Notably absent from Walz’s speech was any real substance on foreign policy — including discussion of the genocide happening against Palestinians in Gaza, which uncommitted delegates and their allies have been trying to discuss for days at DNC. Indeed, most of the night, if not the week, has ignored the issue, and where it has been mentioned, Israel’s role in the genocide has been glossed over.
Uncommitted delegates in support of Palestinian liberation and an end to the genocide have requested that the DNC allow a Palestinian speaker take the podium in the United Center, to discuss a permanent ceasefire and an embargo for weapons from the U.S. to Israel, which the U.S. is legally obligated to do.
“We are learning that Israeli hostages’ families will be speaking from the main stage. We strongly support that decision and also strongly hope that we will also be hearing from Palestinians who’ve endured the largest civilian death toll since 1948,” read a statement from the Uncommitted National Movement account on X. “Excluding a Palestinian speaker betrays the party’s commitment in our platform to valuing Israelis and Palestinian lives equally. Vice President Harris must unite this party with a vision that fights for everyone, including Palestinians.”
A group of uncommitted delegates, joined by interfaith leaders and their allies, staged a sit-in just outside the convention hall on Wednesday night, saying they wouldn’t remove themselves from that spot until their demands for a Palestinian speaker were met.
Notably absent from Walz’s speech was any real substance on foreign policy
It’s not the VPs place to introduce policy proposals, that’s the job of whoever is at the top of the ticket.
That said most Americans rank Gaza low on their list of priorities, so expect Harris to focus on issues they find important like women’s rights and housing.
If he has no role then why is he on the ticket?
To cheerlead Harris.
Is this your first election?
No. Just puncturing the bubble that Harris is simultaneously not responsible for the worst Biden policies but also gets credit for the best ones. And yet Walz’s positions also don’t matter. Or do depending on who’s asking.
That said most Americans rank Gaza low on their list of priorities, so expect Harris to focus on issues they find important like women’s rights and housing.
It’s either important enough to take seriously, or not important enough where it can be ignored, but then you can’t complain to the people you completely dismissed when they don’t vote for you.
Not American, btw
It’s not completely ignored. Several speakers have mentioned Gaza in their remarks, including high profile speakers like AOC.
It’s not important enough to get a speaker dedicated to the issue. The same is true of most other issues.
I turned it off last night when they had someone on talking about their son who was one of the hostages.
All this time to put a name and face to one victim but not to discuss the overall tragedy that has happened and is still happening to tens of thousands.
It was extremely tone-deaf, and if they were going to represent one side of the victims they really should have done so with the innocent Palestinians caught in the middle as well.
It IS important enough as Harris needs to win back the 13% uncommitted vote that couldn’t bring themselves to vote for Biden. If she wants to win in November she has to get them back and then some.
That cohort had Biden’s age and competency as their top reasons for not voting for him, not Gaza.
Citation needed. 13% of Democratic Michigan voters included a high percentage of Arab-Americans and Muslim-Americans and young voters who all cited Gaza as their reason for voting uncommitted, including calls by Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib. There’s no denying Gaza played a big role in the spike in uncommitted votes.
Biden’s Weakness With Young Voters Isn’t About Gaza
An April CBS poll found that the young voters who wanted Biden to pressure Israel to stop attacking Gaza would vote for him at about the same rate as those who didn’t.
That’s an opinion piece. And it’s undermined by what the author concedes is a shift in votes between 2020 and 2024.
More than 80 percent of young people disapprove of the way Biden is handling the war, according to a recent CNN survey—the most of any cohort. And poll after poll shows Biden losing support among 20-somethings, the group that helped propel him to victory four years ago. In 2020, Biden won the 18-to-29-year-old vote by 24 percentage points. This time around, some polls suggest that the demographic is a toss-up between him and Donald Trump.
She is already leading in the polls. The only thing she has to do is keep doing what she is already doing.
