1 00:00:01,800 --> 00:00:04,360 Speaker 1: Well this episode of News World. I have sat in 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:06,360 Speaker 1: the Oval office with both of the men who are 3 00:00:06,440 --> 00:00:09,760 Speaker 1: running for president. I never expected that my successor would 4 00:00:09,800 --> 00:00:12,920 Speaker 1: embrace my vision or continue my policies. I did hope, 5 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:15,720 Speaker 1: for the sake of our country, that Donald Trump might 6 00:00:15,760 --> 00:00:19,160 Speaker 1: show some interest in taking the job seriously, and he 7 00:00:19,239 --> 00:00:21,680 Speaker 1: might come to feel the weight of the office and 8 00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:25,480 Speaker 1: discover some reverence for the democracy that had been placed 9 00:00:25,480 --> 00:00:28,680 Speaker 1: in his care. But he never did. Under this administration, 10 00:00:28,880 --> 00:00:33,360 Speaker 1: authoritarianism has taken root in our country. I and my 11 00:00:33,479 --> 00:00:39,040 Speaker 1: family and many of yours know the insidious way authoritarianism 12 00:00:39,200 --> 00:00:44,199 Speaker 1: destroys democracy, decency, and humanity. This president is not just 13 00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:48,279 Speaker 1: the threat to our democracy, but by rejecting science, he 14 00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:51,960 Speaker 1: has put our lives and health in jeopardy. I wish 15 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:55,720 Speaker 1: Donald Trump knew how to be a president, because America 16 00:00:55,840 --> 00:00:59,800 Speaker 1: needs a president right now. Joe and Kamala can win 17 00:01:00,200 --> 00:01:03,120 Speaker 1: three million votes and still lose take it from me, 18 00:01:03,440 --> 00:01:07,520 Speaker 1: So we need numbers overwhelming, so Trump can't sneak or 19 00:01:07,640 --> 00:01:11,360 Speaker 1: steal his weight of victory. This virus, it has no eyes, 20 00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:16,560 Speaker 1: and yet it knows exactly how we see each other 21 00:01:16,720 --> 00:01:20,319 Speaker 1: and how we treat each other. And let's be clear, 22 00:01:20,600 --> 00:01:25,319 Speaker 1: there is no vaccine for racism. Right now we have 23 00:01:25,360 --> 00:01:30,760 Speaker 1: a president who turns our tragedies into political weapons. The 24 00:01:30,840 --> 00:01:34,520 Speaker 1: current president is closed American darkness for much too long, 25 00:01:34,800 --> 00:01:38,160 Speaker 1: too much anger, too much fear, too much division. Here 26 00:01:38,160 --> 00:01:41,560 Speaker 1: and now, I give you my word, if you entrust 27 00:01:41,640 --> 00:01:44,399 Speaker 1: me with the presidency, I will draw on the best 28 00:01:44,440 --> 00:01:46,880 Speaker 1: of us, not the worst. I'll be an ally of 29 00:01:46,920 --> 00:01:49,840 Speaker 1: the light, not the darkness. So it's a great honor 30 00:01:49,960 --> 00:01:53,640 Speaker 1: and humility. I accept this nomination for President of the 31 00:01:53,720 --> 00:02:02,000 Speaker 1: United States of America. I thought it would be really 32 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:05,880 Speaker 1: appropriate between the Democratic and Republican conventions, just to talk 33 00:02:05,960 --> 00:02:09,840 Speaker 1: some about conventions. I've had a long fascination with him. 34 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:13,279 Speaker 1: My first experience, my dad was stationed at Port Riley, Kansas, 35 00:02:13,480 --> 00:02:17,600 Speaker 1: and in nineteen fifty six I got to watch the conventions, 36 00:02:17,639 --> 00:02:20,359 Speaker 1: which back then were black and white television, and the 37 00:02:20,400 --> 00:02:24,079 Speaker 1: equipment was very big, very cumbersome. Who couldn't have cameras 38 00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:27,160 Speaker 1: down on the floor, And people who are now long gone, 39 00:02:27,200 --> 00:02:31,080 Speaker 1: people are Country Brinkley, Walter Cronkite, they were there and 40 00:02:31,120 --> 00:02:33,480 Speaker 1: it was all kind of magic to this young kid 41 00:02:33,520 --> 00:02:37,600 Speaker 1: in Kansas watching it. I was for Eisenhower because my 42 00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:41,000 Speaker 1: family particularly my uncle Cal had been a Republican precinct 43 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:44,520 Speaker 1: worker for like forty years. The fifty six convention was 44 00:02:44,520 --> 00:02:49,320 Speaker 1: really instant the Democratic side because Adlai Stevenson, the nominee, 45 00:02:49,320 --> 00:02:52,840 Speaker 1: decided that he wanted some excitement, so he decided not 46 00:02:52,919 --> 00:02:54,919 Speaker 1: to pick anybody to be vice president and throw it 47 00:02:54,960 --> 00:02:57,840 Speaker 1: wide open and let the Delias pick there was a 48 00:02:57,919 --> 00:03:02,600 Speaker 1: logical vice presidential candidate and asked his Keithoffer, who was 49 00:03:02,639 --> 00:03:06,360 Speaker 1: a populist, wore a coon skin cap, campaigned a sort 50 00:03:06,360 --> 00:03:10,560 Speaker 1: of a southern populist tradition, had run against Truman and 51 00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:13,600 Speaker 1: fifty two, making Truman very bitter, and then had run 52 00:03:13,639 --> 00:03:18,079 Speaker 1: against Stevenson income reasonably close to winning, but ultamly Stevenson 53 00:03:18,160 --> 00:03:20,160 Speaker 1: had to be the nominee in both fifty two and 54 00:03:20,240 --> 00:03:24,040 Speaker 1: fifty six, and so Keith Offer probably had the initial advantage. 