DNC 2012

Progressive Campaign Change Committee (PCCC) co-founder Stephanie Taylor speaks with Michael Shure (host of TwenTYTwelve on TYT Network) at the 2012 Democratic National Convention about speeches from Bill Clinton, Elizabeth Warren, Sandra Fluke, and more.

Photo credit: Flickr user dbking

Tonight, millions of Americans will watch President Obama address the nation at the 2012 Democratic National Convention.

While you’re waiting, here’s a few other speeches from Democratic conventions in the past that are worth watching (listing is chronological order):

Hubert Humphrey, 1954:Ai??In this speech, Humphrey implored the Democratic Party to finally support civil rights, causing 35 delegates from Alabama and Mississippi to walk out. “My friends, to those who say that we are rushing this issue of civil rights, I say to them we are 172 years late. To those who say that this civil-rights program is an infringement on statesai??i?? rights, I say this: The time has arrived in America for the Democratic Party to get out of the shadow of states’ rights and to walk forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights!” he thundered. Listen to it:
Ai??Bobby Kennedy, 1964:Ai??”If we do our duty, if we meet our responsibilities and our obligations, not just as Democrats, but as American citizens in our local cities and towns and farms and our states and in the country as a whole, then this country is going to be the best generation in the history of mankind,” Kennedy told delegates. Watch it:
Fannie Lou Hamer, 1964: In Mississippi in the 1960’s, a group of civil rights activists formed the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party to challenge the state’s Democratic Party, which was dominated at that time by anti-civil rights lawmakers. She gave the following speechAi??to the Credentials Committee of the DNC in a bid to unseat theAi??MississippiAi??delegation or to be seated alongside them. She told of her struggle to register to vote. “Is this America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, where …

A protester against “free trade” in El Paso, Texas. (Photo credit: Flickr user BorderExplorer)

One of the key planks of the Democratic Party’s attack on Republican Party presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s record has been his ties to the outsourcing of American jobs. Here’s a TV ad the Obama campaign has run against Romney. It attacks Romney for his former company Bain’s outsourcing practices:

But if that’s true, then why is the official 2012 Democratic Party platform boasting of the party’s support for “free trade” agreements? Here’s the relevant section:

We have also sought to promote free and fair trade. Because of the economicAi??dynamism of the Asia-Pacific region, which is already home to more than half the global economy,Ai??expanding trade with that region is critical to creating jobs and opportunities for the American people.Ai??Building on the free trade agreement with South Korea that President Obama signed, we are workingAi??with our partners in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum to create a seamless regionalAi??economy, promote green growth, and coordinate regulatory reform. Alongside Australia, BruneiAi??Darussalam, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam, we are on track to finalize theAi??Trans-Pacific Partnership, a historic high-standard agreement that will address new and emerging tradeAi??issues, lower barriers to the free flow of trade and investment, increase exports, and create moreAi??American jobs.

Exploring opportunities to shape the multilateral trading system to reflect the role andAi??responsibility of major emerging markets in the global economy is a critical part of the Presidentai??i??s tradeAi??agenda. Ai??We will work to expand free and fair trade in the Americas as well. We already export more than threeAi??times as much to Latin America as we do to China, and we will pursue additional opportunities toAi??expand commerce and promote shared prosperity. Last year the President signed free trade …

The American Petroleum Institute (API) is a Big Oil lobby. Its president, Jack Gerard, is even rumored as a possibleAi??future chief of staffAi??in Mitt Romney’s White House.

API has big plans for both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. The Tampa Bay Times reports that API plans to hold a music event outside the Republican convention featuring the Zac Brown Band:

The Grammy-winning country group, who sold out the 1-800-Ask-Gary Amphitheatre in January, will perform at a cruise ship terminal at the Port of Tampa during an event organized by the American Petroleum Institute. The nonpartisan event is part of API’s Vote4Energy campaign, designed to urge leaders to invest in alternatives to foreign oil, including natural gas, nuclear energy and biofuels.

But Big Oil isn’t just sticking with the party who treats it best. It also wants to influence the Democratic Party, and API spokeswoman Sabrina Fang said it will be hosting a similar concert event outside the Democratic convention in Charlotte.

For the show in Charlotte, API will be featuring O’Malley’s March. O’Malley’s March is a celtic rock band, and Maryland Democratic Governor Martin O’Malley — who chairs the Democratic Governors Association andAi??a possible candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016 — was actually a guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for the band from 1988 to 2005.

One has to wonder how O’Malley feels about his former bandmates joining Big Oil’s cause, and if he will be making an appearance at this celebration of polluter-lobbyists.