Many Conservatives Praise the Dem Convention, but Not the Nominee

The great thing about having the second convention is that you can “tweak” your messages to play off the other party, or to take advantage of any gaps. Breitbart was clearly not happy that the praise of the Democratic convention included conservatives:

“Looking for any reason to praise Hillary Clinton’s prosaic acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention, progressives took delight in the Never Trump conservatives on Twitter who heaped praise on Clinton’s patriotic happy talk in order to bash Donald Trump’s populist/nationalist speech the week before.”

Here are some of the tweets highlighted by Katherine Krueger at the far-left Talking Points Memo:

John Podhoretz, son of Norman:
Take about five paragraphs out of that Obama speech and it could have been a Reagan speech. Trust me. I know.
— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) July 28, 2016

Former Cruz spokeswoman and National Enquirer’s “alleged mistress number two”:
I am sure hearing a lot more about God and faith at the DNC than the RNC.
— Amanda Carpenter (@amandacarpenter) July 28, 2016

Michelle Fields’ boyfriend:
Now an immigrant medal of honor winner? If the goal is to reach independents and conservatives uneasy w/ Trump, well done Democrats
— Jamie Weinstein (@Jamie_Weinstein) July 29, 2016

Never Trump leader Erick Erickson:
For Republicans who are not social conservatives, I have to imagine last night and tonight at the DNC are having an impact on them.
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) July 29, 2016

Never Trump Iowa talk show host Steve Deace:
So most of conservative media and the GOP spent the week rooting for Russia, and now the Democrats get to rally around the flag.
Dreadful.
— Steve Deace (@SteveDeaceShow) July 29, 2016

Never Trump Wisconsin talk show host Charlie Sykes:
Snark aside: GOP needs to understand what is happening to them tonight…
— Charlie Sykes (@SykesCharlie) July 29, 2016

Do you know how old I am? Old enough to remember when speeches like this would’ve been given at GOP convention… Not Dem one. Brutal.
— Charlie Sykes (@SykesCharlie) July 29, 2016

Dick Cheney’s press secretary:
How can it be that I am standing at my kitchen counter sobbing because of the messages being driven at the DNC? Where has the GOP gone?
— Rich Galen (@richgalen) July 29, 2016

Conservative “strategist” Matt Mackowiak:
This Democratic convention has been an unmitigated disaster for the GOP. Very well produced. Unifying. Patriotic. Bravo.#DNCinPHL
— Matt Mackowiak (@MattMackowiak) July 29, 2016

Commentary editor Noah Rothman:
Republicans could have stopped all this.
— Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) July 29, 2016

Fox News’ Greg Gutfeld:
if repubs had championed their principles with specifics rather than embrace autocracy – they wouldn’t have yielded this turf to dems.
— GregGutfeld (@greggutfeld) July 29, 2016

National Review’s Jonah Goldberg:
Why this convention is better: It’s about loving America. GOP convention was about loving Trump. If you didn’t love Trump, it offered nada.
— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahNRO) July 29, 2016

But, of course, Donald Trump disagreed. Here are the rapid-fire tweets from “The Donald” the next day:

No one has worse judgement than Hillary Clinton – corruption and devastation follows her wherever she goes.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2016

Hillary’s wars in the Middle East have unleashed destruction, terrorism and ISIS across the world.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2016

Hillary’s vision is a borderless world where working people have no power, no jobs, no safety.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2016

Hillary will never reform Wall Street. She is owned by Wall Street!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2016

Our way of life is under threat by Radical Islam and Hillary Clinton cannot even bring herself to say the words.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2016

Our way of life is under threat by Radical Islam and Hillary Clinton cannot even bring herself to say the words.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2016

Hillary’s refusal to mention Radical Islam, as she pushes a 550% increase in refugees, is more proof that she is unfit to lead the country.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2016

Breitbart shouldn’t be so hurt. Although John Podhoretz thought the convention, itself, was terrific, he then wrote, in the New York Post, that Hillary “blew her big moment.”

Well, Hillary Clinton took the stage after four days of Democratic triumph — the party staged what was even to these conservative eyes and ears the best, tightest, most interesting convention of our time — and pretty much stunk up the joint. . .

The previous three days of the convention did a brilliant job setting her up. . . It cast her and the Democratic Party in fresh new terms as the voices of optimism and patriotism in this election.

And just a few hours before she took the stage came breathtaking remarks by Gen. John Allen and especially Khizr Khan, a Muslim whose son Humayun died defending this nation as a Purple Heart and Bronze Star recipient in Iraq — both of which sounded notes that the Republican convention could not sound because of Donald Trump’s words about Muslims and his incoherence on the subject of fighting ISIS.

Then Hillary blew it.

She spoke in her patented da-DA da-DA ta-TA cadence, which makes every sentence sound like every other. What is more, she looked more angry than determined and seemed in no way transformed into a larger or more impressive figure due to her historic accomplishment at securing her party’s nomination and very possibly the presidency itself.


Goethe Behr

Goethe Behr is a Contributing Editor and Moderator at Election Central. He started out posting during the 2008 election, became more active during 2012, and very active in 2016. He has been a political junkie since the 1950s and enjoys adding a historical perspective.

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