Nationwide polls, not among the previously uncommitted vote. Downplay it all you like. She has to actually stake some policies out on Palestine. And you’re not helping; if I vote for Harris it will be in spite of you and your bad arguments and concern trolling.
Nationwide and statewide. She leads in a majority of swing states.
And you win the election by winning swing states, not necessarily the previously uncommitted.
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I can’t say I can think of any examples of Vice Presidents introducing foreign policy proposals at the nominating convention. So I have trouble understanding why they think it’s significant that Waltz isn’t.
If these people really cared about Palestinians, and wanted to help improve their lives, they would get on a plane to Gaza and protest Hamas.
What a dumb take. I’ve met Palestinians in Palestine, they say it’s better to work to change US policy because that’s what’s supporting their misery.
A candidate needs to earn the votes and applying pressure is what being in a democracy is about. Somehow too many people can’t remember this lesson in school.
“go get killed by Israel using bombs supplied by your government, instead of protesting your government’s unconditional supply of bombs to Israel’s ongoing genocide”
What?
This is a pretty dumb take. That’s out of reach for essentially everyone.
But if they cared about Palestinians they’d stop attacking progressives that already support them and protest the people and institutions that do not. Helping elect Trump, sending threats to hospitals and synagogues, and attacking pride events won’t stop the genocide
This is very obviously a GOP strategy, to divide the dems base.
The left criticising the left, what a great idea.
How dare anti-genocide protestors demand their representatives to end support for a genocide?
This is not a ‘GOP strategy,’ these are dedicated Democrat voters that want to see the genocide in Gaza end. That’s a position that can only come from the Democratic Party.
Nonsense, they’re free to protest however they like. Choosing to do so outside the DNC is very clearly intended to undermine support for the dems, which will ultimately cause more suffering in Gaza.
What are you talking about, they were in talks with the DNC about having a Palestinian-american speaker for the first three days. There were over 200 delegates there in support and communication with the Uncommitted protesters. The DNC denied the speaker on the third day, which is why they sat in front of the DNC in solidarity until the DNC allowed the speaker to be heard, which they didn’t
LOL. What a strange, out-of-touch take. You’re just proving that person’s point.
How? The notion that anti-genocide protestors are somehow a GOP Strategy is completely untrue and is just used to discredit the protests
Time and place. At one time, the conventions were a great place to try to affect policy. Hasn’t been like that since…oh… I guess around '80. A little before I became aged enough to vote. Every thing about conventions now are sound and fury, signifying nothing. Protestor efforts there are just wasted effort, or seemingly self-serving attempts to "look at me!! I don’t have a lot of respect for people that care more about a religious war that isn’t going anywhere, than defeating the fascists at home. I hate the DNC specifically, and most Dems in general, for multiple perceived or real slights on my sense of righteousness. But that’s nothing for what I see in that other party.
That said, it just seems like obnoxiously farting on your 30 year old cousin, in a decades long game of fart payback, at a birthday dinner for your 90 year old grandma. Sure, I guess, go ahead and fart at your grandma’s birthday, but I’m not going to respect you for it. Even if I would in just about any other situation. Farting on your grandma is probably just going to piss off your family.
Since a rational person wouldn’t fart at the party, or try to undermine the Dems so uselessly, it must be some GOP/Russia fuckery. We know people are easily mislead, so it’s not a jump to feel bad for these so-called leftists who are perfectly happy trying to undermine the country.
Over 15,000 children have been slaughtered by US weapons in less than a year, we are arming a genocide.
You can not mind a genocide if you want, I’m going to advocate for a permanent ceasefire and Palestinian emancipation
Yep. Just supporting my statement.
Yeah dude, I’m so out-of-touch for recognizing and protesting a genocide. Unlike you, comparing a violent apartheid regime to a farting competition, that’s actually very normal and rational
I’m surprised how people are surprised that this kind of stuff happens every DNC every four years.
