# The Democratic National Convention **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 17, 2016, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-national-convention/760158 "2016-07-17T21:58:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-national-convention/760158/221 "2016-07-26T04:22:58Z")
[I found another source > [@Ben Stein](#): > > Al is a close friend and one of the smartest people I have ever met. ]([The Radio Equalizer: Brian Maloney: Ben Stein, Al Franken Senate Run, Liberal Talk Radio](http://radioequalizer.blogspot.com/2007/06/ben-stein-al-franken-senate-run-liberal.html))That’s from a reply that Ben Stein sent to a blogger who asked about the donation, having spotted it in Franken’s financial filings. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-national-convention/760158/222 "2016-07-26T04:24:23Z")
I sure hope it doesn’t come out that Michelle plagiarized part of Melania’s speech. Maybe something about a rat asking Trump if he had the same kind of hair. Or the Trump kids playing in the tower that unpaid workers built. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-national-convention/760158/223 "2016-07-26T04:26:07Z")
Maybe Barak will address the plagiarism thing. “Isn’t Michelle a great speaker? I’m not the only one who thinks so.” And why does “Barak” ping my spell-check? ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-national-convention/760158/224 "2016-07-26T04:26:35Z")
> [@AnalogSignal](#): > > We know Bernie. Dontcha think you oughta endorse someone? > [@John\_Mace](#): > > He wants to wait until after the delegate count later in the week. 🙂 You do realize Sanders had already endorsed Clinton on July 12? It’s not like there was any doubt going into tonight. ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-national-convention/760158/225 "2016-07-26T04:28:02Z")
It’s Barack with a “C”. ---
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-national-convention/760158/226 "2016-07-26T04:28:22Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > And why does “Barak” ping my spell-check? Because you spelled it wrong :). (Barack) ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-national-convention/760158/227 "2016-07-26T04:29:54Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#): > > You do realize Sanders had already endorsed Clinton on July 12? It’s not like there was any doubt going into tonight. I know. I was saying the speech was too much about Bernie’s agenda and not enough about HRC. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-national-convention/760158/228 "2016-07-26T04:35:03Z")
Bernie did what he had to do, but it won’t work. The third of Sanders voters who aren’t voting for Clinton just aren’t voting for Clinton. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-national-convention/760158/229 "2016-07-26T04:36:58Z")
So I dunno if I was caught up in the feminism of Michelle’s speech or what, but i swear that the view from the overhead camera made the spotlight and shadow of the speaker look like a vagina. Seriously! I can’t find a picture at the moment, I’ll try tomorrow. Be sure to look for the overhead shots of the convention stage tomorrow night! I’m a woman, by the way, so it’s not too skeevy that I noticed this 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-national-convention/760158/230 "2016-07-26T04:45:48Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Bernie did what he had to do, but it won’t work. The third of Sanders voters who aren’t voting for Clinton just aren’t voting for Clinton. [More like 10%.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/07/25/the-democratic-convention-is-chaotic-the-democratic-base-isnt/) We can live with that. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-national-convention/760158/231 "2016-07-26T05:58:41Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Bernie did what he had to do, but it won’t work. The third of Sanders voters who aren’t voting for Clinton just aren’t voting for Clinton. Those third don’t vote anyway-- they’d rather swipe in their candidate on a smartphone than use a marker. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-national-convention/760158/232 "2016-07-26T07:28:22Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > On Paul Simon singing “Bridge:” It’s always been Art’s song. He shoulda sung Kodachrome. Yeah, but Art did not write it, he just sung it. With emotion, which Paul always seemed to skip in favor of musical precision. But what was that with Sarah’s hair? Was she going for the James-Whale’s-girlfriend look? ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-national-convention/760158/233 "2016-07-26T07:30:20Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > The Paul Simon haters have to stop. I think the uninitiated don’t understand that any live instrument, including the voice, has to be played by a human body. If you have an aged, beloved performer, their age is going to show, and it is gracious of them to be so vulnerable in public. Simon is still great. I disagree, and this doesn’t really make sense to me. We don’t bring Natalia Makarova onstage and have her struggle through a ballet routine, squinting our eyes to imagine her doing it the way she did fifty years ago. I had thought Paul McCartney at the London Olympics was a bit of a sad spectacle, but this was far worse. Cringe inducing. To my way of thinking, you only have any business getting out on a stage and singing before a big audience like that if it’s reasonable to think that some young person who had never heard your song before could be watching/listening and think “hey, this sounds good, I’m gonna look this up on Spotify”. And if you claim that’s true with this performance, you’re really not being honest with yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-national-convention/760158/234 "2016-07-26T09:35:11Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > To my way of thinking, you only have any business getting out on a stage and singing before a big audience like that if it’s reasonable to think that some young person who had never heard your song before could be watching/listening and think “hey, this sounds good, I’m gonna look this up on Spotify”. Wait, what? He should only have appeared if he thought it would advance his personal (financial) interests? ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-national-convention/760158/235 "2016-07-26T11:35:49Z")
Michelle was terrific. Her speech will go down in history as one of the best convention speeches of all time. Sarah Silverman did a good job of calming down the Bernie people. Elizabeth Warren didn’t resonate with me. The early news this morning seems to be pretty favorable, despite the somewhat rocky start. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-national-convention/760158/236 "2016-07-26T11:35:53Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > Wait, what? He should only have appeared if he thought it would advance his personal (financial) interests? Artists don’t get paid for Spotify :). I think he’s saying that political parties should be using music to bring in young voters, that boomers playing boomer music for one another isn’t a great plan. If that’s his point, I’m not sure I agree with it: as long as not all the music is boomer music, as long as there are some up-and-comers, I’m fine with it. How cool would it have been if Sanders had left the stage to Killer Mike? ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-national-convention/760158/237 "2016-07-26T12:10:50Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > Gawd, these Bernie people being interviewed (on MSNBC) are lame and stupid. Gah! Ahhh… mostly they are young and naive. I think the Bernster is going to do a good job bringing their impressionable minds on board to the Hillary Express. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-national-convention/760158/238 "2016-07-26T12:14:01Z")
Trumpism of the week: “The DNC’s resounding theme seems to be fear”. I thought it was a typo, but no, it wasn’t. They had examples, too. Incredibly stupid examples. I’m left rather speechless, to be honest. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-national-convention/760158/239 "2016-07-26T12:16:29Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > The Paul Simon haters have to stop. I think the uninitiated don’t understand that any live instrument, including the voice, has to be played by a human body. If you have an aged, beloved performer, their age is going to show, and it is gracious of them to be so vulnerable in public. Simon is still great. I think they really wanted him to sing “Bridge Over Troubled Waters” but that was not well-suited to his current vocal abilities. He could have really pulled off some other songs but they wanted the message of that one. No biggie. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-national-convention/760158/240 "2016-07-26T12:22:34Z")
> [@AnalogSignal](#): > > I know. I was saying the speech was too much about Bernie’s agenda and not enough about HRC. Bernie deserved to speak about his agenda at the Convention. He earned that. I thought it was a very good speech. He started out talking about his agenda to placate his supporters and then moved onto demonstrating that he solidly backed Hillary and that they had worked out some compromises behind closed doors. He achieved both things he needed to. Job well done. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-national-convention/760158.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-democratic-national-convention/760158.md?page=13)