55 00:03:24,360 --> 00:03:28,359 Speaker 1: But then a really bright, attractive young Catholic from Boston 56 00:03:28,400 --> 00:03:31,480 Speaker 1: emerged and John F. Kennedy, and he came really close 57 00:03:31,480 --> 00:03:34,200 Speaker 1: to winning, and in doing so, while keep Offer got 58 00:03:34,200 --> 00:03:38,000 Speaker 1: to be the vice presidential nominee, Kennedy got the name ID, 59 00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:40,000 Speaker 1: which set the stage for him to come back in 60 00:03:40,360 --> 00:03:45,240 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty and run in sixty the excitement shifted to 61 00:03:45,320 --> 00:03:49,040 Speaker 1: the Republicans, where Nixon, trying to unify the party, had 62 00:03:49,040 --> 00:03:52,080 Speaker 1: worked out in agreement with Nelson Rockefeller, who was the 63 00:03:52,200 --> 00:03:56,240 Speaker 1: leader of the liberal wing that infuriated the Conservatives, and 64 00:03:56,320 --> 00:03:59,240 Speaker 1: so a number of delegates, particularly in the Louisiana delegation, 65 00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:03,120 Speaker 1: put Barry Goldwater's name in as the vice presidential candidate. 66 00:04:03,160 --> 00:04:06,160 Speaker 1: Goldwater got up in Ashton blood brought He'd only been 67 00:04:06,240 --> 00:04:09,520 Speaker 1: in office a very few years, but already had made 68 00:04:09,520 --> 00:04:13,840 Speaker 1: a real name for himself as a solid conservative, and 69 00:04:14,200 --> 00:04:17,520 Speaker 1: four years later he would become the Republican nominee. The 70 00:04:18,320 --> 00:04:22,240 Speaker 1: sixty four convention was fascinating from the Republican side because 71 00:04:22,279 --> 00:04:27,760 Speaker 1: the party was so deeply bitterly split that people booed Rockefeller, 72 00:04:27,800 --> 00:04:30,719 Speaker 1: for example, they booed the news media. In some ways, 73 00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:34,200 Speaker 1: you could argue that the deep hostility between the conservative 74 00:04:34,240 --> 00:04:36,160 Speaker 1: wing and the news media goes back at least to 75 00:04:36,279 --> 00:04:40,800 Speaker 1: the Goldwater campaign. There was a wild convention. Eisenhower gave 76 00:04:40,839 --> 00:04:44,159 Speaker 1: a surprisingly tough speech and took on the news media, 77 00:04:44,600 --> 00:04:47,719 Speaker 1: and Goldwater got nominated and then then went down to 78 00:04:47,800 --> 00:04:51,320 Speaker 1: defeat by sixty eight. As a gradu student by then, 79 00:04:51,720 --> 00:04:55,080 Speaker 1: and I went to Miami Beach to see the convention 80 00:04:55,120 --> 00:04:57,440 Speaker 1: which nominated Nixon. I wasn't a delegate yet, so I 81 00:04:57,440 --> 00:04:59,839 Speaker 1: wasn't inside the room, but it was just fascinating he 82 00:05:00,279 --> 00:05:05,760 Speaker 1: thousands of people showing up. Conventions attract both hard partisans 83 00:05:05,760 --> 00:05:09,000 Speaker 1: in the sense of people who are intensely Republican or Democratic. 84 00:05:09,160 --> 00:05:12,240 Speaker 1: They also attract people just like politics. So on the 85 00:05:12,279 --> 00:05:16,080 Speaker 1: Republican side, for example, we have people who wear elephant jewelry. 86 00:05:16,240 --> 00:05:19,680 Speaker 1: They do all sorts of things that remind you their Republican. 87 00:05:19,920 --> 00:05:22,520 Speaker 1: On the Democratic side, you'd have a similar pattern with 88 00:05:22,640 --> 00:05:25,359 Speaker 1: people wearing donkey jewelry. I think, actually we have the 89 00:05:25,360 --> 00:05:28,320 Speaker 1: better pet mascot, and that Since the sixty eight convention 90 00:05:28,640 --> 00:05:31,719 Speaker 1: was probably one of Nixon's best speeches, he went on 91 00:05:31,760 --> 00:05:34,040 Speaker 1: to win the general election by a very narrow margin. 92 00:05:34,640 --> 00:05:38,719 Speaker 1: By contrast, the sixty eight Democratic convention was a nightmare. 