Liberals in the national media know that few people are actually watching the virtual national political conventions live, so here’s what’s going to happen: They’ll pump up the Democratic convention, as they have been doing this week already, as stunning displays of bravery, unity, and leadership.
In contrast, next week’s Republican convention, will be, according to the media, a dismal production of division, hatred, and (no doubt) white supremacy.
New York Times columnist Charles Blow is already on it. He wrote Wednesday that “the Democrats’ effort is succeeding and is a welcome note of positivity ahead of what surely will be a Republican convention filled with fear-mongering and divisiveness.”
It’s surely more accurate to say that the first three days of the Democrats’ convention have been sputtering, dull, and awkward. I don’t say that as an insult. Producing the first socially distanced political convention ever (to comical effect, as when Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris met on stage but declined to hug and instead stood 20 feet apart) was always going to mean a boring event.
Michelle Obama nearly cried during her speech, which was pre-recorded too soon to include a mention of the first black female vice presidential nominee. Bill Clinton endorsed Biden as a man with the virility of an ox, though viewers had every reason to be suspicious of that rave review, given that we’ve barely seen Biden leave the underground more than five times in the past three months. Barack Obama gave a nice talk, but his support remains a little cringeworthy in light of how late it came. Hillary Clinton, once again, came off as a deeply embittered former nominee who can’t let it go, effectively telling viewers, “I told you that you should have picked me.”
Even as the media pretend that this has been a powerful moment, it has all mostly felt like a Zoom video call without the charm, and you don’t get paid to participate.
The Republican event next week will have an interesting set of speakers, including Nick Sandmann of the Covington Catholic controversy, the St. Louis couple arrested for drawing guns on protesters who threatened their home, and Alice Johnson, a black woman granted clemency by the president. But that convention will in all likelihood be just as sleepy, given that it will also be virtual.
Even as both events remain sleepy and forgettable affairs, just know that whatever the media say about them, it doesn’t come close to reality.
