You've got to hand it to the people running the Democratic National Committee. If you think it was just bad time management that delayed Joe Biden from taking the stage until 11:30pm Eastern, you also believe, as Stephen Colbert apparently does, that CNN just reports the news with no bias.
The 81-year old lumbered onto the stage in Chicago after most Americans on the East Coast gave up and went to bed. They didn't miss much. Biden's speech was halting, meandering, and downright awful. He demonstrated again why he's no longer up to doing the job right now, let alone for the next four years.
Axios' Mike Allen talked to Jeff Zeints, the White House Chief of Staff, the caretaker of the person not really running the country anymore, giving him an opportunity to heap praise on Biden before his swan song speech on Day One of the DNC. Here's the pith of the gist.
Why it matters: "The president's belief is that every single day matters," Zients told Axios in an interview ahead of Biden's valedictory address to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago tonight.
Of course, once Biden finished and had to be led off the stage, he was on a plane in under an hour and on his way to California for a week-long vacation at the beach home of a billionaire fundraiser. So much for making every single day matter.
As for the speech itself, it was loaded with all the greatest hits from speeches past - lying about his record, lying about Trump's record, lying about what happened to cause him to no longer be the nominee, and of course, the reel of him getting bloodied and eventually TKO'd by his teleprompter.
But the hypocrisy that bookended the Biden speech is too rich to overlook. The President resurrected the Charlottesville, Virginia lie that Donald Trump referred to white supremacists that crashed a confrontation between two sets of protesters arguing over the appropriateness of tearing down a Robert E. Lee statue in the name of wokeness. There were people who wanted to tear it down, because Lee was the leader of the racist Confederate States of America that waged war against the Union Army during the Civil War, and there were people who believed that it was inappropriate to try to scrub history, and that we should remember everything, warts and all. Trump referred to that debate as having good people on both sides. Trump, along with every other sentient being, repeatedly condemned the white supremacists that hijacked the protest. Every fact-checker out there, even left-leaning ones like Snopes, have debunked Biden's lie, but the President tells it every chance he gets, including Monday night.
It of course is classic Biden gaslighting - righteously indignant anger over something that didn't happen. Trump did not call neo-Nazis good people. You have to be willfully ignorant to believe otherwise, which is why it's so alarming that Biden still at least theoretically possesses the nuclear launch codes. It's even more depressing that Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, passed over for a chance on the Democratic ticket in the number two slot because he's Jewish, visited the remote set of MSNBC and said this to Joy Reid.
Vice President snub Josh Shapiro just regurgitated the Charlottesville "fine people on both sides" hoax at the DNC.
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) August 20, 2024
Democrats insult your intelligence every single time they repeat this lie that has been so thoroughly debunked. pic.twitter.com/rpHYaP1qRl
So much for Shapiro being the common-sense, moderate Democrat. I guess he doesn't realize that no matter how much he tries to sound like a left-wing fanatic and reject every position he previously held, the current makeup of the Democratic Party's base will never accept him nationally, because he's Jewish. He's auditioning for a future job that the current voters of the party will never give him the opportunity to attain.
But even if you give Biden his premise, that the Charlottesville events did happen according to the fading memory lobe in his mind, that's what makes what he said later in the speech so reprehensible and vile.
Excuse me? The protesters outside have a point? How is that rhetoric any different than what he is accusing Trump of saying? Biden is committing the very sin over which he's gaslighting the public about regarding Donald Trump. That point was not lost on Fox News' Dana Perino.
First of all, not all the protesters were outside. If you were one of the attendees inside Union Center in Chicago, they walk among us.
WATCH:
Pro Hamas protesters have made it inside the DNC Convention during Joe Biden’s speech.
BREAKING: A Kamala Harris delegate at the DNC just ASSAULTED a Muslim woman by hitting her on the head after she unveiled a banner saying "Stop Arming Israel"
— George (@BehizyTweets) August 20, 2024
This is the party of tolerance and JOY
Pro-Palestine voters should vote for Trump because he's the ONLY candidate who… pic.twitter.com/5xLqJBIB1u
Another Muslim woman inside the arena was seen and filmed waving a button that said, "Not Another Bomb." The protesters were not just outside tearing down fencing.
But since Joe Biden said they have a point, let's take a virtual tour of the point they were making. To be fair, there were all sorts of points being made. There were the pro-abortion people. There were the climate change people. The anti-police Antifa/Black Lives Matter movement were there. But the loudest and largest contingent of protesters belonged to the pro-Hamas movement. These are the people whom Joe Biden thinks have a point. Here's the point they were making.
March on the DNC protesters take to the streets in Chicago chanting to “stop the US war machine”
— Timcast News (@TimcastNews) August 19, 2024
They are led by a man lighting a smoke bomb and another holding a Hamas flag pic.twitter.com/w1bSsiorjr
Quit helping Israel, and waving Hamas flags in a show of solidarity.
Protesters near the DNC chant “Biden, Biden, can’t you tell, you are going to burn in hell.” pic.twitter.com/yaIT2tOrnE
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) August 19, 2024
They have a point, eh, Joe? You remember back in March when Comrade Kamala visited Puerto Rico and clapped along with a musical performance? At some point, a staffer who actually speaks Spanish leaned over and whispered into her ear what they were chanting. It was a protest song directly aimned at her. She quit clapping along and smiling.
Joe Biden acknowledging the people outside, saying they have a point, the same people telling him to go to hell, gives off the same lack of self-awareness vibe.
Here's more.
