest, remote, and yes, even unlikable. We can’t forgive them for disliking us.
The core of Joe Biden’s politics is his talent at fulfilling the simplest of political and emotional needs: Joe Biden likes you. That was the message of this convention, and it’s the message that has always been at the core of his politics. Joe Biden likes you if you’re a Democrat or a Republican. He likes you even if you don’t like him, because it’s his job to like you, no matter how you vote.
“While I will be a Democratic candidate, I will be an American president,” Biden said. “I will work as hard for those who didn’t support me as I will for those who did. That’s the job of a president. To represent all of us, not just our base or our party.”
Andrew Yang said the smartest thing about Biden at the DNC
“The magic of Joe Biden is that everything he does becomes the new reasonable.” Yang said during a roundtable discussion among former 2020 contenders. “If he comes with an ambitious template to address climate change, all of a sudden, everyone is going to follow his lead.”
During the Democratic primary, Biden was often described as the half-measures moderate in the field. But if you look beyond political labels to the meat of the policy Biden is proposing, his agenda is shockingly ambitious.
This is what Yang is pointing to. Biden is proposing an incredibly progressive policy agenda and a massive government mobilization to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.
But he still seems like the safe choice, in contrast to Trumpian chaos, because he’s a familiar face with a moderate reputation — earned, in part, by more moderate votes in the Senate earlier in his career.
Joe Biden: The Anti-Chaos Candidate
Many Democrats understandably long for their own bomb-throwing revolutionary. But Mr. Biden’s solid, soothing approach resonates with the legions of Americans who were exhausted by all the Trumpian turmoil even before the coronavirus upended their lives. Mr. Biden’s steadiness — his regular Joe-ness — won out over flashier, more exciting primary rivals. And as this pandemic drags on, the nation grows ever wearier. More than any ideological or policy particulars, at the core of the Biden candidacy is a promise to end the perpetual chaos of The Trump Show.
This is what Team Biden was selling. Next week, as Mr. Trump takes center stage, the contrast between the two visions of leadership will become even clearer.
With the Speech of His Life, Joe Biden Becomes the Man for This Moment
Let’s be honest. One of the big questions attending Joe Biden’s big speech at the Democratic National Convention was whether he still had enough gas and enough grip to get to the end of it without losing velocity or swerving this way and that.
He did. He absolutely did. Is he in the fleetest, shiniest, nimblest form of his very long career? No. And Donald Trump — no Ferrari himself — is constantly trying to exploit that.
But as I watched Biden, 77, on Thursday night, I kept thinking that there’s another way to look at all the miles on his odometer and the unusually long road that he traveled to his party’s presidential nomination, which he first sought, disastrously, more than three decades ago.
He’s a paragon of stamina and stubborn optimism for a country that desperately needs one. In a period of great pain, he’s a crucial lesson in perseverance.
Genuine Joe Shows He's Everything That Trump Is Not
It’s amazing how often it happens that we elect as president someone whose personal attributes are the opposite of the exiting incumbent. Jimmy Carter was a bit of pious moralist preaching sacrifice; Ronald Reagan said set that thermostat wherever you want.
It’s gone on like that ever since. Donald Trump, a coarse braggart who thinks the White House is a dump, was the opposite of Barack Obama, a cultivator of understatement who put a premium on dignity (except of course when he wore the unforgivable brown suit).
But now Trump may be trumped. The biggest phony ever to barge his way into the Oval Office, a man so overwhelmingly fake that some of his supporters had to invent a narrative by which he slays liberal pedophiles, finds himself running against a man who is not a lofty orator; not a superstar the way Obama was in 2008; not, even, a man who is uniquely in touch with his times. But a genuine, decent, thoroughly honest and direct man. No wonder Trump is worried. Genuine Joe is everything Trump is not.
Even Fox had to admit it was good:
Laura Ingraham Utterly Deflates Donald Trump Jr. by Saying Biden ‘Beat Expectations’
For months, President Donald Trump and his campaign have been systematically lowering expectations for Joe Biden by painting him as a senile old man who can’t string two sentence together. So when he performed far better than anticipated at the Democratic National Convention Thursday night, even the ultra-conservative hosts on Fox News seemed surprised.
Donald Trump Jr., however, seemed to be riding high during an appearance on Fox following the closing night of the DNC. He was swiftly brought back down to earth by Laura Ingraham. “He did beat expectations, Don,” she said as the broad smile disappeared from Trump Jr.’s face. “I mean, people were expecting him to flub every line and have a senior moment.”
Voices from Fox News to MSNBC praise Joe Biden's acceptance speech
I wondered as I watched Biden's fired-up-ready-to-go address: Did any of the Fox viewers who have been told, over and over again, that Biden is just a human blooper reel... a man who can't string a full sentence together... were any of them surprised by his passionate, articulate acceptance speech?
Fox's Bret Baier right afterward: That was "the best he's been, as far as his delivery." Chris Wallace: "It was an enormously effective speech. Remember, Donald Trump has been talking for months about Joe Biden as mentally shot, a captive of the left, and yes Biden was reading from a teleprompter and a prepared speech, but I thought he blew a hole -- a big hole -- in that characterization."
In vowing to purge the fear, darkness and disease he sees personified by
President Donald Trump with hope, love and light, the Democratic nominee elevated his front-running campaign with the speech of his life.
Trump and his campaign have been trying for months to smear Biden as a doddering, senile 77-year-old who is being controlled by nefarious left-wing forces in the Democratic Party. But his smooth performance made those attacks now seem like an expectations-lowering miscalculation.
Democrats can believe again: Biden delivers
The text of the speech was well-shaped, but the delivery lifted it above an ordinary address. Perhaps without an audience Biden could speak more conversationally, look us in the eye and bring a greater sense of intimacy. Not known as a great orator, he gave the speech of his life, demolishing the notion that he’s lost a step (another example of ridiculous projection from Trump). The intensity and sincerity in Biden’s voice, the determination with which he spoke was what we have been missing. It was the voice of a president.
Biden speaks from a place Trump doesn’t know — the heart
President Trump has tried every dirty trick in the book — and a few new ones — to cast doubts about the workings of Joe Biden’s brain. But Trump has been focusing on entirely the wrong organ. Biden’s appeal is from the heart.
The Democratic presidential nominee, in the most crucial speech of his long career in public service, had no problem clearing the low bar Trump had set. The evening began with a clip of Biden quoting Kierkegaard and ended with him quoting the Irish poet Seamus Heaney.
and people watched
even on antiquated TVs
Ratings tick up to 21.7M for DNC's third night featuring Obama, Harris
The Democratic National Convention drew 21.7 million viewers on Wednesday night, according to preliminary data from Nielsen Media Research, marking a 12 percent drop from the 2016 DNC but an increase from the 18.4 million viewer average of Monday and Tuesday.
and we aren’t just going to let next week go by, Democrats have lots planned:
Democrats are plotting their own counter-progamming
Democrats are preparing to release videos each day highlighting what they view as Trump’s biggest failures. Top party officials, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.) and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (Mich.) will speak each day.
The party is attempting to cast everything about Trump as chaotic and disruptive, from the way he runs the presidency to the items that appear on his Twitter feed, from his approach to the coronavirus to the speaking lineup for his nominating convention.
“Whereas our themes, our unity, and our speakers exude optimism and hope in the face of so many challenges, the Republican convention next week will be marked by chaos, chaos, chaos,” Tom Perez, the chairman of the Democratic Party, said on Friday morning.
With Hard Work, We Can Beat them on 11/3
Latino and Black Voters in Battleground States Increased Support for Biden Following Harris Announcement
African American and Latino voters in battleground states expressed a surge of support for the Democratic presidential ticket following the announcement of Senator Kamala Harris as presidential nominee Joe Biden’s running mate, according to new polling today released by the nonpartisan and nonprofit Voter Participation Center (VPC), and its partner organization the Center for Voter Information (CVI).
