Welcome to ConBag, a daily roundup of gossip from the Democratic National Convention, which we are attending for four very long days.
PHILADELPHIA—Outside the Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s Sex, Politics, and Cocktails party on Tuesday night, we were greeted with posters of mangled dead babies, which didn’t seem to much deter or disgust attendees so much as inspire them to take a selfie:
We arrived late, around 11 PM, after Cecile Richards’ speech and as Lizzo was wrapping up her set; soon after, the party began to wind down. At exactly midnight, the lights came on and we shuffled out, having mostly just eaten charcuterie and talked to each other.
Earlier, a troop of bitterly disappointed and occasionally crying Bernie supporters marched out of the arena, many of whom had put little pieces of tape on their mouths with the word “silenced” written on it. They brought their silent protest directly inside the media pavilion where I was working, where they proceeded to remove their tape and speak with members of the media.
I spoke with Anita, 74 (“same age as Bernie”) and Cleo, 69, both Colorado delegates for Bernie. Neither of them would ever vote for Trump, Cleo said, but they won’t be “bullied or shamed” into voting for Clinton—they’d like to come around to it on their own.
Every day, we have to pick up new media credentials, and the key to this is not being 20 minutes late. “I’m sorry, we are not taking any more appointments today,” a man popped his head out of the door to say, credentials and people who hand out credentials clearly visible behind him. “You’ll have to come back tomorrow at 10 PM.” Horrified by this news, the various reporters with us tried several different tacks, none of which were effective.
“No no no, see, I, I, need to get in there,” one man tried.
“I’M WRITING AN ARTICLE,” a woman boomed.
We called a woman with the DNC, who arranged for a runner to send us a floor pass. This was cool!
- In an uber to the Planned Parenthood party, our driver said that if Hillary Clinton were in his uber, he would say “Sit down, shut up, and hold on!” He is voting for Gary Johnson “because I don’t know much about him!”
- Andra Day, who performed right after the Mothers of the Movement spoke, was awesome.
- Susan Sarandon had a shitty night.
- I tried to interview a woman standing on stilts at a rally, and she almost fell over leaning down to speak with me.
- Debra Messing snapchatted a video of Elizabeth Banks talking to Lena Dunham and America Ferrera, who apparently did not know her. “That’s Debra Messing!” America said puzzledly, as Debra Messing cackled and ran away.
- Bernie Sanders looks okay!!!