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No visit to Chicago is not complete without getting to see the world-famous Bean, and so here I am, spending a little bit of time off from the convention, not going to any caucuses this morning and hanging out with the folks. Is that a view or what I mean? Just, it's such a perfect, it's an incredible day, and look at that, it does such cool stuff, and then you can come up. There I am. I'm Bears Jen.
Speaker 3:This is the Transparency Podcast Show.
Speaker 1:Hey everybody and welcome to the Transparency Podcast Show, the special Democratic National Convention version of it. I'm Jesse McGrath and I'm in Chicago. I'm a delegate to the convention, I have been on the floor and so I've got the inside scoop on what it is like being here, and I want to bring on Amber from the Amber Show, Amber Thompson, who is an amazing gal, and she and I go back a little ways and we are going to have an entire show on our relationship and why she's here doing this for me. But let me introduce you to Amber and she's helping me with all of this. I'm taking the footage, making some comments and then she's helping put all of this together, and so welcome to Amber to thank you so much, jesse.
Speaker 3:It's been so much fun working on this with you and trying to do the quick turnaround time and I think it's working out really great. With you just kind of sending up the videos, we're able to get them packaged up and send them out. So it's been a really cool experience. I've never done anything like this before, but it's working out really really great. So, um, here we are at the end of day one of the dnc. I mean like first question like what's the mood like out there? I mean like what are, what's the energy that you're feeling?
Speaker 1:oh my god, the, the energy is is.
Speaker 1:I can't I can't imagine, because I have heard I I have heard so many people talking about how they have never seen this group of folks so energized, and some of these folks go way back and it's clear that what is going on now is such a dramatic shift from where we were when I was elected delegate to come to Chicago. I was a Biden delegate, I was for Joe and selfless uh uh task to to to go ahead and and bow out, knowing that it's time for a change and doing it so gracefully and and doing it incredibly strategically, uh, and and having the back of of kamala, who's been his uh, you know steadfast vice president and who you know.
Speaker 1:One thing I can say about the whole process and all of that you know people talking about nobody voted for Kamala. Now come on. We voted for Kamala. It was a package deal. It was Joe and Kamala. Kamala was always who was going to be our number two, so to say that she was forced on is so ludicrous to be unbelievable. And we had an open process where any Democrat who wanted to try to challenge her all they had to do was get 300 delegates, and I can tell you from my experience, there was nobody that contacted me except the vice president's team, and they were very good and responsive, and so it was a process, and so we then nominated her. So she has been, she was voted for, she's been our choice, and I wish they would stop saying that, because we are all so incredibly and I think that that bothers them that that you know there's such cohesion and there is such unity and there was such unity of purpose to get her and Coach Walls elected.
Speaker 3:I think also, too, that comes from a little bit of you know, of course, republicans. They prey on the fact that the electorate doesn't know the law or doesn't know the rules. They'll twist the wording and they'll make it you know evil or you know. They'll create like a counter version of what it truly is. And to understand the party system, the nomination system inside the party, the electoral vote versus the popular vote, a lot of those things are lost on a lot of the general public and so they prey on that. But speaking of this nominee that was properly nominated and is now the nominee for president, she was the first one up there. I didn't actually get to see it. I was stuck at work. You barely got there. But before we get into her speech, there was.
Speaker 3:There was some drama right off the bat. I mean, like I was posting stories of you stuck in a bus. We're hearing about their bear. They're coming over the fences. There might have been tear gas. I'm watching you having to walk through the streets just to get to the convention center. What was going on?
Speaker 1:Well, one of the other disadvantages of being on the ground and not having access really to television and those other things, television and those other things uh, we went to go get on the buses and uh, we were told that it was going to stay there for a while, that there had been a breach of the first level of security at the the site and that there was a potential. And one guy told us that they were potentially going to be using tear gas and they were gearing up for that. And I'm like, oh my God, not a repeat of 68.
Speaker 3:I don't want you know and I'm thinking, I'm thinking this is going to be another January 6th all over again, you know, storming the Democratic National Convention, trying to disrupt this peaceful nomination process. You know.
Speaker 1:I mean, can you imagine we had the president and the vice?
Speaker 3:president if anything happened to members of congress senators.
Speaker 1:I mean, like a lot of, the democratic speaker of the house, the speaker, the speaker of the house would become president, the republican. So just think of how incredibly to get our senior leaders together and and it was got to be a secret service security nightmare of a scenario. But the the security was was really tough, and so, because of that, there was an issue getting the buses through. They had the entrance blocked off and and so it what literally should have been at most an hour drive ended up being like two and a half hours, uh, and then walking on top of that, and then there was like the, the the cop on the bus announced that the secret service uh has indicated that you need to stay on, that they want you to stay on the buses, and then I'm getting through the back channel, signal channels and the different groups that I'm belonging to. It was like we got off the bus and walked.
Speaker 1:We're at security now, and it was like, well, i's uh, sounds like the thing to do. So that's why we got off and, yes, we beat the folks who were on the bus by quite a bit getting into the venue, and hillary was not the first speaker. Hillary was the first speaker that I got to see because the convention had been rolling, even though half the delegates were potentially not there, because we had a bunch of people streaming in after us.