Most Americans embarrassed by US response to coronavirus
Nearly 7 in 10 Americans say the US response to the coronavirus outbreak makes them feel embarrassed, according to a new CNN Poll conducted by SSRS, as 62% of the public says President Donald Trump could be doing more to fight the outbreak.
The
new poll finds disapproval of Trump's handling of the outbreak at a new high, 58%, as the share who say the worst of the pandemic is yet to come has risen to 55% after dropping through the spring.
More Insider stories are coming
STEPHANOPOULOS: “Do you expect more of your former colleagues to speak out now as we head into the final days of this campaign?”
TAYLOR: “So, I can’t get into too much detail on it, George, but I’m going to tell you this. The president hasn’t heard the last of us. In fact, me speaking out yesterday, you can think of it as an opening salvo, and I’m not going to mention any other names yet, but the president can expect that in the coming weeks and months leading up the election, he is going to hear from more people that served in his administration and he is going to hear more of them give the same testimonies that I gave, which is that he is ill equipped to hold the office that he has and that a second term would be more dangerous than a first term. You’ll hear that soon.”
and for those worried about actual vote rigging:
A Trump electoral coup would be very hard to pull off
a Trump electoral coup would be very hard to pull off — even amid the turmoil and confusion of what may be the most divisive election in our modern history.
I’ve spent the past few weeks talking to veteran homeland security officials, state and local law enforcement, senior military officers and others who, in theory, will help provide an orderly election and inauguration.
The answer I heard repeatedly was that systems are in place for a stable transition. With all the absentee ballots, it will take longer to count the votes, and the outcome may be in doubt for days or even weeks. But if Trump loses, it will be very difficult for him to cling to office. There are just too many career lawyers, cops, generals and other public servants in the way
Trusting bureaucracy and legal procedure in this time of division and dysfunction may sound naive. But it’s worth noting how many roadblocks exist to any potential effort — foreign or domestic — to subvert the vote.
The framework was described for me by Krebs. He said that 45 days before the election, his cybersecurity agency will move to “enhanced readiness” for any disruptive incidents. A week before Election Day, he’ll open an “election operations center” to monitor threats and share information with the FBI, the intelligence community, election officials, tech companies, political parties and campaigns. It will stay open until the winner is clear.
Finally, in the days surrounding Nov. 3, Krebs will manage a “cyber security situational awareness room” that can share information and coordinate with all 50 states and thousands of election jurisdictions around the country.
which still leads lots of other shenanigans. Luckily Biden’s team is on top of those
As Trump’s efforts to corrupt the election get worse, Biden plans a response
a Biden plan is taking shape behind the scenes — a multifaceted strategy designed to deal both with Trump’s efforts to suppress the vote via attacks on vote-by-mail and with Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s ongoing operational slowdowns.
The Biden campaign has quietly undertaken its own investigation of DeJoy’s changes at the U.S. Postal Service, which are producing widespread delays in mail delivery around the country, by talking to numerous experts on how elections, vote-by-mail and the post office really function.
the Biden campaign tells me it’s planning massive expenditures in educating voters about mail balloting, with two goals: To get people to initiate the vote-by-mail process as early as possible and follow it through, and to inform people that mail balloting is secure.
“We are investing heavily in making sure voters understand what he is trying to do and are not deterred by falsehoods,” Bauer said, adding that this will include “urging voters to obtain and cast their ballots early, early, early.”
Another crucial piece of the Biden response is supporting litigation currently underway in many swing states against state laws that invalidate ballots postmarked before Election Day that arrive after.
we can win everywhere → Why Alaska’s Senate and House races look competitive in 2020
For evidence that Democrats have expanded their map of competitive US Senate and House races, look no further than Alaska.
