Hillary Clinton
Sen. Tim Kaine
Currently on July 23, 2016 --
Democratic Party Potential Presidential Candidates
Currently on July 23, 2016 --
Democratic Party Potential Presidential Candidates
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Ken Thomas, The Associated Press, Published Saturday, July 23, 2016 12:11PM EDT, http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/ho...-as-her-vp-1.2999438
In this Feb. 4, 2016, file photo, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., gives a 'thumbs-up' as he takes his seat at the head table for the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington. (AP / Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)
TAMPA, Fla. -- Hillary Clinton's search for a vice-president started with a commanding victory in the New York primary and a special delivery in a plastic Duane Reed bag. Three months later, it ended with a phone call to a shipyard office, where Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine was waiting.
From the start, Kaine was a front-runner to join Clinton on the Democratic ticket. A senator, former Virginia governor and mayor of Richmond, he hails from a top battleground state and, as a fluent Spanish speaker, could help in another: Florida. Victories in both would likely put the White House out of the reach of Donald Trump and his running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence.
But Clinton grew personally comfortable with the likable and even-keeled Kaine as they campaigned together in recent weeks and discussed the vice presidency. Clinton ultimately concluded that she had "unshakeable confidence in Kaine's readiness to do the job," according to a Clinton aide familiar with her thinking. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the private deliberations over her selection.
For a presidential candidate with the unique experience of helping conduct her husband's 1992 search for a vice-president -- it ended with the choice of Al Gore -- along with eight years at the White House and another four years as President Barack Obama's secretary of state, that kind of confidence mattered.
It wasn't an easy decision. Clinton was also drawn to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, the former Iowa governor who remained in the running until the end. A person close to the campaign, also speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the private deliberations, said Clinton had a hard time not choosing her longtime family friend and political loyalist.
Campaign chair John Podesta started the process after Clinton's convincing victory over Democratic rival Bernie Sanders in April's New York primary, dropping off binders of information with Clinton at her home in Chappaqua, New York. The information on potential running mates was delivered in a bag from Duane Reed, a New York drug store.
As Clinton dealt with an up-and-down series of primary contests against Sanders, her team delved deeply into several potential running mates, scouring public information and ultimately asking a select few to provide detailed financial and personal information, and consent to interviews.
Clinton's team maintained a tight control over the information. Her screeners included Washington attorney James Hamilton, former State Department chief of staff Cheryl Mills and Podesta, along with a group of attorneys and top aides.
As the process entered July, Clinton scheduled a joint campaign event with Kaine in Annandale, Virginia, where he showed off his bilingual abilities, telling the audience, "Estamos listos para Hillary!" -- or "We're ready for Hillary."
Clinton and Kaine met that evening at her Washington home for 90 minutes, and she invited Kaine and his wife, Virginia Education Secretary Anne Holton, to her home in Chappaqua two days later. This time, lunch was served and the Kaines joined Bill Clinton and the Clintons' daughter, Chelsea, and son-in-law, Marc Mezvinsky.
Kaine's name remained at the top of the speculation for vice-president, but he kept his head down, telling reporters that he enjoyed being senator. Just hours before his selection, he professed that he didn't know where things stood.
While Clinton also considered other potential running mates, including Labor Secretary Tom Perez, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, officials said the choice came down to Kaine and Vilsack.
Clinton campaigned for Vilsack in his 1998 comeback victory as Iowa governor, and he later stood by her through her difficult 2008 presidential campaign. They served together in Obama's Cabinet.
The person familiar with the search process likened Vilsack to the "heart" candidate, given his friendship with Clinton, but said that Kaine's experience as a winner in a pivotal swing state along with his Senate experience in foreign affairs helped put him over the top.
While Kaine had supported Obama, not Clinton, in the 2008 presidential primaries, the presumptive Democratic nominee noted in a recent interview that Kaine had never lost an election during a lengthy political career that began with a seat on the Richmond city council during Bill Clinton's first term in the White House.
The Clinton aide said she ultimately concluded that Kaine met her top consideration -- the ability to step in as president if necessary -- and she had reached a comfort level with the low-key lawmaker that made her believe he could be a "true partner in governing."
Podesta, who served as chief of staff to Bill Clinton and later advised Obama, offered the former secretary of state this advice: "It needs to be someone who whenever they walk into the room, you are glad to see them and you want to have them as part of any conversation."
The offer finally came in a 7:32 p.m. EDT phone call from Clinton, who was in a holding room after wrapping up a rally at the Florida state fairgrounds in Tampa. Kaine was attending a fundraiser in Newport, Rhode Island, for the state's Democratic senator, Jack Reed. Taking the call in a shipyard office, he quickly accepted.
Clinton then called Obama at the White House about 20 minutes later to inform him of her decision. Shortly after 8 p.m., the campaign blasted out a text message and accompanying announcement on Twitter that she had made her choice.
"I'm thrilled to announce my running mate, @timkaine, a man who's devoted his life to fighting for others," Clinton said on Twitter.
Replied Kaine: "Just got off the phone with Hillary. I'm honoured to be her running mate. Can't wait to hit the trail tomorrow in Miami!"
Associated Press writers Alan Suderman in Richmond, Virginia, and Michelle R. Smith in Newport, Rhode Island, contributed to this report.
Another circus for CNN.
How about that Wasserman-Shultz fiasco? Wasn't Trump and Bernie correct in accusing the system of being rigged? Now what if Sanders supporters stay away in droves, which is a real possibility!
I don't know how Sanders could stand in front of his people and not tell them all the fighting and them did was for nothing, go Vote [crooked] Hillary!!
Regarding the issues of Debbie Wasserman Schultz, one should note the following ....
1. While there is indeed the appearance of discussions on this matter a long time ago, it absolutely has no effect on how individuals voted at the individual Democratic primary elections.
2. It is a separate and distinct issue that must be addressed by the Democratic party officials.
Current Democratic Party's process is to officially declare the presidential and vice presidential candidates at the four-day convention.
There is an invisible wall built to keep Trump out of Canada....we welcome the lady anytime.
Excellent first night of the Democratic National Convention.
Michelle Obama, Bernie Sanders, Corey Booker, etc., carefully outlined the issues for electing the Democrats under the leadership of Hillary Clinton.
Bernie Sanders outlined clearly the issues and differences between the Democrats and Republicans and hence why Hillary Clinton should be elected President of the US_of_A.
