Every Democratic or Republican presidential convention for the past few election cycles have been pretty orchestrated affairs; the formalities of voting, speeches that tout the career of the speaker as well as the party’s nominee and their running mate. Flashing back to the 60s or the 70s, there was more tumult and even violent protests. So both the 2016 DNC and the RNC conventions have been tame by comparison.
Day one and two of the DNC convention has naturally given attention to the historic nature of a woman being nominated to lead a major party ticket.
Brushing past the stage-managed-for-millions-of-TV-viewers elements, what key speakers have said – or not said – speaks volumes.
Investors and professionals in our industry and others must carefully consider who to support and vote for in the fall. Keep in mind, that our reporting facts or sharing the following video ISN’T an endorsement. We shared videos from last week’s RNC convention, and in fairness, we should from the DNC convention too. Watch it carefully, noting the contradictions reflected below.
The CFPB’s Mother
Senator Elizabeth Warren has billed herself as a left-wing champion of progressive causes. Warren played a high-profile role in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) birth.
Warren routinely decries the big banks and Wall Street. So it was interesting to watch as Warren sang Hillary Clinton’s praises, while glossing past the fact that their party’s nominee has deep-pocketed ties to the big moneyed interests. A deliberate oversight?
Senator Bernie Sanders correctly pointed out the many ways he helped move the Democratic Party’s nominee and platform to the left. Sanders followed Senator Warren’s lead on pumping up Hillary, while of course accusing the Republican nominee of racism and other examples of unproven name-calling.
Earlier in the day – in the wake of the WikiLeaks revelations from the DNC’s emails reflecting a pro-Clinton tilt during the primaries – Sanders was booed by some of his own supporters as he asked them to support Secretary Clinton. Some Sanders supporters even took up an anti-Hillary chant that was first heard last week during the RNC convention, “Lock her up! Lock her up!”
Sanders sent messages to his delegates, asking them not to boo and protest inside during the main parts of the convention.
Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned as head of the DNC, but within hours was picked up by the Clinton camp. How can you make this stuff up? No fiction writer would pen a story-line so obviously bizarre – yet, here we have a real-world example of the DNC’s “rigged system” Sanders supporters complained about at work.
And Hillary is painted as an agent for positive change?
Your Masthead scribe watched all of the Monday evening coverage, surfing between channels to get a spectrum of commentary by the talking heads on TV. Some takeaways:
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Of some 60 speakers on Monday, none mentioned ISIS by name. Not one, on a topic very much on American’s minds.
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We heard a lot about Hillary’s great qualities and track record. But what was lacking was any specifics about what she’s actually accomplished on behalf of the middle class or identity groups she claims to love. One of the alternate-universe statements in Senator Sanders’ speech was his claim that Hillary would undo the Citizen’s United decision that paved the way to the system of super-PACs. This is ironic, because Hillary Clinton was the main beneficiary of super-PAC money in the Democratic Party. Does anyone really believe she’ll freely give up those super-PAC dollars and the political clout it represents?
- I heard no one address or defend the serious ‘pay for play’ issues raised by the Clinton Cash video, see that below.
Perhaps the most interesting point raised by Bill Clinton was the following. Politico reported these key words of former president Bill Clinton’s pro-Hillary speech to the DNC this way. Contrasting Trump with his wife Hillary, Bill asked:
“Now, how does this square? How does this square with the things that you heard at the Republican convention? What is the difference in what I told you and what they said? How do you square it? You can’t. One is real, the other is made up,” Clinton said. “And — you just have to decide which is which, my fellow Americans.”
Well said, Bill. If Hillary was such a marvelously successful agent for positive change, why are the issues she supports not advancing? Why the many flip-flops? Why has her foreign policy been marked by so many clear failures? Why has her party’s agenda in the last 8 years seen minorities income shrink and unemployment rise? Why are the big donors giving to her campaign or super-PACs, unless they expect to get political favors?
Will our industry’s efforts to reform the harm caused by the Dodd-Frank Act succeed, when Hillary has already said she will accept no legislation passed that would change the CFPB’s regulations?
We Provide, You Decide. ©
Remember – the pay-for-play corruption that the Clinton Cash video above carefully documents. Remember too the principle many politicians brazenly follow – that the big lie repeated often and boldly enough will cause many to believe, in spite of the facts. That sordid ‘big lie’ principle has been on full display all of this week in Philly. ##