Speaker 1:So it was interesting, we had one guy who was a drill surgeon. He was talking oh, this is nothing. And I'm like, yeah, I said this ain't nothing. Like like uh, uh, carrying that rucksack yeah, right is it?
Speaker 3:and, but it was I can imagine journey so yeah, that was, that was really somewhat so were you there then when kamala got up on stage and got to speak, or did you miss that one?
Speaker 2:uh, you were there for that one okay I.
Speaker 1:I got her coming out and we were all just so surprised because it was not, you know, part of the right. That's why I was so shocked. I, I wasn't.
Speaker 3:I wasn't prepared for that. I was just like, okay, I'm gonna, I'm gonna tune in after work, I'm gonna, you know, catch these speeches. And then, all of a sudden, I I how? Where did she come from? She's not supposed to speak till the end, you know. So that that must have been a really cool surprise oh, my god, it was, it was amazing.
Speaker 1:And you know she, you know, pointed and smiled at us.
Speaker 3:And because we have a primo section, well, you're nebraska, you're nebraska, they better give you a primo section.
Speaker 1:We are Nebraska. We have our blue dot. They love us. Coach Walls is from Nebraska.
Speaker 3:Nebraska could set up the nightmare scenario of an electoral tie.
Speaker 1:That's why Nebraska is so important oh yes, I, I believe me, I know, I know about our blue dot. I was I I at the democratic convention. I ran to be the second district elector, which would be the person who signs that electoral college certificate. So yes, jesse mcgrath saving the world I am so, so much aware of the importance of our blue dot karmic thing to happen to this man, and that is to have a trans woman sign the vote that denies him ever being able to be president let's fucking go let's do this, so that it was that important to me and so and but, yes, and I ended up, uh, not getting it but it, but I did get the delegate.
Speaker 1:So that's why I'm in Chicago. I am a delegate from CD2, the congressional district that is the blue dot, and so I am right in the middle of it.
Speaker 3:So then, what I got to see after Kamala spoke was AOC's speech, and that was really, really fiery, and in fact, let's cut to a clip to it right now, just so that we can see what we're talking about here.
Speaker 4:And I, for one, am tired of hearing about how a two-bit union buster thinks of himself as more of a patriot than the woman who fights every single day to lift working people out so much as a boot to breathe, trampling on our way of life.
Speaker 1:I can tell you that it was so electrifying when she came out and the cheers, the, the, the AOCs that that were, that were spread, and and you could feel the power in the room of the words and the emotions that were going on in there. It was like, you know, it wasn't like she was some left person.
Speaker 1:You know she was talking about real human issues, real human concerns, that that affects so many of us, and it was kind of a little bit of a different it really was, it absolutely was and she was really.
Speaker 3:You know she, she, you know she's a working class hero. But, oh man, was that speech appealing to the working class and not even just I mean, like we're talking like the class of folks that are keeping this country running, the ones that we depend on for 24 hour services, you know, for entertainment for all these folks that are making like minimum wage, the service industry. I mean like she was fired up about that and it was so exciting to see it got me fired up just sitting at home in my garage watching it oh, you should have seen the room, because, yes, it was.
Speaker 1:I mean, it was so electric in there the entire night.
Speaker 1:I mean, it is I, I, I. I mentioned this to someone the other day and I said the Republicans don't know what's going to hit them. They truly don't, Especially the MAGA folks who are tied into this false narrative that has been bought into. But I speak to a lot of folks who are not Trump-type folks not the MAGA and frankly I think they're sick of it and they want to see it go away and they have a trust in Harris because of her prosecution background and being an attorney general, and so I think they're finally saying it's okay not to vote Republican this time?
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely. And then not only that too, but if they're not very ready to vote Democrat, this is going to be that election that you might see. Some of those Republicans that maybe are on the fence don't want to vote Democrat.
Speaker 1:Just kind of sit out of this one too, you know and and and you know, um, when I was a republican in my life and we had an election in in 2016 and I was living in california, uh, you know at the time, and there was no doubt that hillary was going to win california, and so the the number of votes made no difference whatsoever, unless you're trying to get an amendment to the Constitution to do it by popular vote, which I don't think will ever pass and it shouldn't. But I was like there is no way I can vote for Trump. Hillary would be a good choice, but I want to have it where I want fairness on everything all around.
Speaker 1:I knew that there were some issues around how Clinton got the nomination and what had happened in relation, so I was like I just don't think I can reward that. Um, but I but I, there was no way I could vote for him. So I voted libertarian. You know, it was like my little protest vote it. There weren't all that many of them, but uh, would I have done that if it was a close?
Speaker 2:race yeah.
Speaker 1:No, at that point, there's no question that I'm going to vote what is best for the country.
Speaker 3:Now, supposedly the theme of the night was freedom, but the theme I kept hearing over and over and it started in AOC's speech is we won't go back, and you just kept hearing that over and over and over. What was your take on that?
Speaker 1:Oh, this is something we've been saying for quite a while, ever since you know they, since we're fighting the overturning of Roe and we have so many constitutional amendments in so many states that we're not going to go back to those pre-Roe days and we're not going to go backwards on civil rights in relationship to people in the trans community, we're not going to go back into regressive policies that that harmed the country previously and and so that's something that has been a reoccurring theme even before the convention tonight.
