My Notes on Sept. 5th Democratic National Convention Day: Part IV

N.B.: I have not run a fact check on some of the Democratic speakers' claims. If I'll do, I'll amend these 'minutes.'

8:42 p.m. Sister Simone Campbell, nun who is travelling while protesting Ryan budget on behalf of fellow Catholics. Cites Council of American Bishops' disapproval. "We are all responsible for one another. I am my sister's keeper. I am my brother's keeper." Says that poor people who are struggling to support themselves need help; they should not starve, and they should not die of undiagnosed conditions because they don't have the funds to visit a doctor. "This is part of my pro-life stance, and the right thing to do." "Listen to one another, rather than yell at each other," she says at a very loud volume. I find it kind of friendly and, I guess, organic when non-politician speakers make little errors in following the teleprompter and don't pause when the audience drowns them out.

8:50 p.m. Cheers greet the governor of Delaware, Jack Markell, who begins by hailing Joe Biden. Talks somewhat oxymoron-ically about Mitt Romney's 'roots.' Says he is a businessman, too; was at Nextel (and later at Comcast) and is a self-declared capitalist and believer in private equity (like Bain Capital's work); but he believes one should learn the right lessons. Romney concentrated on the wellbeing of his shareholders, and therefore focused on the bottom line; but in government this approach is detrimental. And outsourced jobs and unemployment when companies are driven out of business are a huge problem for others. I found this kind of convincing.

8:58 p.m. Karen Mills, Mainer of the Small Business Administration. She's a little like a besuited professional in a commercial and makes as many hand gestures as our very own Chancellor Merkel. She seems to be emphasizing that the Obama government is not nannying small businesses, but simply improving the ambient conditions so that they can thrive.

(Film which I missed due to Nutella bread break. *N.B. I am not paid to advertise a certain chocolate-hazelnut spread.*)

9:05 pm. Chipper craft beer brewer from Virginia, Bill Butcher, speaks in praise of Obama's measures for small businesses.

9:07 p.m. "California's State Attorney, Kamala Harris." Talks about the legal fundament of America and its ideal role in preventing the kind of activity which leads to financial crises, denial of rights. She says that letting mortgage foreclosures run their course, as Romney apparently suggested, 'is. not. leadership.' Refers to credit card company regulations to keep gratuitous fees in check. Speaks for American Dream.

Film on immigration. Obama thinks letting illegal immigrants' children nationalize is also 'good for our security.'

9:16 p.m. Benita Veliz, graduated student, speaking in favour of Dream Act. She introduces:

9:19 p.m. Cristina Saralegui! Tip of the hat to 'all the young people who study and do their homework.' Heheheh. She was born in Cuba ('Viva Cuba!') and became a talk show host for Telemundo and Univision. ¡Si se puede! She reiterates that Romney would turn health care from a guarantee into ¡una libreta de cupones!!! Talks about his intention to "make life unbearable" for undocumented immigrants, of which there are roughly 11 million in the US. [As encapsulated by Roberto Gonzales of the University of Chicago, writing in the Washington Post on June 22nd: "Mitt Romney supports self-deportation — the idea that stricter immigration laws will make life for undocumented immigrants so unbearable that they will leave." Even Republican governor of New Mexico Susana Martinez tends to disapprove of this philosophy, which has already partly been imposed for instance in Arizona. Back in 1994, the NYT's columnist Safire also roundly denounced it. (Tip of the hat to this Wikipedia entry: "Self-deportation.")] And says to the vociferous crowd, as Obama recently did during a recent speech too, "Don't boo! Vote!" Those like Romney call people like Benita "illegal aliens," Obama calls them "Dreamers"; that is the difference between the two! She is very endearing and charismatic.