Jim Sheppard, The Globe and Mail, Published , Last updated
Senator Bernie Sander addresses his electoral delegates gathered at the Convention Center during the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., July 25, 2016.
(BRYAN WOOLSTON/REUTERS)
U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders capped a day of strong emotions and controversy with a rousing plea to the Democratic Party to unite behind his former rival Hillary Clinton to defeat Donald Trump for the presidency of the United States.
"This is election is about the kind of future we want to create for our children and our grandchildren," he argued. "Based on her ideas and her leadership, Hillary Clinton must become the next president of the United States."
"I'm going to do everything I can to make that happen."
Earlier, at a street rally his endorsement of Ms. Clinton was roundly booed. His supporters said they were angry as a result of the bitter nomination campaign and because of a last-minute controversy over leaked e-mails from party leaders that suggested they favoured his rival throughout the primaries.
As the convention began Monday afternoon, his supporters cheered every mention of his name and again booed Ms. Clinton. But he and his aides worked throughout the day with Ms. Clinton's team and party leaders to present a more united front against Republican nominee Donald Trump.
"This election is about which candidate understands the real problems facing this country and offers real solutions, not bombast. fear-mongering and divisiveness.
Mr. Sandersâs evening call for party unity behind Clinton came after party leaders tried to calm the waters by issuing this statement: âOn behalf of everyone at the DNC, we want to offer a deep and sincere apology to Senator [Bernie] Sanders, his supporters, and the entire Democratic Party for the inexcusable remarks made over e-mail.â
Mr. Sanders and his campaign team also tried to persuade his delegates not to disrupt the proceedings and worked with Ms. Clinton's officials to try to present a more united front.
âOur credibility as a movement will be damaged by booing, turning of backs, walking out or other similar displays,â Mr. Sanders said in an e-mail to the delegates, calling it a âpersonal courtesyâ to him. âThatâs what Mr. Trump wants.â
Earlier in the day, Mr. Sanders told his supporters at a street rally: "We have got to defeat Donald Trump and we have got to elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine."
The remarks prompted jeers and chants of âwe want Bernie.â
But he added: âThis is a real world we live in. Trump is a bully and a demagogue.â
âMake no mistake. We have made history,â Mr. Sanders told the crowd, stressing that their progress would be lost if Ms. Clinton doesnât win.
Yet many diehard backers of Mr. Sanders werenât ready to coalesce around Ms. Clintonâs presidential bid despite his pleas.
Their frustration was on display a day after Democratic Party Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz announced she would step down at the end of the convention. Mr. Sandersâs loyalists heckled her at a Florida delegation breakfast and many expressed dismay that Ms. Clinton had given the Florida congresswoman the position of honorary chair of the campaignâs â50-state program.â
âIâm really annoyed,â Michigan delegate Bruce Fealk said. âI want to support Bernie, but I also want to voice my displeasure with the Democratic Party.â
From the podium, however, some of Mr. Sandersâs allies noted their progress in influencing the partyâs platform and moving to reduce the influence of superdelegates, party leaders and elected officials who help decide the nomination.
âI stand with my Democratic family in making sure we win this fall,â said Maine lawmaker Diane Russell, a Sanders supporter. âWe are all in this together and we will all have a voice in the Clinton administration.â
Aides to Ms. Clinton and Mr. Sanders met before the start of the convention to find ways to prevent an open display of dissent, prompting the Vermont senator to send text and e-mail messages requesting that they refrain from protests on the floor.
That was enough for Deborah Adams, of Cheraw, S.C., who served as a whip for the 14 Sanders delegates from her stateâs delegation.
âI think every delegate should follow Senator Sandersâs request,â Ms. Adams said. âWeâve worked hard as a movement. It gives us a black eye if we donât control our emotions.â
Later, comedian-turned-Senator Al Franken, a Clinton supporter, and actress Sarah Silverman, a Sanders supporter, made a joint appearance to promote party unity.
âI am proud to be part of Bernieâs movement,â Ms. Silverman said as the crowd roared. âAnd a vital part of that movement is making absolutely sure Hillary Clinton is our next president of the United States.â
âTo the 'Bernie or Bust' people, youâre being ridiculous,â Ms. Silverman added.
For months, Mr. Sanders, 74, mounted an unexpectedly tough challenge to Ms. Clinton, 68, a former secretary of state, who this week will become the first woman nominated for president by a major U.S. political party.
Mr. Sanders complained bitterly during the primary process that the party leadership was working against him. Some of his backers are reluctant to get behind Ms. Clinton, seeing her as a member of the Washington political elite who pays only lip service to realizing their goals of reining in Wall Street and eradicating income inequality.
The scenes of booing at the convention in Philadelphia were a setback to Democratic officialsâ attempts to present the gathering as a smoothly run show of party unity in contrast to the volatile campaign of Republican nominee Mr. Trump.
While Mr. Sanders has endorsed Ms. Clinton, she faces the task of attracting his backers as she battles Mr. Trump. The New York businessman pulled ahead in at least one opinion poll on Monday, after lagging Ms. Clinton in most national surveys for months. A CNN/ORC opinion poll gave Mr. Trump a lead over Ms. Clinton, 48 per cent to her 45 per cent in a two-way presidential matchup.
Mr. Trump was formally nominated for president at a chaotic Republican convention in Cleveland last week.
Ms. Wasserman Schultz was the focus of anger from liberal Democrats over some 19,000 DNC e-mails that were leaked by the WikiLeaks website that showed the party establishment working to undermine Mr. Sanders.
Her resignation is effective at the end of the convention, but she told Floridaâs Sun Sentinel newspaper that she would not speak as planned at the opening of the event.
âI have decided that in the interest of making sure that we can start the Democratic convention on a high note that I am not going to gavel in the convention,â Ms. Wasserman Schultz said. The meeting âneeds to be all about making sure that everyone knows that Hillary Clinton would make the best president,â she said.
On Monday morning, Ms. Wasserman Schultz struggled to be heard above boos as she spoke to the delegation from her home state. Some protesters held up signs that read âBernieâ and âE-MAILS,â and shouted âshameâ as she spoke.
The cache of leaked e-mails disclosed that DNC officials explored ways to undercut Mr. Sandersâs insurgent presidential campaign, including raising questions about whether Mr. Sanders, who is Jewish, was an atheist.
Sanders supporters were already dismayed last week when Ms. Clinton passed over liberal favourites such as Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts to select the more moderate Mr. Kaine as her running mate.
