Not that the media gets a gold star here, but at least they’re admitting one thing that cannot be spun about night one of the Democratic National Convention: it was a programming nightmare. The night was awash with D-list Democrats spewing vitriol, lies, and overall strangeness throughout the night. People could have been given the hook, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul being a prime candidate for total erasure from the program. The overruns were so bad that Joe Biden’s farewell address to the Democratic Party was pushed out of primetime.
This party wrested the 2024 nomination from him and now has the prime slot to give his last hurrah. I can’t stand Joe Biden, but he is the president of the United States, and this is no way to treat the office. It’s a happenstance that would never have happened to Obama. Biden reportedly was happy with the reception, though the enthusiasm in the room was more geared toward relief that this unpopular, old, and mentally diminished man had finally stepped aside. The crowd chanted, “Thank you, Joe,” but here’s the missing part: ‘for quitting.’ Even Politico couldn’t ignore this brutal opening night for Democrats:
As the Democratic National Convention program rolled on (and on and on) last night, we got a text midway through from a veteran Democrat who had been involved in many previous conventions.
“I think these guys have a big scheduling problem,” this person told us, noting that at the rate things were going, President JOE BIDEN would not address the crowd — and a television audience of millions — until well after 11 p.m. Eastern. “Do they realize the universe runs on East Coast time?”
Though Democrats went on to cut out portions of the program — including speeches from Reps. GRACE MENG (N.Y.) and DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (Fla.) and a JAMES TAYLOR performance — Biden didn’t start his 48-minute speech until the clock hit 11:30 in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia.
On one hand, the sloppy run-of-show felt entirely familiar to anyone who has attended Democratic news conferences on Capitol Hill, which tend to be governed by the old saw: “There is nothing left to be said, but not everyone has said it.”
On the other hand, it all felt “a little too on the nose,” as HuffPo’s Igor Bobic put it, with an unpopular president first forced out of office by party bosses then forced to deliver his big convention speech after the coveted prime-time hours, when many Americans had already gone to bed.
Some took things even further, with some openly suggesting a conspiracy to keep Biden out of the public eye. Poll guru Nate Silver said on X that “you’ve gotta be pretty naive to think the prolonged DNC tonight is for any reason other than diminishing Biden’s visibility.”
Convention organizers blamed “raucous applause interrupting speaker after speaker” in comments to our colleagues Adam Wren and Christopher Cadelago — because, you know, applause is so rare and unexpected at political conventions.
“We are proud of the electric atmosphere in our convention hall and proud that our convention is showcasing the broad and diverse coalition behind the Harris-Walz ticket throughout the week on and off the stage,” the person added.
Biden himself didn’t seem to mind. As he boarded Air Force One last night to be whisked off to his California vacation, he told reporters the reception he received — from the standing ovations to the heartfelt intro he got from his daughter, ASHLEY BIDEN — was “overwhelming.”
But even if the scheduling snafu was not intentional — and we’ve seen no evidence to suggest that is the case — it got Democrats’ big show in Chicago off to a sour start.
Night two begins soon, and I’ve wanted to set myself on fire since 7:04 PM last night.
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