Democratic Convention Night 1 Review 2020: Virtual Bidenathon Swings Out – Deadline

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The only things missing from the opening night of the Democratic National Convention on Monday were Beyoncé, the Rolling Stones and Barack Obama – and the former POTUS is arriving later this week.

Aside from an audio glitch at the start of Kingmaker Rep James Clyburn’s stint on camera from his home state of South Carolina, the first of four nights of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ official White House offer was a little more than two. hours of fast paced television that might just seal the deal.

To get right to the point, it wasn’t your grandmother’s Democratic Convention or even a redux of mistaken confidence from 2016. Hosted with a strong hand by Eva Longoria and full of short, hard-hitting segments and top speeches Big names in the party and in the entertainment and sports world, the start of the Bidenathon was polite political publicity that managed to pass itself off as an event.

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Michelle Obama delivers a dazzling speech at the Democratic Convention against Donald Trump:

Since the jump it was a remix of West wing ambitious principles, America has talent and the superstar-packed multi-network One world: together at home concert of the beginning of the COVID-19 chaos. With this combined result partially live and also pre-recorded, the multicultural architecture of the first installment sought to go beyond the usual policies of Americans in search of a new spectacle.

Which is another way of putting it, based solely on Night 1, longtime Tony Awards linchpin Ricky Kirshner would be a lock for another Emmy if they hand out Emmys for the production of political conventions. A far cry from the traditional balloon drop convention that originally took place in Milwaukee, Night 1 aimed to create the virtual scene and seek to hold the interest of the casual viewer / voter until November.

With a constant chorus decrying Donald Trump’s corruption and incompetence in this era of racial division, fatal coronavirus crisis and the resulting economic collapse, Biden’s team put their playbook of focus group tonight.As the race is already tightening with the ex-Celebrity apprentice host, the ex-vice president’s narrative was built to heavyweight status.

Former rivals like his running mate Harris and the name Nero dropping Bernie Sanders, old friends, an uplifting song by Bruce Springsteen (and a nanosecond cameo from the Boss himself), and carefully chosen regulars all lined up behind the candidate. – what does not come naturally to Democrats:

During an evening that had a story to tell loud and clear, the crescendo was a scathing star turn from Michelle Obama. She relentlessly tore Trump apart in a calm voice, again promising that “going high” is the path to ballot victory. The former First Lady also made it clear in her pre-recorded speech that she is an immense political and cultural force in a “deeply divided” nation – as her wife exclaimed:

The host of Night 3, which will feature former President Obama and presumptive vice-presidential candidate Senator Harris, among the speakers, also offered some of the applause that trickled down to social media Monday:

Message: “We are the cavalry,” to quote Beto O’Rourke in tonight’s episode of America has Biden.

The second hour of Night 1 of this new type of convention, by the simple act of introducing the star speakers, had much less telethon feel than the first hour. It will be interesting to see if CNN and MSNBC carry less stream and DNC stream on the Tracee Ellis Ross on Tuesday night tomorrow.

If there was one note noticeably out of tune tonight, it was from Biden himself. In a moment seemingly directed at Trump’s hardcore grassroots, who will never vote for him anyway, the ex-Veep has taken on common ground on police brutality and systemic racism that many of his own supporters and many Americans have given up in recent months.

Taking over from the talk show host as well as the on-hold POTUS, Biden spoke via video with activist Jamira Burley, Chicago Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo, the NAACP president Derrick Johnson and author Gwen Carr, mother of Eric Garner. “Most cops are good, but the point is, bad ones need to be identified, prosecuted and kicked out, period,” Biden proclaimed at a social justice roundtable that pushed Black Lives Matter to the back seat. -plan while the foreground was in its place this evening. this year of protest and pandemic.

In this unprecedented election year, CNN, MSNBC and the ever-reliable C-Span went to live, so to speak, at the convention at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PST. Unsurprisingly, not so much on Fox News Channel.

Split screen with Longoria giving the opening speech at the We the People-themed convention, FNC’s Sean Hannity wasted no time in formulating his own message for Donald Trump.

DNC

The outgoing operator’s good pal began by calling the rally a “boring” blow to Trump “launched from Biden’s basement bunker.” By the time the convention’s oath of allegiance was over, a choir of voices across the country had finished singing, the invocation was given and the elegant but not too badly produced Bidenathon was back to the activist of longtime Longoria, Hannity showed his true colors and ditched the split screen entirely. The stand-in was an echo chamber of declamations with figures including Karl Rove and Donald Trump Jr. The point is that, with the exception of an appearance by George Floyd’s family at a later stage, Hannity has essentially deserted the 2020 convention of one of America’s leading politicians. parties for more pedestrian partisan denigration.

Otherwise, everyone stuck to the convention from start to finish.

In fact, CNN’s wordy Wolf Blitzer was the first to cut the stream and ultimately pushed the WarnerMedia-owned outlet to an ad unit just before the broadcast networks arrived at 10 p.m. ET.

And something must have worked, as distraction master Trump himself couldn’t even land a decent punch online as the nationwide shindig aired on cable and networks. Retweeting wide swings from New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and others who have spoken this evening, Trump’s only original contribution was to go after the Pentagon bureaucrats:

On the flip side, Trump even took a punch at the Democrats’ convention with once friendly fists.

“Let me tell you, Donald Trump has no idea how to run a business, how to let an economy run,” said Meg Whitman, CEO of Quibi, as ABC, CBS and NBC passed by. to their one-hour convention coverage at 10 p.m. ET. “Joe Biden, on the other hand, has a plan that will strengthen our economy for working people and small business owners,” added the longtime Republican and former GOP candidate for governor of California. “For me, the choice is simple, I’m with Joe.”

Along with former Garden State Governor Christine Whitman (unrelated) Susan Molinari, and former Ohio Governor and 2016 candidate John Kasich, Whitman was one of the party’s many mid-profile members. of Lincoln to throw their weight behind Biden. Having drawn a lot of people when the line-up was unveiled, the renegade Republicans of the 1990s are unlikely to provide the mass alleyway through the Biden campaign.

This aspect of the early clumsiness of the convention probably had more to do with the fact that much of the political class is used to the traditional rallying in the arena. Honestly, the mix of videos and testimonials is not that different from some content that would be played in noisy convention halls between the speakers.

But, context is just as much as content these days and in that context, content has been supercharged.

Still, broadcast networks were a bit smarter than CNN and MSNBC in what they carried. ABC, CBS, and NBC seemed more in a rush to try and sandwich their own pundits and correspondents between convention streams. CBS, for example, skipped a series of speeches from other 2020 candidates, but instead turned to a segment on the latest voting status of the voter card, which could be done at any other time of day. .

After Kasich spoke, ABC’s George Stephanopoulos went to two of their analysts on opposite ends of the spectrum, both of whom were critical of the former Ohio governor. “It’s exhausting,” says Chris Christie, Trump supporter and former New Jersey governor. “We don’t want him either,” said Yvette Simpson.

Conversely, the Democrats got high marks for how they used their deep advantage in supporting Hollywood. Stuart Stevens, senior campaign adviser to Mitt Romney in 2012, wrote on Twitter tonight: “I was at an RNC convention and Ted Nugent came by. There was a painful pause and a young woman said, “Can we find someone who’s done the cover of Rolling Stone more than Guns & Ammo?”

Well the Stones didn’t show up and pretty much everyone cut after Michelle Obama’s speech. Again. Stephen Stills of CSNY and PoseBilly Porter, of Billy Porter, closed the first night of this unconventional convention with a new take on a classic tune – just like you do in the grand prix leagues.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74FvxjiIIfo



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