âThey throw âparty unityâ around as if weâre supposed to jump for joy when they mention her name,â said Manuel Zapata, a Sanders delegate from California, referring to Ms. Clinton. âWhat weâve been saying for months is obviously true: They had the finger on the scale of the campaign,â he said.
The Clinton camp questioned whether Russians may have had a hand in the hack attack on the partyâs e-mails in an effort to help Mr. Trump, who has exchanged words of praise with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The FBI said on Monday it would investigate the nature and scope of the hack.
Mr. Trump gloated at the Democratsâ opening-day disorder.
âWow, the Republican Convention went so smoothly compared to the Dems total mess,â he wrote on Twitter.
Democratic convention speakers attacked Mr. Trump with gusto and urged the party to rally behind Ms. Clinton.
Michelle Obama said the former secretary of state, senator and first lady herself is the âone person who I truly believe is qualified to be president of the United States,â the kind of president she wants for her own daughters.
Ms. Obama pleaded with Sanders's delegates to rally to defeat Trump. She cited Ms. Clintonâs reaction to her 2008 Democratic primary loss to Barack Obama when Ms. Clinton âdidnât get angry or disillusionedâ and âdid not pack up and go home.â
The first lady attacked Mr. Trumpâs slogan to âmake America great again.â
âDonât let anyone ever tell you that this country isnât great, that somehow we need to make it great again," she told delegates. "Because this right now is the greatest country on earth.â
Senator Elizabeth Warren, a stalwart of the liberal branch of the part, used her speech Monday evening to make clear her view that Americans wonât fall for Mr. Trumpâs plan to fan what she calls âthe flames of fear and hatred.â
The Massachusetts Democrat said in excerpts of the speech released in advance that the Republican presidential nominee is peddling an old story of âdivide and conquer.â
Senator Warren said Trump thinks he can win votes âby turning neighbour against neighbourâ and by persuading voters that the source of their problems is âpeople who donât look like you, or donât talk like or donât worship like you.â
With reports from Staff, Associated Press, Reuters and The New York Times.
ba$eman posted:How about that Wasserman-Shultz fiasco? Wasn't Trump and Bernie correct in accusing the system of being rigged? Now what if Sanders supporters stay away in droves, which is a real possibility!
I don't know how Sanders could stand in front of his people and not tell them all the fighting and them did was for nothing, go Vote [crooked] Hillary!!
What did ms wasserman do you fool? Obviously nothing that happened tipped the scale for Hillary and Ms Wassermann cannot be accused of that. Obviously, some foolish people in the DNC who had an aversion of Bernie demanding of the DNC to facilitate him when he did nothing in his life to build the institution. Obviously Wassermann did. What she knew of the mental frame of mind of those in the DNC who resented burnie ( but no one took any effort to disadvantage him even if they pedicure him) may represent poor leadership but cut the crap about anything beyond that.
It took Bill Clinton three times for Hillary Clinton to accept his proposal, it only took Democrats two
Thomson Reuters Posted: Jul 27, 2016 12:28 AM ET, Last Updated: Jul 27, 2016 1:26 AM ET, http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/d...ton-speech-1.3696612
Bill Clinton's Democratic National Convention speech
Former president Bill Clinton portrayed his wife Hillary Clinton on Tuesday as a dynamic force for change and a longtime fighter for social justice as he made a case for her historic 2016 bid for the White House.
The ex-president told the Democratic Party convention in Philadelphia that Hillary Clinton was "a natural leader" with a built-in sense of responsibility.
"Hillary is uniquely qualified to seize the opportunities and reduce the risks we face, and she is still the best darn change-maker I have ever known," he said.
Earlier in the day, Hillary Clinton secured the Democratic Party's nomination for the Nov. 8 election, coming back from a stinging 2008 defeat in her first White House run and surviving a bitter primary fight to become the first woman to head the ticket of a major party in U.S. history.
Bill Clinton told the convention in a keynote speech that Hillary Clinton had been an activist for social justice since the couple's early days as law students together. He gave a detailed account â hair and wardrobe included â of how the two met in 1971.
He told how she gave legal aid services to poor people and went undercover to expose a segregationist school in Alabama in the 1970s.
Bill Clinton also told the convention that he had to propose three times before she said yes, and on his third attempt he told her why she shouldn't marry him.
Perhaps their worst moments â the Monica Lewinsky scandal, impeachment and legal battles that followed â were conspicuously omitted.
Instead, Bill Clinton cast himself as a passenger in his wife's life, reshaping the story of much of their decades in politics.
The goal was to make Hillary Clinton, perhaps the most famous female politician in the world, yet a public figure her aides claim remains unknown, relatable to voters.
He cast her as a liberal heroine of her own story, who fought for education reform, health care, civil rights, the disabled, 9/11 first responders and economically depressed rural areas.
Bill Clinton also told the crowd that President Barack Obama didn't have an easy time convincing his former rival to become secretary of state. Bill Clinton isn't the only person who had to ask her something more than once.
Bill Clinton also addressed those who have criticized Hillary Clinton for being around too long with another list of causes and the time she's spent "making people's lives better."
Bill Clinton said Republicans led by Trump had made Hillary Clinton out to be "a cartoon" but the real thing was nothing like their portrayal of her.
"They're running against a cartoon. Cartoons are two-dimensional, they're easy to absorb. Life in the real world is complicated and real change is hard, and a lot of people even think it's boring," he said.
Then speaking directly to the crowd, he said to cheers and applause: "Good for you because earlier today you nominated the real one."
President from 1993 to 2001, Bill Clinton, 69, left office with high approval ratings and is known as one of the most powerful political orators in the country.
Should she become president, her husband will step into a singular role in American history: first gentleman.
The potential new title is perhaps the strangest twist in a political career known for its second acts. After health scares and political missteps, the Comeback Kid, as he was known in his first presidential race, could come back to Washington one last time.
In 2012, he acted as a powerful validator for Obama, electrifying the room as the party's "explainer-in-chief."
But, said Bill Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta, "This is different."
"This is more personal," said Podesta, who recalled riding to the convention hall with Bill Clinton as he touched up his 2004 convention address. "This is more about her."
But no one doubts that Bill Clinton still wants to be at the centre of the action. While aides have said he will not get a cabinet post or a seat in the Situation Room should his wife win, Hillary Clinton has made clear that her closest adviser will remain involved with her administration, saying he'd likely have a role in managing the nation's economy.
