No the Dems Aren't in Disarray; Yes the Beltway Media is Lying

Don't believe everything you read, of course. Don't even believe everything you see and hear it turns out.

Nate Silver gets it right:

"I saw a lot of commentary earlier today about the negative mood at the Wells Fargo Center. In particular, there were a lot of reports along these lines which seemed to imply that the delegates had turned on Clinton:

Josh Kraushaar:

"My God. Every time Clinton's name is mentioned, loud boos ensue. This is a sh**show."

http://fivethirtyeight.com/live-blog/democratic-convention-live-coverage-of-day-one/?#livepress-update-23921631

This is something you saw and heard all over the place. Ryan Cooper:

"seemingly any mention of Clinton gets huge boos started."

https://twitter.com/ryanlcooper/status/757679091785035776

However, Nate Silver tells us:

"But when I arrived on the convention floor at around 5 p.m. — after a lot of these tweets were sent out, I should point out, so it’s possible that the mood had changed — that wasn’t really the vibe I picked up."

"Instead, I saw an atmosphere that might best be described as “charged,” in the sense of being a bit eclectic, a bit raucous and a little unpredictable. There’s a lot of enthusiasm for Sanders in the hall, perhaps more than there is for Clinton."

"But contrary to those earlier reports, there wasn’t a lot of booing when Clinton’s name was mentioned. Certainly, there were some boos coming from some delegations, some of the time — California and Michigan, in particular, and were relatively vocal. But this was in isolated pockets. The booers were usually drowned out by cheers for Clinton, sometimes enthusiastic cheers, especially if the speaker was keeping people engaged. The California delegation is located right next to where a lot of the major networks have their sets, I should point out, which is inconvenient for Clinton."

Exactly right. When I was watching MSNBC I too felt like it was a shit show. Then I took the advice of some fellow Hillary supporters on Twitter.

It's like night and day.

http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2016/07/if-youre-not-watching-dem-convention.html

Turns out, if you spend all your time with your camera and audio on the small 5 percent of Bernie supporters booing you get a much different picture than if you actually put your camera and audio on the speakers.

Like CSPAN is doing. If you watch them, I think you'll find a pretty good convention.

My friend Mary on Twitter:

"lol. I won't watch the commentary after the convention. I am smart enough to understand what I saw."

https://twitter.com/maryaoden/status/757734498649804800

I admit I do enjoy listening to commentary. But that's after the convention. During the convention it's nice to hear speeches rather than pundits telling you why this is bad optics for Hillary Clinton and that's bad optics for Hillary Clinton.

Anyway, the convention is no shit show. The Beltway Hillary coverage: as usual, total shit show.