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| Democrats formally nominate Joe Biden for president on second night of convention – live | |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Biden has already surpassed the threshold to capture the nomination while Ocasio-Cortez praises Sanders’ campaign in nominating speech | |
| One of the defining features of the DNC so far has been its outreach to anti-Trump Republicans. Last night we had John Kasich and Meg Whitman, and tonight we have Colin Powell. | |
| This hasn’t gone down too well with some Democrats, especially those who are more on the progressive and anti-war sides of the party (Colin Powell was George Bush’s secretary of state and helped build the case for the invasion of Iraq). | |
| Here’s how some critics have been responding: | |
| Meanwhile, the Onion has done it again, with this biting commentary on Colin Powell’s appearance. | |
| Former secretary of state John Kerry criticized Trump as an embarrassment on the global stage in his convention speech. | |
| “When this president goes overseas, it isn’t a goodwill mission,” Kerry said. “It’s a blooper reel. He breaks up with our allies and writes love letters to dictators. America deserves a president who is looked up to, not laughed at.” | |
| Kerry, who endorsed Joe Biden early in the primary cycle, contrasted Trump’s foreign policy agenda with that of a Biden administration. | |
| “Our troops can’t get out of harm’s way by hiding in the White House bunker,” Kerry said. “They need a president who will stand up for them. And President Biden will.” | |
| Progressive activist Ady Barkan, who is dying of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, addressed the Democratic convention and demanded access to quality healthcare for all Americans. | |
| “We live in the richest country in history and yet we do not guarantee this most basic human right,” said Barkan. “Everyone living in America should get the health care they need regardless of their employment status or ability to pay.” | |
| Barkan, who has lost his voice because of ALS and has testified before Congress using eye movements, urged Americans to vote for Joe Biden in order to avoid the “existential threat of another four years of this president.” | |
| “Even during this terrible crisis, Donald Trump and Republican politicians are trying to take away millions of people’s health insurance,” Barkan said. | |
| “We must elect Joe Biden. Each of us must be a hero for our communities, for our country, and then, with a compassionate and intelligent president, we must act together and put on his desk a bill that guarantees us all the health care we deserve.” | |
| In what must be a first in the history of the DNC, a plate of calamari has made a star turn, making an appearance in the Rhode Island part of the roll call. They even called themselves “the calamari comeback state of Rhode Island”. | |
| The delegate casting the votes for Virginia is Khizr Khan, whose son, army captain Humayun Khan, died serving in the Iraq war. | |
| Speaking at the Democratic national convention in 2016 with his wife Ghazala, Kahn delivered one of the most memorable moments of that election cycle: He held up a copy of the constitution that he kept in his jacket pocket, held it up and addressed Donald Trump: “Let me ask you, have you even read the United States constitution? I will gladly lend you my copy. In this document, look for the words ‘liberty’ and ‘equal protection of law’.” | |
| The comments from Kahn, who is Muslim and Pakistani-American, came after Trump made xenophobic comments linking American Muslims to terrorists and calling for a ban on Muslim immigration. | |
| Kahn spoke from Charlottesville, the site of a neo-Nazi, white supremacist rally in 2017 where a counter-protestor was killed. Donald Trump said that there were “very fine people on both sides”. | |
| Biden said he decided to run for president after that rally. “When those folks came out of the fields carrying those torches, chanting the anti-Semitic bile and their veins bulging, accompanied by the Ku Klux Klan, with such ugliness … I never thought I’d see something like that again in my life. That’s when I decided,” Biden told supporters last year. | |
| Joe Biden, a three-time presidential candidate, is officially the Democratic presidential nominee -- more than three decades after his first White House bid. | |
| “It is the honor of my life to accept the Democratic Party’s nomination for President of the United States of America,” Biden said in a tweet. | |
| The formal nomination of Biden underscored what an unprecedented convention this is. Every state delegation cast their votes remotely, and Biden briefly thanked his supporters via livestream. | |
| Meanwhile, vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris, who would otherwise be celebrating Biden’s nomination in Milwaukee right now, watched the roll call vote from her couch. | |