They remain a "two for one" package, as Bill Clinton famously said during his first presidential race. But on Tuesday night, he hinted, just barely, that Clinton perhaps is finally getting her part of the deal.
"I married my best friend," he said. "And I really hoped that she choosing me and rejecting my own advice to pursue her own career was a decision she'd never regret."
The roll call was one more opportunity for Sanders supporters to voice their fierce loyalty to the Vermont senator. But the convention belonged to Clinton.
PHILADELPHIAâHillary Clinton the fighter, yes. But also Hillary Clinton the empathizer who held the bandaged hand of a 9/11 burn victim, the listener who counselled the anguished mothers of slain black children, the friend who played a giddy game of mermaid with a little girl in a swimming pool.
That Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton said Tuesday night, is âthe real one.â
On the day Hillary Clinton became the first woman to win the presidential nomination of a major American party, she used almost an entire day of the Democratic National Convention to try to solve the dire problem that threatens to keep her from making history again in November: Americans just donât like her.
It was an attempt at a wholesale reintroduction of a former secretary of state, senator and first lady who has been in the national spotlight for 25 years. Speaker after speaker offered up the kind of personal anecdotes that were largely missing from last weekâs Republican convention, seeking to show the softer, selfless side of a guarded woman whose private life remains a mystery for much of the country.
Story night was capped, naturally, by a typically freewheeling and lengthy address by her raconteur husband, the former U.S. president, who contrasted Republicansâ âmade-up,â âcartoonâ portrayal of his wife with the one he sees â the one who âcalls you when youâre sick,â who founded a legal-aid clinic in impoverished Arkansas, who didnât want to leave after dropping their daughter off at college.
âSheâs insatiably curious, sheâs a natural leader, sheâs a good organizer, and she is the best darn changemaker I have ever met in my entire life,â Bill Clinton said. In an aside that summed up the subtext of the night, he said, âYou should never judge a book by its cover.â
Clinton clinched her victory somewhat anticlimactically, with the votes of the South Dakota delegation. But in a gesture of unity and grace, defeated rival Bernie Sanders took the microphone at the end of the voting to ask that Clinton be acclaimed as the winner.
âI move that Hillary Clinton be selected as the nominee of the Democratic Party for president of the United States,â Sanders, visibly moved, said to raucous applause.
Dozens of his most devoted supporters walked out of the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia and protested outside. But the general mood was festive, even before the hit song âHappyâ came over the loudspeakers, as Sanders backers who appeared restive on Monday united with Clintonâs backers in celebrating the landmark achievement.
Clinton was not in the room, but the moment was laden with emotion. Jerry Emmett, a 102-year-old born before women were granted the right to vote, beamed and trembled with delight as she announced Arizonaâs votes.â
âArizona casts 34 votes for Senator Sanders,â she said. âAnd 51 votes for the next president of the United States of America â Hillary Rodham Clinton!â
Clinton briefly addressed the convention via video from her New York home at the end of the night, after singer Alicia Keys declared that she had made âfeminist history.â
âI canât believe we just put the biggest crack in that glass ceiling yet,â Clinton said. Addressing âlittle girls who stayed up late to watch,â she said, âI may be the first woman president, but one of you is next.â
The second day of the four-day gathering was designed to address Clintonâs dreadful and declining reputation on matters of character and personality. It was a night aimed, in essence, of getting more voters to contemplate her as a lifelong friend described her: âHill.â
Opinion polls suggest Clinton is seen to be far more knowledgeable and qualified than Republican nominee Donald Trump. But she is also viewed as dishonest, untrustworthy and generally unlikeable.
The Clinton campaign did not leave the humanization work to Bill. Perhaps the most powerful testimonial was delivered by Lauren Manning, the businesswoman whose body was covered with burns on 9/11. Clinton, she said, held her hand and helped her through her pain.
âI trusted her when my life was on the line, and she came through,â she said. âNot for the cameras, not because anyone was watching, but because thatâs who she is: kind, caring, loyal. She had my back.â
The mothers of black people killed by police and in high-profile killings, including Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin and Eric Garner, spoke of Clintonâs respect for their pain.
âI am here with Hillary Clinton tonight because she is a leader, and a mother, who will say our childrenâs names,â said a tearful Geneva Reed-Veal, the mother of Sandra Bland, who died in what authorities said was a suicide after she was taken into custody following a traffic stop in Texas.
The women were introduced as the âmothers of the movementâ â the Black Lives Matter movement. Their very presence was notable, given the unpopularity of Black Lives Matter with many independents and conservatives, and another indication of the Democratsâ increasing assertiveness on matters of race and criminal justice.
âBlack lives matter! Black lives matter!â the crowd chanted. The Republican convention crowd had chanted âall lives matter,â a kind of rebuke.
The effort to occasionally humanize seemed strained. Alison Lundergan Grimes, Kentuckyâs secretary of state, said Clinton was the first person to call her when her grandmothers died. She then added: âShe can devour Buffalo wings whether on a car, plane or train!â
âI remember her playing mermaid in the pool with our youngest daughter, Sally, for hours on family vacations,â said Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe. âShe was the first to call and congratulate our oldest son, Jack, when he began his career as an officer in the Marine Corps. And she and Bill didnât hesitate to travel through a blizzard to be with our family at my fatherâs funeral.â
New York Sen. Chuck Schumer attempted to confront Clintonâs trust issues, which have been exacerbated by the email scandal that has dogged her campaign for an entire year. Schumer told a story about Clintonâs work to help a male factory worker worried about his plant shutting down â the type of voter with whom she is doing the worst.
âIâm from Brooklyn. Itâs in our blood to sniff out bull. Thereâs a lot of that in politics, but thereâs not an ounce of it in Hillary Clinton,â Schumer said. âWhen she tells you something, take it to the bank.â
The Democrats attempted to strike a largely positive tone, though they could not refrain entirely from mocking Republican nominee Donald Trump. Actor Elizabeth Banks, one of several female celebrities on the roster of speakers, walked out on stage as Trump did at his convention: through a purple fog to the tune of âWe Are The Champions.â
Former secretary of state Madeleine Albright slammed Trump on foreign policy, warning of the grave danger of his friendliness to Russiaâs Vladimir Putin. And Georgia Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights icon, invoked the threat of Trump in his nominating address, referring to unnamed âforcesâ seeking to take the country back 50 years.
