DNC 2012: Obama’s crowd downsized by 50K
The Democrats’ decision Wednesday to move Obama’s acceptance address from the outdoor Bank of America Stadium to the indoor Time Warner Cable Arena means about 50,000 fewer people will be able to see the speech in person. Democrats said the move was due to weather and safety concerns: The Weather Channel is predicting a 30 percent chance of rain on Thursday night, with isolated thunderstorms.
But conservatives pounced, asserting the move had nothing to do with the weather and everything to do with Obama’s inability to fill Bank of America Stadium. The stadium, the home of the Carolina Panthers, has 73,778 seats. The arena, where the rest of the Democratic National Convention is taking place, has a maximum capacity of 20,200. Democrats said 65,000 people had tickets for the speech, and another 19,000 people were on the waiting list. Ticket-holders will instead get to participate in a conference call with the president on Thursday.
In 2008, Obama gave the acceptance address at Invesco Field in Denver in front of more than 80,000 people.
Probably a wise decision.
I wonder if this was a security decision, not a logistics decision.
It is so much easier to secure an indoor venue.
I think you’re beink kind. Empty seats would be disastrous.
The Christian Taliban says “.. God plans on thunderous lightening and rain against the atheist negro and his followers ..”
Peace, Dallas!
We knew he was black when we elected him.
What we didn’t know was that we were going to get W’s 3rd term plus Chicago style graft on a national level.
You are a fool if you don’t think we’d vote for MLK, Thomas Sowell or Walter E Williams if we ever got the chance. And with a high degree of confidence, I might add.
We don’t care if he’s black on the outside just so long as he’s not red on the inside.
So stop feeling sorry for yourself.
I have a real soft spot for Sowell and Williams…two great economists and modern thinkers.
Those two are great examples of what MLK wanted to see judged on their character (which they have lots of) versus the color of their skin.
Associating Obama with Bush is silly and only resonates with the ‘get out of Afganistan right now’ simpletons.
My only regret with Obama is that he chose to find compromise with the GOP when it was clear they weren’t interested after his first year.
Dallas, you should enjoy this. Proof positive that Democrats are your kind of people. My Jaw was left hanging: http://www.humanevents.com/2012/09/06/hey-lets-ban-corporate-profits/
What about 4 years ago, they were perfectly fine in Denver outdoors.
Like they wouldn’t have figured that out 2 months ago. They couldn’t fill it! Beck filled the Cowboys stadium for god’s sake.
If there weren’t enough tickets sold, if there was no waiting list, why wouldn’t countless right wing bloggers be saying so?
Does your conspiracy theory require every right wing blogger in the world to ignore your version of events in order for it to be remotely believable?
Seriously. If so, why no endless stream of people proving that the DNC lied about how many tickets were sold?
Your little hypothesis just got shot out of the water with a tiny amount of critical thinking. Look into getting an education, it might help you out.
Who thought the Kool-Aid’s effect would last 4 years?
The fact is that now people will vote for Obama because a Romney administration will be worst.
Do you want it bad or do you want it worst?
I’d like someone who knows the difference between worst and worse and the proper usage of both.
As for Obomba’s coronation it is empty seat fear, pure and simple.
Romney administration professes the same Regan principles that rescued us from WORSE economic situation than Obama have had inherited in same 4 years Obama had. So, why would it be worse? And please do not even try to mention Progressive Right Bush who did not cut size and spending of the Government and set up things for Progressive Left Obama. This crisis is Progressive Big Government crisis.
Those damn progressives.
First they freed the slaves.
Then they allowed women to vote and participate in the workplace and talk in church.
All of this in direct contradiction of the Holy Scriptures.
They keep progressing and progressing and progressing.
Orchidcup,
The progressives where the biggest proponent of Eugenics in the US. They supported the KKK, forced castration of minorities, and invited Hitler to speak in the US regarding suppression of minorities. The founder of planned parenthood even spoke at KKK rallies championing abortion and other reproductive restrictions on minorities.
If you want to be accurate, the majority of the founders of the NAACP were white Republicans.
Might want to get your facts straight first.
The label “progressive” means different things to different people as we move through history.
In a progressive country change is constant; change is inevitable.