Speaker 1:I mean, it was definitely a big part of our rally in omaha on saturday, uh, that we had prior to leaving for the convention. We had the first I think it was like the first solo campaign stop for Governor Walz, who's from Nebraska, so he was coming home to kick off his vice presidential campaign. It was so amazing, but that came up. We won't go back, and that's a theme that we are going to be pushing, because Americans don't want to go backwards. We're looking to go forward and we're looking to create new and better things and by being regressive and trying to return things to a time when things were not good it's not what.
Speaker 1:America wants. We're not going back, we are not going to go back.
Speaker 3:No, especially after the last four years, and I don't want to jump ahead too much, but you really heard it in Biden's speech when he was talking about the strides that we've made in manufacturing and semiconductor fabrication down in Texas, the amount of jobs that have been created, how inflation has been reduced. So it's like you have all these pain points that are slowly being reduced or reversed from when we were in that Trump administration when all this pain was caused. It's like why. You know like we've all endured this pain collectively, Like, yeah, this is a fantastic message, I love this. And it looked like the crowd was rocking in there. I did look it up About 20,000 people in the United Center was rocking in there. I did look it up about 20 000 people in the united center. But you're saying there could have even been more, because I mean like every seat's filled and it's like standing room too right and you and you have staff and you have secret service.
Speaker 1:I mean, we had the secret service, you know just right in front of us pretty much the whole time because I was in the second row up. Our first row up is right on the floor. And so we got some amazing seats. But, yeah, no, you could tell that there were the spirits of a lot more people than the folks that were there, because the energy level just was so.
Speaker 3:I can only imagine. I mean I've been to like professional sporting games, right, like hockey games. You know you're in an arena, got the whole crowd going and everything when a goal scores. But that doesn't seem like anything compared to the energy that I saw in this arena tonight when people like aoc were giving their speech, when jasmine crockett was giving her speech. I mean like the crowd was like on their feet and I mean like when biden came out oh my god, the energy when biden came out you.
Speaker 1:You have to understand that energy existed through the whole thing yeah five hours of and that energy level never dropped. That's why I say the Republicans don't know what's going to happen.
Speaker 3:Now Hillary Clinton's speech. Former Senator, former first lady, Hillary Clinton, Tell me a little bit about what you thought of that.
Speaker 1:I thought it was really good, and I did get that little video of her walking out. The great thing about her seats also is we're right there at the door. Everybody comes out backstage. I didn't take pictures of everybody coming out.
Speaker 3:You know what. Let's take a look at that right now, and then let's also take a look at maybe something that was being chanted after she got out there on stage. Please welcome the former secretary of state.
Speaker 2:He made his own kind of history the first person to run for president with 34 felony convictions. As Vice President Kamala sat in the Situation Room room.
Speaker 1:So, jesse, I got to ask you were you participating in this chant of uh lock?
Speaker 2:him up.
Speaker 1:Um, maybe I yes, I did it. The some, a lot of us in the nebraska delegation did it. There were some people who were a little shocked at it and I and I, I was like if anybody deserves an opportunity to do this, it is. Yeah, I mean, you know what?
Speaker 3:she it didn't help her win any points or anything when it was like oh, when they go low, we're gonna go high. I just feel like we've kind of come full circle on it. It's like fuck it, lock him up, you know um but, and it's like, and it's like yeah, well, he did it to himself.
Speaker 3:I mean, we're just kind of, we're just kind of pulling the string here. He'll find himself there on his own, that's for sure. Um, somebody I've always loved, ever since the impeachment days jamie raskin, representative from from Maryland Gosh. He opened it up with the best line right here. Let me go to that real quick.
Speaker 2:Hello America and welcome to the democracy convention. Welcome to the freedom convention, welcome to the freedom convention welcome to the democracy convention.
Speaker 3:I mean like, is there any more fitting opening line to a speech for a time like this and a night like this? Jesse?
Speaker 1:it's incredible and that is another one of the themes that runs throughout it and Biden specifically hit on it very heavily is this is a fight for democracy. This is a fight to see are we going to keep our form of government Because people can say Trump is joking all he wants about? You know being a dictator from day one that that is not a joke. That is a man who constantly tells you what he wants to do and what he's going to do and then tries to play it off as it. Oh, it's not me, that was no, that's not what I meant I'm being. It's not me, that was no, that's not what I meant I'm being. It's fake news. I didn't really say that and it is just friggin ludicrous. He wants to destroy democracy.
Speaker 1:I mean there's conversations in a lot of states with Republican elections officials who are busily trying to change the rules it's especially bad in Georgia to make it so that there's the ability to litigate on the basis of standards which are not defined. Their whole goal is to tie up and prevent certification of election results so that the election goes to the House of Representatives. So that's another big reason why we need to have Democratic voters come out and do not give the Republicans the power to do this. And we do that by not having Republican congressmen, and there are so many Republican congressmen who are nothing but obstructionists. They play games, and this isn't a game. This is the United.
Speaker 4:States of America.
