Grade the first night of the RNC

[libertpaulian]

If this plagiarism thing continues to have legs tomorrow, Trump can FORGET about having ANY sort of post-convention bounce.

Actually, I think the only thing that can give Trump ANY sort of bounce is a solid speech by Pence, and an even more solid speech by The Donald himself.

[JerryArkansas]

F because the only thing that everyone will remember is the plagiarism.  Even if that had not happened, still would be an F, but a higher one, lite at 55, not at the 0 it is now.

At least 20% for participation and effort, I'd say.

No, they get the same thing as they do at my college, 0 for first offence of plagiarizing, second they get kicked out of the class.

[Crumpets]

If this plagiarism thing continues to have legs tomorrow, Trump can FORGET about having ANY sort of post-convention bounce.

Actually, I think the only thing that can give Trump ANY sort of bounce is a solid speech by Pence, and an even more solid speech by The Donald himself.

Especially as Trump's biggest issue with voters is his personality and Melania's speech was intended to dampen those criticisms. Instead, it will just be remembered as "that time she stole Michelle Obama's speech" and Trump will go on looking like the weapons-grade plum he is.

[i4indyguy]

Grading a paper before reading it?  Let's see how this influences the race in the long run.  So far all we have is a title for our paper.

There is some truth to this.  But it is the story     NOW    that will determine what the bump or drop will be. Yes, its true, we can only speculate at this early stage what the effect might be. But any sane person knows this is a story one wouldn't ask for.
   

There were snippets of speeches that can be... well.....  'LIFTED'   and put in effective anti-Hillary ads, but on the whole, there was very little narrative or cogency across the speakers.

A lineup full of people railing against the dangers we face in this world, articulated by people of varying levels of insight and believability, headlined by the candidates wife....  Who talked about .... not that theme.


Oh, and then delaying Sen. Earnst until 11pm, with a 85% empty stadium even though she is from a swing state and demonstrated more polish than basically everyone else on stage tonight.   It certainly coulve been planned better. 


Don't believe me?  Wait a week to see the Dem. comparison.

[psychprofessor]

I think Buchanan's culture wars speech from 92 was less divisive than the rhetoric we heard tonight. And to top it off Crooked Melania and her plagiarizing. That's probably the story of the convention unless Trump himself finds a way to one up her.

[MK]

B-    Clarke was great and Rudy

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

F.

I think Buchanan's culture wars speech from 92 was less divisive than the rhetoric we heard tonight.

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

plagiarism = automatic zero is the usual rule, but it'd've been an f even without.

[Panda Express]

F of course but more importantly, can anybody with Pokemon Go tell me what Pokemon are available at the RNC?

[Interlocutor is just not there yet]

D-

Solely for the complete lack of organization and time management. The celebrities were there for as long as they needed to be, but the basics of speech vetting were nowhere to be seen. Melania's plagiarism, immediately followed by the complete shafting of Joni Ernst, were both inexcusable. Giuliani was pretty great to watch though, so he saves it from a total F. Tomorrow will be completely surreal if Ryan/McConnell/McCarthy are opening up for Tiffany Trump

I'm not even gonna get into the Benghazi stuff, which appeared to be Clinton's only negative as Secretary of State.

[Doimper]

D for disaster.

[GLPman]

What's below an F?

[Averroës Nix]

It came off like a David Lynch adaptation of Triumph of the Will, set in the United States in 2016, that had been edited down to a fourth-grade reading level by concerned studio executives who thought that it would be too sophisticated for its audience.

[Averroës Nix]

plagiarism = automatic zero is the usual rule, but it'd've been an f even without.

The plagiarism was imbecilic and humiliating, but it was the least objectionable portion of the entire night. Telling how American media coverage is more concerned with Trump's bumbling third wife stealing a few platitudes from Michelle Obama, verbatim, than with the veritable feast of hatred, ignorance, and unadulterated rage that comprised the remainder of this ghoulish show, no?

