Republican Convention Day 1: security, Melania and marines

[slipperylobster]

Melania Trump: From Small-Town Slovenia to Doorstep of White House

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/19/us/politics/melania-trump-slovenia.html

You've come a long way Baby!

..and none the worse for wear.

[mcfish]

Melania Trump: From Small-Town Slovenia to Doorstep of White House

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/19/us/politics/melania-trump-slovenia.html

You've come a long way Baby!

And of course she married him for his youth, extreme good looks, winning personality and most certainly that wonderful hairstyle. I wonder if she would have married Joe the plumber?

And of course Thai woman lust after year leo beer gut and shiny bald head

[Traveler19491]

So let me see...you've got the last two Republican Presidents refusing to attend and refusing to endorse their party's nominee, the governor of the "host" state absent, the last two Republican Presidential nominees bowing out, the Chair of the convention (Paul Ryan), when asked if he considers the nominee to be a conservative, stating, "You have to define conservative. He's not my kind of conservative", a sitting Republican Senator announcing that he's not attending the convention because he's going to "watch some dumpster fires" (Ben Sasse), another Senator can't come because he has to "mow my lawn" (Jeff Flake), one of the Senators from Montana chooses to go fly fishing rather than support his party's offering, numerous past corporate sponsors refusing to help fund this circus, and over eight members of the House and Senate have opted to take taxpayer-funded overseas trips rather than risk being contaminated at the convention.

Dear Don: Just a quick note to say "Thanks" in advance for turning handing the Democrats the Oval Office for the third consecutive time. A very rare occurrence! And for turning the Senate blue again. Oh, and while I'm at it...one small request. Could you keep making those delightfully fact-free, mindlessly ignorant, and stomach-turning bigoted statements you're so famous for (You are to be commended for helping the GOP garner the lowest ratings from African Americans since the advent of political polling!)? It'd be a huge help in getting the House back to the DNC also. Many thanks!

Yes, this is one YUUUUUGE demonstration of party unity.

So you are saying that with previous Republican conventions no senators opted out of attending, or are you just trying to take a normal occurrence out of its context just to make your point.

I rather imagine that a few Senators opted out of their party's convention in the past...for genuinely legitimate reasons. It would be interesting, however, to see how many opted out to mow their lawn or watch dumpster fires. Additionally, I do believe that this is the first time in political history that ALL of the still surviving Presidents AND prior nominees of either party have chosen not to attend, even though all are in good health and still active in their party, nor to endorse their party's candidate. I also suspect that this is the first convention at which so many party stalwarts are "supporting" their nominee while holding their noses, like Rick Perry who previously called Trump a "cancer" and a "barking carnival act".

[stevenl]

So let me see...you've got the last two Republican Presidents refusing to attend and refusing to endorse their party's nominee, the governor of the "host" state absent, the last two Republican Presidential nominees bowing out, the Chair of the convention (Paul Ryan), when asked if he considers the nominee to be a conservative, stating, "You have to define conservative. He's not my kind of conservative", a sitting Republican Senator announcing that he's not attending the convention because he's going to "watch some dumpster fires" (Ben Sasse), another Senator can't come because he has to "mow my lawn" (Jeff Flake), one of the Senators from Montana chooses to go fly fishing rather than support his party's offering, numerous past corporate sponsors refusing to help fund this circus, and over eight members of the House and Senate have opted to take taxpayer-funded overseas trips rather than risk being contaminated at the convention.

Dear Don: Just a quick note to say "Thanks" in advance for turning handing the Democrats the Oval Office for the third consecutive time. A very rare occurrence! And for turning the Senate blue again. Oh, and while I'm at it...one small request. Could you keep making those delightfully fact-free, mindlessly ignorant, and stomach-turning bigoted statements you're so famous for (You are to be commended for helping the GOP garner the lowest ratings from African Americans since the advent of political polling!)? It'd be a huge help in getting the House back to the DNC also. Many thanks!

Yes, this is one YUUUUUGE demonstration of party unity.

So you are saying that with previous Republican conventions no senators opted out of attending, or are you just trying to take a normal occurrence out of its context just to make your point.

A normal occurrence?

[stevenl]

Melania Trump: From Small-Town Slovenia to Doorstep of White House

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/19/us/politics/melania-trump-slovenia.html

You've come a long way Baby!

..and none the worse for wear.