93 00:05:39,160 --> 00:05:42,080 Speaker 1: There had been months and months of planning by various 94 00:05:42,160 --> 00:05:46,080 Speaker 1: left wing people who were radicals, had led to riots 95 00:05:46,080 --> 00:05:48,840 Speaker 1: in the street in Chicago. They had what was called 96 00:05:48,880 --> 00:05:52,599 Speaker 1: a police riot. Mayor Daily was infuriated that people would 97 00:05:52,640 --> 00:05:55,719 Speaker 1: screw up this convention that was supposed to be sort 98 00:05:55,760 --> 00:05:59,560 Speaker 1: of a peak celebration of his period as mayor, and 99 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:02,960 Speaker 1: they led to such a bloody mess that for about 100 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:06,599 Speaker 1: two months, Vice President Humphrey, who had been nominated for president, 101 00:06:07,080 --> 00:06:10,680 Speaker 1: was just recovering from the sheer rage and anger inside 102 00:06:10,680 --> 00:06:12,880 Speaker 1: the party. So there was a convention where you really 103 00:06:12,920 --> 00:06:17,320 Speaker 1: did have some very significant things going on. By seventy two, 104 00:06:18,240 --> 00:06:20,799 Speaker 1: Nixon had figured out that you needed to really seal 105 00:06:20,839 --> 00:06:24,920 Speaker 1: off your convention against protesters and demonstrators and what have you, 106 00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:29,360 Speaker 1: So they ran a very controlled convention. By contrast, George 107 00:06:29,440 --> 00:06:32,160 Speaker 1: McGovern who was the reform product of the left wing 108 00:06:32,200 --> 00:06:34,880 Speaker 1: the Different Party, really felt like he had to be 109 00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:37,440 Speaker 1: totally open. And one of the things which sank his 110 00:06:37,560 --> 00:06:41,520 Speaker 1: campaign was that a group of left wing activists about 111 00:06:41,640 --> 00:06:44,040 Speaker 1: one in the morning, decided that they had to talk 112 00:06:44,120 --> 00:06:47,920 Speaker 1: to mcgovernor and they had to negotiate part of the platform. 113 00:06:47,960 --> 00:06:54,320 Speaker 1: And McGovern idiotically goes down from his suite and ends 114 00:06:54,400 --> 00:06:58,880 Speaker 1: up in the atrium of their hotel negotiating with these 115 00:06:58,920 --> 00:07:03,800 Speaker 1: people live on television, looking totally weak and incapable, And 116 00:07:03,880 --> 00:07:05,680 Speaker 1: it was one of the things that got people just say, 117 00:07:05,760 --> 00:07:08,640 Speaker 1: you know, this guy can't cut it. By the time 118 00:07:08,720 --> 00:07:11,520 Speaker 1: they came out of the convention. The Democrats were shambles 119 00:07:11,640 --> 00:07:15,000 Speaker 1: and had a really difficult challenge which they did not 120 00:07:15,080 --> 00:07:19,760 Speaker 1: ever overcome, compounded in part because their vice presidential nominee, 121 00:07:19,760 --> 00:07:22,800 Speaker 1: Tom Eagleton turned out senator from Missouri, turned out to 122 00:07:22,920 --> 00:07:27,400 Speaker 1: have been taking electroshock therapy for depression. And at that 123 00:07:27,440 --> 00:07:30,080 Speaker 1: time in America, it was inconceivable, in the middle of 124 00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:31,800 Speaker 1: the Cold War with the Russians, that you were going 125 00:07:31,840 --> 00:07:34,320 Speaker 1: to have a commander in chief who had been taking 126 00:07:35,120 --> 00:07:40,720 Speaker 1: shock therapy. By seventy six, there was a fascinating convention 127 00:07:40,760 --> 00:07:44,600 Speaker 1: on our side because you had Governor Reagan taking on 128 00:07:44,760 --> 00:07:48,560 Speaker 1: the incumbent President Jerry Ford, who had succeeded and what 129 00:07:48,680 --> 00:07:50,440 Speaker 1: was surely this is the kind of stuff you can't 130 00:07:50,440 --> 00:07:53,880 Speaker 1: write novels about. Spiragna turned out to have been taking 131 00:07:53,960 --> 00:07:57,440 Speaker 1: groceries and therefore he had to resign because he'd been 132 00:07:57,440 --> 00:08:01,240 Speaker 1: accepting bribes as vice president. Truly one of the dumbest 133 00:08:01,800 --> 00:08:04,239 Speaker 1: things we were seeing the vice president, who captured brilliantly 134 00:08:04,240 --> 00:08:07,200 Speaker 1: in the book, but what Cover called a heartbeat away. 135 00:08:07,320 --> 00:08:11,440 Speaker 1: So he resigns, and Nixon is already in trouble with Watergate, 136 00:08:12,040 --> 00:08:14,240 Speaker 1: needs to get somebody through. The Congress did to get 137 00:08:14,320 --> 00:08:17,520 Speaker 1: him approved, and Jerry Ford is the Republican leader in 138 00:08:17,600 --> 00:08:21,120 Speaker 1: the House, widely liked, a really nice man, and so 139 00:08:21,480 --> 00:08:25,400 Speaker 1: Nixon picks Ford. Ford gets accepted, and a year later 140 00:08:25,520 --> 00:08:29,240 Speaker 1: Nixon resigns. So now here's Jerry Ford as president. He 141 00:08:29,280 --> 00:08:31,480 Speaker 1: tries to be a centrist in a party which is 142 00:08:31,480 --> 00:08:35,079 Speaker 1: moving to the right, so he keeps Henry Kissingers as advisor. 143 00:08:35,640 --> 00:08:38,800 Speaker 1: He picks Nelson Rockefeller to be his vice president. And 144 00:08:38,840 --> 00:08:41,520 Speaker 1: I've always thought this an interesting question. If Reagan had 145 00:08:42,040 --> 00:08:46,079 Speaker 1: been offered the vice presidency instead of Rockefeller, how much 146 00:08:46,160 --> 00:08:49,920 Speaker 1: different the world might have been. But Ford picked Rockefeller. 