[Free Bird]

Gee, put a poll grading the RNC to a forum dominated by Democrats. I wonder what the result will be.

[SillyAmerican]

Gee, put a poll grading the RNC to a forum dominated by Democrats. I wonder what the result will be.

Yup.

B-    Clarke was great and Rudy

Agreed. Both men did well.

[Gustaf]

plagiarism = automatic zero is the usual rule, but it'd've been an f even without.

The plagiarism was imbecilic and humiliating, but it was the least objectionable portion of the entire night. Telling how American media coverage is more concerned with Trump's bumbling third wife stealing a few platitudes from Michelle Obama, verbatim, than with the veritable feast of hatred, ignorance, and unadulterated rage that comprised the remainder of this ghoulish show, no?

This was exactly my reaction.

[Simfan34]

plagiarism = automatic zero is the usual rule, but it'd've been an f even without.

The plagiarism was imbecilic and humiliating, but it was the least objectionable portion of the entire night. Telling how American media coverage is more concerned with Trump's bumbling third wife stealing a few platitudes from Michelle Obama, verbatim, than with the veritable feast of hatred, ignorance, and unadulterated rage that comprised the remainder of this ghoulish show, no?

This was exactly my reaction.

It's almost enough to lend credence to the conspiracy theories that Trump deliberately had her plagiarize to divert attention from the rest of the content. Almost, because we know Trump, in reality, does things by the seat of his pants.

[Slander and/or Libel]

As you can see from the message thread above, red meat wasn't my term.  It was Polnut's term.  All I pointed out was that both parties use these scripted snoozefests to feed red meat to their base.  After all, who is in the convention hall but the most stalwart party activists?  You play to your audience, at least during the non-prime time hour.

I tend not to watch much of either convention because canned, boring speeches don't interest me.  I didn't see much of it, but I doubt the Republican speakers said "we have to get rid of the Browns and Muslims!!" today, though.

Kasich is not scheduled to speak at the RNC.  Why does Sanders have to speak?  He doesn't have to.  His speech will be calculated to speak to the progressive base of the party.

As I said, I expect to hear a lot of divisive, anti-police, Black Lives Matters rhetoric at the DNC.  They are even inviting a bunch of Black Lives Matters mothers to speak to the convention.  Perhaps you think everyone agrees with the Black Lives Matters movement's rhetoric and tactics, but they don't.  I also expect to see a lot of fearmongering about Republicans generally and Trump specifically.  Neither party has a monopoly on using fear to motivate their base.

Kasich isn't attending the convention because he doesn't want to go. Rifts in the party. Had he wanted to go, had he endorsed Trump, he could have gotten himself a speaking spot. Comparing him to Sanders is awfully silly for so many reasons.

How can you comment on what there was and wasn't in the presentations last night if you admit you didn't watch much of it?

As for the claim that Black Lives Matter is divisive and anti-police, that's on you. It's entirely untrue and insulting.

[Doimper]

If this plagiarism thing continues to have legs tomorrow, Trump can FORGET about having ANY sort of post-convention bounce.

Actually, I think the only thing that can give Trump ANY sort of bounce is a solid speech by Pence, and an even more solid speech by The Donald himself.

It's tomorrow, and the plagiarism story is front and center on every major national news site. Even Fox.

Probably not how the RNC organizers wanted the first day to end.

[Beezer]

First night made me feel like one of the pigs that has just been castrated by Joni Ernst.

[Devout Centrist]

I'd say F- based on the plagiarism accusations, the disjointed convention, and bad press about the earlier roll call vote.

This was perhaps one of the worst opening convention days in history. Everything that could go wrong, went wrong.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

C.

[Suburbia]

C.

It could have been better. They should not have mentioned Benghazi, Libya, and Melania Trump should spoke her own original thoughts.

[The Other Castro]

Gee, put a poll grading the RNC to a forum dominated by Democrats. I wonder what the result will be.

"I'm in denial about the RNC, so I'm going to blame partisanship instead of facing reality and offering my own rating".