9:27 p.m. Austin Ligon, of the company CarMax, pays tribute to the role of infrastructure (e.g. roads) in enabling his business to function. (CarMax [Wikipedia] is quartered in Virginia; it paid 12,000-ish employees in 2005; and it has had a net income of $59.2 million in (fiscal year) 2009. It is a Fortune 500 company. It has often been in Fortune's list of "100 Best Companies to Work For." So we'll hope it's a fairly happy and shiny firm.) He lauds the "now robust" car industry bailout under the Obama administration. Obama 'supports average consumers and taxpayers'; 'that's how we grow the economy.' So he's "voting to extend Obama's management contract, for four more years!"

9:29 p.m. Film: about the car industry. A worker for General Motors mentions the ancillary jobs to his workplace, like restaurants. At Chrysler, 'everyone from the CEO down to the [janitors?] worked to help the company survive.' Praise for Obama's altruism. A definite affirmation that 'we are better off than we were four years ago.'

Illustration: "Silhouette of Car with Driver." By Inkwina (February 25, 2008), at Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

9:33 p.m. UAW (United Auto Workers) member from Ohio, 2nd generation car industry worker with an uplifted curly hairstyle and demeanour which remind me of the 1980s (television) in a very nice way, speaks. (The cameraman shows that Michelle Obama is in the arena!) 'President Obama has the same ethics and work values as our workers at GM.'

9:36 p.m. Bob King, President of UAW. Says that Obama has stood with millions of workers, not only in the car industry. (John Kerry is also there!) 'Moral courage and leadership.'

9:46 p.m. Former employees of companies owned by Bain. Ouch. This is like when the prosecution witnesses file to the stand in a criminal case. An, um, more than healthy dose of resentment here. David Foster, steelworker for 31 years; company bankrupted after being purchased in 1993 while corporate executives flitted off with millions of dollars. He personally had to tell widows and retirees that they were fired, pensionless, no severance pay.

9:52 p.m. Congressman Chris van Hollen, from Maryland. He has come not to praise Paul Ryan, but to bury him. Ryan's 'acceptance speech left the fact-checkers up allll night.' And 'if he had been honest, he would have pointed up to that debt clock [there was a digital screen which showed the climbing numbers of the 15+ trillion US dollars in federal debt at the Republican National Convention] and said, "We built that!"' Refers to huge budget deficit under President Bush. Wields copy of plan by bipartisan committee for working on better-balanced budget. Criticizes absolute refusal by Romney and Ryan to raise taxes on the wealthy by a single cent. "Punishing success" = nonsense; it's really "sharing responsibility." People who reach the top of the metaphorical ladder should reach back and help the next person up.

10:00 p.m. Sandra Fluke, Georgetown University student and contraception rights advocate. Paints picture of misogynist dystopia under Republican presidency, contrasts encouraging phone call from President Obama when the intemperate commentator Rush Limbaugh had famously insulted her on his radio show, and contrasts the invitation to speak at the convention.

10:08 p.m. Jim Sinegal, former Costco executive and co-founder. Public school graduate. Job creation requires time and attention, not 'reaping and running,' on the part of those who run companies. Possibly overstating the gleamingly splendiferous working conditions in his company, just a little.

Thinks that a "president who takes the long view and makes the best decisions" is ultimately better for business, and "making an economy built to last." This requires input "from all of us," including allotting resources for education, research and inventions, affordable and diversified energy, good transportation systems for freight and worker commutes, little debt to enable solid trade environment, "sensible immigration laws" to "help retain qualified employees," small businesses need to be able to compete with the big and even become big, etc. "That's why I'm proud to stand with him" — him=Obama. "We did not build our company in a vacuum. We built it in the greatest nation on earth," "with a little help from our neighbours." Quite sensible, I think.

I'm still a little wary about the bona fides of Costco in terms of its business practices — if only because large discount retail chains would seem implicitly problematic for instance in terms of workers' unions, relationships to suppliers, coexistence with other smaller local firms, etc. It does accept food stamps from poorer customers now, so . . .?

10:15 p.m. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who is running for a position as senator as a kind of establishment outsider and as far as I've been able to tell enjoys great popularity with her understated, librarianish kind of charm. Loud chant in support.