That's because of his small hands.

[Gulfsailor]

Melania Trump: From Small-Town Slovenia to Doorstep of White House

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/19/us/politics/melania-trump-slovenia.html

You've come a long way Baby!

..and none the worse for wear.

And what a great speech she gave. Too bad it wasn't hers.

https://mobile.twitter.com/intlspectator/status/755272435742584832/video/1

[freebyrd]

Melania Trump: From Small-Town Slovenia to Doorstep of White House

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/19/us/politics/melania-trump-slovenia.html

You've come a long way Baby!

And of course she married him for his youth, extreme good looks, winning personality and most certainly that wonderful hairstyle. I wonder if she would have married Joe the plumber?

And of course Thai woman lust after year leo beer gut and shiny bald head

I don't live in Thailand, my wife isn't Thai, I don't drink and I still have most of my hair. Oh and I don't and never did have a fortune for her to have married me for .

[Guest]

Republicans offer so much fun for the rest of us.

There was even a 'Rick roll' part on Melanie's speech.

What comes next, probably: Donald will say that his wife was attacked from inside and he'll give up the presidential race.

Edited July 19, 2016 by Guest

[iReason]

^^^

Too good.

The Clown Train are now officially plagiarists.

Of their opposition.

Cringeworthy...

[thaihome]

Nate Silver's (from five thirty eight) take of day one:

A very heavy dose of cultural resentment, being willing to go to a very dark place, leavened by occasional touches of humanity. No pretense of policy substance hes not appealing to the rational parts of peoples brains, and hes proud of it. How it all adds up, I dont really know Im not the intended audience for these speeches.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/live-blog/gop-convention-day-one/

Sums it up well for me...

TH

[Jingthing]

What kind of cruddy prenuptial agreement did she have to sign to marry the Donald ... ???

I detest trump. He's a total fascist. He hasn't read a book in decades. His attention span is in minutes. He does get "information" from conspiracy theory websites though, as you would expect from the RACIST leader of the "birther" movement.

trump as president really IS dangerous.

It says some really bad stuff about the USA that trump is even getting as close as he is. But it's not too late to block this insanity.

Melania as first lady, a high end trophy wife that he'll dump later as he always does, is a minor consideration. trump as president would already be vomitous. She would just be icing on the vomit cake.

Edited July 19, 2016 by Jingthing

[iReason]

BREAKING: Delegates Walk Off RNC Convention Floor After Rules Adopted

"All delegates from the Iowa and Colorado delegations have walked off the RNC convention floor after rules were adopted without a floor vote,

defeating the last remaining anti-Trump effort.

"Thousands of signatures were submitted by 11 different delegations to force a floor vote, but were not considered."

"Shortly after the rules were adopted the Chair left the stage, leaving it empty for a number of minutes."

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2016/07/18/breaking-delegates-walk-off-the-rnc-convention-floor-after-rules-adopted-n2194358

Fear and Loathing.

Chaos in Cleveland.

Edited July 19, 2016 by iReason

[Jingthing]

Nate Silver's (from five thirty eight) take of day one:

A very heavy dose of cultural resentment, being willing to go to a very dark place, leavened by occasional touches of humanity. No pretense of policy substance hes not appealing to the rational parts of peoples brains, and hes proud of it. How it all adds up, I dont really know Im not the intended audience for these speeches.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/live-blog/gop-convention-day-one/

Sums it up well for me...

TH

Yes, trump is trying (fairly successfully so far) to HYPNOTIZE the American people in a similar way as other historical fascist demagogues have done before. Indeed, it has nothing to do with rationality or intellect.

[Usernames]

^^^

Too good.

The Clown Train are now officially plagiarists.

Of their opposition.

Cringeworthy...

You mean like Joe Biden and his "biography" that was lifted word by word from Neil Kinnock's?

[Guest]

The real author of the Art of the Deal, who knows Trump well, says that he is terrified if Trump would become the president.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/tony-schwartz-author-donald-trumps-art-deal-trump/story?id=40662196

[stevenl]

^^^

Too good.

The Clown Train are now officially plagiarists.

Of their opposition.

Cringeworthy...

You mean like Joe Biden and his "biography" that was lifted word by word from Neil Kinnock's?

Nice try, no cigar.

[iReason]

The Clown Train: Off to a blazing start.

