Dave Brat: Don't Believe the Theatrics - DNC Delegates Adopted the Farthest-Left Platform in American History
The Democratic Party is led by radicals. That’s not a recipe for electoral success, however, so the Democratic National Convention was carefully orchestrated to downplay the party’s ideological extremism.
Contrary to the theatrics, though, the delegates to the DNC adopted the most far-left platform in American history.
New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez may have received the biggest snub. Despite serving as co-chair of Joe Biden’s climate policy task force and winning plaudits from the legacy media as the “new face of the Democratic Party,” the self-proclaimed “democratic socialist” was only offered a one-minute speaking slot at the convention, prompting AOC to throw a small fit on Twitter.
The speech was prerecorded, presumably to ensure that the firebrand congresswoman didn’t say anything too revealing about the party’s radical trajectory.
While Ocasio-Cortez got short shrift, that’s still more of an acknowledgment than the party is offering to her fellow radicals.
Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts — who along with AOC form what has been dubbed the “squad” — were completely left out of the convention.
Omar showed her disdain for the Democratic establishment by participating in the “virtual town hall” held by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders apart from the DNC, while Tlaib indicated her intention to vote “no” on the party’s 2020 platform because it does not include a commitment to a government takeover of American health care.
Also missing from the DNC lineup was Congressional Black Caucus chairwoman and Florida Rep. Karen Bass, who was on Biden’s vice presidential shortlist despite her past praise for the communist Castro regime in Cuba.
In place of the extremists who have taken control of the party in recent years, the Democrats packed the convention schedule with a who’s who of has-beens in left-wing politics, including failed presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, who between them have been thrice denied the Oval Office.
Joining them were a variety of other entrenched establishment figures such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who are currently blocking the next round of coronavirus relief in Congress and promulgating a fanciful conspiracy theory about a Republican effort to hamstring the postal service.
Much to the displeasure of the “progressive” wing of the party, the DNC also prominently featured former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who retains a deep personal antipathy toward the president after losing to him in the 2016 Republican primaries.
Rather than embracing the ruse, however, the far left squawked indignantly, complaining that Kasich — a liberal Republican if ever there was one — does not represent the Democratic Party’s true identity as the party of higher taxes and increased government control over virtually every aspect of our lives.
Ordinary Americans aren’t fooled, either.
As voters learn more about Joe Biden and the extremist policies he has embraced in this election cycle, the prevailing perception of him shifts further to the left, reflecting a more clear-eyed assessment of the presumptive nominee on the part of voters who are paying closer attention to the race as we approach the general election phase of the campaign.
Selecting the most liberal member of the Senate as his running mate certainly won’t help Biden reverse that trend.
The Democratic Party is desperate to pull off a grand deception this year, and the convention is a crucial part of that strategy.
Shunting the radicals off to the sidelines is just a dog-and-pony show designed to distract from the ideological extremism that now defines the party.
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