147 00:08:50,679 --> 00:08:53,640 Speaker 1: Reagan decided to run in seventy six, So you have 148 00:08:53,679 --> 00:08:57,480 Speaker 1: an insurgent Republican who've been governor of California taking on 149 00:08:57,640 --> 00:09:02,360 Speaker 1: the basically appointed president. They come within seventy votes of 150 00:09:02,400 --> 00:09:06,240 Speaker 1: winning the convention itself is amazing, And in one of 151 00:09:06,240 --> 00:09:09,920 Speaker 1: those magic moments, Ford decides that he will be generous 152 00:09:09,920 --> 00:09:12,960 Speaker 1: and will unify the party. And so the night of 153 00:09:13,040 --> 00:09:17,200 Speaker 1: his acceptance speech, he invites his good friend Ronnie Reagan 154 00:09:17,280 --> 00:09:21,439 Speaker 1: to come down from where he's sitting and shot with 155 00:09:21,920 --> 00:09:26,120 Speaker 1: the audience. Well, Reagan had developed an acceptance speech. There 156 00:09:26,200 --> 00:09:28,920 Speaker 1: was in his brain as a good actor, he was 157 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:32,080 Speaker 1: capable of absorbing this kind of stuff. And so he 158 00:09:32,120 --> 00:09:34,199 Speaker 1: goes down and thanks for it, and then gives a 159 00:09:34,240 --> 00:09:37,520 Speaker 1: speech for about twelve minutes with Ford staring in total 160 00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:40,720 Speaker 1: disbelief because Ford, though he'd say one or two nice things, 161 00:09:41,440 --> 00:09:43,240 Speaker 1: as a friend of mine said, he realized at the 162 00:09:43,280 --> 00:09:46,719 Speaker 1: end of the speech, we've nominated the wrong guy. It's 163 00:09:46,720 --> 00:09:50,400 Speaker 1: a brilliant speech. And so Reagan meets the next day 164 00:09:50,440 --> 00:09:53,120 Speaker 1: with his team and he says, we did all we could. 165 00:09:53,160 --> 00:09:55,920 Speaker 1: We should have our heads high, that whatever happens to 166 00:09:56,000 --> 00:09:58,480 Speaker 1: us doesn't matter. The movement will go on, and it's 167 00:09:58,480 --> 00:10:00,959 Speaker 1: pretty clear that he doesn't and kill ever run again. 168 00:10:01,480 --> 00:10:04,720 Speaker 1: Ford goes on comes very close to beating Carter. Carter 169 00:10:04,840 --> 00:10:07,400 Speaker 1: had won a convention, and Carter is one of those 170 00:10:07,520 --> 00:10:12,160 Speaker 1: great upsurges. He was a brilliant chameleon. He was a 171 00:10:12,160 --> 00:10:16,640 Speaker 1: peanut farmer, he was a nuclear engineer. He ran at 172 00:10:16,640 --> 00:10:19,880 Speaker 1: one point as both a moderate in favor of integration 173 00:10:20,360 --> 00:10:23,760 Speaker 1: and as the candidate of Wallace voters who were against integration, 174 00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:26,679 Speaker 1: and he just had that capacity to do things. He 175 00:10:26,800 --> 00:10:30,000 Speaker 1: got to be the nominee. By nineteen eighty he had 176 00:10:30,040 --> 00:10:33,880 Speaker 1: failed pretty badly as President Reagan comes along wins the 177 00:10:33,920 --> 00:10:52,640 Speaker 1: convention decisively. Conventions are these like giant communities for people 178 00:10:52,640 --> 00:10:56,320 Speaker 1: who come together with enormous intensity for one to two weeks. 179 00:10:56,800 --> 00:10:59,640 Speaker 1: They party full time, they talk full time, they plot 180 00:10:59,679 --> 00:11:02,599 Speaker 1: full they just loved being in the middle of politics. 181 00:11:02,920 --> 00:11:05,520 Speaker 1: And then they dispersed to go back home. And every 182 00:11:05,520 --> 00:11:09,480 Speaker 1: four years the party loyalists surge again into some new 183 00:11:09,520 --> 00:11:12,840 Speaker 1: place and have a wonderful time and are reminded why 184 00:11:12,840 --> 00:11:15,840 Speaker 1: they're Democrats or why they're Republicans, and why they're involved 185 00:11:15,880 --> 00:11:20,200 Speaker 1: in politics. My first convention actually was eighty four, where 186 00:11:20,200 --> 00:11:23,439 Speaker 1: I was involved with Brigand's reelection, and from our side 187 00:11:23,440 --> 00:11:25,760 Speaker 1: there wasn't a great deal of excitement. It was a 188 00:11:25,800 --> 00:11:28,600 Speaker 1: great convention. Everybody was really happy. I did a whole 189 00:11:28,600 --> 00:11:31,280 Speaker 1: series of workshops. I had just written a book called 190 00:11:31,320 --> 00:11:34,760 Speaker 1: Window of Opportunity, which was designed as an advice to 191 00:11:34,800 --> 00:11:38,360 Speaker 1: the Republicans in campaigning, and so I did a bunch 192 00:11:38,360 --> 00:11:41,000 Speaker 1: of workshops at the convention, which was a habit I 193 00:11:41,160 --> 00:11:45,439 Speaker 1: sustained for many years. Interestingly, in eighty four I also 194 00:11:45,520 --> 00:11:48,320 Speaker 1: had the job of going to San Francisco, where I 195 00:11:48,400 --> 00:11:54,000 Speaker 1: headed up a watchdog group whose job was to hold 196 00:11:54,120 --> 00:11:58,360 Speaker 1: a press conference every day and repudiate Bondale and the Democrats. 