The Democrat response was written a week before Trump's speech and it showed.  Having a bunch of older people sitting around like pasteboard cutouts in a 'diner' was so staged and phony that it detracted from what the former Governor was saying. 

 I agree with Democratic Representative Cleaver (Missouri)  who said "I don’t mind saying when we make mistakes, and that was a mistake,” 

“We think we’re going to have a problem if we don’t start presenting an image of the millennials and that there’s a youth movement in the Democratic Party."

"He would have preferred a younger party spokesman such as former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, or Rep. Cedric Richmond, Louisiana Democrat.

 "Asked by host Craig Melvin what the “thinking” was in choosing a retired official to represent the party, Mr. Cleaver replied, “The problem is, you’re asking about thinking, and that didn’t happen.”

MSNBC