A lot of what Kinzinger says about Trump is true. I don’t see the case that Harris is a believer in the rule of law. Kinzinger says she does but doesn’t try to argue the point.
I have time for the substance of Adam Kinzinger’s speech, perhaps more than most on the right, but there isn’t much courage in genuflecting before a crowd of erstwhile adversaries while telling them everything they want to hear. Especially for Republicans who embark on this particular conversion tour, the world is your oyster.
Kinzinger has now segued into arguing that actually today’s Republicans aren’t patriotic.
Rep. Kinzinger is saying that Democrats are just as patriotic as Republicans, and the crowd is cheering. Here’s some polling from Gallup on voters’ attitudes toward the country by party: https://news.gallup.com/poll/646655/american-pride-remains-near-record-low.aspx
As @jbutler noted, Panetta name-checked Ronald Reagan, and Adam Kinzinger has now dwelled positively on his legacy at some length. The crowed certainly… tolerated it.
Former GOP congressman Adam Kinzinger says he has a message to Republicans: “The Democrats are as patriotic as us. They love this country just as much as we do. They are as eager to defend American values at home and abroad as we conservatives have ever been… Donald Trump is a weak man pretending to be strong. He is a small man who is pretending to be big.”
I just hope at some point he reminds everyone in front of him that they redistricted him out of the House.
Gretchen Whitmer is a political talent that Republicans should beware. Her record is obviously atrocious, but she was a magnetic speaker and gave a crisp, short, down-to-earth speech whose rhetoric fit her affect well.
Gretchen Whitmer describes Kamala Harris as a “total badass.” I’m not offended by off-color language, and have been known to weave a tapestry of profanity when someone cuts me off in traffic. But a lot of politicians — Beto O’Rourke comes to mind, or Tim Walz’s “mind your own damn business” – use four-letter words and it’s supposed to show that they’re tough or blunt or plain-spoken. I’m unimpressed.
Leon Panetta pledges that if Kamala Harris is elected, “our allies will cheer, and our enemies will fear.” The first part is easy to envision; political leaders in London, Paris, Berlin, etc., are often happy to see Democrats win and wary or disgruntled when Republicans win. But are we really supposed to believe that Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, the Iranian mullahs, the Houthis, Hamas, Hezbollah, and the rest will lay awake at night, fearing Kamala Harris? I am… unconvinced.