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Opinion: Plan Your Vote or Lose it

Joe Biden delivers his acceptance speech

This week we were reminded of everything we stand to lose if Trump finds a way to steal the presidency again.

Yeah, I know he “won” the Electoral College vote and with it the presidency. But as the Republican-controlled Senate Intelligence committee acknowledged in its report this week, that “win” was engineered with a lot of help from Russia. read more

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Mike Pence Handed Hillary Clinton The White House With His Fox News Driven VP Speech

Gov. Mike Pence accepted the Republican Party’s vice presidential nomination, and may have handed the White House to Hillary Clinton.

Pence did the usual thanking of his family. He paid tribute to Trump and resolved that Hillary Clinton will never become president. It became clear that Pence’s job was to tie Hillary Clinton to Obama while touting the conservative principles that caused the Great Recession.

Gov. Pence rattled off the now standard Trump talking point praise that Donald Trump is a doer and a uniquely American creation. Pence said that Democrats and the media haven’t figured out Trump. Pence got completely delusional by proclaiming that Trump is stronger than ever. (Apparently, Mike Pence isn’t aware that Trump is losing in virtually every national poll.) We got the usual Trump will stand with the military and cops.

Pence claimed that Trump’s employees love him. He said that Trump lacks pretense, and respects his employees. Pence pointed to Trump’s kids as proof of Donald’s moral character. What was missing in all of this Trumpaganda was any description of what Trump would do as president.

Pence painted Hillary Clinton as the dishonest insider and Trump as the outsider truth teller. The Republican message is that we are change, which is certain to backfire because President Obama is riding a wave of popularity. Mike Pence claimed that Clinton should be disqualified from being president, and read off a Fox News greatest hits collection of lies about Obama’s foreign policy.

Gov. Pence said that the election is about change versus status quo, but the numbers say that the majority of Americans like President Obama and the job that he is doing. What the polls are also telling us is that the American people don’t trust Trump’s judgment and lack of experience.

The Pence speech was empty and fluffy. It was more of the standard delusion that Republicans have been telling their voters for eight years. Republicans keep telling themselves that America is terrible, but yet, Democrats keep winning presidential elections.

Mike Pence lacks the strength and fire to deliver the message that needs to be delivered. Mike Pence made Republicans happy with his speech, but for the bulk of the country that doesn’t watch Fox News, Pence sounded like a man from another planet.

Pence claimed that Hispanic would vote for Trump because Trump will build the wall and deport Mexicans.

The Trump/Pence ticket was born out of a Republican electorate that is being driven by Fox News and conservative media. Pence was out of touch with the reality of the real America. The America that is changing and growing more diverse. Gov. Pence’s speech was a gasp of the dying angry white right.

Mike Pence couldn’t do the impossible. He couldn’t make Republicans sound rational, and he couldn’t sell Donald Trump to an electorate that doesn’t trust him.

Gov. Pence didn’t reach out to voters that Republicans need. He railed for the Republican base, but that base is not big enough to win in November.