Democrats come up short in drama

With the Democratic National Convention coming to a close, bringing an end to two weeks of political farce and theater, Republicans can rest assured in knowing their Democrat counterparts are nowhere near their equal.

Where Republicans provided national television audiences with reasons to fear, loathe and giggle, Democrats failed to provide any similar moments, opting instead for the occasional arched eyebrows in response to well-delivered speeches by people whose careers are predicated on delivering well-delivered speeches.

Sure there was the promise of disruption by the “Bernie Bros,” supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders who felt the Democratic National Committee shafted their candidate in favor of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton (and with the revelation of emails by DNC leadership their paranoia may have been grounded in reality) but their expressed discontent was nothing compared to that of disillusioned Republicans who momentarily brought their convention to a halt because their candidate, Ted Cruz, was not receiving the GOP nod.

Contrast that with Democrat naysayers and Bernie supporters who, while booing, were scolded by a moderately well-known comedienne — and Bernie-supporter-turned-Clinton-endorser — for being ridiculous. When it came to internal disarray and drama, Republicans outperformed Democrats by far. (Democrats did have an opportunity to distinguish themselves by making more of a fuss over the fact that Wasserman Schultz, the DNC chairwoman of an organization whose emails showed party leaders actively favored Clinton over Sanders, was named Clinton’s honorary campaign chairwoman of an effort to elect democrats across the country after she resigned her DNC post, but Democrats fell into a lock step, two-step jig with such speed and discipline that the issue was quickly swept under the rug and  forgotten.)

Last week when GOP nominee Donald Trump’s wife Melania made a speech at the Republican National Convention it didn’t take long for people to realize that a few excerpts had been directly copied from a speech delivered by Michelle Obama at the 2008 Democratic Convention.

But the closest Democrats got to providing a controversial speech was the one delivered by a young girl trotted out by Democratic party leaders.

In her speech Karla Ortiz, 11, relayed to Americans that her mother was in the country illegally and that Clinton promised the young girl she would do everything in her power to reform the country’s immigration policy.
Clinton opponents characterized the speech as a violation of federal law by Clinton but that story never took hold, leaving the DNC without it own Melania-esque hullabaloo.

No, when compared to the Republican convention the DNC was as boring and predictable as a late night infomercial for a product we’re being told we desperately need even though we know we could probably live without it.