Democratic convention night three open thread. Update!

Tonight's speakers include Jesse Jackson, Harry Reid, Joe Biden, Gavin Newsom, Martin O'Malley, Jerry Brown, Chris Murphy, actress Sigourney Weaver (I love her.), Gabby Giffords, Sherrod Brown, Michael Bloomberg, Tim Kaine, and of course President Obama to close out the night.

I am not expecting any huge surprises or disruptions tonight but it should be quite entertaining.

After all it features one of the greatest President's in our lifetime.

Jesse Jackson: "It's Hillary time!"

.@RevJJackson: "It's Hillary time" pic.twitter.com/w8eget6udi

— POLITICO (@politico) July 27, 2016

Apparently yesterday Andrew Sullivan, a longtime critic of Hillary Clinton, had already reached that decision as well:

Some readers think I’ve been too negative, even cynical, tonight. Believe me, I am utterly uncynical about this election. I’m worried sick. We need to put behind us any lingering beefs, any grudges, any memories from the past – and you know how I feel about the Clintons’ past – in order to save liberal democracy. The only thing between him and us is her. So – against all my previous emphatic denials – I’m with her now. As passionately as I ever was with Obama. For his legacy is at stake as well.

Now somebody needs to go tell those butt hurt Bernie supporters that.

Update: Powerful words from the mother of a victim from the Orlando shooting.

The mother of an #OrlandoShooting victim speaks to #DemsInPhilly https://t.co/TAG0SqRvbP https://t.co/A4n809GPCU

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) July 27, 2016

This is just one of the many pro-gun control speeches being delivered tonight.

Update 2: Here he comes.

HERE COMES BIDEN#DemsInPhilly pic.twitter.com/Ls5zxQmAwc

— Ellie Hall (@ellievhall) July 28, 2016

Everybody loves Joe.

Update 3: And finally the grand finale.

.@POTUS gushes: @MichelleObama hasn't aged a day, same cannot be said for me https://t.co/H9n7JJUntx #DemsInPhilly https://t.co/1J32zvG4in

— CBS News (@CBSNews) July 28, 2016

Best President ever!

Update 4: Does not require comment.

Hillary Clinton joins President Obama on DNC stage after his speech #DemsInPhilly pic.twitter.com/fQOhrPd2aT

— BuzzFeed (@BuzzFeed) July 28, 2016

And this my friends might be the one way that the Democratic candidate can be defeated in 2016.

Courtesy of The New York Times:

Michael R. Bloomberg has instructed advisers to draw up plans for a potential independent campaign in this year’s presidential race. His advisers and associates said he was galled by Donald J. Trump’s dominance of the Republican field, and troubled by Hillary Clinton’s stumbles and the rise of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont on the Democratic side.

There is no way that this does not hurt Hillary more than the GOP nominee.

If I were the DNC I would make any deal I could to keep Bloomberg out of this race.


 

Michael Bloomberg to donate 50 million dollars to start his own anti-NRA movement.

Courtesy of The New York Times:  

Michael R. Bloomberg, making his first major political investment since leaving office, plans to spend $50 million this year building a nationwide grass-roots network to motivate voters who feel strongly about curbing gun violence, an organization he hopes can eventually outmuscle the National Rifle Association. 

Mr. Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York, said gun control advocates need to learn from the N.R.A. and punish those politicians who fail to support their agenda — even Democrats whose positions otherwise align with his own. 

“They say, ‘We don’t care. We’re going to go after you,’ ” he said of the N.R.A. “ ‘If you don’t vote with us we’re going to go after your kids and your grandkids and your great-grandkids. And we’re never going to stop.’ ” 

He added: “We’ve got to make them afraid of us.”

This is good news for all of those who thought that gun control legislation was a non-starter after  the last attempt was blocked in the Senate.

Bloomberg is right that the only way to combat the NRA is to outspend them, out lobby them, and out threaten them.

If politicians find themselves facing a lobby as aggressive as the NRA they might just be willing to start making the hard choices, by creating gun legislation that makes sense and preserves constitutional rights, while protecting American lives from gun nuts and the mentally deranged.

I think it is well past time for politicians to stop fearing the NRA, and start fearing the people victimized by the NRA.