Melania Trump accused of plagiarising Michelle Obama in convention speech

"Donald Trump's wife, Melania, has taken centre stage on the first day of the Republican National Convention but,

faced accusations a portion of her speech plagiarised Michelle Obama."

"Commentators noticed similarities with Mrs Obama's 2008 convention speech."

http://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-36832095

Lovin' it.

[Katipo]

This is just hilarious. Someone was surely trolling the Trump's big time. it's being reported world wide:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/20/us/politics/melania-trump-speech.html

Her speech is an almost word-for-word knock off of Michelle Obama's 2008 speech.

[Jingthing]

She's not dumb just because she's pretty, of course. Personally I find her style of beauty to be kind of CREEPY ... probably would have paired up better with Ted Cruz.

[Jingthing]

This is just hilarious. Someone was surely trolling the Trump's big time. it's being reported world wide:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/20/us/politics/melania-trump-speech.html

Her speech is an almost word-for-word knock off of Michelle Obama's 2008 speech.

Yes, I wonder how that happened.

Of course, she's lying about writing the speech herself. That's a given.

This isn't going to be a big issue though.

We're not electing her to office. She'll be the old fashioned style first lady if trump wins anyway. She is pretty (if you like that "too perfect" look) but I don't see her as either a positive or negative for votes.

Unlike Michelle. I think she really helped Obama get more votes.

Edited July 19, 2016 by Jingthing

[keemapoot]

Here's the summary on Donald Trump's VERY WHITE Convention:

Of the 71 prime-time speakers who are expected to take the podium over the course of the four-day convention here, more than 80 percent are white, according to a POLITICO analysis. Perhaps most striking, only seven of the speakers are black and just three are Latino. Women compose one-third of the speaking slots.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/donald-trump-diversity-convention-225742#ixzz4Eq3GoMek
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook

And, this was after The GOP’s post-2012 autopsy reached a bold conclusion: If the party wanted to survive, it needed to make inroads among the Hispanic, black and female voters who were convinced the party had deserted them.

No mistake at all about who Trump is targeting, proven at the convention and on this board.

[iReason]

Add breaking Copyright Laws; Infringement to the plagiarism by the shameless Bloviator.

Rollin', rollin', rollin', keep that Clown Train rollin'...

Trump Defies Brian May by Using ‘We Are the Champions’ as RNC Walkout Song

GOP presumptive nominee ignores Queen guitarist’s previous request not to use the classic track

"Donald Trump added insult to injury on Monday night when he walked out on stage to Queen’s classic rock hit,

“We Are the Champions” at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio."

"The defiant move came after the band’s guitarist, Brian May,

had made a public statement last month asking the GOP presumptive nominee not to use the 1977 hit for his political campaign."

http://www.thewrap.com/trump-defies-brian-mays-ban-by-using-we-are-the-champions-as-rnc-walkout-song/

Queen’s Brian May Has Already Warned Donald Trump Not to Use “We Are the Champions”– But He Used It Anyway

"Queen’s Brian May has already addressed Donald Trump’s use of “We Are the Champions.”

"He wrote about it on his website on June 8th, after our old pal Martin Lewis tipped off Queen’s manager Jim Beach:"

“I’ve had an avalanche of complaints, some of which you can see in our ‘LETTERS’ page about Donald Trump using our We Are The Champions track as his ‘theme’ song on USA TV."

http://www.showbiz411.com/2016/07/18/queens-brian-may-has-already-warned-donald-trump-not-to-use-we-are-the-champions

Permission to use the track was neither sought nor given.

[Thaidream]

The Republican Convention is just a short pause before the real fun begins. Donald Trump is going to be the worst candidate ever picked to run for President. He will bring down the rest of the Republicans who re running for the house and senate. The result will be a complete Democratic sweep. Why do you think that none of the Top Republican leaders want anything to do with Trump and his followers. The man is not qualified to be President. He has no plan; no depth; and a lack of leadership.

Wait until the Clinton political machine starts in on him. This election is going to be divisive at a time when America needs to be united. While Hillary Clinton is not a good choice for President- she will win because Donald Trump would be a disaster. When it's over everyone will understand why Bernie Sanders was supported by those who want a real change in America.

[Jingthing]

The Republican Convention is just a short pause before the real fun begins. Donald Trump is going to be the worst candidate ever picked to run for President. He will bring down the rest of the Republicans who re running for the house and senate. The result will be a complete Democratic sweep. Why do you think that none of the Top Republican leaders want anything to do with Trump and his followers. The man is not qualified to be President. He has no plan; no depth; and a lack of leadership.