— Benjamin Disraeli
Rolls eyes
You aren’t going to like this but it was the Christians that freed the slaves. They had the silly idea that all people are God’s children and worthy of freedom and fair treatment. It took them something like a thousand years to get as far as they did but I think things are going into reverse now.
It was the progressives that gave you Castro, Mao, Linen, Po Pot, the nice lady running Argentina, and a rather long list of other notables.
orchidcup is the newest asshat on this blog, welcome. I hope you enjoy your life of illusion and having no idea what the real life world is like.
Fuck parties.
We 99%ers would be better off picking names out of a hat every four years.
As it is, we’re just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic while the 1%ers are sailing off on lifeboats owned by the oligarchs.
You are right. Parties should be illegal. And no politician should be able to take a dime from any lobby.
The biggest thing missing from our constitution is a clause making parties illegal.
You don’t like having a freedom of association with like-minded people?
#Eastwooding is easier to prevent, if you have 50,000 less seats.
Watch for it: none of the pool cameras will show wide angle shots, that would include the back row/cheap seats.
Count on it.
That deception would be easily exposed. Only a total numbskull would imagine it could be believed. All those press, all the people involved, hundreds to thousands of people would need to be part of a vast conspiracy to hide how many people were in a building.
Classic paranoid personality traits you have. Please stay on your meds.
1. Who knows? The pukes don’t in what is only a kneejerk response regardless of what the truth is.
2. Who cares? No one should. Speeches are a form of talk. Talk is cheap.
3. Its down to 4% of the electorate in 8 states. Thats what this entire show is about from now to the miserable end. Polling puts the election at 48 to 48 with 4% undecided. They are the only ones that count in states that don’t swing reliably one way or the other.
4. I simply can’t imagine the country so evenly divided between shit and shinola.
Silly Hoomans.
Yeah, you pretty much said it.
I pretty much checked out on these pageants anyway.
It was said before that Politics is Hollywood for actors that are ugly.
I’m ready for that 4% in 8 states to just make up its damn mine so all this is no longer the topic of conversation.
Don’t kid yourself. Perception to a nationwide audience matters. 50k empty seats doesn’t bode well regardless of anything else.
Bobbo, it will be an interesting 8 weeks.
If you look at this:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2012/president/2012_elections_electoral_college_map.html
The electoral map has shifted from being largely blue back in April and even in June, to where even some previously “reasonably safe Obama states” have become on the verge of toss-ups.
Wisconsin, Michigan, Nevada, as examples. Missouri went from toss-up to +13 Romney. That Akin guy might even win his Senate election.
The conventions don’t matter much, although the Eastwood routine was funny.
It’ll all be the debates, plus any bags of tricks either side has (Obama has the advantage).
And I’ve been saying for months, I suspect Obama may “throw” the election because I don’t get the vibe that either he or his wife enjoy the stresses of the presidency.
Now, for a moment, humor the idea that he may “throw” the election … what would he be doing right now in preparation to establish a legacy?
Answer: Change the platform, establish a new course for the Democratic Party. And you see a lot of evidence of this —
More pro-intellectual class, gay rights, the executive order on immigrants age 15-30, removing religious references from the platform, eliminating support for Israel, shifting the emphasis of the party from blue collar union to government employees union and academia.
HMyers being quite provocative challenges: “Now, for a moment, humor the idea that he may “throw” the election … what would he be doing right now in preparation to establish a legacy?” /// Ok. For a one term Pres to throw an election I would think he doesn’t care about his legacy. So…he’d be thinking about what he “really” wants to do with the rest of his life…. FOR himself. Few people are so self actualized, even fewer are politicians, even fewer again first term anything.
The question is unreal/extreme. Closer to the mark: could Obama not really care if he gets re-elected and he’s just going thru the motions? He sure does act like it too much of the time==willing to compromise with people he should be taking to task.
If he were that disinterested by whatever extent above, I think he has the intellectual isolation to give up the office by selecting Biden or Hilary to run instead of himself. Wouldn’t that be cool?
He’s not doing that, so while he may not like arguing and fighting with people, he wants his second term. I hope he changes and acts more like a regular pol==more like the Pukes== the other side being the enemy. They aren’t or shouldn’t be until the act like it.
Just like the Pukes have done.
If he would have got Hillary, I have little doubt he would easily be re-elected. Getting 3-4% percent more would be a lock.
