The First Night of the Republican Convention

 Last night was the first night of the Republican convention.  I decided to compare the RNC to the DNC of last week.  It wasn't hard.  Let me sum up the comparison in one sentence:  the Democrats spent their first night telling America how bad we are while the Republicans spent their first night telling us how good we basically are and how much better we could become.

Really, during the first night of the DNC we heard about "systemic racism" and the American "original sin" of slavery in annoying repetition.  Actually, that repetition continued for four nights at the DNC.  At the RNC, Nikki Haley told us of her triumph as "a brown woman in a black and white world" that brought her the governorship of South Carolina and then to an ambassador's residence at the UN.  She said that America was not basically racist or she would never have been able to succeed.  Senator Tim Scott told us how he brought his family "from [picking] cotton to Congress in one generation."  He too remarked that such a move would not be possible in a racist country.  In short, the Democrats told minorities that they are all victims of evil America while the Republicans showed those same minorities that the Democrats were wrong and that their success is possible and indeed has happened often.  Democrats presented a dark future while Republicans presented and optimistic future.

It's not surprising that the party out of power would paint things black while the party in power would spout rainbows.  Still, the magnitude of the difference was astounding.  And that presents the big question:  will the average American voter choose dark and depressing or will he or she choose hopeful and cheerful?

Time will deliver a verdict on these conventions.  There was an immediate verdict on social media, however.  On Twitter, there was an avalanche response from left-wing blue checks denouncing one GOP speaker after another in the most snarky, strident and nasty ways possible.  It's a sign that the Republicans were doing very well; the Democrat media had nothing to say about the message, so they took to attacking the messengers.