Gym started with announcement that Netroots Nation 2019 will be in Philadelphia.
By then, we’ll have multiple announced presidential candidates testing grassroots support
Woodfin makes one of the very few references - though not by name - to @BarackObama on the Netroots main stage
.@BilldeBlasio talking about what he calls the "three lies" that have come from progressives' friends, opponents and the Democratic Party:
-That progressives can't win
-That progressives can't govern
-That progressives are in the political minority
DeBlasio: Our authentic vision, our authentic values are exactly what will move voters.
"What I see is not a time for moderation. It is a time to double down" on everything we believe in.
DeBlasio: You have to go back to the 1960s to see so many powerful social movements with so much passion and reach all at the same time. You have to go back to 1974 the election after Watergate to see so much passion on the ground.
BDB, referring to POTUS: "I’m not talking about him because we don’t make change by talking about him all the time. We make change with a bold progressive positive vision."
. @TimRyan begins his Netroots speech by noting that @realDonaldTrump is landing in Ohio now, and hitting him for his attack on LeBron James. "He thought it would be a good idea to continue his race baiting that we experienced for so long."
Ryan: "I’m with LeBron James. And we’re not going to let you come to Ohio Donald Trump" with your race baiting, "whether it's LeBron james or Maxine Waters or anywhere else. That ain’t playing anymore, President Trump."
Ryan ended with a call for the party to embrace a big vision, calling for expanding Social Security, Medicare for all, debt free college, criminal justice reform and legalization of marijuana. Strong response from the crowd
One major takeaway from Netroots: the only main stage keynote that has fallen somewhat flat so far is the one focused on impeaching Trump.
Most others emphasizing the need for a positive, progressive agenda or highlighting the successes already in the resisitence
And now, an ambush protest on the stage at Netroots about whether the convention sufficiently incorporated African Americans and people from New Orleans.
Many of the points being made are getting applause from the audience, including call for new leadership of Netroots
. @Ocasio2018: "Swing voters don’t vote for the person who is moderate enough, who is timid, who backs down from their starting point. .. The swing voter votes for authenticity."
. @Ocasio2018: Universal higher ed, federal jobs guarantee, universal basic income -- "they were not proposed in 2018. They were proposed in 1940 by the president of the United States."
"These are not ideas, we are picking up where we left off."
. @Ocasio2018 stands by Abolish ICE position, saying that the agency "cannot be reformed. ... Not under this administration especially. And it’s time that we take that tool away."
@Ocasio2018 But she also calls debate within the party health.
"We can embrace that. Discourse is not discord. Family can argue and that’s alright because we come out healthier on the other end."
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Jill Biden stepping out a bit more, speaking before her husband at HRC Dinner. Opens by telling story of punching a neighbor who was bullying her sister. "I hate bullies," she says
. @DrBiden talks about incorporation of LGBT "As You Are initiative to work of the Biden Foundation. "When the history books are written we want to be on the side of equality."
. @JoeBiden notes @ChadHGriffin credited him for endorsing marriage equality "early -- but it was very late," he says. Adds he had made it clear to Obama staff he wouldn't shy from question if asked directly
BIDEN, starting his midterm stump: "I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired of what’s going on in this country. I’ve had it up to here! This is not who we are. This is not the America I know."
Biden says this is "the most important election any of us have voted in so far. .. We must, we must reestablish American values."
@MichaelAvenatti@MichelleObama Avenatti: "There is no question that we are the party of love in American life today... But here’s what I believe. When you’re fighting for the values of love, you can’t afford to fight lovingly."
Averse to the minute-by-minute returns watching, Warren said she and her husband were watching “Ballers” on election night ‘16 until later when most numbers in
Richmond asks Warren about criminal justice reform: "Let’s just start with the hard truth about our criminal justice system: it’s racist."
. @KamalaHarris at #NetrootsNation: "Obstruction of justice it is a crime. And anyone involved needs to be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law."
@KamalaHarris Harris also updates her "Let's speak truth" and brings in her service on Senate Intel Cmte.
"The Russians know that racism and issues of hate have always been America’s Achilles’ heel. And we need to deal with that weakness."
@KamalaHarris Harris: "The folks who helped build the Democratic Party … have not always been given equal voice in the Democratic Party. And we need to deal with that."