The Democratic National Convention is on its last day, and all I can say about that is, finally. It's been a real parade of nitwittery, even more than usual, and while, yes, it's part of the job to cover these people and their many and varied utterances, that doesn't mean we aren't relieved to get a break when it's over.
Of course, there have been some fun moments. The slams aimed at JD Vance are amusing. Vance is, precisely, what Democrats claim to revere: a kid from a poor family whose mother struggled with addiction, raised by his high-school dropout grandmother. He joined the Marines, went to Yale Law School, married a "woman of color" with whom he has two mixed-race children, and now represents Ohio in the United States Senate. If he were a Democrat, the legacy media would be fawning over him; he's a Republican, and even worse, he's Donald Trump's running mate, so now all of these things are apparently bad.
But that's a sideshow. What I really find astounding about this year's convention—and I've been watching these things since the 1980 election cycle—was the utter, deliberate, shameless dishonesty on display.
Some years back, I caught a clip of a television show or other show, and one of the main characters used the line, "Everybody lies." What a load of horse squeeze. Plenty of people don't lie. I won't lie. There are times when I will remain silent in the interests of social lubrication, but I will not lie. My father hammered that into me. His father was also scrupulously honest, without the "remain silent" part; Grandpa had no mental filter, and if he thought a woman in the family had gained weight, he'd say so. I grant you, that led to more than a few awkward moments.
But at the Democratic convention, the lies just kept coming.
I won't go into the debunking of the many lies to pour out of this convention like fertilizer out of a manure spreader. That's already been done by my colleagues, and there is literally nothing I can add to this excellent coverage.
See Related: Oh, C'mon! 'Fact-Checking' Night 3 of Democrat Convention, CNN-Style
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No, what I'm interested in discussing isn't that they lie. It's why they lie. And I have the answer, and it's one I've mentioned many times in the past: It's for principals, not principles.
In short, if anything furthers putting more Democrats in positions of power, it's good. If anything hinders that effort, it's bad. These people have no principles; look how quickly they threw befuddled old Joe Biden under the bus and anointed instead a cackling imbecile who received not one primary vote. Look how quickly they used the labyrinthian Democrat primary apparatus to freeze Bernie Sanders, the daffy old Bolshevik from Vermont, out of not one but two primary elections. Look how Tim Walz takes to the stage and blatantly, deliberately, and shamelessly lies not only about his military record but also about Trump slashing Medicare, about Trump writing the 2025 Project, and more. Look how Michigan, a vital swing state, sent their liberal Attorney General to claim that Republicans wanted to revoke her marriage to another woman — a position quickly refuted by Ric Grenell, a Republican who is, by the way, gay.
Any homosexual who believes that gay marriage is threatened by Donald Trump is a mindless sheep.
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) August 22, 2024
You are being used.
Wake up. They control you.
These people are just sad and pathetic. And liars.
There are some indications that the American people are starting to take notice. Polls are always a lagging indicator, but betting odds are more immediately responsive, and Kamala Harris's odds aren't looking favorable, as my friend and colleague Brandon Morse points out.
See Related: As the DNC Lied, Kamala Harris' Odds to Win the Presidency Died According to Betting Site
Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are, candidly, among the worst. Both of them lie as reflexively as they breathe. They lie when there is no reason to lie. They lie when the truth would actually help them. They lie when the truth is the only thing that might save them. They lie about their backgrounds (Kamala and the infamous "FWEEDOM" story, Tim Walz and his many lies about his National Guard service,) they lie about their opponents (claiming Donald Trump would gut Social Security and Medicare when Trump's actual published platform says just the opposite) and they lie about everything else.
We shouldn't tolerate liars. Personal integrity should be a minimum requirement for elected office. But for Democrats, clearly, it is not. They will say and do whatever is necessary to elect more Democrats, and if they lie, rest assured that they will cheat and steal as well — and as evidence, I offer you Hunter Biden.
Principals, not principles. That's where we are. Remember that in November.