It’s a Spectacle intended to avoid anything controversial or negative about the party.
It doesn’t make it right, it’s never been right, but it does make it the norm.
People who are shocked that the Democrats would cover their ears and ignore the horrors of what’s happening in Gaza for the sake of their televised self-aggrandizing bonanza must be young or naive.
This is par for the course. Both parties are filled with monsters. One party just has the monsters finally being honest about being monsters.
The time for making your case was during the primary season. That’s when Democratic voters decide which issues are most important to them.
Time and again, Democratic voters indicated that women’s rights and housing are among the most important issues. Gaza isn’t.
If Gaza activists had succeeded in convincing voters that Gaza is more important than women’s rights, then DNC speakers would be discussing Gaza instead of women’s rights.
No one is demanding it be the main discussion. Of course topics like women’s rights and inflation are going to get the most time as they are high priority for most voters. But that’s not the same as it getting no discussion. The DNC is giving time for families of Israeli hostages to speak, which is great, but are also denying anyone to speak on behalf of the Palestinian victims. Which is showing that the DNC does not consider the victims or their voices to be equal.
While low on the importance for most voters, as foreign policy usually is, the vast majority are still in support of a permanent ceasefire. However, for hundreds of thousands of Democratic voters in critical swing states, it is a major issue. Also for over 200 delegates. Those votes and delegates are critical for securing the election.
The anti-genocide protests will only gain more momentum, it’s a dangerous situation for the Democratic party to continue ignoring them
A Gaza ceasefire did get some discussion. Sanders and AOC, both high profile speakers, promoted a Gaza ceasefire in their speeches. But Americans aren’t interested enough in Gaza to justify a speaker who will mainly or exclusively be discussing that topic.
And yes, Americans are more interested in rescuing hostages than helping war victims. Not just in the abstract, polling consistently shows that Americans overwhelmingly view Hamas as evil but are more evenly divided regarding Netanyahu. It might seem unfair, but don’t blame the DNC. That’s our national mood, which the DNC will respond to. If Gaza activists want that to change then they will have to do more work.
If Gaza activists want that to change then they will have to do more work.
So easy when our government keeps using our taxpayer dollars to prop up Israel and it’s swarm of bots to shut down any dissenting voices online. I guess the activists just need to get more money somehow to battle the endless propaganda from Israel that is literally funded by our taxpayer dollars.
Yeah, they’ve got their work cut out for them when they’re basically going against US/Israeli imperialist propaganda with basically an endless supply of money to finance it.
Yup, they just need to try harder, that’s the ticket. This is the most out of touch bullshit I’ve ever fucking had the displeasure to read.
Who said change is easy? Those who challenge entrenched interests will always have a difficult road ahead.
But it’s not impossible. Civil rights activists achieved change, LGBTQ activists achieved change, even wack-job anti-abortion activists achieved change. So can Gaza activists.
The calculus has changed. Those things happened before concerted propaganda via the internet, which is largely unregulated, unlike television and newspapers. Previously, spreading propaganda was a lot more difficult. The reality is that propaganda is disseminated at high speeds and has tools like Persona Management Software, where half the people you are arguing with online, aren’t even real people (just hundreds of sockpuppet accounts controlled by a single person). Was anyone ever able to “flood the zone” with bogus material like this in the past? No, because only the internet allows such endless publishing with no guardrails.
But sure, somehow those are all exactly the same. It’s not like LGBTQ rights have been losing ground or anything recently? Give me a break.
We literally have an anti-trans billionaire who owns a fucking media organization, and because he’s insulated by money, fuck-all happens to him when he breaks the law.
EDIT: Further, we’re literally headlong into a “death of truth” era because of AI video. The idea that the speed at which propaganda can be made and disseminated doesn’t change how hard it is to fight is abso-fucking-lutely bullshit. This is a way harder fight, and comparing to past fights is a fucking joke.