Alaska voted for President Donald Trump by close to 15 percentage points in 2016, but it is nothing if not fiercely independent — featuring the highest number of independent voters of any state. National Democrats would like to capitalize on that, hoping to unseat Republican incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan with Dr. Al Gross, an independent candidate running for the Democratic nomination.
Still, the fact that national Democrats have two serious candidates running for House and Senate in a cycle that could be a wave year for the party means Alaska’s congressional races could heat up this year.
Bloomberg will spend $60 million to try to grow the Democratic House majority
Former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg plans to spend $60 million to strengthen the Democratic House majority in November, roughly matching the money he invested in flipping control of the House in 2018, according to a Bloomberg adviser familiar with the plans.
The spending will include digital and television ads to defend some of the 20 freshman Democrats he helped win in 2018, along with spending aimed at defeating additional Republican incumbents.
Other Good News
Steve Bannon's troubles are just beginning
Thursday's federal indictment of Steve Bannon, former campaign adviser to President Donald Trump, is very bad news for Bannon -- and potentially for many others.
The indictment itself offers clues indicating that the SDNY's evidence is strong. The case appears to be built largely on documents; the SDNY, it seems, has the receipts. The indictment mentions that the evidence includes "fake invoices and sham 'vendor' arrangements," plus documents showing how the defendants created and used empty shell corporations to try to hide the flow of money from "We the People Build the Wall" into their own pockets.
From Bannon's perspective, it's one thing to defend a case that turns on subtle issues of subjective intent, or that rest on testimony from other co-conspirators. But it's much harder to defend a case based on black-and-white financial documents. A good defense lawyer can cross-examine a witness and try to take apart his story -- but it's much harder to argue with phony invoices and forged receipts
The outlook for Bannon is bleak. He can go to trial, of course, but the
vast majority of federal trials result in conviction. He can plead guilty and hope for a slightly lower sentence than if he is convicted by a jury. Largely because of the amount of the alleged] fraud -- here, prosecutors say, over $25 million -- Bannon, if convicted, is looking at
a sentence of at least approximately seven to nine years under the
federal sentencing guidelines (which are important but not binding on a judge), or slightly less if he accepts responsibility and pleads guilty.
Or Bannon can try to cooperate with the SDNY -- which could offer him his best chance at a significant sentencing reduction.
The president’s family denies knowing anything about the scheme, but a HuffPost investigation reveals close ties.
Trump claimed on Thursday that he doesn’t “know anything about the [We Build the Wall] project at all,” and his press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, said that he “does not know the people involved with this project.” But last August, Amanda Shea — Timothy Shea’s wife and a member of We Build the Wall’s leadership team — said on Twitter that she had met with the president and discussed the project in detail.
“Had the pleasure of meeting with @realDonaldTrump personally last week in the Hamptons, answered very specific questions about the wall @WeBuildTheWall built,” she tweeted. “[Trump] said I really know my stuff & our group needs to bid the whole wall project.”
Trump Jr. and his girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, an adviser for the Trump reelection campaign, were prominently featured on the We Build the Wall website with quotes praising the project. They also were key speakers at a fundraising event.
“This is private enterprise at its finest,” Trump Jr. said of We Build the Wall. “What you guys are doing is pretty amazing. Started from a grassroots effort and it’s just doing some wonderful things for an important issue.”
Trump ally Kris Kobach, an immigration hard-liner and former Kansas secretary of state who led Trump’s failed investigation of alleged voter fraud, also served on We Build the Wall’s advisory board. Kobach said the plan had Trump’s personal approval.
Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf visited the group’s building site just months ago, Yahoo News revealed. And in a photo of Kolfage and his wife with Trump’s second son, Eric Trump, at Mar-A-Lago in 2019, We Build the Wall claimed that Kolfage was “given American Patriot Award for his efforts in privately building the border wall.”
On the Lighter Side
Let’s end with Biden’s own words:
want a little more inspiration? Give this two minutes:
I am so proud and so lucky to be in this with all of you ❤️ ✊ ❤️