Speaker 1:This is all of our families, and to have them playing semantics and doing constant investigations, making claims, and then what they present is nothing close to what they were trying to claim. It's harmful to this country, it is extremely dangerous for this country, and so that's why you know, after so many years, I could not fathom being a Republican at this point. With what?
Speaker 4:they're trying to do.
Speaker 3:So, yes, that is another theme that is going to be recurring, that this is a vote on democracy and just a quick plug too, that we need to remove that last Republican representative in LA County out there in Lancaster. So I've been saying it a lot, george Whitesides is running for the representative out there and he's going to be the man that helps to save America because that is one of the big swing districts that will definitely go Democrat and it's looking really, really good right now.
Speaker 1:And that is Garcia was really lucky to get in on, based on some circumstances that were a little bit iffy on some of it, but uh, but he he did get re-elected and I know because I get a lot of info from out there being in ventura county even though he's not in the district that I'm in um, but it was uh and I, I think I donated to uh a democratic candidate, uh like four years ago, who was running uh against him uh, and she ultimately dropped out of the race.
Speaker 1:But that was like the first political donation I had made in like 30 years.
Speaker 3:They've got a great guy running out there right now, the former CEO of SpaceX. He's been out there in Lancaster for a really long time and he's polling really well, so that could be what saves the House and then, in a nightmare scenario like that, could end up saving the presidency as well, too. Moving on to one of my favorite speakers of the night, representative Jasmine Crockett. I mean she gave a speech tonight. I mean she took you through a range of emotions. She's an amazing speaker. We saw her go viral. We already knew she was an amazing speaker. Let's listen to her, just real quick.
Speaker 4:I was going through all of this when I visited the vice president's residence for the first time. As I approached Vice President Harris for our official photo, she turned to me and asked what's wrong. Mind you, we'd never met, but she saw right through me. She saw the distress. I immediately began crying.
Speaker 3:And the most powerful woman in the world, wipe my tears and listen, you know, and this is that kind of range of emotions that I was talking about, cause she gets you fired up. And then here she is talking about Kamala, wiping the tear from her face, and what a more poignant like moment she created, like right there, to like just kind of display. Kamala is, like you know, like character, like yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, compassion and understanding and support, being so supportive of of someone who needs it in that moment and and it.
Speaker 1:it was such an amazing speech on a lot of different levels and and the one I laughed at the most, and and and it. What we have to do is we have to start laughing at Republicans for the stupid shit that they do. And her comment was about how, after she went viral, just for giving the Republicans you know some of the stuff they're dishing out, and for me that was just so classic, prosecutor, you know, it's like hoisting them on the petard, right, you know it's like, hey, I'm just doing because you all are so stupid you think you know it's the ultimate really was.
Speaker 3:And this, this is the part of the night, I think, where, right from where jasmine crockett started until you get to Biden, we're building into kind of this almost very emotional crescendo now at this point because immediately following her we have, you know, a reproductive rights testimonial given by three individuals and that first couple I mean like I had to turn away, it was, it was heart-wrenching having to listen to her story. I mean like I, I lost it.
Speaker 1:I just started crying and, and they were literally right in front of us. They because they were on the far as you're looking at the stage on tv. They were to the left hand side and that's right where we were, and so I was listening to it and seeing them and, yes, it is such a hard, yeah, and there must not have been a dry eye in the entire room by the time that those three individuals got done speaking.
Speaker 3:Um, just the contrast that the last speaker gave between donald trump saying that the abortion ban is a beautiful thing and then her quote and I'm just going to read it here there's nothing beautiful about a child carrying her parents child. That was extremely striking and really kind of framed the conversation on reproductive freedom in a way that a lot of people don't think about, you know, and that's it, it is and and it's like, but for some strange reason a lot of republicans think that's a good thing and that you know it is absolutely disgusting.
Speaker 1:I mean, what is it in Idaho that you can't do a rape kit on a minor without the parent's consent, and if it's the child's parent who's a rapist, they can block the legal acquisition. Now there's some question as to whether but but they're actually doing that. They're, they're not. They're not, it's, it's. It's scary when they try to get to that granular level of control when it was perfectly good.
Speaker 1:uh, for a lot of years now people would complain different. But with roe we had a, a kind of a semi certainty of access to abortion, at least in the first trimester, and so I think a lot of people are very comfortable with that, and that's, I think, is going to be one of the major issues in this election, one of the major issues in this election. And for trump to sit there and say everybody wanted it, uh, overruled everybody wandered up.
Speaker 3:It's like no, no, we didn't, and you know what that's gonna that was.
Speaker 3:That was not everybody it's gonna be and it's gonna be the same talking points. You know there were they when, when, when the court decision came out with same-sex marriage, legalizing it nationwide. There are states on the reproductive not reproductive, I'm sorry Marriage Freedom Act and those types of things. You know people like you said there was this sense of complacency with Roe being in place and us not thinking about these trigger laws from the early 1900s. We're in the exact same place again and you know I mean like there's so many things that were left up to the states only for a future administration to undo completely.
Speaker 1:You know that they were opposed to abortion, but they were opposed to it, knowing that.