All activists will sometimes lose ground. The successful ones gain the ground back. The unsuccessful ones are discouraged by setbacks, complain about the latest tactics used by their opponents, and give up.
Women’s rights activists suffered a huge setback in 2022. They did more than complain about the internet and billionaires. They redoubled their efforts and are determined to gain all that ground back in the coming years. And then some.
Schrodinger’s anti-genociders are simultaneously unimportant enough to not register as a voter issue, yet powerful enough to throw the election to Trump.
Only the first part is true. And only partly true, they are important enough to merit mention in some speeches, but not important enough for a dedicated speech.
And yet so much effort is spent demonizing us.
Never felt more important to be unimportant.
I don’t criticize the Genocide-Joe lot for throwing the election to Trump.
I criticize them for their performative self-indulgence that does nothing to actually help Palestinians.
Hear fucking HEAR!
You think pushing the issue in political discussions and not let it die out to obscurity doesn’t help Palestinians?
Because I can tell you nothing on this Earth other than the actions of dedicated individuals is doing anything to help. The media and governments are silent or complicit, who else will speak for them if not us?
What’s far less helpful and even entering harmful to Palestinians is complaining about people speaking about it.
Pushing the issue is fine.
The problem is the performative attacks on the only party that will ever help them.
If they say “We just want Democrats to call for a ceasefire”, then when Democrats call for a ceasefire it does not help Palestinians to respond “Actually that’s meaningless, fuck the DNC unless they embargo Israel”.
Do you really think Palestinians who wanted America to call for a ceasefire suddenly changed their minds? No, it’s a self-indulgent response by cynical Americans. And all it does is make Democrats question why they should put any more effort into helping Palestinians.
Look at every successful activist group. None of them ever said “You did what we wanted? Fuck you.”
They all say things like “We applaud Lily Ledbetter/background checks/gays openly in military/automobile emissions standards. They are a good first step towards women’s equality/gun control/LGBTQ rights/preventing climate change. We will support you, and let’s work together towards the next step”.
As another person put it, you can be a partner with Democrats or a problem for Democrats. Gaza activists generally want to be a problem for Democrats. But the Democratic Party pays a lot more attention to its partners.
The time for making your case was during the primary season. That’s when Democratic voters decide which issues are most important to them.
People did, and when “Uncommited” was an option, they did it. Then liberals on social media cried how it was supporting Trump to vote in democratic primaries.
And Harris wasn’t an option as the front runner, it was Biden and no one else with above 1%. She was part of the VP ticket, but VPs don’t generally decide policies, they’re there to break ties in the Senate and as a backup plan if something happens to the President.
When running, we criticized and people said it would hand the election to Trump. Biden won the biggest tally of votes possible, mine was in there. When mid-terms came up, and we wanted to still help with COVID and the groups it harmed, it was said that handed it to Republicans.
It feels like its never a good time to ask for something that helps Americans. We vote in primaries, we ask nicely, we protest, we organize, we vote blue no matter who, because Trump is the default of “Fucking never in a million years.” and we’re still called traitors who want him to win, because we want money sent to Ukraine than Israel’s genocide.
Primaries are lot more than just voting for the top of the ticket. There are hundreds of downballot candidates involved. More important, it’s when voters decide what issues need to be addressed.
Nobody named “women’s rights” ran for office this year. But women’s rights activists succeeded in persuading Democrats that it is the most important issue this year.
This is what Democratic activism is really about, you are basically competing against other activists for the attention of your own party.
Finally, if you vote for Democrats in November then nobody should consider you a traitor.
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People who are shocked that the Democrats would cover their ears and ignore the horrors of what’s happening in Gaza for the sake of their televised self-aggrandizing bonanza must be young or naive.
The only thing shocking is there are so many deplorables who support the party still.
The only thing shocking is weirdos like you using Hillary’s language to impugn her own party.
From a leftist perspective tolerating genocide is deplorable.