| After the roll call concluded, the convention briefly turned to Joe Biden, who thanked his supporters for nominating him. | |
| “It means the world to me and my family, and I’ll see you on Thursday,” Biden said. | |
| The Democratic nominee and his family celebrated his achievement with streamers and a dozen or so balloons. | |
| It was far from the massive balloon drop that Biden would have enjoyed if the Democrats were able to hold their convention in person, but it added a bit of pageantry to the virtual event. | |
| The Delaware delegation initially passed on casting its votes, but the roll call later returned to Delaware Senator Tom Carper and Delaware Governor John Carney to close out the formal nomination of Joe Biden. | |
| Speaking from the Joseph R Biden train station in Wilmington, Delaware, Carney praised Biden for spending decades “delivering for families like his own.” | |
| Carper, who served alongside Biden in the Senate, described him as “a leader made for this moment and the finest public servant I have ever known.” | |
| The two lawmakers then cast their votes for “our friend, Delaware’s Joe Biden.” | |
| The roll call votes from delegates across the US are giving a lot of us who are isolating due to the pandemic some serious wanderlust. | |
| This reporter is all about the “calamari comeback state of Rhode Island” - looks lovely! | |
| – Maanvi Singh | – Maanvi Singh |
| With an unprecedented roll call vote, Democrats have formally nominated Joe Biden for president. | With an unprecedented roll call vote, Democrats have formally nominated Joe Biden for president. |
| Because of the virtual nature of the convention, delegates were not able to gather in Milwaukee to cast their votes. | Because of the virtual nature of the convention, delegates were not able to gather in Milwaukee to cast their votes. |
| Instead, each state delegation filmed a video casting their votes for Biden and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. | Instead, each state delegation filmed a video casting their votes for Biden and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. |
| The roll call is still ongoing, but Biden has already surpassed the threshold of 2,374 delegates needed to capture the nomination. | |
| If you were confused by AOC’s seconding of Bernie Sanders’ nomination, worry not – she’s explained what it all means via Twitter: | If you were confused by AOC’s seconding of Bernie Sanders’ nomination, worry not – she’s explained what it all means via Twitter: |
| Ocasio-Cortez, like so many progressives, traces her political awakening to Sanders 2016 presidential campaign, where she worked as an organizer. A self-described democratic socialist, Ocasio-Cortez was elected to Congress in 2018, unseating the fourth-ranking House Democrat.Since her shocking victory, she has helped organize and raise money for progressive challengers around the country, including Jamaal Bowman who won the Democratic primary this year, knocking off a 16-term incumbent in a deep-blue New York district.Many progressives were furious that Ocasio-Cortez, widely viewed as the leader of a next generation of Democrats, was only allotted one minute to speak, while ample time was devoted on Monday night to Republican defectors, including former Ohio governor John Kasich, a staunch opponent of abortion. Yet her invitation was a testament to influence within the party, rare for a first-term member of Congress.Ocasio-Cortez, who endorsed Sanders in the primary, giving his campaign a much needed jolt in the uncertain days after the senator’s heart attack, has been critical of Biden’s establishment-minded approach to governing. In an interview last year, she mused that in another country, they would not belong to the same party. | Ocasio-Cortez, like so many progressives, traces her political awakening to Sanders 2016 presidential campaign, where she worked as an organizer. A self-described democratic socialist, Ocasio-Cortez was elected to Congress in 2018, unseating the fourth-ranking House Democrat.Since her shocking victory, she has helped organize and raise money for progressive challengers around the country, including Jamaal Bowman who won the Democratic primary this year, knocking off a 16-term incumbent in a deep-blue New York district.Many progressives were furious that Ocasio-Cortez, widely viewed as the leader of a next generation of Democrats, was only allotted one minute to speak, while ample time was devoted on Monday night to Republican defectors, including former Ohio governor John Kasich, a staunch opponent of abortion. Yet her invitation was a testament to influence within the party, rare for a first-term member of Congress.Ocasio-Cortez, who endorsed Sanders in the primary, giving his campaign a much needed jolt in the uncertain days after the senator’s heart attack, has been critical of Biden’s establishment-minded approach to governing. In an interview last year, she mused that in another country, they would not belong to the same party. |
| Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s nominating speech for Bernie Sanders was a virtual passing of the torch. Sanders briefly led the primary contest earlier this year before falling impossibly behind Biden as fear of the coronavirus began to spread across the US.Sanders, who nearly eked out a victory in the Iowa caucuses, and then went on to win primary contests in New Hampshire, and Nevada before sweeping California on Super Tuesday, is expected to receive about 1,000 delegates. In the same way Sanders popularized Medicare for all, she has championed the Green New Deal – both turning the issue into a rallying cry for young Democrats and an easy line of attack for Republicans. Climate is one of the key areas in which Biden has moved left, and she was included in the Biden-Sanders unity taskforces, created to forge a policy consensus between the often-warning progressive and moderate wings of the Democratic party.Addressing his supporters on Monday, Sanders said their movement had “moved this country in a bold new direction” but he was unequivocal in his endorsement of Biden, warning that the stakes were too high to stay home.“The future of our democracy is at stake,” he said. | Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s nominating speech for Bernie Sanders was a virtual passing of the torch. Sanders briefly led the primary contest earlier this year before falling impossibly behind Biden as fear of the coronavirus began to spread across the US.Sanders, who nearly eked out a victory in the Iowa caucuses, and then went on to win primary contests in New Hampshire, and Nevada before sweeping California on Super Tuesday, is expected to receive about 1,000 delegates. In the same way Sanders popularized Medicare for all, she has championed the Green New Deal – both turning the issue into a rallying cry for young Democrats and an easy line of attack for Republicans. Climate is one of the key areas in which Biden has moved left, and she was included in the Biden-Sanders unity taskforces, created to forge a policy consensus between the often-warning progressive and moderate wings of the Democratic party.Addressing his supporters on Monday, Sanders said their movement had “moved this country in a bold new direction” but he was unequivocal in his endorsement of Biden, warning that the stakes were too high to stay home.“The future of our democracy is at stake,” he said. |
| Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is without a doubt the most exciting rising star in the Democratic party. But her 60-second speaking slot, which was spent reiterating her support for Bernie Sanders, was all we’ll be seeing of her at the DNC, and many of her admirers aren’t happy: | Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is without a doubt the most exciting rising star in the Democratic party. But her 60-second speaking slot, which was spent reiterating her support for Bernie Sanders, was all we’ll be seeing of her at the DNC, and many of her admirers aren’t happy: |
| Ocasio-Cortez was there to second Sanders’ nomination, which is a procedural quirk of the convention that forms part of the roll call. But some viewers have misunderstood her speech, and think she’s suddenly flipped back to Sanders to sabotage Biden. Just to be clear: this isn’t the case. | Ocasio-Cortez was there to second Sanders’ nomination, which is a procedural quirk of the convention that forms part of the roll call. But some viewers have misunderstood her speech, and think she’s suddenly flipped back to Sanders to sabotage Biden. Just to be clear: this isn’t the case. |
| Jacquelyn Brittany, a 31-year-old woman who first met Joe Biden when she escorted him in an elevator to a New York Times meeting in December, was the first the put his name forward in the formal nomination process. | Jacquelyn Brittany, a 31-year-old woman who first met Joe Biden when she escorted him in an elevator to a New York Times meeting in December, was the first the put his name forward in the formal nomination process. |
| In an NYT video, she blurted out “I love you” to Biden and took a selfie with him. | In an NYT video, she blurted out “I love you” to Biden and took a selfie with him. |
| “Once he came in, he was just genuinely, genuinely nice to people. We don’t get that from everybody,” she recalled to the Washington Post, speaking about her initial interaction with Biden. | “Once he came in, he was just genuinely, genuinely nice to people. We don’t get that from everybody,” she recalled to the Washington Post, speaking about her initial interaction with Biden. |
