Welcome to ConBag, a daily roundup of gossip from the Democratic National Convention, which we are attending for four very long days.
PHILADELPHIA—Although the DNC has thus far been dominated by the frantic growls of furious Bernie Bros, on Tuesday morning, Ellie Shechet and I found our way to a quieter event. An almost completely quiet event, actually—a women’s press briefing from the Clinton campaign at which we were two of five attendees (a few more reporters eventually trickled in).
While we were waiting for the campaign reps to arrive, a woman entered our convention center conference room and asked, “Are you here to brief or are you here to be briefed?” We said the latter. She said, “I seeeeeeeeeeee. Okayyyyyyyyyy,” and slunk out.
In the conference, I brought up Michelle Obama’s line last night “Because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters, and all our sons and daughters, now take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States.” Would the campaign try to remind the public that Clinton was, in fact, the first woman Democratic nominee?
“It’s hard because it does reflect progress that young women take it for granted that she’s a woman. That shows that attitudes have changed a lot, so I guess that’s something to be celebrated,” said Clinton campaign communications director Jennifer Palmieri. “But we do think that, not just for women, to understand how fragile the framework of our country and what we assume the rights that we have are... I think when people realize that women didn’t have the right to vote less than 100 years ago...that’s remarkable when you look at it in that context.”
“But I also think it should remind people that our country is only as amazing as it is because we all agree to live by a certain set of principles and Trump is a real threat to that. I’m not saying that he’s going to take away women’s right to vote... but that should show you that there’s so much at stake,” she continued. “Just because we all accept the principle of equality, doesn’t mean that you don’t have to fight to keep it alive and also to continue to pursue what that principle should mean in people’s actual live. We’ll do some measure of that, to remind people of that, but you also have to accept that that’s progress.”
The Wells Fargo Arena is a mess. Only people with credentials are allowed to take the subway all the way there (others are forced to get off at an earlier stop), and then must walk through what feels like a 200 degree cage being banged on by hundreds of shouting protesters for ten minutes, go through a blessedly air conditioned tent full of metal detectors, and then walk for a while more.
And once you get there, it isn’t much better.
- A man on the street offered Ellie sunscreen, which she accepted.
- Republicans are pissed at the lack of visible American flags. [Daily Caller]
- CNN called Demi Lovato a “Twitter personality.” [Shady Music Facts]
- Panera is a very hot spot to see and be seen. [Me, to you, now]
- Shailene Woodley drove across the country to get here. [Vulture]
- The Philadelphia subway system still runs on tokens, FYI.
- Bernie Sanders supporters are feeling highly emotional. [Twitter]