As Democrats gathered for night three of their convention in Philadelphia — the cradle of American Liberty — their socialist brethren in Venezuela were seeking to ban the opposition party. We have no doubt Democrats are looking on with envy.

With that, here are last night’s excerpts:

Barack Obama:

“While this nation has been tested by war and recession and all manner of challenges — I stand before you again tonight, after almost two terms as your president, to tell you I am even more optimistic about the future of America. How could I not be after all we’ve achieved together?”

> Byron York replies: “In the most recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, 73 percent of registered voters said the country is on the wrong track, while just 18 percent said it is headed in the right direction. The 73 percent figure is the second-highest in the president’s nearly eight years in office. The poll was no outlier. These are the wrong-track numbers for the last ten polls in the RealClearPolitics average of polls: 67, 70, 67, 71, 73, 69, 79, 68, 60 and 66.” In other words, most Americans aren’t all that optimistic right now.

“We brought more of our troops home to their families, and we delivered justice to Osama bin Laden. Through diplomacy, we shut down Iran’s nuclear weapons program.”

> Obama abandoned Iraq to the Islamic State and validated Iran’s nuclear program.

> Donald Trump laid it on thick: “I think President Obama has been the most ignorant president in our history. His views of the world, as he says, don’t jive and the world is a mess. You look at what is happening with migration, with Syria, with Libya, with Iraq, with everything he’s touched. He has been a disaster as a president. He will go down as one of the worst presidents in the history of our country. It is a mess. And I believe Hillary Clinton will be even worse.”

“I can say with confidence there has never been a man or a woman — not me, not Bill, nobody — more qualified than Hillary Clinton to serve as president of the United States of America.”

> This “most qualified” trope has taken on the air of a desperate attempt to cover for a woman with a mediocre resumé, no actual accomplishments and utter disaster in her wake.

“People outside of the United States do not understand what’s going on in this election. They really don’t. Because they know Hillary. They’ve seen her work. She’s worked closely with our intelligence teams, our diplomats, our military. She has the judgment and the experience and the temperament to meet the threat from terrorism. It’s not new to her. Our troops have pounded ISIL without mercy, taking out their leaders, taking back territory. And I know Hillary won’t relent until ISIL is destroyed. She will finish the job.”

> The Obama-Clinton foreign policy duo is the reason the JV team Islamic State exists in the first place. But we suppose we should be happy that, after two days of ignoring the global threat of terrorism, somebody at the DNC finally mentioned it.

“Our power doesn’t come from some self-declared savior promising that he alone can restore order. We don’t look to be ruled.”

> Rich, coming from the guy with “a phone and a pen” who can do whatever he wants.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that together, We, the People, can form a more perfect union.”

> As has become a regular habit, Obama quotes the opening of the Declaration while omitting the part about rights being “endowed by their Creator.”

Last note: Obama referred to himself 120 times in his speech.

Joe Biden:

“You have all seen over the last eight years what President Obama means to this country. He is the embodiment of honor, resolve and character. One of the finest presidents we have ever had.”

> Obama is a man of dishonor, petulant character, and resolve for destroying the Constitution to advance his craven political agenda. He is one of the worst presidents we have ever had.

“This is a complicated and uncertain world we live in. The threats are too great, the times are too uncertain, to elect Donald Trump as president of the United States. No major party nominee in the history of the nation has ever known less or been less prepared to deal with our national security. … Donald Trump, with all his rhetoric, would literally make us less safe.”

> Why are the threats great and the times uncertain? Because Obama and Clinton have made such a hash of foreign policy, including abandoning Iraq, dragging Libya into chaos, and refusing to call the threat what it is — radical Islamic extremism. Obama practically wrote the book on making America less safe, and Biden is casting stones while in a glass house.

Tim Kaine:

“Can I be honest with you about something?”

> No, this is the Democrat National Convention, and you’re Hillary Clinton’s running mate.

Beyond that, there was pretty much nothing at all memorable or noteworthy from Kaine’s speech. But hey, he’s Clinton’s running mate.