Day 1309: "The future is here."

WTF Just Happened Today

Wednesday, August 21, 2024

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1/ Biden passed the torch to Vice President Kamala Harris on the first night of the Democratic National Convention, saying: “America, I gave my best to you.” In what is perhaps his last major political speech, he then ad-libbed: “I made a lot of mistakes in my career, but I gave my best to you.” Biden was greeted by a four-minutes standing ovation by the crowd that chanted “Thank you, Joe,” and “We love Joe” as he entered the stage. In his 52-minute speech, Biden said choosing Harris as his running mate in 2020 was “the best decision I made my whole career,” and vowed to be the “best” campaign “volunteer” the campaign “have ever seen.” He added: “As your president, I’ve been determined to keep America moving forward, not going back.” Harris made a surprise appearance earlier in the evening, thanking Biden for all he’s done “and for all you will continue to do, we are forever grateful to you.” Hillary Clinton, the first woman to win a major party’s nomination as the Democratic pick in 2016, thanked Biden for being “democracy’s champion” before reminding Democrats how close they came to breaking the “highest and hardest glass ceiling” as she celebrated Harris as the party’s new torch-bearer, saying “The future is here.” Clinton also attacked Trump, saying he “made his own kind of history” as “the first person to run for president with 34 felony convictions […] We have him on the run now.” The crowd erupted into chants of “lock him up.” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez began her speech by thanking Harris and Walz for their “vision,” and Biden for his “leadership” before turning her attention to Trump, calling him a “two-bit union buster” who “would sell this country for a dollar if it meant lining his own pockets and greasing palms of his Wall Street friends.” She added: “There is nothing wrong with working for a living. Imagine having leaders who understand that.” Night two of the DNC will include speeches from Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, and Doug Emhoff. (New York Times / Washington Post / CNN / Politico / Axios / NBC News / Associated Press / NPR / NPR / Axios / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)

• Proud and Impassioned, Joe Biden Passes the Torch at the D.N.C. “In a valedictory speech in Chicago, the President mapped his legacy and asked to be remembered as a man who pulled the country from the maw of tragedy.” (The New Yorker)
• Biden’s Emotional Speech Hints at a Bigger Takedown of Trump to Come. “Biden aggressively defended his economic record. But he also subtly pushed back against Trump’s sleazy racist attacks on Harris—and that’s ess...

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