The DNC Convention

Since we had a thread for the Republican Convention, figured we could use one for the Dems.

Georgia DNC Delegate: America Isn‘t Socialist Because Whites Don’t Want to Help People With ‘Dark Skin’

September 6, 2012

TheBlaze has been out in force at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, speaking to delegates from around the country about hot-button issues such as health care, the economy, women’s rights and even Socialism.

While the responses we received ranged from restrained to outright vitriolic, one conversation stood out perhaps more than any other due to the delegate’s outrageous claim that the reason the U.S. is not a fully-fledged Socialist nation is because of whites and their attitudes toward blacks — mainly, they don’t want to help people with “dark skin.”

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Christy Fisher, a delegate from Georgia, opened the discussion by exclaiming that Socialism, or at least the way it’s used by conservatives, is “a joke” and that nobody even knows “what the word means.” She then went on to assert that the world’s “Socialist countries are doing the best.”

So why hasn’t America fully embraced Socialism? According to Fisher it‘s because there’s a section of our population that does not want African Americans “to do well.” Later on she said that white people (like her great, great, great grandfather who “had slaves”) “are so afraid to help those less fortunate“ and that ”we as a society have been that selfish.”

In fact, Fisher even said the term “balanced budget” is conservative code for cutting social programs “that help these people with dark skin, who are not like us,” and added that all successful, Socialist countries are countries comprising “one race” (presumably because they don‘t have to worry about one sector of society being so racist that they don’t want to help another sector).

“Unfortunately we’re not all liberal Democrats,” she concluded.

Watch the clip below:

Benita Veliz Becomes First Undocument Immigrant Illegal Alien to Address Party Convention

Immigration Overhaul Is a Question of When, Not If, DNC Panel Concludes

September 5, 2012

“It’s not if, it’s when,” Rep. Xavier Becerra told ABC News’ Jake Tapper in response to a question about passing immigration overhaul. “It makes no difference if it’s a Democrat in the White House or a Republican, we’re going to get immigration reform.”

Becerra of California was one of several Hispanic leaders who joined Tapper, National Journal’s Ron Brownstein and Univision’s Maria Elena Salinas at today’s panel event in Charlotte, N.C., titled “Tomorrow’s America: The Hispanic Surge and the New Landscape in American Politics.”

The other speakers at the event were Los Angeles Mayor and DNCC Chairman Antonio Villaraigosa, Frank Sharry, the founder of America’s Voice, National Council of La Raza President Janet Murguia and San Antonio Mayor and DNC keynoter Julian Castro.

Villaraigosa agreed with Becerra’s take on the issue, saying on immigration, “They [Republicans] will do it because they have to.”

As a candidate in 2008, Barack Obama promised to pass new immigration legislation: It’s a promise that has so far not been kept, although the president announced in July an executive order to stop the deportations of many young, illegal immigrants who came to the country as children.

While Castro, Villaraigosa and Becerra were careful not to criticize Obama for not passing immigration legislation this term, Sharry did not mince words about the president’s lack of follow-through in this area.

“Barack Obama mishandled this issue,” Sharry said. “Let’s be honest, let’s give the ‘dreamers ‘the credit they deserve in forcing him into action. It wasn’t a good idea that came from the White House. It was an inevitable idea that came from the grassroots.”

Sharry said that, ultimately, Obama’s failure to push through a comprehensive immigration bill would not cause him to lose the Hispanic vote, because Romney’s policies in comparison are more troubling to many Latino voters.

“The Latino voter who cares about immigration has a choice now between someone who didn’t keep his promises, but who put some skin in the game at a tough moment, and a candidate who wants to veto the Dream Act,” he said. “The contrast couldn’t be clearer. … People are disappointed in Obama, but terrified of Romney.”

Latino voters are a fast-growing demographic - a young Hispanic turns 18 every 30 seconds – and both Republicans and Democrats are trying hard to court them. Obama enjoys a strong lead in the polls with Hispanic, which Castro highlighted. “The issue is the policies, that’s why Obama is leading 75 percent to 25 percent in polls among Hispanics,” Castro said.

But Republicans do hold one advantage that was highlighted on the panel: There are more Republicans elected to high-level, statewide offices than there are Democrats. Although Becerra and Villaraigosa both pointed out that there are more Hispanic Democrats who serve in elected office in general, they acknowledged the strong Hispanic leaders on the other side of the aisle, and addressed the need for Democrats to catch up in that area.

“Republicans have a long way to go, but good for them, they have high-ranking Latinos in their ranks and shame on Democrats if they don’t see that we have to do the same thing,” Becerra said.

