Democrats Applaud War

And Jared Golden Ducks The Public At Maine Dem Convention

Outside the Democratic Party Convention May 31, 2024 in Bangor, Maine  Photo credit: Shane Leonard

Maine's 2nd District representative to Congress used to be Bruce Poliquin, a Republican who became infamous for avoiding reporters by ducking into the women's bathroom. Our current rep, Democrat Jared Golden, is just as determined to avoid the public. Perhaps tipped off that there were plans to disrupt his speech at the Maine Democratic Party convention last Thursday, he mailed it in. (This is consistent with plans to make the DNC's national convention virtual as the politicians who speak for our corporate overlords rightly fear disruptions as Israel's genocide in Gaza grinds on with full support of the Biden administration.)

Photo outside the convention venue, credit: Shane Leonard

Here's an eyewitness account of how it went down in Maine:

Last night at the Democratic Convention, which really was a complete waste of time and just left me feeling even more outraged . . . I'm not sure that's possible.   You may already have heard, there was a great "outside" presence, I imagine perhaps 100 folks wouldn't be exaggerating, but I was "inside" looking out the windows.  It's hard to tell from the chaos at the end how many "insiders" there were. 

What's significant especially to your column this morning was the nauseating, self-congratulatory, "patriotic" . . . Matt Dunlop actually asked God to "Bless our Troops" . . . politic/speech we had to sit through waiting for the moment Golden would speak . . . next to last so, it was a heck of a long wait.  Oh, don't let me forget, the biggest cheers came when Emily Cain announced that "Dems don't need a pep talk . . . Trump was convicted on all 32 counts" . . . Rousing cheers, whoops, claps, etc.  Yuk!  As if it flippin matters.  Instead of Trump (temporarily), they've got a war criminal as president with a cabinet of war criminals that the Dems are all going to work very, very hard to re-elect, like good little Puppetpeople!

Back to Golden.  When it was time to announce him . . . and all of us who had been waiting with great anticipation with our snuck-in props . . . we were told, "Unfortunately, Congressman Golden has a family emergency and so won't be with us tonight,  but we have a video".  Baloney!!!  Actually, as I found out later, Golden had been there all evening . . . he was actually probably spitting distance from me but I didn't know it.  Unbelievably, he snuck out just before his speech.  There are many things "monumental" about him . . . I won't list them, you know them . . . but at the top of the list is COWARDICE.  And you know the Dems were all in on this because they had the flippin video. 

I don't know what was on the video, because following the "announcement"  all hell broke loose.  We made lots of noise, people had whistles, strips of paper were being thrown.  Nobody was arrested inside, just escorted out . . . and here I had brought my bail money!  I was/am so angry.  You know Lisa, I am committed to nonviolence and have been for a long, long time.  But I am so angry I feel like exploding . . . not a good place for nonviolent resistance.  A minor annoyance is that I can't unregister as a Dem for 3 months since I only registered as one a couple of weeks ago, and that's a pretty hefty sacrifice.

Here's video of the disruption inside the convention. Because we have to be our own media! It shows multiple people walking out and the sound track records them shouting "Free free Palestine" as the chair calls repeatedly for order and tries to start the Golden speech video.

Ponder this: not a single corporate media source that I saw reporting on the convention made any mention of this walkout by Maine Democrats appalled by Golden's support for Israel's genocide.

Photo credit: Dawn Star

It's almost like U.S. corporate media are in on the project of stifling dissent, with their role of ignoring it when it occurs.

Outside sentiment toward the Democratic Party nominee for president, photo credit Tim Paradis

I am again reminded that a college professor here told me the reason her students cared about Palestine is that they mostly get their news from watching Russell Brand and Lee Camp.

Meanwhile an elderly narrative manager reposts New York Times articles to a local peace listserv which, if disputed, are backed up with articles from wikipedia -- both outlets under firm corporate control for the last several decades.

Expect even more disruptions, and creative dissent -- and even less reporting from those complicit in the destruction of Palestine.

Photo credit: Tim Paradis

ERRATA: Revised to add two links to articles that do mention the protest. The first focuses on it:

Protesters disrupt Maine Democratic State Convention by Susan Sharon 6/1/24 Spectrum News

Scroll all the way to the end of this paywalled Portland Press Herald article to find three paragraphs on the protest.

Maine Democrats Warn Against A Second Trump Term At Maine Convention by Randy Billings 6/1/24 Portland Press Herald