197 00:11:58,400 --> 00:12:01,920 Speaker 1: Mondale would become the Democratic. Two quick stories out of 198 00:12:01,960 --> 00:12:04,439 Speaker 1: that give you a flavor of these kind of things. Now, 199 00:12:04,640 --> 00:12:07,959 Speaker 1: remember back in nineteen eighty four, San Francisco was seen 200 00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:11,240 Speaker 1: as a very radical, very different city. We were having 201 00:12:11,320 --> 00:12:14,000 Speaker 1: our convention in Dallas, which had the largest Baptist church 202 00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:17,520 Speaker 1: in America. They're having their convention in San Francisco with 203 00:12:17,679 --> 00:12:22,040 Speaker 1: the largest gay rights movement. I actually had a interview 204 00:12:22,280 --> 00:12:25,440 Speaker 1: with CBS News in an open park in the middle 205 00:12:25,440 --> 00:12:27,880 Speaker 1: of the day, and the reporter says to me, Jee, 206 00:12:27,920 --> 00:12:30,800 Speaker 1: do you think there's any meaning to the fact that 207 00:12:30,880 --> 00:12:33,360 Speaker 1: you guys are going to Dallas with this largest church 208 00:12:33,679 --> 00:12:36,120 Speaker 1: and the Democrats have come here with the largest gay 209 00:12:36,200 --> 00:12:41,080 Speaker 1: rights movement. Literally at that second, Sister Boom Boom, who 210 00:12:41,160 --> 00:12:44,880 Speaker 1: was about six two or sixty three, comes walking up 211 00:12:45,200 --> 00:12:51,079 Speaker 1: in address and hands me an invitation to an exorcism 212 00:12:51,120 --> 00:12:55,520 Speaker 1: of Jerry Folwell on Friday. And the reporter looks at 213 00:12:55,520 --> 00:12:57,400 Speaker 1: it and looks at Sister Boom Boom and looks at 214 00:12:57,440 --> 00:13:00,960 Speaker 1: me and says, we have to reshoot this. There is 215 00:13:01,120 --> 00:13:05,480 Speaker 1: no possibility that the editors in New York will ever 216 00:13:05,600 --> 00:13:08,760 Speaker 1: believe you didn't set this up, so we reachouted. But 217 00:13:08,800 --> 00:13:10,959 Speaker 1: I always thought it was a great moment and told 218 00:13:10,960 --> 00:13:13,520 Speaker 1: you a lot about the contrasts and the excitement and 219 00:13:13,559 --> 00:13:16,040 Speaker 1: the openness of the American system at this festival. We're 220 00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:20,079 Speaker 1: all there. We probably disagreed deeply about ideas, but nonetheless 221 00:13:20,080 --> 00:13:22,320 Speaker 1: we were all having a pretty good time. The other 222 00:13:22,400 --> 00:13:25,520 Speaker 1: great moment, of course, was that Walter Mondale, his acceptance speech, 223 00:13:26,120 --> 00:13:28,439 Speaker 1: says the other guy's going to raise your taxes, but 224 00:13:28,520 --> 00:13:31,040 Speaker 1: he won't tell you, but I want you to know 225 00:13:31,840 --> 00:13:35,800 Speaker 1: if you will lect me, I will raise your taxes. Well, 226 00:13:35,840 --> 00:13:40,400 Speaker 1: we frankly closed up our operation on the grounds that 227 00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:43,000 Speaker 1: we didn't want to clutter Mondale's message. We were following 228 00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:45,800 Speaker 1: Woodrow Wilson's rule that you never murder a man is 229 00:13:45,880 --> 00:13:48,640 Speaker 1: the process of committing suicide, and we thought that that 230 00:13:48,679 --> 00:13:51,360 Speaker 1: pledge to raise taxes was so crazy. And I actually 231 00:13:51,640 --> 00:13:54,240 Speaker 1: ran into at lunch that day Paul Simon, who was 232 00:13:54,280 --> 00:13:57,800 Speaker 1: a Democratic congressman running for the US Senate in Illinois, 233 00:13:57,840 --> 00:13:59,840 Speaker 1: and Paul and I had a good relationship because we 234 00:13:59,840 --> 00:14:03,120 Speaker 1: were both historians, and I said, what do you think 235 00:14:03,160 --> 00:14:06,280 Speaker 1: of this? He said, I could not imagine why he 236 00:14:06,320 --> 00:14:08,800 Speaker 1: would do that, and I can promise you I will 237 00:14:08,840 --> 00:14:11,040 Speaker 1: be as far away from it in my Senate campaign 238 00:14:11,080 --> 00:14:13,160 Speaker 1: as I can get. And I thought I just sort 239 00:14:13,200 --> 00:14:15,280 Speaker 1: of told you how that year was going to work out. 240 00:14:15,880 --> 00:14:18,200 Speaker 1: By eighty eight, we were involved in a very different 241 00:14:18,240 --> 00:14:22,800 Speaker 1: kind of circumstance. Bush was substantially behind and we were 242 00:14:23,440 --> 00:14:29,080 Speaker 1: going to have a convention in New Orleans, and people 243 00:14:29,120 --> 00:14:32,960 Speaker 1: were sort of roused up. This was Reagan's last convention 244 00:14:32,960 --> 00:14:35,720 Speaker 1: as an incumbent president. The team knew how to put 245 00:14:35,760 --> 00:14:38,120 Speaker 1: together a pretty good convention. There was a lot of 246 00:14:38,160 --> 00:14:39,920 Speaker 1: suspense about who he was going to pick to be 247 00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:42,840 Speaker 1: vice president, and then when he did finally pick Dan Quayle, 248 00:14:43,240 --> 00:14:46,280 Speaker 1: who I thought was very competent and very smart, but 249 00:14:46,360 --> 00:14:49,600 Speaker 1: who the news media just immediately began to attack. It 250 00:14:49,760 --> 00:14:52,240 Speaker 1: added to some of the fund to the convention. And again, 251 00:14:52,680 --> 00:14:55,760 Speaker 1: part of what happens with these conventions is if you're lucky, 252 00:14:55,800 --> 00:14:58,040 Speaker 1: your party goes to a cool place. So if you 253 00:14:58,120 --> 00:15:00,960 Speaker 1: get to go to a four or five or six 254 00:15:01,120 --> 00:15:03,520 Speaker 1: day party in New Orleans, do you think you're doing 255 00:15:03,560 --> 00:15:06,920 