Election Tabs
Steven L. Taylor
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Friday, August 23, 2024
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16 comments
- Sometimes it is hard to get grandpa off the phone.
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a retired Professor of Political Science and former College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored
A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog).
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Is it just me, or did the RNC also opt for a rather lugubrious lighting scheme.
The Chait link is broken somehow.
@Jay L Gischer: Fixed.
Yeah, they definitely don’t put these shows on for this audience of one. The RNC roll call was just plain lame, and the DNC’s was way over the top for this “just tell me what the vote is” guy. Especially when I already know what the vote is.
Michelle Obama’s jab on Black jobs was the best followed by Senator Warren’s shot that she wouldn’t trust trump or vance to move her couch.
@Steven L. Taylor: Ok, my summary of the Chait piece, which I can now read is that Harris’ acceptance speech was clearly and tightly focused on making exactly the points that she needed to make.
Kind of like a prosecutor making her case, right?
I think that Kamala’s pivot from 2020’s “I’m the prosecutinest prosecutor that will prosecute Trump” to the 2024 Campaign of Joy is pretty stunning. And yet the prosecutor bits will leak back in, this time in a more positive way. Not to mention how deftly they troll Trump frequently, and with a smile on their face. The smile is the best message: I’m not afraid of you. I might be laughing at you.
@Jay L Gischer: I saw Kamala Harris speak at the 92 Street Y just before she declared her candidacy last time around, and she was warm and funny and strong and incredibly impressive. And then I didn’t see a sign of that person during the entire campaign.
The woman who’s running for president now — that’s the woman I saw speaking.
@Jay L Gischer:
The “weird” thing makes it clear they’e laughing at him.
Yes he’s a threat to democracy, but not because he’s strong, because he’s weird.
I have to disagree. I think he’s a threat to democracy because he’s weak, and the GOP is even weaker.
@OzarkHillbilly: That’s where my secret weapon comes in to play–I stopped watching the conventions decades ago. In 2012, I happened to stumble upon Ann Romney explaining that she and Mitt have had the same struggles as all young married couples (it seems they had to sell part of his stock portfolio to buy a co-op while in grad school). I surfed on declaring “never again.”
I had much the same reaction.
Also, as a point of trivia, I haven’t checked to be sure but I would make the educated guess that it’s the first presidential nomination speech in American history to feature the word “ass.”
I don’t know about the best speech, but it was good. Watching Harris now makes me wonder about my perceptions of her in 2019 and 2020 and if I was just missing her actual skills.
The Republicans have no idea what hit them. It really reminds me of how they dealt with Obama in 2008. Just complete confusion and misunderstandings. They just aren’t very good at new people. They were lucky with Clinton, because they had decades to figure her out.
The Democrats meanwhile took like four seconds to zero in on JD Vance.
@wr:
Harris spoke on MSNBC almost immediately after Biden’s catestrophic debate, and was incredibly impressive. I was scratching my head wondering where she had been hiding all that mojo. She sure seems to have an ample supply of it now.
We had a nice evening out in Berkeley last night to celebrate a convention that was about as close to perfect as you can get.
@Modulo Myself: @anjin-san: I think she just grew into the role these past 4 years. Joe is a good tutor.
@anjin-san:
Agree that Harris was very impressive following that debate. Those were adverse circumstances, very different than what we’ve seen recently. I couldn’t help but to think she may be ready if Biden doesn’t somehow get back on track.
Wow. With RFK Jr being brought under Trump’s wing, it seems they’re really leaning hard into the ‘weird’ vibe.