âWe are not going back!â he said. Donna Brazile, the interim party chair, repeated the same phrase: âAs long as sheâs in charge, weâre never going back. And thatâs why Iâm with her.â
Scott Feschuk on the Democrats in Philadelphia
Scott Feschuk, July 27, 2016, http://www.macleans.ca/politic...in-words-and-photos/
Just a reminder: Itâs not me doing the photographing at this weekâs Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. It is, however, me doing the typing. It is also me losing count of the panellists on CNN. I ask you: Will no politician have the courage to speak to Americaâs crisis in runaway panel sizes? Back in my day, we needed no more than three pundits at any one time in order to know what to think and how to feel. Sad!
âCrooked Hillary endorses an INACCURATE depiction of my body. My hands (manly and big) have FIVE fingers (long) and I am NOT dead. WRONG!â â Donald Trump tweet, probably
Okay, cool, looks like weâre done here. All you dudes want to hop in the limo and swing by the Shake Shack with Uncle Joe?
The goal of the evening, according to CNN, was to âreintroduce Hillary Clinton to the American people.â Again? At this point, I feel as though there have been more incarnations of Hillary Clinton than of Doctor Who. People are going to start asking: How come this Hillary isnât black or a man? ITâS 2016, PEOPLE!
When speaking in support of a political candidate, a common rhetorical tactic is to depict the aspirant as selfless. This never works, but it doesnât stop folks from trying. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, for instance, basically suggested that Hillary Clinton is doing the country a huge favour by potentially subjecting herself to the most powerful elected office on the planet. My single favourite moment of the Republican convention was the declaration by TVâs Chachi that Donald Trump is seeking the presidency âout of the goodness of his heartâ â for surely it is the height of human altruism to charitably deign to command the worldâs mightiest armed forces. It goes without saying that upon entering the Oval Office, Trumpâs first order of business would be to formally eschew his executive authority in favour of establishing an anarchosyndicalist commune whose decisions are ratified at a special biweekly meeting.
Only Hillary will move America forward! And backward! And apparently also somewhat diagonally!
Desperate delegates begin scaling the fences to flee the convention venue after a rumour begins to spread that Paul Simon might sing again.
âWould anyone honestly care if I just ripped off Mississippiâs star?â
In yesterdayâs gallery, I referred to Bernie Sandersâ eternally protesting, never-say-die supporters as halfwits â and for that I am sorry. I apologize for calling them that. They are actually dimwits. Let me walk you through this, Feel the Berners, and Iâll try to do it slowly so you can keep playing hacky-sack: If you decline to vote for the lesser of two evils, you tangibly increase the likelihood of inflicting your nation with the greater of two evils. Instead of a woman who may disappoint you by watering down certain legislation to help ensure its passage, you will get a cheddar-faced megalomaniac who thinks Vladimir Putin is his bestie and who needed an NSA security briefing to finally come to accept that Jack Bauer is fictional.
Actress/director Elizabeth Banks spoofs the manner in which Donald Trump entered the first night of the Republican convention. Meanwhile, Trump himself continues to spoof the tired old establishment view that presidential candidates should know stuff.
âSo thatâs my personal ranking of all the soups. Now, what was your question again? Ah, yes, itâs up those stairs and to the right for the bathroom.â
Howard Dean FTW. The former presidential candidate ended his otherwise serviceable speech with a shout-out to his infamous Dean Scream in 2004. Seeing a politician with a sense of humour about himself is like seeing a unicorn dancing with Bigfoot.
âIn the aaaaaaaaaarms of the angelâĶ Hi, Iâm Sarah McLachlanâĶâ
Pretty much every speech on Tuesday began with the speaker declaring how long theyâve known and been friends with Hillary Clinton: 20 years, 25 (like Madeleine Albright here), 30 and more. It began to get a little competitive. Oh yeah? Iâve known her for 40 years AND I secretly watch her sleep at night.
âIn the spring of 1971, I met a girl.â About 12 seconds later, people on Twitter began to complain that Bill Clintonâs speech was too long. What is with you people? Tuesday night featured more than one speaker whose delivery was reminiscent of some of historyâs subtler air raid sirens. Why would we want Bill Clinton to hurry through his talk? He is the greatest political orator of his time. I wouldn't listen to him read the phone book â but I would listen to him talk about how there used to be phone books, and now there aren't, and what's up with that?
That said: Can you imagine what it must be like to run into Bill Clinton at the grocery store? Youâre trying to hustle through the crowds and get home to make dinner. But he catches your eye â and even though youâre happy to see him (who wouldnât be?) your immediate thought is: There is no way this conversation ends in under 40 minutes. He starts telling you an anecdote about a papaya he saw in the produce section. The Eggos in your cart begin to defrost and go limp.
Actress Meryl Streep appeared at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday night, continuing her stunning performance as "Bernie Sanders." Appearing under heavy makeup, Streep truly embodied the character of the "socialist Vermont senator" â perfect accent, impeccable hand gestures, just the right amount of harrumph. I watched her and I truly believed an old man was on national television shaking his fist at a cloud. What a chameleon!
ba$eman posted:How about that Wasserman-Shultz fiasco? Wasn't Trump and Bernie correct in accusing the system of being rigged? Now what if Sanders supporters stay away in droves, which is a real possibility!
I don't know how Sanders could stand in front of his people and not tell them all the fighting and them did was for nothing, go Vote [crooked] Hillary!!
Bernie folks mightn't like Hillary but the prospect of Herr Trump turning the USA into Putin's Russia terrifies.
Plus they are offended by the fact that Trump is a liar who buys his supplies from Mexico and China and forgot to tell people in PA that.
Demerara_Guy posted:That said: Can you imagine what it must be like to run into Bill Clinton at the grocery store? Youâre trying to hustle through the crowds and get home to make dinner. But he catches your eye â and even though youâre happy to see him (who wouldnât be?) your immediate thought is: There is no way this conversation ends in under 40 minutes. He starts telling you an anecdote about a papaya he saw in the produce section. The Eggos in your cart begin to defrost and go limp.
Unless he has a business proposition for me that conversation will end real quick. Voting for some one doesn't mean that I personally want to interact with them.
Day 3 of the Democratic National Convention will see U.S. President Barack Obama speak, and vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine.
Vice-President Joe Biden, who some say was slow to endorse Hillary Clinton during the primary, spoke enthusiastically about his former colleague in the Senate.
âEveryone knows sheâs smart, everyone knows sheâs tough. But I know what sheâs passionate about it. I know Hillary. Hillary understands, Hillary gets it,â he said after taking the podium to the theme from Rocky â a nod to his Pennsylvania roots.