Speaker 1: all right? And they certainly built our morale and kept 256 00:15:07,000 --> 00:15:08,680 Speaker 1: us going. I'm not going to go up through all 257 00:15:08,720 --> 00:15:10,600 Speaker 1: the rest of them. I'm going to give that background 258 00:15:10,720 --> 00:15:13,120 Speaker 1: to then looking at what we're doing this year, and 259 00:15:13,200 --> 00:15:16,520 Speaker 1: I will tell you at this break point between the 260 00:15:16,560 --> 00:15:20,960 Speaker 1: Democrat and Republican conventions that I have no idea what 261 00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:23,400 Speaker 1: the Republicans are going to do, but I do know 262 00:15:23,520 --> 00:15:27,680 Speaker 1: that Donald Trump made a very good living doing reality 263 00:15:27,720 --> 00:15:31,160 Speaker 1: TV and has a very good sense of drama and 264 00:15:31,240 --> 00:15:34,320 Speaker 1: a very good sense of chellanship. I'm looking forward to 265 00:15:34,360 --> 00:15:37,400 Speaker 1: seeing exactly what they have put together because they've had 266 00:15:37,440 --> 00:15:40,240 Speaker 1: months to think this through. It will clearly have a 267 00:15:40,280 --> 00:15:44,880 Speaker 1: lot more interaction with people than the Democrats did. I 268 00:15:44,880 --> 00:15:48,080 Speaker 1: think it'll probably be more dynamic, and I suspect it'll 269 00:15:48,080 --> 00:15:50,960 Speaker 1: be a lot more surprises. I thought the Democrats had 270 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:54,960 Speaker 1: a couple of disadvantages. I've said this pretty openly. They 271 00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:57,720 Speaker 1: would bring in actors and actresses, but those aren't to 272 00:15:57,840 --> 00:16:00,960 Speaker 1: keep people. What they should have done is brilliant somebody 273 00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:05,360 Speaker 1: like Steven Spielberg. You needed producers and directors, you needed people. 274 00:16:05,760 --> 00:16:08,880 Speaker 1: He would say to them, give us a Disney quality 275 00:16:09,120 --> 00:16:13,160 Speaker 1: Tuesday Night to make it exciting. We have enormous capability 276 00:16:13,160 --> 00:16:16,200 Speaker 1: in this country to produce things that are exciting and interesting. 277 00:16:16,880 --> 00:16:20,800 Speaker 1: I thought the number one characteristic of the Democratic conventionals boredom. 278 00:16:21,040 --> 00:16:22,760 Speaker 1: They had a lot of people who are allowed to 279 00:16:22,760 --> 00:16:25,760 Speaker 1: speak outside a prime time and of course a lot 280 00:16:25,800 --> 00:16:28,040 Speaker 1: of them are fairly nuts. There's a whole bunch of 281 00:16:28,120 --> 00:16:33,000 Speaker 1: videotape of various and sundry marginal Democrats saying crazy things, 282 00:16:33,320 --> 00:16:35,440 Speaker 1: and I think that will all emerge the next week 283 00:16:35,560 --> 00:16:37,800 Speaker 1: or so, sort of just to remind you who these 284 00:16:37,800 --> 00:16:40,960 Speaker 1: people really are. I thought for the main players, they 285 00:16:40,960 --> 00:16:44,720 Speaker 1: did a pretty good discipline job. Their number one job 286 00:16:44,880 --> 00:16:48,520 Speaker 1: was to say Donald Trump is a meaning and we're not. 287 00:16:49,320 --> 00:16:51,000 Speaker 1: And that was the essence of it. As long as 288 00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:53,600 Speaker 1: they can say Donald Trump's doing bad things and we're not, 289 00:16:53,640 --> 00:16:56,479 Speaker 1: they were winning, and I think that they did adequately 290 00:16:56,520 --> 00:16:59,640 Speaker 1: at that. Obama was a very good speaker, which he 291 00:16:59,640 --> 00:17:02,560 Speaker 1: always is. Clinton was a pretty good speaker, but I 292 00:17:02,560 --> 00:17:05,440 Speaker 1: think he's sort of lost a step over the years. 293 00:17:06,080 --> 00:17:09,239 Speaker 1: And the truth is they didn't want us tell you 294 00:17:09,320 --> 00:17:12,040 Speaker 1: anything about what they really stood for. Is what they 295 00:17:12,040 --> 00:17:14,440 Speaker 1: really stand for is not popular, and so they were 296 00:17:14,600 --> 00:17:18,120 Speaker 1: essentially saying Joe Biden is a terriffic guy who really 297 00:17:18,160 --> 00:17:20,840 Speaker 1: likes people, pets dogs, and likes to have a cat 298 00:17:20,880 --> 00:17:22,760 Speaker 1: sitting in his lap. And when you like that a 299 00:17:22,800 --> 00:17:25,520 Speaker 1: president who's really nice, who likes people. They didn't want 300 00:17:25,520 --> 00:17:28,159 Speaker 1: to talk about any of their policy positions, but they 301 00:17:28,200 --> 00:17:31,440 Speaker 1: also knew if they were too openly moderate, their left 302 00:17:31,440 --> 00:17:33,840 Speaker 1: wing would go crazy, and if they were too openly 303 00:17:33,920 --> 00:17:36,440 Speaker 1: left wing, the country would go crazy, and so they 304 00:17:36,480 --> 00:17:39,280 Speaker 1: wanted to be as boring as possible and just get 305 00:17:39,280 --> 00:17:42,080 Speaker 1: through this stuff. I think they also had a couple 306 00:17:42,119 --> 00:17:46,600 Speaker 1: of challenges. But one is that, as a general rule, 307 00:17:47,520 --> 00:17:52,840 Speaker 1: watching