Charlotte's Web- A Look in at the First Two Days of The Democrat National Convention

The Democrat Party's 2012 convention got underway on Tuesday from Charlotte, NC. Even before the convention, there was some doubt to the viability of the Tarheel state venue, as Charlotte was one of the smallest cities to host a convention from either political party, North Carolina is a right-to-work state and voters had passed a ballot measure that would define marriage as between one man and one woman in the state constitution- angering a number of LGBT groups that are part of the party's base. Mayor Anthony Foxx's decision to use out-of-state union labor for at least some of the projects leading up to the 2012 DNC convention angered some locals in a city where the unemployment rate remains at nearly 9%.

Visitors to the DNC in Charlotte will see an unconvincing facsimilie of a leader with little substance to it and ready to crumble under exposure to the slightest of stress. Then there's this nifty sand sculpture of President Obama, too.

The convention opened up with workers frantically trying to prevent a sand sculpture of President Obama from collapsing during some scattered rainstorms. The sand was reportedly trucked in from Myrtle Beach, SC and the sand-Obama is urging visitors to see Myrtle Beach.

An introductory video for the convention caused a stir when the narrator said "Government is the only thing we all belong to..". The statement was the polar opposite of what actor and director Clint Eastwood had mentioned in his remarks towards the end of the GOP convention in Tampa, FL last week- he reminded those in attendance that politicians work for the American people, not the other way around. The gaffe in the video was fairly minor compared to what had taken place on Wednesday.

As First Lady Michelle Obama attempted to make the case for her husband's re-election in a speech on Tuesday night, word had gotten out that the DNC had omitted any mention of Jerusalem being recognized as the Israeli capital or any mention of 'God' from the official Party platform. After a number of reports that the Democrat party had made no mention of this on the platform, DNC leadership took a procedural vote on the two subject with the gathered delegates. By rule, the measure needed a two-thirds majority for approval. When the delegates voted 'Aye/Nay' the first time around, Los Angles mayor Anthony Villaraigoso called for two more votes on the same subject. Even though the crowd sounded like it was split 50/50 over the issue- not enough for the revised language- Villaraigos hesitated and declared the amended language passed amid a chorus of boos.

The biggest winners of that vote were most likely Republican party candidates. Their opposition is now on record as boo-ing Israel and any mention of God and as a bonus, there is now video of the DNC leadership basically holding a vote over and over until they could get their desired results- even though it went against the wishes of many of the delegates.

Speaking of Israel, DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Shcultz was caught in multiple lies while being interviewed on CNN. The south Florida congresswoman had reportedly told supporters and campaign workers that the Israeli ambassador had said the Republican Party posed a grave threat to Israel's security. However, when word of Wasserman-Schultz's statements became public, Israel's ambassador to the USA- Michael Oren- categorically denied making any such statement. Wasserman-Schultz then claimed she was intentionally misquoted by a conservative-leaning media outlet, but then the audio of her remarks in question began to surface. Earlier on Wednesday, Wasserman-Schultz denied that there was any tension or rancor on the convention floor regarding the revised platform language and subsequent votes.

The fiasco eventually gave way to a fairly well-executed speech by former president Bill Clinton, however the main event was up against the start of the 2012 NFL season- starting off with the Cowboys vs Giants. The speech was well recieved by a number of pundits, but the question remains how many tuned in to the convention rather than the football game.

And while on the topic of footballs and stadiums, the Democrats announced that Obama's acceptance speech scheduled for Thursday will be moved from 73,778-seat Bank of America Stadium [which had reportedly been temporarily renamed Panthers Stadium because the Democrats and Obama campaign feared a backlash over the bailouts and tough talk on big banks- NANESB!] to 19,077 seat Time Warner Cable Arena. The campaign cited the possibility of showers on the night President Obama's speech was scheduled. However, a local forecaster said that with a 20%-30% chance of showers, Thursday night was actually the best possible night during the convention to hold a massive outdoor event. A number of pundits believe that the costly change of venue has more to do with the optics of Obama addressing a mostly-empty stadium when his campaign is supposed to be gaining momentum.

Curiously, with more than 3 consecutive years of 8% or more unemployment and the fact that the national debt reached $16 trillion on the first day of the Charlotte convention, the topic that seemed to dominate the DNC was contraception and abortion.