The Democrats are a miserable bunch, a party in crisis, and nowhere is that more evident than in the lineup of speakers for their upcoming party convention to nominate Joe Biden for president, on Aug. 19.

Easy ones first.  According to The Hill, they've lined up:

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), a progressive superstar, is expected to have some sort of speaking slot, a House member told Politico, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and 2016 presidential nominee Hillary Clinton will also speak, according to Axios.

Warren and Clinton are reportedly slated to speak on Aug. 19, the day before former Vice President Joe Biden will formally accept the 2020 Democratic nomination.

Other Democrats expected to have speaking slots are Biden's wife, Jill Biden, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Barack and Michelle Obama. 

Where's Pete Buttigieg?  Where's New Jersey's Gov. Phil Murphy?  Where's New York's Gov. Andrew Cuomo?  Anyone on this lineup is either an extreme radical or else a creature from Jurassic Park.

Presumably, this bunch featured is the most powerful and definitive picture of who the Democratic establishment is: a group of mostly seventy-somethings who've moved left, along with Bernie Sanders whippersnappers who are driving the party left, such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.  When Republicans say she's the face of the Democratic Party, who's to argue with them with a lineup like this?

They don't even like her — President Obama withheld his endorsement of her likely based on her "primarying" the Democratic Party's stalwarts with her rabidly leftist "justice" Democrats on the slate, often knocking out their ward heeler and actually winning.  It has to be her star power, her appeal to youth as a social media queen, and the Democrats' desire to rope in the unenthusiastic youth vote,  a bid to prove they are not all dinosaurs; some are just crazies.  

By the way, where's Old Bernie, who put up a good primary fight and almost got the nomination?  You'd think he'd have earned a spot, and for that reason would be good for bringing home the Bernie vote, at least some of which is going to Trump.  He may still show up, but two weeks out from the convention, not a sign of him.  Maybe he's busy with his fifth house, or whatever it is these days.

Instead, there's tired old Hillary Clinton, droning platitudes only a Democrat can love, and House speaker Nancy Pelosi, speaking the surreal.

Yes, Kamala Harris is sort of in the middle zone as Democrats go, but she's just one.  Michelle Obama?  She'll be a star, yes, but she's obviously not signed on just yet.  With this bunch, why should she?

What we see here is a sign of a party in crisis.  When all you've got are very young extremists with star power and very old jurassics, don't count on creating a winning platform the mainstream can actually vote for.  There's no middle there yet, no Bill Clinton or Tony Blair to help with cleanup after a period of swinging too far left, just Ocasio-Cortez taking a trip to Jurassic Park.

Image from Voice of America via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.  Processed with FotoSketcher.