KAMALA HARRIS

Barack Obama making unspoken penis jokes is one of the funniest things I’ve seen in ages.

The Obamas - The Trumps 😂

When Michelle O was speaking there were tears in the audience which was very moving, it was like, "someone is really speaking for me".

I really hope the sheer "normalises" of the Democrat speeches, not the crazy lies of Trump, and his personal crazy attacks, is so marked - and I hope more and more Republicans realise how dangerous Trump is.

"Takeaways" from the last night of the Democratic conference, Harris's speech, gives some policy directions, glad to see a stand on gun control and other key issues.

10 min read plus some clips

edition.cnn.com/2024/08/23/politics/takeaways-dnc-day-4/index.html?iid=cnn_buildContentRecirc_end_recirc

The thing is tho, that these conferences are ‘preaching to the converted’ on both sides their adoring fans whoop and lap it up.
What really matters is the undecided voters.

Yes, I agree they are for raising hope and enthusiasm, but this one was different in that it was an introduction to a new candidate and VP candidate after a period of much uncertainty, and was widely watched

- we'll have to see how it plays out amongst the "undecided". Much time still to go.

Oreo

The thing is tho, that these conferences are ‘preaching to the converted’ on both sides their adoring fans whoop and lap it up.
What really matters is the undecided voters.

The conventions get wide coverage on the news media. I watched the CNN coverage and it was excellent. I also listened to the Rest is Politics podcasts with Catty Kay and Scaramucci, they commented several times how the convention was aimed at influencing undecided voters via media coverage. I am sincerely hoping that KH gets elected and think her decision to make Walz her running mate was a good one as he'll appeal to some voters who will struggle to vote for a woman of colour ie white men without a college education who tend to lean towards Trump.

I find it interesting that inevitably we get part of the conference with an emphasis on a particular slice of US life since there are these few key states "up for grabs". ie - Walz.

California and New York for example can be taken for granted but the slightly "folksy" touch aimed at the Mid West can be noticeable at times.

Here's a little clip of Kamala joking about with her sister. Just like any family. Very warm.

youtu.be/Ly9UkxW7Fd8?si=YEFR5x6t6AD1zO4J

The warmth shines through as so genuine. Such a contrast.

I've just listened to the Bob Mulholland "Leading" DNC podcast on the Rest is politics series. It's really entertaining and I learned a lot about US politics and why their campaigning is so different to ours. It's less than 30 mins so not a huge investment of time.

NotSpaghetti

Here's a little clip of Kamala joking about with her sister. Just like any family. Very warm.

youtu.be/Ly9UkxW7Fd8?si=YEFR5x6t6AD1zO4J

Love this and I did laugh so down to earth 👌

The Harris campaign seem to be putting out a number of these short, folksy and informal videos - they shared various clips as well as the full (10 minute) version of this one with Walz and Harris last week. I think the aim is to show the human side of both of Harris, and to gauge from feedback what is (and isn’t) resonating with voters.

vimeo.com/999808870?share=copy

Also saying they value families, with a natural warmth, contrast with this:

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jul/29/the-republican-partys-obsession-with-families-has-taken-a-fanatical-turn

Kamala was interviewed. She seemed to hold her own.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=naeAvEI_Rg0

Thank you for that. she was clear and articulate and positive - clearly benign questioning, but a good start. Made it clear campaigning was not primarily about putting your opponent down but stating what you want to achieve.

What a contrast to Trump!.

An Arizona news station described it as ‘too sane to be good TV’ which possibly tells you all you need to know about right-wing media values in the US, and just where Harris is pitching her campaign.

I thought bit was just ‘meh’, and probably didn’t move the needle much for undecided/swing voters; nothing there to scare moderate/right leaning people, nothing to inspire progressives. And, while I understand the need to showcase Walz (white, non-coastal, suburban, middle-class etc), I’m not sure having him there worked well for either of them - he couldn’t add much, and maybe made it seem like she did want to face the even a benign press alone.

I think lots of serious people make unexciting TV.
Ed Milliband comes to mind.
I liked him a lot - but am a bit of a "fact nerd"

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy4ye15le8xo

How Trump supporters made and spread a rumour that Harris was involved in a serious TR Accident

"A story posted on a mysterious website has been widely circulated on social media after it made a baseless claim that Kamala Harris - the Democratic presidential nominee - was involved in an alleged hit-and-run incident.
It claims, without providing evidence, that a 13-year-old girl was left paralysed by the crash, which it says took place in San Francisco in 2011.
The story, which was published on 2 September by a website purporting to be a media organisation called KBSF-San Francisco News, external, has been widely shared online. Some online posts by right-leaning users citing the story have been viewed millions of times.

BBC Verify has found numerous false details indicating it is fake and the website has now been taken down."

When you read the details its clear how SM sites are operating - "fake news" doesnt begin to cover it.

Didn’t KAMALA do well against tyrant Trump in the debate earlier …so prepared and composed . She was bemused about his rants concerning pet eating Ohio residents - truly he is a lunatic🙈

The moderator did chip in about the pet-eating though!

Even so, Trump got to speak for longer than Harris - think it was about 5 mins longer which was a lot really.
He should be "docked time" if they do this again.

Yes the moderators need to be more efficient.. perhaps a clock on stage would be helpful to keep them on track

One of the photos on CNN shows there is a very large clock as the seconds tick away on stage but I presume the moderators let Trumps rambling sentences finish.

There is also some discussion on this on dedicated thread
www.gransnet.com/forums/news_and_politics/1340288-U-S-Presidential-debate

and a good read is the CNN report -
edition.cnn.com/2024/09/10/politics/debate-takeaways-trump-harris/index.html

has a couple of videos on to see her speaking. It was feared that it wouldn't be Harris' strong point, the sort of debates, but she was excellent, well prepared, clear.

Accessible CNN reference
edition.cnn.com/2024/09/10/politics/debate-takeaways-trump-harris/index.html

Its a shame in one way the crazy pet eating remarks have come out on top on X but OTOH tells us a lot about Trump losing it.

"“Trump went from there to an extended riff on a debunked report that Haitian immigrants in the town of Springfield, Ohio, were abducting and eating their neighbour’s pets.”