I was going to say exactly the same (“he hit it out of the park”), except that it’s the best speech I’ve heard him give. Wow! I did not know he had that in him. Awesome.
I’m probably going to be the only one to say it but Biden needs to lay off the Botox. It was a little scary how no matter how animated he got his forehead didn’t move. I think that contributes to the senile meme because he always looks a little surprised. I think he killed it tonight but for all that’s holy, we can deal with some wrinkles. Free the eyebrows! Oh and I liked the Zoom call with the workers. It showed how well he connects with people on a personal level. He sure didn’t look senile or confused today.
Yes, it was quite good - and I have been a very harsh critic of Biden’s speaking style. He did manage to pull it together tonight, I can’t deny it.
He needs now to continue giving speeches. He should be delivering new content on a regular basis now, rather than once every few weeks. Trump is going to be campaigning his ass off in the Midwest speaking to crowds of Covid-deniers who don’t give a shit about the virus; since the same is not going to be true of Biden, he is going to need to make up for it with online videos.
But he HAS to make up for it. People want to hear Biden and he needs to continue delivering engaging speeches to the electorate in the coming months. He cannot just retreat from the spotlight after this convention - he needs to keep himself out there.
He crushed it. That ending about hope and history rhyming had me ready to charge through a brick wall to get him elected.
What exactly is stupid? I’m not sure I believe that the more moderate positions are always the most popular. I know Medicare For All is popular. Also, wouldn’t that be more reason to make sure my unpopular opinion more popular by voting a different way?
Some of the people on this board are cocky as hell. Like your snark is going to sway my vote. We already discussed this thoroughly. I’ll vote for Biden DESPITE how much seething distain I have towards people who take a bad approach in trying to convince me to.
Biden’s speech was the best of all of them in my opinion.
Right?! And speaking about how love is more powerful than hate; hope is more powerful than fear; and light is more powerful than dark. Before saying this is our moment had me ready to go.
I can’t find a better place to post this and I don’t want to start a whole new thread, but this is important, too:
I enjoyed Mr. Biden’s speech. He spoke confidently, eloquently, and in a manner that (it seems to me, anyway), will resound with all Americans. Well, perhaps not with the hardcore Trump base, but I imagine it certainly resounds with undecideds and independents.
What I did notice was that he did not go off-script to repeat himself in order to insert any unnecessary adjectives. There were no “We’ll build a wall, a beautiful wall,” or “…fine people, very fine people,” or similar. A nice change from what we so often have heard from a certain political rival.
An excellent speech. Mr. Biden “hit it out of the park,” as a few have said upthread.
I think having him deliver it to an (essentially) empty room really, really helped him nail it. He’s better at personal conversations with individuals and small groups than he is at rousing speeches before big crowds. This felt more intimate, and he just nailed it because of that. It felt presidential, and more importantly, his tone and the quiet setting matched the gravity of our current situation.
And the 13-year-old boy who talked about his and Joe’s shared experience of stuttering was amazing. It’s not often I get choked up watching a convention segment, crusty old cynic that I am. But dang it, I felt enormously proud of that kid, and I don’t even know him. I can only imagine the amount of ugly-cry pride his parents must have had tonight watching him do that in front of a national audience.
Lawrence O’Donnell apparently enjoyed the virtual convention so much he thinks it should be permanent.
Thoughts?
Biden’s speech was excellent.
Did they have to Trump’s phone away so him wouldn’t tweet something making fun of that kid? I can’t imagine he restrained himself otherwise.
That was my first thought watching that kid. “How inspiring! I wonder how long it will take Trump to tweet something insulting about him.”
Is the GOP convention going to be virtual? I’m wondering if Trump will be giving his speech before an empty auditorium. The setting was perfect for Biden, but Trump needs a crowd, otherwise he sounds like a first grader reading a Dick and Jane book.
Here’s the poem, from “The Cure at Troy” by Seamus Heaney
He quoted the stanza beginning “History says.”
Human beings suffer
They torture one another,
They get hurt and get hard.
No poem or play or song
Can fully right a wrong
Inflicted and endured.
The innocent in gaols
Beat on their bars together.
A hunger-striker’s father
Stands in the graveyard dumb.
The police widow in veils
Faints at the funeral home.
History says, Don’t hope
On this side of the grave …
But then, once in a lifetime
The longed-for tidal wave
Of justice can rise up,
And hope and history rhyme.
So hope for a great sea-change
On the far side of revenge.
Believe that a further shore
Is reachable from here.
Believe in miracles
And cures and healing wells.
Call miracle self-healing:
The utter, self-revealing
Double-take of feeling.
If there’s fire on the mountain
Or lightning and storm
And a god speaks from the sky
That means someone is hearing
The outcry and the birth-cry
Of new life at its term.
Biden did himself proud. I would have been happy with a mediocre speech. I would have elated with a slightly above average speech. But he gave a masterful performance- strong, passionate, honest, compassionate… he checked every single box then went back and rechecked them again and again. The “Joe is out of it” argument is dead in the water. It’s okay that he didn’t have an adoring crowd, he doesn’t need adoring crowds. His opponent DOES need adoring crowds and applause breaks. The virtual format worked for the Democrats, I don’t see it working for the Republicans. Barring a catastrophic misstep, this is Biden’s race to lose.
I agree. I don’t see how the Pubs can beat this. It was stunningly well-organized and choreographed.
You mean barring massive interference by enemies foreign and/or domestic in the voting/vote counting process itself, right? Someone said a few days ago here that this election won’t be won by votes cast but by votes counted. 
Republicans should have gone first
I sure wouldn’t want to be on the team that is putting together the RNC. This is all going to be a tough act to follow. And they don’t have anything but lies and misdirection.