I’m curious as to whether or not he tried and whether or not she declined.
Btw … I do not like Obama and Hillary like each other. I think he appointed her by political necessity. I think the idea of handing off the presidency to her would have been out-of-the-question plus he absolutely does not want written in the history books as a “quitter”.
She certainly has done Secretary of State very well.
A hand-off to Biden? Well, I’m not certain most people think Biden is electable. Biden does the likable oaf routine well enough, which is good enough for VP.
I think your assessment is correct on both counts. Not every hypothetical gives happy answers?
Obama–a weird (silent/reserved) duck. His bio in retirement will be an interesting read. More a policy guy somewhat removed from the politics?===Not what his community organizing years would suggest BUT, I think interestingly, he was contracted to do a book on the history of race relations and race law development and it turned into his autobiography “Dreams of My Father.” The Presidency of the USA may be just such a stimulus to some other self actualized itch in Obama.
Movie stars are often asked if you had to chose some other career, what would it have been? Lots of answers. My own would be close/but different from what I did. Same skill set, different application.
I do wonder what Obama would really, really, I mean really like to do?
Its the story within each one of us.
I don’t really know. Deep down, I think he stuck to a conformist line and we never saw the “true Obama” who acted on his gut instinct.
But that is what everyone wanted.
I wish it were a slam on the Banksters of America.
ROFLMAO.
I’m super excited to hear Bill Clinton speak tonight. Don’t lie, most of you are too!
Ideally, we open up with a huge prayer to God for guidance and that Jerusalem will immediately be the capital of Israel.
If the Democrats had any sense, they have James Carville have a speaking slot too.
I also like Carville, although his selection in spouses leaves me totally perplexed. A wifey who disagrees from time to time is only to be expected. Not the same thing as being a totally worthless puke.
I think Clinton was much better than his opposition, and I don’t care that he used Monaca, but lying about it point blank and excessively as he did is beyond my tolerance. I think Carville would have said: “Yeah I did, what ya gonna do about it?”
Imagine politicians acting like they were Gov Christie? Aren’t enough of them. His fat puke ass should be voted out of office, but I do kinda like him.
Well, Bobbo +2500.
I agree with everything you said.
Add: I don’t know anything about Carville’s wife. And I don’t know anything about NJ’s governor except what I see from time to time on TV (he does seem like someone who “got things done”).
I was agreeing with Clinton/clean slate thing. He could have been straight about it and have been in a special league of candid politicians.
And while I don’t know anything about Carville’s wife (wives) … he gives off a candor of unedited “how it really is” we haven’t seen in maybe a decade.
Something lacking in these scripted “shows”.
Carville’s wife is a Conservative commentator. She’ll cancel out his vote for President.
Yeah, good old Clinton, now there is a real statesman. I wonder if he’ll use this line again.
“Bill Clinton, in an effort to secure an endorsement for Hillary from Ted Kennedy, said to Kennedy, “A few years ago, this guy would have been carrying our bags.” ”
Read more http://newyorker.com/reporting/2012/09/10/120910fa_fact_lizza#ixzz25dVcosWL
http://newyorker.com/reporting/2012/09/10/120910fa_fact_lizza?currentPage=2
Totally false. According to Ed Klein, he said, A few years ago this guy would be getting us coffee. I hope Bill Clinton corrects this slander on his reputation
Sorry, but the distinction is lost on me. But perhaps you were being facetious.
Nope. You are making up stories and acting all huffy when your lies get exposed.
Younger politicians and businessmen get coffee for more experienced people all the time. Carry their bags? You know the difference but have to pretend you don’t. Your pretense is simply not believable. By telling obvious lies you gut your credibility and by extension that of the party you support.
Smarten up. At least put in some effort. Halfassed poorly thought out lies aren’t getting the GOP elected.
I remember taking my youngest son to his first baseball game and trying to explain the tarps covering the cheap seats.
So the fix was supposedly in on Ron Paul and the rules changes at RNC. What about the DNC platform changes the leaders put in? They definitely do not have 2/3 vote as required, and yet the leadership simply gaveled the issue as passed.
Think the delegates will go back home with their heads held high and say that they are a member of the Democratic Party?
Are you talking to yourself over the internet?
Ok, apparently they booed God at the Democratic National Convention.
Another great clip for a TV commercial.
