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1.) “Charlie Crist is awesome!” said nobody ever — It’s all the rage to have a disenchanted Republican speak at a Democratic convention or, in the case of Republicans, a disenchanted Democrat speak at a Republican convention. But the bar was set very low at this year’s Democratic National Convention where the marqueecrcrossovers were Lincoln Chafee (who is hardly the brightest bulb in American politics) and Charlie Crist (who doesn’t rank as among the most principled people in American politics). TheDC’s Caroline May reports on Crist’s Thursday night oration:
“Former Republican Florida Gov. Charlie Crist thrilled the Democratic National Convention crowd Thursday evening declaring that like Republican hero Ronald Reagan’s reason for leaving the Democratic Party — Crist did not leave the Republican Party it left him. ‘Half a century ago, Ronald Reagan, the man whose relentless optimism inspired me to enter politics, famously said that he didn’t leave the Democratic Party; the party left him,’ Crist said. ‘I can certainly relate. I didn’t leave the Republican Party; it left me.'”
Actually, he left the Republican Party because it was clear he wasn’t going to win the GOP Senate primary in Florida. It was also clear he had no principles — only the desire for power. And it must be noted that Crist is like Reagan in the same way a paperclip is like a taco.
2.) The man with another four-year plan — President Obama took the podium Thursday night at the Democratic National Convention and asked Americans to give him four more years to set goals for America, reports TheDC’s Neil Munro:
“President Barack Obama‘s 2012 Democratic National Convention speech asked voters to embrace a planned economy where government leaders would set goals for large swathes of the economy. ‘I’m asking you to rally around a set of goals for your country — goals in manufacturing, energy, education, national security, and the deficit; a real, achievable plan that will lead to new jobs, more opportunity, and rebuild this economy on a stronger foundation,’ he declared. But Obama didn’t promise a rapid benefit from an expanded government. ‘I won’t pretend the path I’m offering is quick or easy. … It will take more than a few years for us to solve challenges that have built up over decades,’ he said, implicitly acknowledging the public’s skepticism about his government-focused economic policies after almost four years of record deficits and unemployment, declining wages and shrinking wealth.”
Government planning always works so well! Unless it doesn’t, which is often.
3.) Kerry flacks for Obama’s foreign policy — While auditioning to be President Obama’s secretary of state in term two, the original flip-flopper accused Romney of flip-flopping, which isn’t actually that hard to demonstrate. But it was an inconvenient day to defend Obama’s Israel policy, reports TheDC’s Jamie Weinstein (ME!):
“Kerry also defended President Obama from Republican attacks that he has treated Israel poorly while in office. ‘Barack Obama promised always to stand with Israel to tighten sanctions on Iran — and take nothing off the table,’ Kerry declared. ‘Again and again, the other side has lied about where this president stands and what this president has done. But [Israeli] Prime Minister Netanyahu set the record straight — he said, our two countries have ‘exactly the same policy’ — ‘our security cooperation is unprecedented.’ When it comes to Israel, I’ll take the word of Israel’s prime minister over Mitt Romney any day.’ Kerry’s statement about the closeness of the American and Israeli position on Iran comes the same day more details were revealed about what The Atlantic magazine’s Jeffrey Goldberg described as an ‘explosive confrontation’ between America’s ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro and Netanyahu last month over America’s position on dealing with Iran’s nuclear program.”
Sorry, Virginia, President Obama and the current Israeli prime minister do not see eye-to-eye, no matter how many times John Kerry and Debbie Wasserman Schultz say they do.
4.) THEY WILL KILL YOU — A civil rights icon sunk to scaremongering at the Democratic National Convention Thursday. TheDC’s Neil Munro reports:
“Rep. John Lewis used his Thursday convention speech to argue that a GOP victory in November will send African-Americans back to the early 1960s, when he and other Africans-Americans were forcibly denied access to restaurants, public transportation and the ballot box. ;I’ve seen this before, I lived this before,’ he claimed, after extensively describing his activism in Southern states in the 1950 and 1960s. ‘We were met by an angry mob that beat us and left us lying in a pool of blood,’ he said to raucous applause from roughly 20,000 delegates and activists. ‘Brothers and sisters, do you want to go back?’ he called, prompted a loud response of ‘No!'”
5.) Poll of the Day: Obama only up 7 in NJ? — Quinnipiac poll of New Jersey likely voters: President Obama 51%, Mitt Romney 44%.
6.) Tweet of Yesterday — Fake AP Stylebook: Each paper is allotted only three speakers about whom to write “The Next Obama?” stories, so choose carefully. #DNC