Speaker 1:Roe was there to give that protection to people and so they could talk loudly, but I think when they get into the ballot box and we have a constitutional amendment. We actually have two constitutional amendments on abortion before the voters this fall, most likely. I don't think they've been fully certified yet, but one of them is like the Mother and Baby Protection Act or something some weird thing like that, and it sets abortion at 12 weeks, which is what the current law is in Nebraska after they changed it from I think it was a 20-week procedure the last legislative session but we have two of them and so one of them and this is where I guess the Republicans are starting to get smart and realize they lose on these constitutional uh amendments for abortion when they're on the ballot. So they decided to create one also that makes it a 12 week ban, but it also continues to give the legislature to make even further restrictions. So so it's not really a constitutional protection because the legislature can go in and say, uh, zero weeks, there is you. You may not get an abortion for any reason. You know in nebraska they would have that power to do it.
Speaker 1:The other is a constitutional amendment which would be the functional equivalent of roe, uh and um. So I, I was been gathering signatures for that and it's going to be on the ballot, and I think that is something that when those Republican women get in there, they think about being raped by their husband, getting pregnant and wanting a divorce, and and, and not wanting to carry a child, you know, or their daughter, or their sister, or their cousin, and and you know what would it be like to go through that. I, I think a lot of them, with their conscious it's like look, I may not do it, but I don't think we should prevent somebody who's in that position.
Speaker 3:I think it's going to be passed without it, without a problem, uh, and, as we've seen, it in Ohio, we saw it in Kansas, yeah, and so I think also too, not only was there this kind of complacency with Roe being in place, but also too, there's a lack of stories then about people being victimized by a lack of care. So when Roe is in place, you're not having as many of these stories come to the forefront on how a ban actually is affecting somebody. Much like. For a long period of time, trans people lived relatively unmolested by the federal government up until, all of a sudden, the last three years, where we just have this dearth of state legislatures trying to restrict gender affirming care, restrict bathrooms, restrict everything under the sun.
Speaker 3:But then what that does is it also creates people like me that want to come out and actually tell their story and tell it loudly and tell it to a lot of people. And then people start to get to know the person behind the word trans right, the person behind the word abortion, and those stories start to propagate through the public. They're featured on stage at the DNC Everybody listening to that story tonight of that poor young lady who had to go through that with her. I think it was her stepfather or uncle or something. But these stories are now being told, and so I think that woman in Nebraska, as she is going to the ballot box, if she did get an opportunity to listen to that story, you know that's going to be something that's going to be weighing on her very heavily as she's casting that ballot.
Speaker 1:And that's another reason why I say I don't think the Republicans realize what's going to hit them because they don't realize how off their their mission they. They've gone so radical that they're losing folks yeah, no, agreed.
Speaker 3:Well then, after that I said it was building up to a crescendo, but I might have lied, because after that and maybe this is not an unpopular opinion, maybe it's just me, but I'm really glad, glad that we chose Tim Walz as the running mate, because then Andy Beshear got up and look, andy Beshear is an amazing politician. What he's been able to do in Kentucky, in Kentucky, as a Democrat, right, I mean like that's amazing, that is absolutely amazing and he deserves all the credit for that. But I mean he's not getting me fired up. He's not getting me fired up in his Oxford blue shirt and his khakis and coming out here and just, you know, doing his thing. He tried his best, I think, but, like, personally, I think it was maybe, like maybe we should have put him in the beginning, you know, as the crescendo was a little bit lower. Is this, is this a popular opinion? Unpopular opinion? What do you think of Andy's speech?
Speaker 1:I thought it was fantastic of Andy's speech. I thought it was fantastic.
Speaker 3:It's hard to follow Jasmine. It really was, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:I think Shapiro had spoken even earlier. Also, we had the people who had been in the mix and and and I'm I think pretty much everyone there is very, very happy with poach walls being on the ticket it is.
Speaker 1:It is like it really is, yeah you know it, it and, and the messaging that they get and what they're doing. To me it just is when America gets to see this, they're going to realize, yeah, we don't want that. Oh, absolutely. Message of hope, the message of, of uh, togetherness, the, the, the, the message of not going back. The message of this is, you know, a democracy and that is going to resonate with a lot of folks and when they have to resort to lies against uh governor walls to make him somehow seem bad, when they have a candidate who opens his mouth and you know, stupid things come out quite frequently, I mean, I, I, I think dan quayle is, is going, you know, thank you, at least I'm, you know and sarah palin are going now at least we're no longer the worst potential running mates of folks ever.
Speaker 3:Poor Dan Quayle. Dan Quayle feels like a savior now, compared to JD Vance and Trump and this whole crew. Weren't we getting on him about the spelling of the word potato, or something like that?
Speaker 1:Yes, that was his big downfall.
Speaker 3:I was just a wee kid at that point in time, but it feels like a simpler time during politics. I don't know. Call me crazy.
Speaker 1:Believe me as somebody who was involved in politics during that period of time. Yes, it wasock. Senator Warnock is an amazing speaker. He commands a presence.
Speaker 3:What they did him and John Ossoff in Georgia to essentially save our republic the first time around is very fitting that he was kind of the capstone to the senators, representatives and VIPs that were up there on stage before the Biden family, you know, took the stage.