Villaraigosa said, ”I’ve said this before, [Sen.] Marco Rubio and [Gov.] Susana Martinez were the best speakers at that [RNC] convention, bar none, but the soaring rhetoric doesn’t match the policies and it doesn’t match the platform.”

Although the topic of the panel focused heavily on Latino issues, Castro and Villaraigosa took questions related to trending topics of the day. Villaraigosa addressed the DNCC’s decision to change the location of Obama’s Thursday night address from the Bank of America Stadium to the Time Warner Center.

“We were saying until last night, all of us, the show will go on. The fear is it’s not just the rain, if there’s lightening, people could get hurt,” Villaraigosa said. “There was no issue about filling up the stadium, we have knocked on doors, reached out all across the state, all across the South and the country, that wasn’t going to be a problem.”

And Castro answered the question on everyone’s mind after Tuesday night’s keynote: Does he plan to run for president one day?

“That’s not going to happen,” Castro said firmly. “I have never woken up on any day of my life and said, ‘I want to be president of the United States.’”

Of course, his firm denial won’t put that speculation to rest.

Democrats Said to End Convention $15 Million Short

September 7, 2012

Democrats ended their convention in Charlotte $5 million short of their budget even after being forced to draw down a $10 million line of credit from Duke Energy Corp. (DUK) (A company that uses that eeeeevil coal!), according to a Democratic Party fundraiser.

That will leave a $15 million bill that eventually will have to be paid by President Barack Obama’s campaign or the Democratic National Committee, according to the fundraiser, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

The Charlotte Host Committee ended the convention with more than $5 million in immediate obligations and may require a direct cash infusion from the Obama campaign to pay vendors, said the fundraiser.

The $10 million line of credit to Duke Energy will need to be repaid next year, said a second person familiar with the matter, who also spoke on condition of anonymity. Duke Energy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jim Rogers is co-chairman of the host committee.

Those debts could siphon off advertising money in the campaign’s final months, as Democrats face a cash disadvantage.

Bank Balances

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, the Republican National Committee and two allied super-political action committees reported a combined bank account balance of $169 million on July 31. That compared with $107 million for President Barack Obama, the Democratic National Committee and the pro-Obama super-PAC Priorities USA Action, according to disclosures filed Aug. 20 with the Federal Election Commission.

“It is always easier to raise corporate dollars in advance of a convention because of the visibility and profile that corporate sponsorship can offer,” said Tony Corrado, a professor of government at Colby College in Waterville, Maine, who specializes in campaign finance. “After a convention, once the signs are down and the politicians have left, raising money is a much more difficult task.”

The host committee failed to reach its $36.7 million fundraising goal because the DNC banned direct cash contributions from corporations, which have traditionally underwritten presidential nominating conventions. Republicans didn’t have a similar prohibition for their convention last month in Tampa.

Dealing With Restrictions

“If they got within 5 million, considering that they used the line of credit, I think that’s awesome, given the restrictions they had to deal with, ” said Mike Dino, who served as executive director for the host committee in Denver, where Democrats held their nomination convention in 2008. “They should be relieved to be in that range.”

The Denver convention accepted direct corporate contributions and raised enough money to pay all its bills, though immediately after the convention, the committee had “in the range of 8 to 10 million dollars that was outstanding,” Dino said.

Tom Williams, a spokesman for Duke, referred questions to the host committee.

“All details relevant to the line of credit from Duke Energy will be disclosed in the FEC report,” Suzi Emmerling, a host committee spokeswoman, said in an e-mail.

Secret Service Looking Into Delegate Who Said She Wants To 'Kill' Romney

September 6, 2012

The Secret Service is looking into an incident in which a New York delegate at the Democratic National Convention said she would "like to kill" Mitt Romney if she ever sees him.

Julia Rodriguez made the remark Wednesday in a brief interview with a reporter for The Blaze website.

She said she thinks the Republican presidential candidate will ruin the country.

"He will destroy this country, completely. Romney will destroy this country," she said. "If I see him, I would like to kill him."

The startling remarks caught the attention of the Secret Service, which provides protection to the former Massachusetts governor.

"We are aware of the video and are taking the appropriate follow-up steps," spokesman Ed Donovan said in an email.

Asked for comment, the Romney campaign referred all questions to the Secret Service.

In the Blaze interview, Rodriguez started to vent about Romney after saying she believes the country is better off than it was four years ago -- contradicting Romney's claim during his acceptance speech last week.

Rodriguez, who said she's originally from Puerto Rico, now lives in the Bronx, according to the official delegate list.

A representative from the New York Democratic Party could not be reached for comment.

Democrats: Let's Ban Profits!

Honestly, when you have a major American political party fostering this type of thought, tell me we aren't fucked.

Someone accused me of "not even knowing the meaning of the word socialism"... Funny. I have actually written several papers on it.