BAD POETRY DAY UPDATES

Perhaps Write Bad but Heartfelt Poetry about Fajitas or Ice Cream Pie since it’s Fajitas and Ice Cream Pie Day, Too!

-Today’s update is written at the Plumbers’ Union Hall in Chicago, where yours truly waits as a Pool Driver for delegates attending this week’s Democratic National Convention. I can report the mood is extremely upbeat and energized – and why not? The newest ABC/Washington Post poll has Kamala Harris up 51%-46% over Republican nominee Weird Old Convicted Felon Ex-President Trump (R-apist) (and, yes, POLLING, y’all!), and the lineup for Prime Time at the DNC is looking to be as stellar as one hoped for.

-Curious? You bet you are! Here’s the schedule right now …

-MONDAY: 2020 election winner President Joe Biden (the formal keynote speaker), Dr. Jill Biden, Hillary Clinton and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson speak – the theme: FOR THE PEOPLE.

-TUESDAY: President Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff and Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker – the theme: A BOLD VISION FOR AMERICA’S FUTURE.

-WEDNESDAY: Bill Clinton, Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi, Pete Buttigieg, and MN Gov. Tim Walz (D-ad!) with his Vice Presidential acceptance speech – the theme: A FIGHT FOR OUR FREEDOMS.

-THURSDAY: Kamala Harris accepts the nomination – the theme: FOR OUR FUTURE.

-More speakers will be part of the schedule, of course, and Watch This Space for future information!

-As for how Trump and the MAGAGOP are reacting … well, last night in Pennsylvania, Trump was theoretically told for the third time this week to focus on discussing the economy and why Harris would not be good for it. And for the third time this week, other than calling Harris a “Communist” for her plans to fight price gouging, Trump instead went after Harris personally, attacking “Comrade Kah-MAAH-Lah” and for “her crazy laugh … the laugh of a crazy person … the laugh of a lunatic.”

-If you think he repeats himself, Trump had a response to that. The direct quote: “They’ll say (I) was rambling. I don’t ramble. I’m a really smart guy, you know, really smart. I don’t ramble. But the other day, anytime I hit too hard, they say he was rambling, rambling.”

-To top off the rambling rant in the semi-filled 8,000 seat hall in Wikes-Barre (some of which were paid to attend per a report this morning), Trump also again claimed Joe Biden “hates” Harris because of being part of a “coup” (Biden resigned of his own free will), that Harris did not select PA Governor Josh Shapiro because of anti-Semitism (Harris’ husband is Jewish), and that he hoped the state of North Carolina will vote for Dave McCormick for Governor (Trump was in Pennsylvania, and McCormick is the Senate candidate in Pennsylvania that Trump was allegedly shilling for).

-Oh, well, at least Trump has his Vice Presidential candidate who is out there speaking for the campaign! And this morning, J.D. Vance was shoring up the base on Fox News Sunday with a ready-made zinger to attack Harris’ economic plan that was revealed on Friday! Vance readied and aimed and fired as follows: “Giving Kamala Harris control of inflation policy … is like … giving Jeffrey Epstein control over human trafficking policy!”

-No word on who, whether, or how Vance will be told …

-One person who may not be able to tell Trump is Frank Luntz, who appeared late last week on CNBC with a rather stunning admission: Luntz wanted to find a focus group of unaffliated female voters to get a sense of where their heads were at in the wake of the change in the Democratic ticket. In the interview, he revealed that he did not have a workable list of potential focus group members. The reason? Every woman on the list he had had all committed to voting for Harris and Walz, thus taking them out of his pool and having nobody else to interview to try to figure the question out.

-Womp womp, amirite?

-The Harris campaign continues to build out for the main campaign. Amid some anticipation that the campaign could exceed $1 billion in donations by Labor Day, the campaign announced a record ad buy of $370 million – a record, and one that also serves to make the reportedly cash-poor Trump campaign (and surrogates) pay more for prime ad placements and access. The buy includes over $200 million on digital ad buys, which would also be a record.

-At the same time, the Harris campaign is also merging with work done in the Biden/Harris campaign to assemble the largest group of election attorneys in American history, led by Democratic election super-attorney Marc Elias. That effort is geared to ensure that no Trump-instigated (and telegraphed since January 21, 2021) legal and extra-legal shenanigans take place in the form of states refusing to certify votes, states blocking and purging voter registration, and generally doing everything possible to either throw the vote into a theoretically MAGA-controlled Congress or into the Supreme Court where there are six known mega-Trump supporters who could attempt to install an otherwise not duly elected candidate of their choosing.

-There will be PLENTY more to talk about as the convention rolls on, including what is now being reported to be about 20,000 protestors ready to demand action on Palestine and perhaps give antsy reporters a chance to bust out pre-written “2024 IS JUST LIKE 1968 OHNOES DEMS BACK IN BLOODY DISARRAY!” stories (and please let this be the joke I make it out to be and not something events make me apologize for!), as well as tracking continued negotiations on a cease-fire in Gaza and the continued push into Russia by Ukrainian forces (SLAVA UKRAINI!) and whatever else happens out there. (Plus, I may still get called to drive someone somewhere!) So let’s move on to the fun history trivia and let’s watch the show!

-On this date in 1919, women in the United States won the right to vote with ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. On this date in 1958, Congress opened an investigation into allegations of television game shows being fixed. On this date in 1969, Jimi Hendrix’ iconic rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner closed the Woodstock Music and Art Festical. On this date in 1991, hardline Soviet Union party leaders attempted to oust Mikhail Gorbachev with a coup. And on this date in 1992, Larry Bird retired as a player from the NBA.

-Debuts on this date: a televised weather report featuring a weather map (1926), Ringo Starr as the drummer of The Beatles (1962), The Police (1977), SLIPPERY WHEN WET (1987).

-Happy Birthday to Meriwether Lewis, Marshall Field, Max Factor, Shelley Winters, Rosalyn Carter, Rafer Johnson, Roberto Clemente, Vincent Bugliosi. Gail Fisher, Robert Redford, Joe Frank, Matt Snell, Martin Mull, Elayne Boosler, Patrick Swayze, Marvin Isley, Jon “Bermuda” Schwartz, Dennis Leary, Madeline Stowe, John Jurkovic, Christian Slater, Edward Norton, Everlast, Malcolm Jamal Warner, Andy Samberg, and Frances Bean Cobain.

-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to Honore de Balzac, Walter Chrysler, Anita Loos, B.F. Skinner, Persis Khambatta, Elmer Bernstein, Pervis Jackson, Kim Dae-jung, Scott McKenzie, Don Pardo, Bud Yorkin, Louis Stokes, Kofi Annan, Jack Whitaker, Ben Cross, and today, Alain Delon.

-Feed the Worms: Reagan Administration Defense Secretary Casper Weinberger, director hosebag Roman Polanski, and one-time Dumbest Congressperson in Congress Louie Gohmert (Hurr-DurR, TX) entered Earth on this date. World-as-we-knew-it-then conqueror Genghis Khan and radical right columnist Robert Novak bought it on this date.

-Antonio Salieri and Marge Schott were born on this date. You decide if they get Happy Birthdays or if they Feed the Worms.

-The Number One Nonfiction Book in America on this date … in 2024, THE ART OF POWER by Nancy Pelosi … in 2014, UNBROKEN by Laura Hillenbrand … in 2004, MY LIFE by Bill Clinton … in 1994, EMBRACED BY THE LIGHT by Betty J. Eadie with Curtis Taylor … in 1984, THE KENNEDYS: AN AMERICAN DRAMA by Peter Collier and David Horowitz … and in 1974, ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward.