Wednesday, August 27, 2008
"SECURING AMERICA'S FUTURE"
Time shown as local – Denver, Colorado MST
Hour # 1 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM (LOCAL)
Call to Order
The Honorable Leticia Van de Putte
State Senator from Texas
Co-Chair, Democratic National Convention
Invocation
Archbishop Demetrios
Primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in America
Presentation of Colors
Colorado Chapter of the Veterans of Foreign Wars
Franz Wedeman, Thomas Chesner, David Shuker, John Harrington
Pledge of Allegiance
Paul Bucha
Ridgefield, Connecticut recipient of the Medal of Honor for distinguished service as a commanding officer in Vietnam
National Anthem
Robert Moore
Distinguished singer from South Dakota and elected council member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe
Presidential Nomination Process
The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
Speaker of the US House of Representatives
Permanent Chair, Democratic National Convention
This afternoon, just as the convention gavel was about to come down, I had a chance to sit down with Sen. Sherrod Brown for about five minutes. He had just finished a long series of interviews in sprawling Media Pavillion No. 4. There were no extra seats available inside, so I set up chairs in the shade of a tree just outside the pavillion. When Sen. Brown saw the chairs he joked that it made him think of the meeting of Churchill and Krushev at Yalta, and he wanted to know which one of us was to be which. Here is a transcription of our talk:
YDS: What is your short list of what needs to happen at this convention in order for Democrats to have their best short at winning in Ohio, and do you see any signs that those things are happening?
SB: I think if Michelle Obama shows the nation tonight how much she and Barack love their family, how much they love this country, and how Barack will fight for American values, fight for the middle class, I think the rest of the week will play into that. And that's especially important to making people feel comfortable with Barack Obama.
This is all about making people feel comfortable with someone they've not heard of before two years ago, someone who is of a different race than any serious presidential candidate in our nation's history, someone with a different kind of name. And so, it's a question of making people comfortable with him. As young Amerca is, and black America is, but some people of my race aren't.
The second thing is to show the sharp contrast between Barack Obama and John McCain, on everything from minimum wage, to the war in Iraq, to trade policy, to energy, to health care, to education, and I think that on every major issue the public agrees with Barack Obama and not with John McCain. I don't think people know John McCain well enough yet, and when they get to know and like Barack Obama more and more, this week and beyond, I think they're going to like John McCain less and less as the campaign goes on. Not McCain personally, perhaps, but John McCain as an elected official.
YDS: I have the impression that sometimes in the past Democrats have been hesitant to take the gloves off, frankly. In the 2004 convention it was intentionally a very positive program focusing on what the Democrats had to offer, and except for Rep. Charlie Rangel who kind of went off script there really wasn't much Bush-bashing. Do you think there will be more of a drawing a sharp contrast and some criticism going on in this convention?
SB: Well, I think 2006 showed that if you're positive and they attack you, and you continue to be positive and don't hit back, then you lose. I think what happened in my race in 2006 is pretty instructive. When Mike DeWine hit us with a negative ad in July, the first negative ad by an incumbent I think that year, and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee helped us hit back and then helped us make the contrast between DeWine and me, that works, and we won. It does several things, actually. It works, number one, and second it helps to educate voters. It shows "here's what we stand for, here's what they stand for."
I don't want to make it personal with John McCain, I want to make it all about the kind of elected official he's been, and his policies are an extension of Bush's policies, and his policies are a betrayal of the middle class. On allowing the drug companies to write the Medicare law, allowing the oil companies to dictate energy policy, allowing health insurance companies to write insurance legislation, allowing the big corporations to write job-killing trade agreements.
Continued after the break.
The DNC reports that Rep. Tom Udall will be speaking at the Dem Convention in Denver next Wednesday. Udall will join New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, who heads the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), and Maine Rep. Tom Allen, former New Hampshire Gov. Jeanne Shaheen and Oregon state House Speaker Jeff Merkley on the third night of the convention, which has a national security theme. The headline speech that evening will come from Obama's running mate, whoever that may be.
"As a proud Westerner and candidate for United States Senate, it is my honor to take part in this historic Convention for change," said Udall. "In my home state of New Mexico and around the nation, it's clear that voters will have a choice between leaders who will fight for our middle class and do what's right no matter what, or those who choose to stand for the same failed policies of the past."
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