| On her role in the DNC, she said: “I never thought I would be in a position to do this. I never thought I was worthy enough to do this.” | On her role in the DNC, she said: “I never thought I would be in a position to do this. I never thought I was worthy enough to do this.” |
| – Maanvi Singh | – Maanvi Singh |
| Jacqueline Brittany, the New York City elevator operator who met Joe Biden during the Democratic primary, was the first person to officially nominate him at the convention. | Jacqueline Brittany, the New York City elevator operator who met Joe Biden during the Democratic primary, was the first person to officially nominate him at the convention. |
| The video of Brittany meeting Biden and getting her photo taken with him went viral earlier this year. | The video of Brittany meeting Biden and getting her photo taken with him went viral earlier this year. |
| “In the short time I spent with Joe Biden, I could tell he really saw me,” Brittany said. “I nominate my friend, Joe Biden, as the next president.” | “In the short time I spent with Joe Biden, I could tell he really saw me,” Brittany said. “I nominate my friend, Joe Biden, as the next president.” |
| The nomination was seconded by the Delaware senator Chris Coons and the Delaware congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester. | The nomination was seconded by the Delaware senator Chris Coons and the Delaware congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester. |
| Bob King, the former president of the United Auto Workers, and congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez delivered the nominating speeches for the Vermont senator Bernie Sanders before the convention formally nominated Joe Biden. | Bob King, the former president of the United Auto Workers, and congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez delivered the nominating speeches for the Vermont senator Bernie Sanders before the convention formally nominated Joe Biden. |
| King praised Sanders, who won several primary contests but ultimately fell short of the nomination, as “a great champion of the working class”. | King praised Sanders, who won several primary contests but ultimately fell short of the nomination, as “a great champion of the working class”. |
| Ocasio-Cortez, who worked on Sanders’ 2016 campaign before joining Congress, said he had “organized a historic, grassroots campaign to restore our democracy”. | Ocasio-Cortez, who worked on Sanders’ 2016 campaign before joining Congress, said he had “organized a historic, grassroots campaign to restore our democracy”. |
| Bill Clinton’s appearance at the DNC tonight hasn’t been well received among some of his critics on both the left and right. It comes only a few hours after new photos revealed of him receiving a neck massage from one of Jeffrey Epstein’s personal massage therapists, who was a victim of the disgraced financier’s sexual abuse. | Bill Clinton’s appearance at the DNC tonight hasn’t been well received among some of his critics on both the left and right. It comes only a few hours after new photos revealed of him receiving a neck massage from one of Jeffrey Epstein’s personal massage therapists, who was a victim of the disgraced financier’s sexual abuse. |
| Two former Democratic presidents, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, have just offered their endorsements of Joe Biden. | Two former Democratic presidents, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, have just offered their endorsements of Joe Biden. |
| In an audio-only address, Carter said Biden would ensure the country expands coronavirus testing and mask requirements to limit the spread of the virus. | In an audio-only address, Carter said Biden would ensure the country expands coronavirus testing and mask requirements to limit the spread of the virus. |
| “Joe Biden must be our next president,” Carter said. | “Joe Biden must be our next president,” Carter said. |
| Like Michelle Obama and Chuck Schumer, Clinton referenced Trump’s “It is what it is” quote to argue the president has downplayed the loss of 170,000 Americans to coronavirus. | Like Michelle Obama and Chuck Schumer, Clinton referenced Trump’s “It is what it is” quote to argue the president has downplayed the loss of 170,000 Americans to coronavirus. |
| “Covid hit us much harder than it had to,” Clinton said, blaming Trump’s leadership for the extent of the pandemic’s devastation. | “Covid hit us much harder than it had to,” Clinton said, blaming Trump’s leadership for the extent of the pandemic’s devastation. |
| Clinton said that if Trump were reelected, he would only “blame, bully and belittle” for another four years, while Biden will “build back better.” | Clinton said that if Trump were reelected, he would only “blame, bully and belittle” for another four years, while Biden will “build back better.” |