When Eleanor Roosevelt Legacy Committee Chairwoman Judith Hope first heard on July 14 that Sen. Hillary Clinton (D.-N.Y.) was not invited to address the Democratic National Convention convening this week in Boston, she was enraged. According to the New York Times, Hope planned to "urge other female Democrats to boycott the convention unless Mrs. Clinton was allowed to speak."
"It's a slap in the face, not personally for Hillary Clinton, but for every woman in the Democratic Party and every woman in America," Hope, a former chairwoman of the New York Democratic Party, told the New York Daily News. "It's a total outrage. . . Her omission from the prime-time speaking role is very glaring, and [Democratic presidential candidate John] Kerry needs to step in and correct it."
Kerry retreated instantly, doing exactly as commanded. The day Hope's tirade appeared, Kerry personally phoned Mrs. Clinton and offered her a prime-time speech. She immediately accepted. As first planned, Hillary would have appeared mutely on stage on Monday night, as Sen. Barbara Mikulski (Md.) spoke, in a moment meant to showcase female Democratic senators. Now, Hillary will introduce Monday night's headliner, her husband.
Bill and Hill will not feel lonely: The Democrats' prime-time show will be a nostalgia fest for left-wing luminaries from the party's near and distant past. Joining the Clintons on Monday are Jimmy Carter and former Howard Dean-supporter Al Gore. On Tuesday, Dean himself speaks along with former Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun (Ill.), Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (S.-D.) and Sen. Teddy Kennedy (Mass.). On Wednesday, Rep. Dennis Kucinich precedes vice presidential candidate John Edwards. On Thursday, before Kerry himself takes the stage, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton will warm things up for retired Gen. Wesley Clark.
Although the Republican National Convention prime-time lineup is packed with speakers who do not share President Bush's pro-life views-New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, New York Gov. George Pataki-every prime-time speaker at the Democratic convention is pro-abortion. That includes Dennis Kucinich, who was a pro-life Democrat until he started running for President last year.
Speaking of which: President Reagan's younger son, Ron, will address the delegates to promote stem cell research that kills human embryos. "Ron Reagan is going to speak at the Democratic National Convention because his name is Ron Reagan," writes liberal Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen. "He is not a famous Democrat and he is not a well-known ethicist or medical researcher. He will be there just to stick it to the GOP and Bush and to suggest, as do the selfish when they would rather golf than attend a funeral, that they have the permission of the deceased. There's a term for this sort of thing: Grave robbery."
