“Pondering the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.
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Richard Wolffe: f Hillary Clinton loses in November, it won’t be Bernie Sanders’ fault
Democrats could lose the election this November: just watch Hillary Clinton being booed at her own party convention. But, if that happens, it won’t be the fault of Sanders’ supporters. No – the blame will fall on the DNC. They could have played to the future of our country and the economic vision we desire. Instead, they gave us “super-predator” Clinton and milquetoast, pro-banking Tim Kaine. [..]
I don’t endorse the demagoguery of Trump. I also know that there are positive aspects to Obama’s record for the marginalized. Similarly, Hillary Clinton has policies that would be better for some American women and LGBT people, though Democrats and Republicans are equally likely to rain terror on people in other countries.
But I don’t know how any of the flaws of Trump can be explained to his supporters, especially when the Democratic party can’t offer an economic vision to their own angry voters. Indeed, the Democrats seem bent on putting up people and policies that will redistribute money to Wall Street and ignore the 99% when their base been screaming at them to stop this.
Americans might not regret casting a vote for Trump until it’s too late. By not being bold and changing its course right now, the Democratic party is increasing the risk of this happening.
Jessica Valenti: Michelle Obama’s epic speech showed us how bad the alternative is
It’s hard to imagine two political conventions more dissimilar than the ones we’ve watched this past month. The Democratic and Republican gatherings have played out as a study in differences: hope against fear; love against hate. And perhaps most starkly, they’ve demonstrated a shocking contrast in gender politics – authenticity against Republican fakery.
On Monday night, the DNC stage hosted women talking about everything from pay equity to disability rights. In Cleveland last week, Republican speakers promised they had women’s best interests at heart while stoking the crowd to yell “lock her up” and “guilty” in reference to Hillary Clinton, a move more reminiscent of a Salem witch trial than a 2016 political event. In Philadelphia, people are sporting feminist shirts and carrying pro-labor signs; shirts at the RNC said things like “Hillary sucks but not like Monica”.
The Democrats had Michelle Obama, bringing down the house in an epic speech on Monday where she tearfully noted, “because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters and all our sons and daughters now take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States”.
Mary Dejevski: Russia may well be meddling in the US election. Why wouldn’t it?
Altogether now, let’s blame Putin. That has become the favourite refrain of what we used to call the western world in the face of anything unwelcome. And so it was on the eve of the Democratic convention, after leaked emails proved that the DNC had set out to discredit Bernie Sanders in his challenge to Hillary Clinton. For Sanders supporters, the emails only confirmed their long-held suspicions. For the Clinton team, it was all about Russian dirty tricks and Kremlin meddling in US politics on the side of Donald Trump.
Now, I have an inbuilt resistance to blaming Putin for everything. But, as Joseph Heller so rightly said, “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t after you.” And there are reasons why a Russian hand, if not actually Putin’s, might reasonably be discerned behind the DNC leaks. [..]
t is true that the evidence – so far – for direct Kremlin involvement in the DNC leak leaves a lot to be desired. And it is convenient, at a time of east-west tension, to blame Russia for every embarrassment. That Russia’s intelligence services may have exploited the probing of amateur sleuths, however, is entirely plausible, as is Russia’s preference, at this stage, for a President Trump.
What is more, even if Russia played no role at all, it might rather suit its interests to let the speculation run. Rather like Saddam Hussein with his non-existent weapons of mass destruction, Russian intelligence might quite like to perpetuate the idea that it is capable of hacking internal American party communications and could influence a US election – even if it can’t.
Jill Abramson: Bill Clinton’s speech made Hillary human again
The story began simply: “In the spring of 1971, I met a girl.”
It was written in the style of classic, southern literature, told by a 69-year-old man whose hands shook and voice quavered. All that made the narrative, about a woman who has fascinated and inspired her husband for 45 years, more riveting.
If anyone questioned whether Bill Clinton still “has it”, his tour de force speech at the Democratic convention on Tuesday night should have erased any doubts.
The former president’s address drove home the point that his wife is someone who gets things done, who makes a difference. “She is still the best darn change-maker I have ever known,” he testified, giving vivid examples such as establishing the first legal aid clinic in north-west Arkansas and expanding healthcare to isolated areas of the state. He called her “the best mother in the world,” too. Marking the moments in her personal life that shaped her, he portrayed a warmer Hillary.
Brian Rosenberg: Emperor Palpatine Is Running For President
Pundits have struggled for months to come up with the right comparison for the presidential candidacy of Donald Trump. Some mention George Wallace or Pat Buchanan, neither of whom, of course, came nearly as close as Trump stands now to the presidency. Others have sought historical examples from farther afield, such as Mussolini—whom Trump has quoted in a memorable re-tweet—or even Hitler. But after listening to Trump’s dystopian and terrifying acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, I was struck by what seems to me the most appropriate comparison of all.
Emperor Palpatine has just been nominated for the presidency of the United States.
Palpatine, as many know, is the evil figure at the heart of the first six Star Wars films and the extensive literature surrounding those films. Over the course of the movies and various novels, we see him maneuver his way from being Senator Palpatine to becoming President (elected, of course), then Supreme Chancellor, and finally Emperor.
How does a man like Palpatine manage to get elected president of the Republic? As described by George Lucas and Alan Dean Foster in the novel version of Star Wars: A New Hope, “He promised to reunite the disaffected among the people and to restore the remembered glory of the Republic.”
He is, in short, the ultimate law and order candidate, short on policy specifics but brilliant at capitalizing on fear and demonizing the other (and Star Wars is nothing if not filled with “others” to demonize).
And what happens when Palpatine is elected?
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