In a rousing speech that at times left the boisterous crowd stunned into silence, Biden presented a portrait of Americans that was strikingly opposed to the grim picture painted by Trump during the Republican National Convention.
âWe do not scare easily. We never bow. We never bend. We never break when confronted with crisis,â he said.
Drawing on his middle-class roots in Pennsylvania, Biden lambasted Trump for his Apprentice catchphrase: âyouâre fired.â
âThink about that... how can there be pleasure in saying âyouâre fired.â Heâs trying to tell us he cares about the middle class? Give me a break, thatâs a bunch of malarkey!â he said.
After days of jeering from âBernie-or-Bustâ supporters, it remains to be seen whether U.S. President Barack Obama can unite the Democratic Party to back his one-time rival Hillary Clinton.
The president will be the keynote speaker Wednesday at the Democratic National Convention, where he is expected to speak on the importance of âworking together.â
He will be joined by Clintonâs running mate, Tim Kaine. Both Biden and Obama have a not-so-rosy history with Clinton, who ran against Obama during a bitter 2008 primary race.
WHAT TO EXPECT:
Democrats opened their convention session Wednesday with the first order of business: nominating Tim Kaine for vice president. The Virginia senator's name was the only one offered and delegates nominated him by acclamation.
A billionaire businessman
Michael Bloomberg, who was a member of the Republican Party but is now an independent, said Clinton was the only smart choice for the American economy.
âI know Hillary Clinton's not flawless, no candidate is. But she's the right choice and the responsible choice in this election... Hillary Clinton understands that this is not reality television, this is reality!â Bloomberg said, donning a neutral purple tie.
Bloomberg slammed Trump as a fraud who inherited his wealth and didnât understand business basics.
âThe richest thing about Donald Trump is his hypocrisy,â he said, wearing his neutral purple tie.
âThe bottom line is Trump is a risky, reckless, and radical choice, and we can't afford to make that choice.â
Early speakers:
Early speakers included Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, who will retire in 2016. In his speech, which earned cheers of âHarry! Harry!â from the audience, Reid slammed the party that selected âcon manâ Trump as its candidate.
âIâve never seen anything more craven than Mitch McConnell and what he has done to our democracy. His Republican Party decided that the answer to hard-working Americansâ dreams is to slander our African-American president, strike fear of Muslims, sow hatred of Latinos, insult Asians and, of course, wage war against women,â he said.
âIn other words, the only thing Republicans like Mitch McConnell have accomplished is setting the stage for a hateful con man, Donald Trump.â
Many of the speakers during Wednesdayâs program came from key swing states, such as Reid from Nevada, Californiaâs Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom, and NYC mayor Bill de Blasio.
Former NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg, who served two-terms as a Republican before becoming an independent, is also speaking. Former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared in a video about climate change, but is not expected to endorse Clinton.
During Clintonâs race against Bernie Sanders, Biden, who once had presidential ambitions of his own, kept a neutral stance. After Obama endorsed his former secretary of state in June, Biden gave Clinton a backhanded endorsement during a speech on the future of the U.S. Supreme Court.
âAnybody who thinks that whoever the next president is, and God willing, in my view it will be Secretary Clinton,â Biden said during the speech.
As WikiLeaks posted hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee containing evidence the party apparatus favoured Clinton over Sanders, âBernie-or-Bustâ supporters have been spoiling for a fight, booing during Clinton endorsements and staging protests.
U.S. officials say Russia was behind the hack, with Clintonâs campaign proposing that Putin was trying to interfere in the American election to benefit Donald Trump.
On Wednesday, Trump suggested that Russian hackers should try to find the 30,000 missing emails from her private server.
âRussia, if youâre listening, I hope youâre able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,â Trump said.
With files from The Associated Press
Kaine hit it out the park with Trump (yes, that dangerous moron) with what Kaine said is his usual two words "believe me" and yet the idiot doesn't say how he plans on doing anything. He hasn't shown his tax returns yet cries "believe me" and the ignorant fools who follow him, cheer at his ignorance.
That fool should be held for treason with his dumbass cries to Russia and the email BS.
Excellent and inspiring presentation by President Barack Obama.
cain posted:Kaine hit it out the park with Trump (yes, that dangerous moron) with what Kaine said is his usual two words "believe me" and yet the idiot doesn't say how he plans on doing anything. He hasn't shown his tax returns yet cries "believe me" and the ignorant fools who follow him, cheer at his ignorance.
That fool should be held for treason with his dumbass cries to Russia and the email BS.
This is a big boys game. Nit wits cannot play. Lacking the perceptions.
By Kevin Liptak, CNN White House Producer, Updated 11:39 PM ET, Wed July 27, 2016, http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/27/...c-convention-speech/
Philadelphia (CNN)President Barack Obama made a fervent appeal for Hillary Clinton on Wednesday, casting the Democratic nominee as a custodian of his legacy while rejecting Republicans' message as fostering anger and hate.
Nicole Gaudiano, USA TODAY 10:26 p.m. EDT July 27, 2016, http://www.usatoday.com/story/...ry-clinton/87619296/
PHILADELPHIA â When Hillary Clinton accepts the Democratic nomination at the party's national convention on Thursday, Vice President Biden could be forgiven for wondering, âCould it have been me?â
The tragedy of his son Beauâs death from cancer in May 2015 kept Biden out of the presidential race. But that doesnât mean heâll be sitting out the 2016 campaign. In fact, Clinton's campaign sees Biden as an asset in Rust Belt states, where his gift for connecting with working-class voters could make a difference in the battle against GOP nominee Donald Trump.
Mercer, Pa., is the type of town where Biden could be highly effective as a Clinton surrogate, Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, reflected while driving through the area recently.
"He speaks the language of these people that Iâm seeing on the street,â Murray said. âThereâs a guy here on the street corner with a T-shirt that says âTrust no one,â smoking a cigarette. You get the sense that these are towns that have seen better times. These are Bidenâs roots.â
Biden will speak at the convention, along with President Obama, on Wednesday night. He already has appeared at fundraisers for eight Senate candidates and plans to do more.
Polls show Biden could be a strong asset for Clinton. His favorability ratings average 51% â nearly as high as Clintonâs unfavorables, according to HuffPost Pollster averages.
âThe way to become really popular is announce you're not running for president,â Biden said Wednesday on MSNBCâs Morning Joe. âIt's amazing what it does for you.â
Jesse Ferguson, Clintonâs deputy national press secretary, said Biden speaks from the heart when he talks about sharing a commitment with Clinton âto making an economy that works for every American, not just those at the top."
