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Democratic Convention Live Blog: Bernie Sanders Delegates ‘Will Not Go Quietly’

Monday, July 25, 2016 13:55

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(Before It's News)

Bernie Sanders is finding that it’s not easy to unify the Democratic Party. (Gage Skidmore / CC BY-SA 3.0)

Monday, 12:15 p.m. PDT: Welcome to the City of Brotherly Tension. The Democratic National Convention began Monday in Philadelphia and will run through Thursday at the Wells Fargo Center. The party is expected to make Hillary Clinton its official nominee for president, but Democrats already are showing more division than unity.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chairwoman on the Democratic convention, is persona non grata and won’t open the show or speak during the week. She announced Sunday that she plans to resign after the convention—two days after 20,000 internal DNC emails were released by WikiLeaks, showing evidence that party officials were not neutral during the primary season and favored Hillary Clinton over the insurgent campaign of Bernie Sanders. After being booed at a pre-convention breakfast, Wasserman Schultz figured it was best to stay out of sight.

Here's video of Debbie Wasserman Schultz getting booed & jeered off the stage at the Florida delegation breakfast https://t.co/TBAIuzTKux

— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) July 25, 2016

“I have decided that in the interest of making sure that we can start the Democratic convention on a high note that I am not going to gavel in the convention,” Wasserman Schultz told the Sun Sentinel. “I stepped down the other day because I wanted to make sure that having brought us to this momentous day and to Philadelphia and planned the convention that is going to be the best one that we’ve ever had in our party’s history that this needs to be all about making sure that everyone knows that Hillary Clinton would make the best president.”

Sanders was booed by his supporters during an address to a group of his delegates for saying, “We must elect Hillary Clinton.”

Video ?

Bernie Sanders: “We have got to elect Hillary Clinton…”

Many in crowd: Boooooooooooooooooo
https://t.co/OgXUyA2IP1

— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) July 25, 2016

Truthdig Editor in Chief Robert Scheer, who is on the ground in Philadelphia, has been covering presidential conventions since 1956, and he has never seen anything like the divisiveness and anger Sanders delegates are displaying. “They are not happy with the Democratic platform or Bernie Sanders for endorsing Hillary Clinton—and they are expressing their displeasure. It is clear they are not going to go quietly into the night.”

So much for the Democratic Party being “United Together,” the theme of Day 1 of the convention. Maybe that will change of over the course of the day, with First Lady Michelle Obama and Sen. Bernie Sanders scheduled to speak in prime time.

Organizers are crossing their fingers that the cold introduction is not a sign of things to come. Here the themes and featured speakers for the rest of the week.

Tuesday: A Lifetime Of Fighting For Children And Families. Former President Bill Clinton will do his best to make Hillary look good.

Wednesday: Working Together. The 1-2 punch of President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will take the stage.

Thursday: Stronger Together. Hillary Clinton and Chelsea Clinton are the headliners.

Truthdig will be live blogging each day of the convention. Tune in for news, analysis and commentary.

We also have Truthdig columnist Sonalia Kolhatkar, and Pacifica radio host, in Philadelphia to provide video and columns. Photojournalist Michael Nigro is in Philadelphia will an insider perspective of what’s happening outside the convention hall. Truthdig contributor Alan Minsky, a producer for Pacifica radio, will summarize what happens inside the convention hall. Truthdig contributor Bill Blum will provide analysis during the live blog.

With Wall Street invading Philadelphia, the Democratic Party is hoping to trade places with Republicans and leave people feeling optimistic about the future of America.