Not exactly. They were booing the idea that declaring Jerusalem as the capital of Israel should be part of their party platform.
“The majority spoke last night,” said Angela Urrea, a delegate from Roy, Utah. “We shouldn’t be declaring Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.”
The Republicans spin it into “booing God.”
I agree with the Democrats on this issue.
Neither party should be involved in declaring the capital of another country. Let Israel make that declaration.
“We shouldn’t be declaring Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.”
Seriously, I had no idea this was an issue. And I am a little perplexed as to why anyone would care.
Jewish voters care immensely about that.
If you say that Jerusalem isn’t the capital of Israel, you are saying Israel has no claim to Jerusalem (since it is the official capital of Israel).
More or less, if the platform removes the acknowledgement of Israel’s capital, it is a land and rights concession to Palestine and an insult to Israel in their eyes.
Israel has declared Jerusalem the capital. Yet the Democrats are ignoring reality. really the Republicans are too in refusing to set up an embassy there.
In refusing to declare Jerusalem the capital, you are essentially declaring that Israel is not a legitimate country.
If you are not declaring Jerusalem the capital of Israel, you are booing God, in at least 2 religions. The Koran says Israel belongs to the Jews.
I live about 60 miles from Charlotte and I can tell you that any summer and early fall afternoon or evening is a crapshoot for thunderstorms. Many a time I could be on one side of town in a real downpour and have sunny skies when I arrive home 3 miles away. Or we could have a real heavy lightning storm that jiggles the power 3 or 4 times, while my brother 12 miles away spends the whole evening dry while working in his garden.
The only place I’ve seen that has more “isolated” thunderstorms is central Florida.
30,000 people gathered in a stadium who hate Israel. Oh boy.
I did not see any indication that anyone hates Israel.
They were simply determining whether their political party should be involved in declaring Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Let Israel make that declaration. We would not want the Israelis telling us what city should be our capital.
The Israelis have made that declaration, and have done so for thousands of years, back when it was still known as Palestine. The basis for booing is based on the hatred of Jews by a significant portion of the Democratic Party, especially the Left wingers who get selected as delegates.
2008 Democratic platform:
The United States and its Quartet partners should continue to isolate Hamas until it renounces terrorism, recognizes Israel’s right to exist, and abides by past agreements. …The creation of a Palestinian state through final status negotiations, together with an international compensation mechanism, should resolve the issue of Palestinian refugees by allowing them to settle there, rather than in Israel. All understand that it is unrealistic to expect the outcome of final status negotiations to be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949. Jerusalem is and will remain the capital of Israel.
In 2012:
Israel’s security. A strong and secure Israel is vital to the United States not simply because we share strategic interests, but also because we share common values. For this reason, despite budgetary constraints, the President has worked with Congress to increase security assistance to Israel every single year since taking office, providing nearly $10 billion in the past three years. The administration has also worked to ensure Israel’s qualitative military edge in the region. And we have deepened defense cooperation—including funding the Iron Dome system—to help Israel address its most pressing threats, including the growing danger posed by rockets and missiles emanating from the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Syria, and Iran. The President’s consistent support for Israel’s right to defend itself and his steadfast opposition to any attempt to delegitimize Israel on the world stage are further evidence of our enduring commitment to Israel’s security.
It is precisely because of this commitment that President Obama and the Democratic Party seek peace between Israelis and Palestinians. A just and lasting Israeli-Palestinian accord, producing two states for two peoples, would contribute to regional stability and help sustain Israel’s identity as a Jewish and democratic state. At the same time, the President has made clear that there will be no lasting peace unless Israel’s security concerns are met. President Obama will continue to press Arab states to reach out to Israel. We will continue to support Israel’s peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, which have been pillars of peace and stability in the region for many years. And even as the President and the Democratic Party continue to encourage all parties to be resolute in the pursuit of peace, we will insist that any Palestinian partner must recognize Israel’s right to exist, reject violence, and adhere to existing agreements.
Later they added back the lines on Jerusalem, but confusingly in a later paragraph on Iran.
It serves Newf’s purposes to tell shallow and easily exposed lies. That is the only conclusion I can come to. Assuming he has a modicum of intelligence he would be able to craft far superior lies. Even an average person could. The only logical explanation is that he is knowingly telling lies that are obvious and easily debunked in order to make right wing commenters on the internet all look like idiots.