Speaker 1:How do you think Raphael did? I thought he did fantastic. And again it's seeing them come out and the presence and you know, and just feeling the aura because you're, you know that close to them. It didn't diminish in the, the arena, uh, it just, we were all yeah just in awe of of how amazingly everything has coalesced and come together, and when you realize that this has been done in such a short amount of time.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's the most incredible thing. I mean, like the delegate nomination, the turnover, right after the Republican convention. I mean Republican convention. Who even remembers that with everything that's happened since now? They had a convention, uh which which one of their former presidents, uh, the one with the one that, the one with the grazed ear, the one with the, with the, with the thing on it.
Speaker 1:They're the only.
Speaker 1:The only former president they had was the was mr cheetos right, uh, we at least have lined up such an incredible array of of our past nominees, our, our current leadership, our retired presidents um it's, it's like it makes you want to believe again that there is hope, that there is. Look, we're the Democrats, and everyone says we're crazy and all that, but we're all together. You look at the Republicans. You have MAGAs who are kicking out and not endorsing the GOP candidates in the state, because the people who are conservatives are just not conservative enough. They're all rhinos and it has gotten so crazy on the right that it makes it difficult to coalesce.
Speaker 3:And you know you actually bring up a really good point before we get to the Biden speeches is that so much of what the Republicans have done is they have created these culture wars, they've created these divisive policies. Tonight was very domestically focused. There was very little talk about what's going on overseas, whether it be in Ukraine or Russia. Really, really, it was only you know, biden, that was touching on the Ukraine issue. Very few folks even wanted to touch the Israel-Palestinian-Iranian conflict. You know, of course, there's no mention of anything about the Armenian conflict. I mean, there's, there's, just there was. It was very, very domestically focused. Did you feel that as well?
Speaker 1:it was very, very domestically focused. Did you feel that as well? Yeah, uh, yes, this was definitely not a foreign affairs night, even though we have a former secretary of state. Uh, it was definitely focused on, um, families and choices and and rights, and it it was not, uh, going into any of those things, and I can imagine that maybe one of the former presidents or both will maybe mention a little something about foreign policy-related things. And the confidence that they have in Kamala to be able to do that.
Speaker 1:So I think we're going to get different focuses.
Speaker 3:Oh, good, excellent. So that'll be really interesting to see how that kind of transitions as we go through the week. Okay, so everybody that's playing the game at home. We said the word transition so you can take a shot. Oh, my god, are we gonna be like andy? Yeah, yeah, why not? Right, we'll have our little shtick. Every time that somebody says the word transition, we'll just take a shot. Um, okay, moving into the biden speeches, I mean like jill biden sets you up and then ashley biden just breaks you down into tears talking about her father. I mean just amazing, amazing speeches which then leads to biden coming out essentially like crying in his daughter's embrace and having to wipe the tears from his face.
Speaker 1:Like oh god, I'm already a ball of emotions by this point that destroyed me oh, yeah, and, and it was like he turned around and I could see him with the kleenex on there because he was facing us when he was seeing him walk out and go over to his daughter it was so heartwarming it was, you could tell that there was real, you know love in that family and and not to spoil the ending, but when all the other kids came out and grandkids and it was so joyful and him leading was his little grandson, uh, around the stage.
Speaker 3:It was just such a human but I do have to ask you one thing, though where the hell is this biden been for the last two or three months on the campaign trail at the debates? This is one of the best speeches of his career, and we're talking about a 78 year old man at midnight delivering a speech to 25000 people. His energy levels the flow I hate to. I hate to sound like a Republican. His cognitive abilities I mean like he was so sharp tonight. He delivered a message and it just resound. The amount of standing ovations, the amount of people that were just chanting I love Joe. I mean like I, we love Joe. I mean like we love Joe.
Speaker 3:I almost thought that they were going to break out into four more years. Four more years, I mean like he was giving a speech.
Speaker 1:It was he really fired everybody up. It's because of his selflessness and his love of country over party and self. We were up and down a lot.
Speaker 3:You got your squat workout in today, right.
Speaker 1:Oh, it was definitely a workout there. There's no doubt about that. But no, it was just so electrifying and magic and I was actually watching him there. And then I could turn this way and they had this giant teleprompter with the speech on it at the back end and so I was watching it and he was not just reading a teleprompter, he went off script, the speech on it at the back end. And so I was like watching it and he he went, he was not just reading.
Speaker 2:He went off script.
Speaker 1:I can tell you that he was not just reading from a teleprompter, because I'm sitting there going wait a second.
Speaker 3:That's not on Cause, I was like following along, it was meanwhile, meanwhile, biden, biden's handlers are in the back shitting their pants because they're like no, don't go off script, just stick to the script.
Speaker 1:But he did great, he did so amazing and you, just, you just said it was one of the best ever.
Speaker 3:I mean personally from what I saw. Yeah, right, I mean. What do you? I mean is it, are you in agreement with this?
