DNC Round-Up: Biden Wins Widespread Acclaim For Nomination Acceptance Speech

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden won widespread acclaim from both sides of the political spectrum for his acceptance speech on the closing night of the Democratic National Convention. With the event held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Biden spoke from the town he has lived most of his life, Wilmington, DE.

• His speech lasted around 25 minutes, much shorter than a conventional acceptance speech for a presidential nominee, and did not cover significant detail but instead sought to provide a counterpoint to President Donald Trump's time in office, speaking of his offer of "light" to end "America's season of darkness".
• The Trump campaign has sought to paint Biden (77) as cognitively impaired and unable to serve as president, but Biden delivered the speech via teleprompter with none of the slip-ups or gaffes that had marked the start to his primary campaign, where he suffered poor results in the early-voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada.
• Fox News' Chris Wallace called the speech "enormously effective", saying that Biden's delivery "blew a hole" in the Trump campaign attempts to portray the former vice-president as cognitively impaired. Conservative commentator Laura Ingraham said the speech "beat expectations" and Karl Rove, senior adviser to President George W. Bush during his time in office, called the speech "excellent".
• Praise from the leftist wing of the Democratic Party was forthcoming, but guarded with the former press secretary for Biden's main challenger in the 2020 primaries, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Briahna Joy Gray tweeting "They did a really good job tonight for a party indifferent to the progressive vote."
• President Trump and the Republican party will have its chance to counter, with the Republican National Convention starting on Monday August 24.