people do things that are not dynamic, unless they're 308 00:17:52,920 --> 00:17:56,320 Speaker 1: really good at it, they lose your attention. We're all 309 00:17:56,400 --> 00:17:59,919 Speaker 1: used to living in a world of very fast paced movie, 310 00:18:00,240 --> 00:18:04,920 Speaker 1: very fast paced sporting events, very fast paced music. And 311 00:18:04,960 --> 00:18:08,720 Speaker 1: so when he watched people who even reasonably good public 312 00:18:08,720 --> 00:18:13,680 Speaker 1: speakers are not as exciting as reasonably bad movies, and 313 00:18:13,720 --> 00:18:16,600 Speaker 1: so I think that was a very big challenge for them, 314 00:18:16,600 --> 00:18:34,160 Speaker 1: and then their audience sort of showed that. I will 315 00:18:34,240 --> 00:18:40,560 Speaker 1: say I thought that Joe Biden had probably the best 316 00:18:40,640 --> 00:18:44,200 Speaker 1: speech of his career. I thought it was written probably 317 00:18:44,240 --> 00:18:48,320 Speaker 1: by either Obama or Clinton speech writers or both. I 318 00:18:48,359 --> 00:18:51,600 Speaker 1: thought he delivered it effectively. He was forceful where he 319 00:18:51,640 --> 00:18:55,760 Speaker 1: needed to be, He was emotionally sympathetic where he needed 320 00:18:55,800 --> 00:18:59,119 Speaker 1: to be. He hit a whole lot of themes that 321 00:18:59,280 --> 00:19:04,320 Speaker 1: were non theological about patriotism and America being a great country. 322 00:19:04,359 --> 00:19:05,800 Speaker 1: But he did it well, and so I think you 323 00:19:05,880 --> 00:19:08,800 Speaker 1: have to give him some credit for that. I watched 324 00:19:08,880 --> 00:19:11,720 Speaker 1: Kamala Harris. I'm not at all a family I think 325 00:19:11,720 --> 00:19:14,199 Speaker 1: she's a disaster. I think it was a big mistake 326 00:19:14,240 --> 00:19:17,359 Speaker 1: for Biden to picker. I think anybody who is the 327 00:19:17,400 --> 00:19:20,600 Speaker 1: most radical member of the Senate when that means I 328 00:19:20,720 --> 00:19:24,199 Speaker 1: had to vote to the left of Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, 329 00:19:24,600 --> 00:19:26,880 Speaker 1: which just think about it, what a hard job that is. 330 00:19:27,200 --> 00:19:29,320 Speaker 1: I think that they're not, in the long one going 331 00:19:29,359 --> 00:19:31,960 Speaker 1: to go down very well. When I was struck with 332 00:19:31,960 --> 00:19:37,760 Speaker 1: with her speech was that she wasn't very comfortable. Biden, 333 00:19:37,840 --> 00:19:41,679 Speaker 1: to his credit, rose to the occasion, I thought was 334 00:19:41,800 --> 00:19:46,120 Speaker 1: more than adequately comfortable and delivered a pretty long speech 335 00:19:46,640 --> 00:19:50,639 Speaker 1: pretty authoritatively. Even when she had really good lines, she 336 00:19:50,760 --> 00:19:54,080 Speaker 1: delivered them a little bit like the high school class 337 00:19:54,160 --> 00:19:58,959 Speaker 1: president at the graduation ceremony, where they're doing okay, but 338 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:01,240 Speaker 1: they're not really sure the audience is going to react 339 00:20:01,240 --> 00:20:03,600 Speaker 1: to this next thing. If you watch it, there's a 340 00:20:03,680 --> 00:20:07,240 Speaker 1: tentativeness in her speech that was kind of I thought surprising. 341 00:20:07,720 --> 00:20:09,520 Speaker 1: If you'd asked me before we went into it, I 342 00:20:09,520 --> 00:20:12,320 Speaker 1: would have said that she would be more forceful and 343 00:20:12,440 --> 00:20:14,760 Speaker 1: that Biden would be more reticent. But in fact what 344 00:20:14,840 --> 00:20:17,440 Speaker 1: we got was just the opposite. Biden did the best, 345 00:20:17,480 --> 00:20:19,639 Speaker 1: I think literally the best speech of his career, and 346 00:20:19,760 --> 00:20:22,720 Speaker 1: I thought she had sort of a flat introduction to 347 00:20:22,800 --> 00:20:25,280 Speaker 1: the country, and she had a tendency to smile in 348 00:20:25,320 --> 00:20:28,040 Speaker 1: a way that's kind of like, now you really believe me, 349 00:20:28,119 --> 00:20:30,800 Speaker 1: don't you in for since I don't really believe her. 350 00:20:31,040 --> 00:20:33,320 Speaker 1: I didn't find it very effective, But we'll see in 351 00:20:33,359 --> 00:20:36,160 Speaker 1: the next few days. With the poll said, looking forward, 352 00:20:36,840 --> 00:20:38,200 Speaker 1: I think it'll be very soon to see what the 353 00:20:38,240 --> 00:20:41,320 Speaker 1: president does on Thursday. I'll bet you right now the 354 00:20:41,400 --> 00:20:47,560 Speaker 1: Republicans will be dramatically more fact oriented and dramatically more 355 00:20:47,560 --> 00:20:52,600 Speaker 1: policy oriented, and we'll have a critique of the Democrats 356 00:20:52,640 --> 00:20:56,840 Speaker 1: that's pretty fact based, pretty historically based, and I think 357 00:20:56,880 --> 00:20:59,440 Speaker 1: in that context it'll be interesting to see whether or 358 00:20:59,480 --> 00:21:02,040 Speaker 1: not they have an effect. Remember, when you have these 359 00:21:02,119 --> 00:21:05,280 Speaker 1: kind of conventions, probably eighty percent of your audience is 360 00:21:05,320 --> 00:21:07,880 Speaker 1: people who are already for you. You've got a very 361 00:21:07,880 --> 00:21:11,159 Speaker 1: hard time getting the other team to watch you. And 362 00:21:11,320 --> 00:21:13,400 Speaker 1: one of the things that marks independence is they frank 363 00:21:13,440 --> 00:21:17,520 Speaker 1: atomic politics. It's very conceivable that they will have a 364 00:21:17,560 --> 00:21:21,600 Speaker 1: limited reach. The two great losses in what they're now doing, 365 00:21:21,880 --> 00:21:23,560 Speaker 1: and I have no idea what it will mean for 366 00:21:23,600 --> 00:21:26,280 Speaker 1: the future. Party leaders would probably love to find a 367 00:21:26,320 --> 00:21:30,960 Speaker 1: way to eliminate conventions. They're expensive, they're complicated, they're slightly uncontrollable. 