Wait until the Clinton political machine starts in on him. This election is going to be divisive at a time when America needs to be united. While Hillary Clinton is not a good choice for President- she will win because Donald Trump would be a disaster. When it's over everyone will understand why Bernie Sanders was supported by those who want a real change in America.

Agreed mostly except for your very low view of Hillary, but normally candidates get a convention bump.

The consensus polls now show Hillary about 4 points ahead, so in a normal election year, you might expect like a 10 point bump after the convention. Then the democrats have a chance to get a big bump in their convention.

Personally I don't believe trump will get that big a bump because he is such a ROTTEN product and his supporters are already baked in ... but that will be really interesting to watch for. If he's not significantly ahead after this convention, that would be HUGE news (as trump likes to say).

Edited July 19, 2016 by Jingthing

[elgordo38]

Melania is a very attractive seemingly intelligent women. But at the end of the day she is an eastern European ex model 3rd trophy wife some 35 years younger then Trump.

One of the prime reasons Rockefeller was deemed unfit for the nomination in 1964 by the conservative base was due to his divorce. Reagan's single divorce was overlooked in 1980 after a carefully managed PR campaign. Now we have this.

For the self declared party of "family values" and wishing to return to the "Happy Days" time to cheer her is the prime example of the hypocrisy of the current republican party.

TH

Its funny how close her speech mimicked one give by Michele Obama at one of the Democratic conventions. Hmm just another good looking airhead???

[stevenl]

Melania is a very attractive seemingly intelligent women. But at the end of the day she is an eastern European ex model 3rd trophy wife some 35 years younger then Trump.

One of the prime reasons Rockefeller was deemed unfit for the nomination in 1964 by the conservative base was due to his divorce. Reagan's single divorce was overlooked in 1980 after a carefully managed PR campaign. Now we have this.

For the self declared party of "family values" and wishing to return to the "Happy Days" time to cheer her is the prime example of the hypocrisy of the current republican party.

TH

Its funny how close her speech mimicked one give by Michele Obama at one of the Democratic conventions. Hmm just another good looking airhead???

Can not be, she wrote the speech herself.

[phuketandsee]

I think she was set up. This could not have been an accident. Someone on the inside (or recently on the inside) is trying to derail Trump's campaign.

[Jingthing]

I think she was set up. This could not have been an accident. Someone on the inside (or recently on the inside) is trying to derail Trump's campaign.

Of course. With trump and trump supporters, everything is a conspiracy. He's the conspiracy theory candidate (birthers, Obama works for ISIS, etc.). Let's not have a conspiracy theory president.

[sujoop]

Nate Silver's (from five thirty eight) take of day one:

A very heavy dose of cultural resentment, being willing to go to a very dark place, leavened by occasional touches of humanity. No pretense of policy substance hes not appealing to the rational parts of peoples brains, and hes proud of it. How it all adds up, I dont really know Im not the intended audience for these speeches.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/live-blog/gop-convention-day-one/

Sums it up well for me...

TH

Yes, trump is trying (fairly successfully so far) to HYPNOTIZE the American people in a similar way as other historical fascist demagogues have done before. Indeed, it has nothing to do with rationality or intellect.

Sadly, stirring up those lacking in rationality or intellect appears to be the base strategy. As in Britain, unfortunately do not underestimate the stoked-up (or in this case 'Trumped-up') levels of manipulated fear and ignorance there is in the USA at present. If just enough to push the rust belt states over the line this would equate to a win for Trump (and a very dangerous one for the US -and the rest of US...)

Edited July 19, 2016 by sujoop

[dunroaming]

I find it encouraging that the Obama's are writing the Trumps speeches. I am told that Mr Trumps next speech will start with the words "I have a dream..."

I love the video synced clip showing Mrs O and Mrs T delivering the same words in the same format. Somehow it didn't sound the same from Mrs T, the daughter of a Slovenian communist party member. But Hey! You can't blame the children for the sins of their fathers. I am sure that Donald has the greatest respect for his father-in-law.

If there is anyone out there who isn't enjoying this particular circus then please tune in. It is fabulous and such a much needed escape from what's happening in the real world. More popcorn over here please!!