Speaker 1:on, on that speech, I mean uh, it was a fantastic and a great speech. I can't say that I've spent a lot of historical time. You know the the last speech I I saw him do was the state of the union, where he, you know, we, we, we came up with brandon you know, and, and, and he was very powerful, and, and so this was that, this is again and, and, and, and I, and, from everything that I understand and people that I've talked to, what happened at the debate was somewhat of an anomaly, because he was sick, um and so, uh, this is the kind of this.
Speaker 1:Is the joe biden that we have that, we all know and always have, so yeah, that we all know we can, yeah, and we can trust him, who's still operating, you know, for I, I can't believe that they would somehow want to invoke no, not after that.
Speaker 3:No, he's good for. He's good for the next five months that's for sure they go.
Speaker 1:Let's don't give her a head, a heads up on it. Yeah, so I I think, I think it was reassuring oh, it absolutely was. It was reassuring to yeah, to people that uh, no. So there, and there were a couple of times I where I had a hard time hearing. I don't know if it was that same way on tv, if he had misstated or.
Speaker 3:I think there was a couple of stutters in there and everything, but I think it was more of his kind of natural stutter that he has when he's trying to get past a word or something, but it wasn't that kind of You've seen him in the past where he almost seems to lose touch with where he is a little bit when he's speaking. I mean, he was on tonight, that's for sure.
Speaker 1:Oh, I could see it and one of the things was about being able to hear what he was saying. It was hard because of the clapping and the cheering and the chants, so you guys at home got a much better view and take of it than I did there. But for me, just being in that moment and then having Kamala come out with her husband and and spending that time together, it was so touching and so amazing and you can see the genuine affection that they have for each other and respect that they have each other, with each other, for their jobs and my how far we've come.
Speaker 3:You know, you go, you rewind four years ago and Biden wouldn't even say his name right, it was my predecessor. Yeah, there was this feeling of let's not get involved, let's not talk about the past and everything. And now it's like Donald Trump is a sucker, you know. I mean like like he is calling him out by name and forcefully so, and it's good to see. It needs to be done, you know.
Speaker 1:It's the emperor needs to be told he has no place. Absolutely, and I think it's working somewhat. I mean, for God's sakes, apparently Trump thinks he's still running against Biden or wants to be running against Biden, but you know, it's like he's really pissed. He had all this opposition, research and things ready to go and now it's all wasted money, crimea.
Speaker 3:River.
Speaker 1:So he doesn't like the fact that we're doing big crowds and it's like for us. We didn't have any musical acts or anything tonight that I know of At least. Again, I missed the first, probably four.
Speaker 3:Come on, donald Trump. Bro, you were asking for Biden to be kicked out of the race the whole entire time. You got your wish, you got your wish.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you kept saying all these things and you said it. We couldn't help it.
Speaker 3:Here we are. Do something about it.
Speaker 1:That may be the only time a Democrat listens to you Exactly.
Speaker 3:All right, all right. So what's on the docket for day two tomorrow? Do you get to sleep in a little? I mean, do you have early morning meetings? Because I mean, right there, what's on the docket for day two tomorrow? Do you get to sleep in a little? I mean like, do you have early morning meetings? Cause I mean like, right there, it's like two, 15 already.
Speaker 1:Yes, I know I have to be up at 8am. I have to be in the, in the breakfast room, before 8am or I do not get my credentials to be able to attend tomorrow. So that's that's a key thing, and and, and we have a breakfast in the morning and, like this morning, it was pretty amazing because we got a visit from Gwen Walls the wife of the mayor of Minnesota, so the first lady was there.
Speaker 1:And then we also had a couple about some training things and one specifically involving veterans and such. That was great. Um, um Lynn. Uh, mrs Walls was telling the story of the runs. Okay, I heard about this runs thing.
Speaker 3:I have no idea what this is. Can you please educate me and all of my California listeners what this runs thing is? In Nebraska it's a runza Runza. Okay.
Speaker 1:I will send you a picture that you can put in here. So we're talking about people can get an idea. I like to say it's a meal in a bun. It is. It's basically what. What I had when I was a kid called Krupp burgers, or was it beanstalks or it's. It's a. It's a cabbage and meat inside of a bread, and it's, it's, it's only so. Is it like it? And it's only in Nebraska.
Speaker 3:So it's like a white person empanada.
Speaker 1:Yeah, kind of yeah, except it's bread and it's really good soft. It's incredible how they make it. They also have chili and cinnamon rolls, which is another Nebraska thing. But anyway, when Governor Walz came to Omaha he was talking about I bet JD Vance doesn't know what a runza is. He probably calls it a hot pocket. And suddenly everybody wants to know about runzas.
Speaker 3:The Nebraskan hot pocket. I like that.
Speaker 1:It's notan hot pocket. I like that it's. It's not a hot, it is a runza and and they have a combination of french fries and onion rings they call it. So it's just it. It is a chain of restaurants that is basically only in nebraska. I think there may be one in Kansas or Iowa and there was, last time I was in Colorado, one in Loveland, Colorado, but that's it Otherwise it's okay, so will you bring me one home?
