I & I Editorial BoardVice President Hubert Humphrey entered the 1968 Democratic National Convention polling well though he had run in none of the primaries nor had he received a single vote. The convention, marred by conflict and bloodshed, was “disastrous” in historical terms, with Republican Richard Nixon emerging, says the Washington Post, as “the one person” who was “fully victorious.”
Will this year’s convention, in Chicago, just as in 1968, yield a similar result? Those who care for the future of this country and don’t want it fundamentally transformed by radicals, should pray so.
The similarities between the Democrats’ 1968 and 2024 conventions go far beyond the host city. In both cases, the incumbent president backed out of the race and turned over the top of the ticket to his vice president. Like Humphrey, Kamala Harris ran in no primaries and took in a total of zero votes. Yet she’s been polling well against her Republican challenger, just as Humphrey showed well in most of the polls since spring of the year.
After the convention, however, Humphrey’s polling lead became a deficit that climbed into double digits. He lost to Nixon by about a half millions votes and was swamped in the Electoral College 301-191.
Will we see a replay of this in 2024? Will Harris’ numbers fall flat after the sugar high of the convention?
Could happen, because this year’s Democratic convention might be as violent as the 1968 version, which was wrecked by protests against the war in Vietnam. The Chicago Tribune reported that Michigan Avenue became “a bloodied battleground.” where “scores were injured and thousands affected by tear gas.” Rioters “were thrown into police vans and arrested” and “glass windows on the Michigan Avenue side of the Hilton” where Humphrey and party leaders were headquartered, “were shattered.” The party was eating its own.
Fifty-six years later, demonstrators took to the streets even before the convention began, with “a coalition comprised of various feminist and pro-Palestinian groups,” says the local media, marching on Sunday.
By Monday, the protesters, who firmly reside on the left side of the political spectrum, were plastering images that said “STOP KILLER KAMALA” and “SHUTDOWN THE DNC FOR GAZA” on city street signs, clashing with police. breaking through a barricade and getting arrested.
Eventually they will riot, just as the thugs of ’68 brawled and smashed their way into the history books.
It’s expected. It’s what they do. Even Chicago businesses are anticipating trouble from the agitators, with many boarding up their doors and windows. (Please remind us: Did businesses in Milwaukee board up their property they the Republicans were in town last month for their convention?)
Unlike 1968, when factions fought in a convention that the Washington Post said “became completely unglued,” the Democrats won’t be split in 2024. The party and its propaganda division, sometimes called the mainstream media, are in lockstep behind Harris.
At least for now. The coming unrest could spill over into the convention, causing a schism between the party’s growing anti-Israel, anti-Jew wing and the few who remain faithful to decency.
On their own, the violence and vandalism could turn voters against Harris and the Democrats. some of whom have been seen carrying “Abandon Harris ’24” signs. It will become obvious that the party is again at war with itself, as it was in ’68, when “comedian and activist Dick Gregory predicted the disturbances handed the White House to Richard Nixon, the Republican candidate,” the Tribune reported Sunday in a recap story. Gregory called it a “horror” week in Chicago, one that the whole world was watching.
We’re not rooting for riots. We don’t want anyone hurt nor property destroyed. Maybe reason will win over rage. But the Democrat leaders have a history of aligning themselves with groups whose factory settings are malice and lawlessness. The party presents itself as moderate, but the immoderates who are filling the street see beyond the disguise. The whole world might not be watching this time, but maybe enough voters will be tuned in to be turned off to the Democrats’ moral turpitude.
— Written by the I&I Editorial Board
That ’68 Dem convention caused me to leave the Dem party for good and forever. It was obvious then the backroom crowd was running the show, the results had nothing whatsoever to do with the Democratic Process they’d said they were so devoted to protecting and preserving.
56 years later nothing much has changed other than the devoted support of the now brainwashed three generations of adherents that threaten Democracy with yet another ‘backroom deal’ done behind closed doors. They have their machine well-oiled now to deliver the ‘votes’ needed – often in the early hours of the day after voting, with the doors closed to observers – to overcome anything the legitimate electorate might put up as an obstacle.
If the Democrats manage to maintain their disguise throughout this convention, it will be to the nation’s harm. These “few decent” Democrats you speak of are becoming fewer with each passing day. Bret Stephens called Joe Biden a “decent” man back in 2020. Joe Biden has never been a decent man and by claiming so Stephens only managed to diminish himself. Joe is a symptom of their party.
Those “We love Joe” signs were a sickening display of phoniness and mendacity. Vote for Harris/Walz at your peril.
Mendacity. Yeah, Joe’s moniker his entire political life. Same for Obama, Clintons, Pelosi, Schumer, and so many others who keep a lower profile yet somehow still profit by their ‘service’.
I write this with a heavy heart: As I&I points out there are many parallel’s between the DNC in 1968 and in 2024. I know-both were and are locations and destinations of violence, rage, crime and dystopian behavior run amuck.
All the past is generally deja vous repeating itself with a variation of flavors. However, what isn’t the same-but is a shame-in 1968 I was 20 years old.