Dems Announce 2016 Debates

The Hill reports:

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) set its presidential debate schedule on Thursday, announcing six debates spanning from October to March. The first debate will take place in Nevada on Oct. 13 in partnership with CNN. Following that, the DNC has scheduled debates for November in Iowa, December in New Hampshire, and January in South Carolina. The final two debates will take place in Florida and Wisconsin in either February or March. “We are thrilled to announce the schedule and locations for our Democratic primary debates,” DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said in a statement. “These six debates will not only give caucus goers and primary voters ample opportunity to hear from our candidates about their vision for our country’s future, they will highlight the clear contrast between the values of the Democratic Party which is focused on strengthening the middle class versus Republicans who want to pursue out of touch and out of date policies.”

Democrats Mock "Retrumplican Party"

DNC Slams Bush On Marriage

"It took Jeb Bush 69 words to say absolutely nothing - 69 words not to say, ‘I support marriage equality.’ Nothing’s changed. At the end of Bush’s statement, he still had the same position: he opposes the right of gay and lesbian Floridians - and all LGBT Americans - to get married and adopt children. If he wants to tell us he’s changed his position, great. But this was not that statement. It was typical Jeb Bush." - The Democratic National Committee, slamming yesterday's statement by Jeb Bush.

PHILADELPHIA: Rep. Brian Sims Joins Mayor In Courting DNC Convention Team

Pennsylvania state Rep. Brian Sims joined Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter today in glad-handing the DNC's 2016 convention team, which was in Brooklyn earlier this week. Sims represents Philly's Center City, which is home to many of the hotels that would likely host attendees.  Philadelphia and Columbus are considered the leading contenders to win the convention.

Columbus has access to about 26,000 hotel rooms across five counties and 16,000 rooms within the city itself, said Brian Ross, chief executive of the Columbus Convention and Visitors Bureau. With no mass transit options, Columbus officials are looking at using chartered buses to shuttle delegates from their hotel rooms to convention events. Alternative transport options also were being explored, including compact and electric car rentals and the city's bike-share program. In Philadelphia, about 65% of the hotel rooms required to host the event were within a 15 minute walking distance of the Wells Fargo Center, where the convention would be held, said Kevin Washo, lead strategist for the Philadelphia host committee. Another 3,500 rooms were located across the river in University City, he said. "Brooklyn has 3,500 hotel rooms. We have 3,500 just in our University City location," he said.

Last week the RNC unanimously selected Cleveland for their 2016 convention.

De Blasio Courts DNC 2016 For Brooklyn

Today and tomorrow New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is hosting Democratic party officials who will tour Brooklyn's Barclays Center as the prospective location for the 2016 Democratic National Convention. De Blasio's bid seems to have dim prospects.

While no one puts on a show like New York, and hometowner Hillary Clinton may be the party's nominee, many top Democrats say it makes more sense to gather in Philadelphia or Columbus, Ohio -- the two cities bidding for the convention that are in swing states. "I see no reason why the Democrats would benefit from having it here," a party official told The News ahead Monday's visit by the Democratic National Committee's site-selection committee to evaluate de Blasio's Brooklyn-centric bid. "It doesn't get you anything. Why not have it in a swing state -- especially if Hillary is the nominee? It's like shoving New York down everybody's throats," the source added. "We're wonderful, but we're not the most popular people in the world for the rest of the country." The other two cities still in the running, Birmingham, Ala., and Phoenix, have drawbacks that make their bids long shots, Democrats say.

While Barclays is almost brand new and has facilities that are said to be better than the 2012 DNC venue in Charlotte, Brooklyn has but a fraction of the nearly 18,000 hotel rooms needed for the convention.  Some Democrats are complaining about the time they would spend shuttling between midtown Manhattan and the arena. That makes me laugh, as in 2012 the DNC assigned me to a hotel in South Carolina.

RELATED: On Friday the Republican National Committee unanimously selected Cleveland as its 2016 host city, setting up the possibility that both conventions will be in Ohio.

President Obama Turns 53 Today

Twitter critics are out in force because the DNC's Organizing For Action is using the president's birthday to harvest emails, which you must submit in order to send one of the above messages.

