I have attended about a half-dozen national conventions, Republican and Democratic, and I have watched at least a dozen more. And I can say two things: 1) By and large, they have all bored me. 2) The 2024 Republican National Convention did not. The Republican National Convention not only captured my interest, it often moved me emotionally.
If you weren’t moved to tears by the memory of the families of soldiers killed in Afghanistan during our fatally avoidable withdrawal, you’re a lot more stoic than I am. If you weren’t deeply moved by the tribute former President Donald Trump and the public paid to Corey Comperatore, the firefighter who died at Trump’s rally when he threw himself on top of his wife and daughter to protect them, then again, you’re made of tougher stuff than I am.
I was also deeply moved by the cheers every time Israel was mentioned. Nothing better represents the moral differences between the two parties than their attitudes toward Israel. In fact, it will be interesting to see if Israel is mentioned in a positive way even once at the Democratic National Convention.
But both Trump and the Republican Party made a huge mistake, one I pointed out on my radio show during the convention and have pointed out for decades.
Virtually every speaker at the convention focused their attention on President Joe Biden. The audience did the same, as when they chanted “Joe must go.”
For decades, I have called on Republican candidates for public office to focus their attacks at least as much on the Democratic Party and the left as on their opponent.
The fact that they didn’t do it at the convention has come back to haunt them, just three days later. Now, “Joe did it.” So all the time and effort spent attacking Biden was totally in vain.
I have never understood why Republicans always focus their attacks on their Democratic opponents while virtually ignoring any mention of the threat posed by the Democratic Party and the left.
When the differences between Republicans and Democrats were much less profound than they are now, it might have made sense for Republican candidates to focus their attention on their opponent. In 1952 and 1956, when Republican Dwight Eisenhower was running for president against Democrat Adlai Stevenson and the Democratic Party posed no existential threat to the United States, it made sense for Eisenhower and the Republican Party to focus on Stevenson’s supposed shortcomings and Eisenhower’s supposed virtues.
But at least since the 1960s, this approach has been nonsensical.
The reason “Joe must go” was not because Joe is a man of flawed character (although he is) or even because of his atrocious policies. The reason Biden did so much damage to America was not because he is Joe Biden, but because he is a Democrat. And the Democratic Party has been taken over by the left, which, unlike traditional liberalism, is destroying everything that is good and special about our country.
It doesn’t matter which Democratic candidate is running for president – governor, senator, or representative. No matter how likeable they may be personally, when it comes to policies and values, they are all virtually identical. In terms of policy and philosophy, how is Vice President Kamala Harris different from Joe Biden? How are Gavin Newsom, Bernie Sanders, Nancy Pelosi, JB Pritzker, Gretchen Whitmer, or Pete Buttigieg different? Or, for that matter, how is Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro (who could very well be the Democrats’ vice presidential candidate, since he comes from a politically vital state) different?
To cite one example, Shapiro frequently spoke in favor of school choice, and then he and his Democratic Party just rejected a bill supporting scholarships (Pennsylvania’s term for vouchers) for Pennsylvania’s poorest children. As RealClearPolitics reported five days ago:
“Last year, Shapiro failed our most vulnerable children by vetoing their promise to enact Lifeline scholarships, which would have saved tens, if not hundreds of thousands, of children trapped in failing and unsafe schools. This year, the governor once again betrayed his word.
“For 12 months, he has called these grants ‘unfinished business.’ And yet, the governor caved to pressure from his party and teachers unions. Despite bipartisan support in the Pennsylvania Senate, every House Democrat voted against Lifeline grants, with the governor not saying a word to the contrary.”
Shapiro stood by perhaps the most destructive left-wing institution in America, the teachers unions, despite overwhelming support for school choice in Pennsylvania.
As noted in the RealClearPolitics article: “A new poll shows that 75% of Pennsylvanians still support Lifeline grants, including 87% and 88% of Black and Hispanic voters, respectively. I wish Shapiro would support them.”
In other words, who the Democrat is running for office means absolutely nothing. The only thing that matters is that he is a Democrat. The problem is the left-wing party.
It wasn’t Joe who had to go. He’s already gone. And that doesn’t make any difference.
“The destructive and dangerous Democratic Party has to go.” That should be – and should have been for decades – the message of every Republican candidate for any office in the country.