It’s inescapable.
Schoolchildren who had free tickets are no longer invited to the event. More promises broken.
And many volunteers for the Obama campaign are also SOL.
They were discussing that this afternoon on the POTUS channel on SiriusXM satellite radio. They were wondering which is worse, the optics of empty seats at the President’s acceptance speech or dumping on a lot of volunteers and others hoping to see the him. If weather wasn’t the real reason, then we know the answer.
So I have been watching the DNC, and I’ve come to the conclusion that they are going to nominate Obama to run for a second term.
I’m taking bets…anyone in?
I wouldn’t be adverse to laying some money on “Anybody but Biden”.
Ha, ha. I”m in love with Clinton all over again. He really is our first black president: “Do NOT double down on trickle down.”
Called the Puke’s out on their program of 100% lies and disinformation.
Just look!
He us quite amazing. I agree. That was a great speech.
I’m not far from Arkansas and plan a day trip to Clinton library.
He was good…for 20 minutes, then he was giving Eastwood a run for the money. But hey, they’re both gettin’ old. Give em a break.
I only caught the last 20 minutes. It was SUBSTANTIVE with the “I feel your pain” empathy.
“The Republicans destroyed the economy and are now criticizing Obama for not fixing it fast enough and want back in to do it again.”
Truth.
Yeah well, it wasn’t the last 20, it was the first, after that it sounded like his meds wore off. The spittle on his lip wasn’t helping either.
Or maybe it was my old TV…it is a Philco.
That monstrosity does remind me of a mobile home on stilts.
You can take the boy out of Arkansas, but ……..
What really would have been funny, if he had an empty suit sitting next to him…
Man, that would have killed!
Well…perhaps to that point, it was “in character” that as Obama and Clinton were leaving the stage are to backstage, Clinton couldn’t be torn away from saying hello to people while Obama just walk away as if on a bad date.
Ha, ha. Maybe we’re Nuking Iran?
Clinton lied about Medicare reform, lied about welfare reform, with the same sincerity with which he said ‘I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.’
Most of his speech was not about Obama, but about Clinton and Bush. The best praise of Obama was saying Biden helped end the war in Iraq. Then he talked about the debt and the Simpson-Bowles Commission, gave all those policy details, and all he had to say about Obama’s plans was he would cut the debt. Mentions that Bush doubled the national debt, without mentioning that Obama doubled it again, which would have been a tripling from when Clinton was president.
I think he enjoyed making Obama stand out there waiting to appear on stage with him.
So tell us Honey Boo Boo===what specific lie did Clinton tell about Medicare?
Oh===don’t respond to “me”==let all the good readers know what lie Clinton told?
Your absence of a response will tell us all we need to know about the only platform the Republicans can run on: lie, lie, lie.
A change from earlier years where they only mostly lied.
ha, ha. Still pukes. Even their stooges look silly.
Cite your sources, incompetent liar. Quote the words you think are untrue and cite sources that expose those words are false. Simple stuff. Grade school kids could do it, why can’t you?
Makes for a better action sequence
But Rahm Emanuel said when Obama arrives, rain stops.
Many diverse views but I think the DNC has really trashed this convention. You have to be a brain dead Jew and very indifferent Christian not to have gotten the message from what was left out, the three votes, and what got put back in after not being voted back in.
The people running the DNC are pro Hamas and anti Jewish state and they are anti theists/Christians though Muslims are welcome. That having to deal with these observations is a self inflected wound by the secular progressives running the DNC is passing strange.
Don’t worry. After the convention causes the public to support the Democrats even less(but Bill Clinton more!), David Axelrod will return to haranguing the pollsters to show good numbers. Gallup didn’t go along with it, and now Eric Holder has joined DOJ in an a lawsuit against the company, as of Aug 22,2012.
I formally requested tickets to attend the event though proper channels and heard nothing back – the DNC has as many spectators for the event as they feel they need or can handle.
Considering the DNC’s insistence on having strict quotas for various demographic categories to show their diversity, I’m guessing they were just short a few people in one of the labeled buckets.
A massive downpour right now here in Charlotte. And the forecast is taking turn for the worst. Looks like the right weather call was made
Per a tweet by Chuck Todd NBC news.
http://evjunction.com/node/1641