368 00:21:31,280 --> 00:21:33,760 Speaker 1: You never know which faction is going to be something bizarre. 369 00:21:34,359 --> 00:21:38,359 Speaker 1: But I think a real loss to the process of 370 00:21:38,440 --> 00:21:42,040 Speaker 1: building parties if we cease to have conventions. This is 371 00:21:42,119 --> 00:21:45,560 Speaker 1: the one time every four years that thousands and thousands 372 00:21:45,600 --> 00:21:49,119 Speaker 1: of people get together and remind themselves that their activists 373 00:21:49,280 --> 00:21:52,720 Speaker 1: in the two parties and remind themselves that politics and 374 00:21:52,760 --> 00:21:57,199 Speaker 1: government really matters. And they've been historically now for almost 375 00:21:57,200 --> 00:22:02,480 Speaker 1: two hundred years, very useful instrument in sustaining the process 376 00:22:02,520 --> 00:22:05,720 Speaker 1: of people being engaged. And you have had a much 377 00:22:05,760 --> 00:22:08,600 Speaker 1: more challenging convention this year if they had had a 378 00:22:08,640 --> 00:22:12,359 Speaker 1: normal traditional convention, because the Sanders waying would have pushed 379 00:22:12,440 --> 00:22:15,639 Speaker 1: much harder to change on the floor because it's so 380 00:22:15,720 --> 00:22:19,919 Speaker 1: totally controlled. You ended up with really domination by the 381 00:22:19,960 --> 00:22:23,800 Speaker 1: old order. When AOC gets one minute, and a whole 382 00:22:23,880 --> 00:22:26,560 Speaker 1: range of people who have no impact that all get 383 00:22:26,680 --> 00:22:29,080 Speaker 1: a lot more time. You know that the fix is 384 00:22:29,119 --> 00:22:34,000 Speaker 1: in and that the establishments trying to minimize exposure of 385 00:22:34,080 --> 00:22:37,600 Speaker 1: the people who are their most dynamic and most radical elements. 386 00:22:37,640 --> 00:22:39,679 Speaker 1: So I think it will be sad if this is 387 00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:42,280 Speaker 1: the end of the convention process. I hope it's not, 388 00:22:42,760 --> 00:22:44,879 Speaker 1: but I think that will require us to get beyond 389 00:22:44,920 --> 00:22:48,880 Speaker 1: the pandemic and see where we are by twenty twenty four. 390 00:22:49,400 --> 00:22:52,480 Speaker 1: Next week I'll talk about the Republican Convention, what they 391 00:22:52,560 --> 00:22:55,120 Speaker 1: tried to accomplish, and whether or not they actually got 392 00:22:55,119 --> 00:22:59,679 Speaker 1: it done. You can read more about my take on 393 00:22:59,680 --> 00:23:03,359 Speaker 1: the day Nomocratic National Convention on our showpage at newtsworld 394 00:23:03,359 --> 00:23:06,919 Speaker 1: dot com. News World is produced by Gingwich three sixty 395 00:23:06,920 --> 00:23:11,159 Speaker 1: and iHeartMedia. Our executive producer is Debbie Meyers and our 396 00:23:11,200 --> 00:23:14,639 Speaker 1: producer is Garnsey Slum. The artwork for the show was 397 00:23:14,720 --> 00:23:18,280 Speaker 1: created by Steve Penley. Special thanks to the team at 398 00:23:18,280 --> 00:23:21,640 Speaker 1: Gingwich three sixty. Please email me with your questions at 399 00:23:21,640 --> 00:23:26,000 Speaker 1: Gingwich three sixty dot com slash questions. I'll answer them 400 00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:30,000 Speaker 1: in future episodes. If you've been enjoying Newtsworld, I hope 401 00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:32,480 Speaker 1: you'll go to Apple Podcasts and both rate us with 402 00:23:32,560 --> 00:23:35,720 Speaker 1: five stars and give us a review so others can 403 00:23:35,800 --> 00:23:41,199 Speaker 1: learn what it's all about. On the next episode of Newtsworld, 404 00:23:41,640 --> 00:23:44,720 Speaker 1: I'm always looking for new voices, and I recently met 405 00:23:44,840 --> 00:23:50,520 Speaker 1: Rob Smith. As Rob describes himself, He's problematic. Why because 406 00:23:50,520 --> 00:23:53,800 Speaker 1: he doesn't fit the typical profile of anybody. He makes 407 00:23:53,840 --> 00:23:57,960 Speaker 1: you think he approaches things differently. I'm pleased to announce 408 00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:01,840 Speaker 1: his new podcast, Rob Smith Is Problematic, which is part 409 00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:05,119 Speaker 1: of the Gingrich three sixty network. I'm ni Gingwich. This 410 00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:05,920 Speaker 1: is niche World.