Democrats nominate Joe Biden for president, vowing to end Trump 'chaos'
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[August 19, 2020]
By Joseph Ax
(Reuters) - Democrats formally nominated
Joe Biden for president on Tuesday, vowing his election would repair a
pandemic-battered America and put an end to the chaos that has defined
Republican President Donald Trump's administration.
The second night of the party's four-night national convention, under
the theme "Leadership Matters," featured elder statesmen like former
presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, rising stars of the Democratic
Party as well as prominent Republicans, who made the case that Biden
would return integrity to the White House and normalcy to American
lives.
Biden's wife, Jill, an educator, delivered the headline speech from a
Delaware high school where she once taught, offering a deeply personal
account of how their love helped him heal after his first wife and
infant daughter were killed in a car accident.
"I never imagined at the age of 26 I would be asking myself, 'How do you
make a broken family whole?'" she said. The answer, she said, is the
same for a broken nation: "With love and understanding."
"If we entrust this nation to Joe, he will do for your family what he
did for ours: bring us together and make us whole," she said.
Throughout the evening, Democratic leaders contrasted Biden's long
experience with what they described as Trump's deadly mishandling of the
coronavirus outbreak and his willingness to corrupt democratic
institutions.
"At a time like this, the Oval Office should be a command center,"
Clinton said in a prerecorded video. "Instead, it's a storm center.
There's only chaos. Just one thing never changes - his determination to
deny responsibility and shift the blame."
With the four-day convention largely virtual due to the coronavirus,
delegates from around the country cast votes remotely to confirm Biden
as the nominee in a coast-to-coast roll call that drew instant raves on
social media.
In clips that showcased the party's diversity, Democrats explained why
they were supporting Biden while putting their own state-specific spin
on the proceedings, from a calamari appetizer in Rhode Island to a herd
of cattle in Montana.
After hearing from his home state of Delaware, which went last in his
honor, Biden appeared live alongside Jill Biden to thank the party for
nominating him, more than three decades after his first unsuccessful run
for the White House.
"Thank you very, very much from the bottom of my heart," said Biden, who
will deliver his acceptance speech on Thursday. "It means the world to
me and my family."
RISING STARS, REPUBLICANS SPEAK
The program started by showcasing some of the party's rising
politicians. But rather than a single keynote speech that could be a
star-making turn, as it was for then-state Senator Barack Obama in 2004,
the convention featured 17 Democrats in a video address, including
Stacey Abrams, the one-time Georgia gubernatorial nominee whom Biden
considered for a running mate.
"America faces a triple threat: a public health catastrophe, and
economic collapse and a reckoning with racial justice and inequality,"
Abrams said. "So our choice is clear: a steady experienced public
servant who can lead us out of this crisis just like he's done before,
or a man who only knows how to deny and distract."
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U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his wife Jill
Biden embrace as they speak from Brandywine High School, where she
taught English from 1991 to 1993, during the virtual 2020 Democratic
National Convention as participants from across the country are
hosted over video links from the originally planned site of the
convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S. August 18, 2020. 2020
Democratic National Convention/Pool via REUTERS
As they did on Monday's opening night, Democrats featured a handful
of Republicans who have crossed party lines to praise Biden, 77,
over Trump, 74, ahead of the Nov. 3 election.
Cindy McCain, widow of Republican Senator John McCain, spoke in a
video about her husband's long friendship with Biden. Trump clashed
with McCain, who was the Republican nominee for president in 2008,
and the president criticized McCain even after his 2018 death.
Republican former Secretary of State Colin Powell, a retired
four-star general who endorsed Biden in June, was one of several
national security officials who spoke on the Democrat's behalf.
"He will trust our diplomats and our intelligence community, not the
flattery of dictators and despots," Powell said. "He will make it
his job to know when anyone dares to threaten us. He will stand up
to our adversaries with strength and experience."
Democratic former Secretary of State John Kerry attacked a Trump
foreign policy he called "incoherent."
"When this president goes overseas, it isn't a goodwill mission,
it's a blooper reel...America deserves a president who is looked up
to, not laughed at," Kerry said.
Without the cheering crowds at the in-person gathering originally
planned for Milwaukee, Wisconsin, TV viewership on Monday was down
from 2016. But an additional 10.2 million people watched on digital
platforms, the Biden campaign said, for a total audience of nearly
30 million.
Aiming to draw attention away from Biden, Trump, trailing in opinion
polls, held a campaign rally in Arizona, a hotly contested
battleground state that can swing to either party and play a
decisive role in the election.
Trump called Biden's immigration plan "radical" and "extreme,"
continuing his effort to portray Biden as a puppet of left-wing
agitators. In a statement on Tuesday night, campaign spokesman Tim
Murtaugh said Biden's nomination means "his supervisors from the
radical left are now formally in charge."
Biden's vice presidential pick, Senator Kamala Harris, will headline
Wednesday night's program along with Obama.
The Republican National Convention, also largely virtual, takes
place next week. Trump will give his acceptance speech at the White
House, despite criticism he is politicizing the presidential
residence.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu,
Katanga Johnson and Alexandra Alper in Washington, Michael Martina
in Detroit, and Trevor Hunnicutt in Wilmington, Delaware; Editing by
Colleen Jenkins and Howard Goller)
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