The Coronavirus Twenty-Three Weeks Later - The Democrats Have Their Virtual Convention

It was different. Admittedly, I did not watch all that much, although I read the big speeches. Just not as exciting as having all the state delegates present, and having the news people on the floor able to catch attendees on the fly for a quick interview. My guess is that this will be the last convention in which the older generation of Democrats run the show - and the party. I don't expect Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders or Nancy Pelosi to have the same influence next time around. Rather, the younger, more radical, members of the party are likely to have greater sway. I did learn a few things. Mainly, for the Democrats this election is all about President Trump's personality and character. They felt no need to delve into policy issues. I also learned that Trump is personally resonsible for the over 5 million coronavirus cases and over 170,000 deaths in the US. Lastly, and as is predictable from the Dems, they are still living from 60 to 250 years ago, with no apparent cognizance of the present, save Trump. Let's take a look at some of their words.

The Dems touted Colin Powell as a Republican against Trump. If Powell is a Republican, then I'm a 7'5" center for the Los Angeles Lakers. This "Republican" could not bring himself to vote for John McCain or Mitt Romney. So, please. Here are some choice words from Powell's speech. "With Joe Biden in the White House, you will never doubt that he will stand with our friends and stand up to our adversaries - never the other way around." Right, because we saw that so clearly as part of the Obama-Biden administration. Had the "reset" button with Russia, and Russia then invaded the Crimea and eastern Ukraine. Drew a "red line" for Syria, warning them about the use of chemical weapons. Syria ignored the threat, and Obama did nothing. Gave Iran, the biggest state sponsor of terror, $150 billion. Yep, that's what we call standing up to our adversaries.

What about "standing with our friends?" In 2009, Obama gave his speech to the Muslim world from Cairo, Egypt. Egypt, under Mubarek, was considered an ally of the US. But Obama saw fit to invite members of the terrorist Muslim Botherhood, a group that was outlawed in Egypt. Mubarek was furious and refused to attend the speech. What about our allies of the Sunni Arab Gulf states? They were furious with Obama for making the Iran deal, Iran being a threat to the rest of the Middle East. And what about our greatest ally in the Middle East, Israel? Obama clearly hated Netanyahu. And in his last full month in office, Obama gave the middle finger to Israel by having our UN Ambassador failing to veto an anti-Israel resolution at the UN Security Council. Recall that the resolution said Israel had no right to any land beyond the 1967 borders borders (those borders simply being a cease-fire line, with no actual agreement on borders), essentially rewarding the Palestinians for their decades of killing Jews, and giving the Palestinians the holiest sites in Judaism in so-called East Jerusalem. If that is standing by allies, then as the saying goes - with friends like these, who needs enemies.

Former President Obama broke protocol and precedent in bashing the current President. Although, it is not as if Trump adheres to protocol either. But the Dems tell us that they take the high road. Obama: "For close to four years now, he's (Trump) shown no interest in putting in the work; no interest in finding common ground - no interest in using the awesome power of his office to help anyone but himself and his friends..." Put in the work? He has more energy than most 74 year olds. He has met with numerous foreign leaders. He tried to make a deal with North Korea. He successfully brokered a deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, the first deal between an Arab country and Israel in 26 years. No interest in finding common ground? With the people who repeatedly called him an illegitimate president, and spent 2 1/2 years trying to oust him through impeachment. Would the "common ground" be like when Obama told the Republicans "I won" the election, in 2009? Or in 2010 when Obama said "we don't mind the Republicans joining us. They can come for the ride, but they gotta sit in the back." And, let's not forget Obama's "I've got a pen, and I've got a phone," explaining why he did not need to work with the Republican Congress. Trump only helped himself and his friends? Would that be like the 4% and lower unemployment rate from July, 2018 through January, 2020? The lowest unemployment rates for women and minorities in 50 years. Like that, Obama?

An aside for a moment. Recall, if you will, that in last week's post I mentioned the historic agreement between Israel and the UAE, which Trump and Kushner were instrumental in putting together. I pointed out that the New York Times did not deem it to be worthy of a full page headline. But, the Times on Friday did have an across the entire top of the front page headline. Was it a major international news story? A major national story? No, it wasn't a story at all, as in all caps they told us: "BIDEN VOWS TO GUIDE U.S. OUT OF 'DARKNESS.'" In other words, they gave us one of Biden's talking points from his speech. It wasn't a news story at all. Biden: "United we can, and will, overcome this season of darkness in America." Of course, it matters not that for conservatives and Republicans the "season of darkness" was during the Obama presidency. But the writers at the Times could not conceive of anyone thinking that way about Obama. They are no different than the soccer player, Reggie Cannon, discussed in the last post.

Back to Biden. "Character is on the ballot." I get it. And, in earlier time, it might be an issue for me and other conservatives. But not when faced with an onslaught of left-wing ideology from the Democrats. And, while I don't agree with Trump getting involved in a squabble with anyone who insults him, I have no problem with the way he stands up to the lying mainstream media and Democrats. After all, the media goes after every Republican president and presidential candidate; it's good to have one that is willing to fight back.