"Voters know heâs genuinely speaking for them and itâs a powerful endorsement,â he said.
In this April 2, 2013, file photo, Vice President Biden and Hillary Clinton appear onstage at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. (Photo: Cliff Owen, AP)
Donna Brazile, interim chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, noted that Biden, like Obama, has high approval and favorability ratings with strong support in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan.
"Besides, he's regular Joe. Not celebrity Joe," Brazile wrote in an email.
Biden has acknowledged that Trump is connecting with white, working-class voters in a way Clinton is not, which explains his pledge to be âlivingâ in Ohio, Michigan, and his native Pennsylvania in the lead-up to the election. Democrats have done right by those voters but haven't communicated with them enough, he told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Wednesday.
âI think there has been in both parties not enough ... respect shown ... to ordinary people busting their necks,â he said.
The Clinton campaign is counting on Bidenâs appeal to resonate with voters in Rust Belt states and in the swing state of Pennsylvania. He was scheduled to campaign with Clinton in Scranton, Pa., earlier this month, but the event was canceled because of the July 7 shooting deaths of five police officers in Dallas.
The son of a car salesman, Biden grew up in working-class neighborhoods in Scranton and Claymont, Del., before winning a Delaware Senate seat in 1972 that he held 36 years. He often speaks on the campaign trail of the hard economic times that forced his father to move the family to Claymont in search of a job.
Biden also could be useful to Clinton in places such as West Virginia and Michigan, states she lost to Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont during their primary battle, said Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del. Clinton is liked in Pennsylvania, he said, but Biden is considered a âfavorite sonâ and a âthird senatorâ to the neighboring state.
Winning back Democratic control of the Senate is a top priority for Biden, a self-described âSenate man.â Rep. Patrick Murphy, running for the Democratic nomination in the race for Sen. Marco Rubio's seat in Florida, is among the candidates Biden has endorsed. Biden has helped introduced Murphy to voters around the state, including Miami and Orlando, with another event coming up in in Tallahassee in August, said Murphyâs campaign manager Josh Wolf.
âThereâs no voter in this state that isnât excited to see Patrick Murphy and Joe Biden standing side by side,â Wolf said.
In January, Biden told an NBC affiliate in Connecticut that âevery dayâ he regretted not running for president. But he told MSNBC Wednesday that rejecting a White House bid "was really just the right decision, I mean, for my family."
âAnd I, I plan on staying involved," he said. "I'm not going away.â
Bidenâs close friend, former Sen. Ted Kaufman of Delaware, said heâs never heard Biden say, âOh my, I feel bad that I didnât run.â
Vice President Biden arrives for a walk-through before day two of the Democratic National Convention on July 26, 2016, in Philadelphia. (Photo: Jessica Kourkounis, Getty Images)
âJoe Biden has demonstrated time and again that when something bad happens that he has the character to move on,â said Kaufman, Bidenâs former chief of staff.
Biden, who has been focused on efforts to eradicate cancer, told The (Wilmington, Del.) News Journal on Friday that he intends to stay involved in all the same issues heâs working on now. He said he'll continue advocating for womenâs rights, criminal justice reform, and quality education. And he doesn't out running for office.
âIf something happens and itâs appropriate for me to be engaged ...â he said, letting the sentence trail off.
If Clinton wins the November election, Carper said, Clinton will need him as a surrogate and emissary around the world.
âIf (Clinton) is smart, and she is smart, sheâll find plenty of ways for him to contribute to the good of this country and the world,â he said.
The Democrat Heavyweights had their say. Hillary will have hers and then it is up to Trump and Hillary to take their platform to the people.
The debates will follow. These are very important events. Trump is very tough, Hillary might fall apart during the debates. There will be no Obama or Bill to help her during the debates.
For now, Trump has the upper hand. He needs to keep the Untrustworthy Hillary mantra going. It is working.
Hillary needs to get the Black votes out. It is highly unlikely that Blacks will vote in large numbers like they did for Obama.
Trump needs to tone down the Anti Muslim American mantra and start taking a serious look at not ignoring the important Hispanic votes.
White Americans are angry at the current political establishment and they see Trump as their voice.
Interesting times ahead.
I will be visiting the USA in a couple of weeks, it will be interesting to hear what my US friends and relatives think of Trump and Hillary. Few of my relatives whom I spoke with are undecided right now. Most of the undecided are leaning towards Trump.
Trump needs to present substance and facts on his experiences rather than dealing with his usual irrelevant statements.
As noted in another thread; specifically for you - Yugi - to provide ... noted again ...
Yuji ...
Donald Trump's exact strong and pointed experience to lead a nation are ....
1.
2.
3.
....
Etc, etc, etc.
Title --- The DNC Convention sounds exactly like that of The Republicans.
yuji22 posted:The Democrat Heavyweights had their say. Hillary will have hers and then it is up to Trump and Hillary to take their platform to the people.
The debates will follow. These are very important events. Trump is very tough, Hillary might fall apart during the debates. There will be no Obama or Bill to help her during the debates.
For now, Trump has the upper hand. He needs to keep the Untrustworthy Hillary mantra going. It is working.
Hillary needs to get the Black votes out. It is highly unlikely that Blacks will vote in large numbers like they did for Obama.
Trump needs to tone down the Anti Muslim American mantra and start taking a serious look at not ignoring the important Hispanic votes.
White Americans are angry at the current political establishment and they see Trump as their voice.
Interesting times ahead.
I will be visiting the USA in a couple of weeks, it will be interesting to hear what my US friends and relatives think of Trump and Hillary. Few of my relatives whom I spoke with are undecided right now. Most of the undecided are leaning towards Trump.
Yugi, the debates have the two candidates and the panel of questioners.
Donald Trump will not get away with the untruths, lies and myths about this great country that he peddles because the panelists are professional. The only person who will fall apart is the Donald and he's the one that will need help with facts. The debates are Trump's Achilles heel.
President Bush had very little in terms of substance and yet he won two terms.
DG, we are talking about American voters here. They do not necessarily care about substance.
History has a very bad habit of repeating itself.
Kari posted:yuji22 posted:The Democrat Heavyweights had their say. Hillary will have hers and then it is up to Trump and Hillary to take their platform to the people.
The debates will follow. These are very important events. Trump is very tough, Hillary might fall apart during the debates. There will be no Obama or Bill to help her during the debates.