Speaker 1:The next time you're in Nebraska the next time you're coming back to California I can meet up with you I think what I'm going to do and I think I can bring it on a plane is get like a dozen frozen Runzas and bring them back so that I can share them with people. I also make them, by the way, I have homemade these. But it's she was telling the story about, because when they got done with the rally they were pulling out of town, they went to a runza restaurant and and got a bunch of them and she goes saying, well, tim got some extra to take home with us and so we uh, uh, you know uh put it in the refrigerator. We were getting ready to go to go to Pennsylvania on this bus tour the next day and thought we would take them with us and went to go in the refrigerator and they were all gone. So he goes. It seems like our son found them and goes.
Speaker 3:like these are really good and just ate all of them. How old's their son?
Speaker 4:Oh yeah, 17, 18.
Speaker 3:That'll do it, that's for sure. Those teenagers clean out a pantry, don't? I know it? Um, okay, so we've got, yeah, we've, we've got. You know, with day two is going to be exciting. We're going to do this again tomorrow.
Speaker 1:Um, and then any closing thoughts for today in the what oh yeah, well, just in the morning we have cock, we have caucuses and stuff, and so, uh, this morning is starting at noon. Uh was the lgbtq plus caucus. Uh, which was governor walls came and and dressed us and and there were a lot of inspirational speakers talking about the importance of it. The advocates for trans equality were there and did a presentation on the voting power of trans and queer communities.
Speaker 3:One of my favorite organizations.
Speaker 1:It is too, and, for those people who don't know, it is a combination of two organizations that were fighting for trans-related rights the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, which was headquartered out of New York City.
Speaker 1:They do a lot of legal work, and I'm actually on a brief of theirs that they're preparing right now to submit to the Supreme Court on the case out of Tennessee Scrametti involving gender-affirming care the case out of Tennessee Scrametti involving gender-affirming care. And then the other was, oh God, the Trans Equality Organization in DC National Center for Transgender Equality, and that was one that was headed up by Mara Kiesling, which did a lot of lobbying and going to legislatures and advising, and so earlier this year those two entities merged to combine their forces, going into these areas and giving a much higher, stronger profile a much higher, stronger profile. And so the executive director, rigo, was there and I spoke with him a little bit afterwards and you and I may get to have an opportunity to have a talk with him on a show where we go into why this is important and what's been going on in relationship to that.
Speaker 1:So those are the things that we do in the morning. I ended up also seeing Gloria Allred. She was there, so I got a picture with her, and then I actually got interviewed by the White House correspondent for USA Today.
Speaker 1:We were just standing outside and it was me and Mike Marachuk who is the chair of the Stonewall Caucus for Nebraska. I'm the vice chair, so we were sitting there talking and I think we were talking with the Texas Stonewall Democrat vice chair and he comes up and it was. Can I ask you a couple of questions? And Mike goes. Well, who are you with? He goes USA Today and so we talked with him and he had a lot of questions about the process and other things. I'm really curious to see if he uses any quotes or anything. But we got done and I said, well, here's my card. And then he goes oh, here's mine, and I just put it in my. I didn't look at it, I just put my, and it wasn't until I was on the bus back that I realized it was the White House course.
Speaker 3:That is so very cool.
Speaker 1:And not the Chicago guy Affiliate or anything, oh no.
Speaker 3:I lost your video. There you are, no, no.
Speaker 2:You're good, you're good.
Speaker 3:So it sounds like there's a lot of really great networking opportunities, a lot of great ways to kind of set kind of a democratic agenda up and and find out who these key players are to move forward with.
Speaker 1:Very much so I've, I've, I've exchanged cards with so many folks and and it's, it's just the energy is so I need to get a press pass. I need to get out there.
Speaker 1:You know I need to be one of these folks it, it is, it is bonkers and but it's, it's fun, bonkers, uh. And so, uh, then tomorrow I'm doing the veterans and military families caucus, so I want to go find out what's going on in relationship to that, uh. And then wednesday is another lgbtq caucus where, uh, we have a plan at the beginning of it to give out an award, uh, and then have the group picture of all the trans and non-binary delegates. So we have like a we, we have a, we have a family picture.
Speaker 3:Send that over so that I can post that and get that up for everybody to see.
Speaker 1:We we will definitely get that to you. So that is on on track for Wednesday. And of course, we have so many incredible speakers coming up, that is, it's just uh. And then later in the week I pitched CBS, the television series.
Speaker 3:So this is an incredible week for me. And thank you so much for sharing it with everybody and myself as well too and keeping me in the loop. It's been a lot of fun seeing behind the scenes, that's for sure.
Speaker 1:So it's it is. It's different than you might think, but it is is also something that's educational and fun, and and anyway, I look forward to sharing my adventures tomorrow.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much, jesse McGrath. I am Amber Thompson and this is the Transparency Podcast Show. Thanks for tuning in. We're going to leave everybody to close with a little bit of Joe Biden's speech.
Speaker 2:Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, Thank you. I love you, thank you. In that moment, I wasn't looking to the past, I was looking to the future. I was looking to the future. I spoke of the work at hand. The moment we had to meet it was, as I told you then, a winter of peril and possibility, of peril and possibility. We're in the grip of a once in a century pandemic, historic joblessness, a call for racial justice, long overdue, clear and present threats to our very democracy, thank you. And yet I believed then, and I believe now, that progress was and is possible, justice is achievable and our best days are not behind us, they're before us. Thank you.