Biden: "Just judge this president on the facts. 5 million Americans infected with COVID-19. More than 170,000 Americans have died. By far the worst performance of any nation on earth." Yep, Trump is a mass murderer. But on January 31, Trump declared a public health emergency, and banned incoming flights from China of anyone who had been in China during the prior two weeks. Many on the left were offended. Sanders said he wouldn't close the borders to stop the virus from spreading. Here's Biden: "You know we have right now a crisis with the coronavirus, emanating from China...This is no time for Donald Trump's record of hysterical xenophobia and fearmongering to lead the way instead of science." Here's Biden in 2009 discussing the Swine flu: "If you're out in the middle of a field when someone sneezes, that's one thing." But "I wouldn't go anywhere in confined places now...If you're in a closed aircraft or closed container or closed car or closed classroom, it's a different thing." So, the quick to panic Joe Biden would have effectively shut down the country. There were an estimated 60.8 million cases of the Swine flu from 4/12/09-4/10/10, but only 12,469 deaths - far less than the numbers of many seasonal flus. Would Biden shut down the country every flu season? And Biden says he is willing to shut the country down upon taking office in January, if he wins. That ought to put the weakened economy in the toilet. Biden says the US has the "worst" performance of any country. As of 8/5/20, and measuring the number of cases per 100,000 people, Johns Hopkins University said the US was eighth - not first - in the world, following Belgium, the UK, Peru, Spain, Italy, Sweden and Chile.

Biden, of course, also blamed Trump for the over 50 million unemployment claims during the pandemic. Again, judging this president "on the facts," Biden said: "More than 50 million people have filed for unemployment this year." Never mind that the unemployment rate was at historic lows under Trump until the pandemic. Never mind that 50 governors decided when and how much of their states should be shut down. California's governor was the first in the country to order a statewide shutdown, and did so on 3/19/20. So, does Biden hold Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom responsible for the millions of California residents who lost their jobs as a result of the state's shutdown?

Speaking of Governor Newsom, he was asked at a press conference a couple of days ago about how he's dealing with the fires throughout the state, and whether federal aid was forthcoming. After stating that he has maintained strong personal relationships with the President and Vice President, Newsom said this: "I can only say this...there's not one phone call that I have made to the President where he hasn't quickly responded and almost in every instance he's responded favorably in terms of addressing the needs - the emergency needs of this state - through COVID and over the course of the last year and a half that I've been Governor as it relates to these wildfires."

Back to Biden again. He explained what his winning the election would mean for people, and said this: "Winning it for those communities who have known the injustice of the 'knee on the neck.'" There it is. As I said in the first paragraph, nothing has changed for these Democrats in the last 250 years. One police officer put one knee on the neck of one black man - but no, blacks are enslaved in this country still. There was no Civil War, no 13th Amendment, no 14th Amendment, no civil rights legislation. We do not have successful blacks in all walks of American life. We do not have black millionaires, and even billionaires. Not really much different than Biden telling blacks during the 2012 campaign that Romney's policies would "put y'all back in chains." This is how the Democrats hold onto the black vote - by telling blacks how bad the country is, that they have "the knee on their neck," and that Democrats will be their salvation. It's all a lie, of course. Look what a good job Democratic mayors across the country are doing while their cities burn. Oh, that's right. There is no looting or rioting or burning going on. Hundreds and hundreds of stores are not boarded up in various cities. If any of that were happening we surely would have heard something from the Democrats when they had a nationwide audience. Nope, nothing to see here, please move along. These are today's Democrats - afraid to offend BLM or other radical groups - and so they will not even criticize the most violent among them.

On the other hand, the Dems have no issue with anti-Semites being part of their big tent. On various online meetings of different groups supporting Biden, were Linda Sarsour, Tamika Mallory, Imam Hussain, AOC, and others who have expressed anti-Semitic and anti-Israel views. But no surprise. Recall Nancy Pelosi called Ilhan Omar a "valuable member" of her caucus, and contributed $14,000 to help Omar's reelection campaign. Besides, in yet another recent poll (YouGov, as reported by the Economist) only 24% of Biden supporters view Israel as an ally. Only 24%! Here's one quote from Sarsour: "Nothing is creepier than Zionism." Yes, the Biden campaign disavowed Sarsour's comments. But so what? At this point the anti-Semites are firmly implanted within the Democratic Party. Tamika Mallory called Louis Farrakhan the G.O.A.T. - greatest of all time. He is certainly the greatest anti-Semite of our time in this country. After MoveOn.org pressured the Democratic candidates for president to not attend the annual AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which is the largest pro-Israel lobbying group in Washington) convention, only Mike Bloomberg attended. To his credit, Biden at least attended via video. Kamala Harris refused to attend, but met with some AIPAC representatives in her office. This type of appeasement to the Israel haters got her nowhere, as she was harshly criticized for having anything to do with AIPAC. A potential vice president, and even president, who would not stand up publicly for our ally Israel is disturbing. But following the Obama-Biden mistreatment of Israel, hardly surprising.

Those who vote for Biden, who are they really voting for? According to a Rasmussen poll, 59% of likely voters think Harris will become president during Biden's first term if they win. That includes 49% of Democrats, 57% of independents and 73% of Republicans. That would certainly warrant the utmost scrutiny of Harris by the media. Just don't expect it.