🚩Aug. 18 — Pro-Hamas agitator outside the DNC wears sticker threatening to "BRING THE WAR HOME!"
— Combat Antisemitism Movement (@CombatASemitism) August 19, 2024
The protestor, who covered her face with a Khefiyeh, also wore a pin with an inverted red triangle, a well-known Hamas symbol indicating a lethal threat. pic.twitter.com/eTgwHYStn6
Her point is she wants another October 7th here in America. According to Joe Biden, and a fawning audience that loudly cheered the line, she has a point.
A protester outside the DNC holds a sign reading "End Israel, stand with Hamas" pic.twitter.com/l82C6xaLnZ
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) August 19, 2024
End Israel, Stand with Hamas. Another point Joe Biden agrees with, apparently. Armed resistance? I'd love to see Joe square his quest to ban assault weapons with this gentleman's position on firearms.
Happening now at the DNC.
— Robert 🤘🏼🇺🇸🦅 (@RealRobertHerr) August 19, 2024
Hamas-supporting protestors chant “DNC GO HOME OR WE ARE GONNA BRING THE WAR HOME”
Does this make you worried about the possibility of a domestic terror attack?
pic.twitter.com/8roIHaOLTS
Who's up for a anti-semitic singalong?
Wow, ANTIFA and Hamas are having a fantastic sing-along at the DNC Convention with a lovely song titled “All you fascists ‘bout to lose.” Kamala’s America is such a disaster.
— Charles R Downs (@TheCharlesDowns) August 19, 2024
pic.twitter.com/UFmoa0z74x
DNC protestor: “I am Hamas, I support them one million percent.” pic.twitter.com/BMyE3weFxH
— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) August 19, 2024
Chilling words from outside the DNC Convention tonight: “Every Palestinian supports Hamas, not just me.”
— Morgan Ortagus (@MorganOrtagus) August 19, 2024
“What’s wrong with October 7th?”
When they tell you who they are, believe them. @MikeTobinFox pic.twitter.com/nXbov8D9mf
Here's some good old-fashioned Jew hatred that dates back centuries. But Joe Biden, allegedly still the president of the United States of America, said he has a point.
OUTSIDE THE DNC: Anti-Israel protester Hatem Abudayyeh confronts Jewish counter-protester, calling their side "pig, racist Zionists."
— The Free Press (@TheFP) August 19, 2024
The FP’s @olivia_reingold reports: pic.twitter.com/MP8mdbi85P
But they're just angry at the loss of life in Gaza, Democrats will try and say. They're not supporting Hamas. They just want the killing to stop. Reality is right outside the arena.
What do the Chicago DNC protesters want?
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) August 19, 2024
They're not advocating for a better life for Americans.
They are protesting to "free" an undemocratic Palestinian regime led by a terrorist group.
This is the modern Democratic Party. America last. pic.twitter.com/ytehDmQr10
They are protesting for a free Palestine, but not just a free Palestine, one that is controlled by Hamas. They are specifically a pro-Hamas group. Biden says they have a point. The crowd applauded wildly.
Do you know who no longer has a point to make? Nadav Popplewell. He lived in Kibbutz Nirim, which is located just over two miles east of Khan Yunis. His home was that close to the Gaza border. He was kidnapped on October 7th, and his kidnappers, after beating him, released this video.
In November, the jihadi psychopaths released this video of a bruised Nadav Popplewell from Kibbutz Nirim. He was murdered in captivity.
— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) August 20, 2024
Nadav’s body was retrieved by the IDF and returned to Israel for burial. pic.twitter.com/C4sAWx1Q05
Monday night, the IDF discovered the remains of six hostages that were taken into Gaza, including Popplewell. They will be buried today. There still are five Americans - Keith Siegel, Sagui Dekel-Chen, Omer Neutra, Edan Alexander, and Hersh Goldberg-Polin that are still being held by Hamas. I care more about the point they might want to make about their captivity over much of the last year. Joe Biden and the Democratic Party didn't say their names. He didn't mention October 7th once, didn't condemn Hamas, didn't offer any comments about the state of Israel once. Joe Biden doesn't have a point when it comes to our most strategic ally in the Middle East. Instead, he says the protesters have a point.
Harvard Harris has polled Americans about their support for Israel in their struggle with Hamas monthly all year. Their July survey was released just a few weeks ago, and four out of five Americans still are on the side of the Israelis.
SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL REMAINS HIGH 64% of voters are paying close attention to the Israel-Hamas war, down 9 points from May, but support for Israel remains consistent at 80%. 67% of voters say Israel should retaliate against Hezbollah until they stop firing rockets into the north (ages 18-24: 53%; ages 65+: 85%).
80% of Americans disagree with Joe Biden and the Hamas protesters. This seems problematic for Comrade Kamala Harris, Tim Tse-Walz, Josh Shapiro, and the entire Democratic Party. The country is just not where they are in regards to Israel. You'd think the party would want this to go away, and for online media not to pay any attention to the hordes not only outside the gates, but inside the building as well. But the Democrats permitted the protesters. They allowed them to get within arm's reach of the arena. They want them to think they're close enough, and that they're heard and validated, so that they can count on their votes this November. They're still playing footsie with open anti-Semites.
Casting a vote for a Democrat this fall is a logic-free exercise. Two things must be true in order to mark the box with a (D) after the name. 1) You have to check your morality at the door before going out to vote, and 2) you really, really have to hate Donald Trump.
I still don't think that's enough to win a national campaign. On to Day Two.
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