NEW YORK CITY: Obama Speaks At Democratic LGBT Fundraising Gala

Via the Los Angeles Times:

President Obama got two sustained standing ovations at the annual LGBT gala in Manhattan on Tuesday night -- one for promising an executive order the group has long wanted and one just for walking into the room. After taking the stage at the Democratic National Committee fundraiser, Obama had to wait for at least a minute for the shouting to die down before he could start speaking. A few minutes later, he delivered in person the news his team made public earlier in the week: that he has ordered them to draft an executive order aimed at federal contractors and banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. If some lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender Democrats had been dismayed with the president for his long wait before issuing the order, they were over it Tuesday. "Sometimes you guys were a little impatient," Obama joked. "Sometimes I had to say, 'Will you just settle down for a second?'"

Here's an excerpt from the speech via White House press release:

This is a country where no matter who you are, or what you look like, or how you came up, or what your last name is, or who you love -- if you work hard and you take responsibility, you should be able to make it. That’s the story of America. That’s the story of this movement: People who stand up and come out and march, and organize, and fight to expand the rights we enjoy and extend them to other people -- people who work against the odds to build a nation in which nobody is a second-class citizen, everybody is free to be who they are; and that you’re judged based on are you kind and competent and work hard, and treat each other with respect, and are a team player and look after your community, and care and love and cherish your kids. That’s how we’re supposed to be judged. That’s the fight that brought all of us here today. That’s what made it possible for me to stand up here as your President. It’s what gave many people in this room the freedom to live their lives freely. It’s what should inspire us to keep working to make sure all our children grow up in an America where differences are respected and even celebrated, and where love is love.

DNC History Fail

Wingnuts are having a field day.

Obama Heckled At DNC Meeting

As I mentioned yesterday, I'm in DC for the LGBT journalists convention and also in our hotel is the winter meeting of the Democratic National Committee. Last night somebody heckled the president during his address to the group.

“Mr. Obama, tell us about your nuclear war with Russia!” a man could be heard yelling from the back of the crowd (CNN translated as “nuclear plan in Russia”). “Who’s that back there?” Obama asked. “What the heck are you talking about?” The friendly crowd dutifully cheered and chanted the president’s name until man apparently sat back down. There are plenty of reasons that Democrats could be unhappy with Obama, but this one seemed a little far afield.

The DNC Spikes The Ball

Dems To GOP: You're Doing It Wrong

DNC Vs GOP: Round II

Yesterday it was the GOP on the attack. Today, it's the DNC.

New Site: Romney's Tax Plan

Go ahead, click for details.

DNC Slams Romney Over Big Bird

DNC Remixes Mittens

National Review Alters DNC Photo

The cover of the latest issue of the right-wing National Review features an altered DNC photo to make it appear that delegates are waving "abortion" signs. In fact, the signs read "Forward." After complaints, the National Review issued a response:

The image used on the cover and the contents page of the October 1, 2012, issue of National Review, in both the print and various digital editions, was altered by National Review. It is not the original photograph as provided by Reuters/Newscom, and therefore should not have been attributed to this organization, nor attributed to the photographer.

The Thing That Ate Its Own Brain 14 With Victoria Jackson As The Thing

This is what was going on while I was sitting in radio row at the DNC while waiting for my turn on SiriusXM. I thought I might be on this clip in the background, but she whipped the camera around too quickly. When the NPR guy walked away is when I got homofascist cooties on her.

Three Days In Charlotte

It was six days for me, but I still can't believe I was there.

Perkins Continues Assault On DNC

"Before they got caught and scrambled to fix it, the Democrats’ Platform as approved by their Platform Committee suggested that America has forgotten or should forget God. The Party’s guiding document didn’t just refuse to acknowledge our Creator as the one who endows us with our rights; the version originally signed off on by the full Platform Committee excised any mention of God from its pages. But, amid boos and jeers on the convention floor, delegates were required to shoehorn in last minute 'technical corrections' to remedy the oversight. It sure wasn’t done with amazing grace. Why does it take a power play from the convention chair – ramming through changes that very evidently did not gain the required two-thirds assent – for a Democratic Platform to acknowledge our nation’s motto?" - Hate group leader Tony Perkins, writing for the Christian Post.

NOTE: In the above-linked article Perkins delights in pointing out that the Democrats once supported slavery. Curiously, he doesn't mention that his book of superstitions still does. (And of course he doesn't mention his previous affiliations with the KKK and a white supremacist group.)

Matt Baume: Marriage News Watch

Clip description:

The freedom to marry is a hit at Democratic National Convention. Meanwhile, in Rhode Island, a primary this Tuesday pits a pro-equality Democrat against an anti-equality incumbent. Conservatives unveil their version of a civil unions bill, and Scotland is on track to debate marriage equality in the coming months. All that, plus we could be just two weeks away from a major Supreme Court decision in the Prop 8 case.