For now, Trump has the upper hand. He needs to keep the Untrustworthy Hillary mantra going. It is working.
Hillary needs to get the Black votes out. It is highly unlikely that Blacks will vote in large numbers like they did for Obama.
Trump needs to tone down the Anti Muslim American mantra and start taking a serious look at not ignoring the important Hispanic votes.
White Americans are angry at the current political establishment and they see Trump as their voice.
Interesting times ahead.
I will be visiting the USA in a couple of weeks, it will be interesting to hear what my US friends and relatives think of Trump and Hillary. Few of my relatives whom I spoke with are undecided right now. Most of the undecided are leaning towards Trump.
Yugi, the debates have the two candidates and the panel of questioners.
Donald Trump will not get away with the untruths, lies and myths about this great country that he peddles because the panelists are professional. The only person who will fall apart is the Donald and he's the one that will need help with facts. The debates are Trump's Achilles heel.
Kari,
It is equally important to remember that Hillary will have to answer to Trump about the email scandals during the debate, Trump will not allow this to just disappear into thin air.
All polls are showing that she is very weak on Trustworthiness. This is not Yuji saying this, this is what the American people are saying.
Please do not be blindfolded.
The Bhengazi Gate affair will come up also. These major issues will continue to haunt and hurt her.
Donald will not let her weasel her way out of this.
I am not in any way saying that Trump is squeaky clean but Whites are angry at the current political establishment and Hillary is still seen by them as an insider.
This will be one interesting election.
We also have to see to what extent the Convention helped and if she got a bounce in the polls.
Yes, the democrats let out their top dogs and heavyweights at the convention but we are dealing with a very angry white population right now and Trump is exploiting that right now.
Blacks may not turn up in very large numbers for Hillary like they did for Obama. We just cannot ignore these factors. Yes, Hillary has the bigger share of women's vote, but less educated white males are not interested in voting for Hillary.
Trump handlers also need to tell him to end his anti Muslim American mantra, that is bad politics. I do not agree with him on this.
The voters will decide. I am quite excited.
Let the campaigns start and bring on the debates ! Go Trump Go !
yuji22 posted:President Bush had very little in terms of substance and yet he won two terms.
DG, we are talking about American voters here. They do not necessarily care about substance.
History has a very bad habit of repeating itself.
Those who do not value substance will indeed vote in a willy nilly manner.
However, similar to other countries, US citizens generally view substance rather than those from nitwits.
Donald Trump will indeed face the hurdle when he, similar to Hillary Clinton, will face the questions from the respective panels during the official presidential debates.
yuji22 posted:It is equally important to remember that Hillary will have to answer to Trump about the email scandals during the debate, Trump will not allow this to just disappear into thin air.
The email issue has been addressed.
Hillary Clinton does not have to answer to Donald Trump on this item. =PERIOD=
yuji22 posted:Let the campaigns start and bring on the debates ! Go Trump Go !
Indeed, Go Trump Go ... continue to go into oblivion.
yuji22 posted:President Bush had very little in terms of substance and yet he won two terms.
DG, we are talking about American voters here. They do not necessarily care about substance.
History has a very bad habit of repeating itself.
Let me correct you.
Bush LOST the popular vote in 2000 and his brother Jeb governor of FL and the Supreme Court conspired to have him win the FL electoral college.
He won in 2004 because Americans get orgasms during wars and so Bush benefitted. In addition Kerry was a tightass very weak candidate.
As to Hillary not being trustworthy! Well is Donald Trump seen as being trustworthy.
Here is how Hillary will be seen. Lying about her emails.
Here is how Trump will be seen. Lying about the fact that he is guilty of that which he accuses others of, and that is buying from Mexico and China. THAT impacts the lives of many in a more direct way than does emails.
Thomson Reuters Posted: Jul 28, 2016 1:40 AM ET, Last Updated: Jul 28, 2016 1:40 AM ET, http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/o...h-dnc-2016-1.3698398
U.S. President Barack Obama returned to a message of hope and change during his address at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. (Mike Segar/Reuters)
President Barack Obama painted an optimistic picture of America's future in a rousing speech on Wednesday that offered full-hearted support to Hillary Clinton in her campaign to defeat Republican Donald Trump and become the first woman elected U.S. president.
"There has never been a man or woman, not me, not Bill [Clinton] â nobody more qualified than Hillary Clinton to serve as president of the United States," Obama said to cheers at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
"Tonight, I ask you to do for Hillary Clinton what you did for me. I ask you to carry her the same way you carried me."
After Obama's speech, Clinton joined him on stage where they hugged, clasped hands and waved to the crowd.
Obama and Clinton were rivals in the hard-fought campaign for the 2008 Democratic nomination. After winning that election to become America's first black president, he appointed her his secretary of state, which he said gave him a "front-row seat to her intelligence, her judgment and her discipline."
Speaking to delegates, Obama offered an alternative to businessman Trump's vision of the United States as being under siege from illegal immigrants, crime and terrorism and losing its way in the world.
"I am more optimistic about the future of America than ever before," Obama said at the Wells Fargo Center.
Obama listed what he described as a series of advances during his two terms in office, such as recovery from economic recession, the Obamacare health care reform and the 2011 killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
Such changes happened because "progress is possible," he said.
Like many other speakers this week, Obama spoke about Clinton's qualifications, but also acknowledged that she had her critics and had made mistakes.
"That's what happens when we try," he said.
Clinton made history on Tuesday when she became the first woman to secure the presidential nomination from a major party.
When she formally accepts it on Thursday, she will become the Democratic standard-bearer against Republican nominee Trump in the Nov. 8 election.
Obama took aim at Trump's campaign slogan and promise to "Make America Great Again."
"America is already great. America is already strong. And I promise you, our strength, our greatness, does not depend on Donald Trump," he said.
"Preach!" members of the crowd shouted. "Best president ever," someone screamed.
When voters booed at Trump's name, Obama quickly retorted "don't boo. Vote."
Nodding to voters' concerns, Obama said he understood frustrations "with political gridlock, worry about racial divisions" and the slow pace of economic growth.
He said he hasn't fixed everything and there are many challenges ahead â for the country and Clinton â but he's confident the Democratic Party and the country are in good hands.
CBC News Posted: Jul 27, 2016 9:49 AM ET, Last Updated: Jul 28, 2016 12:26 AM ET, http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/d...tion-day-3-1.3696782
President Barack Obama and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton wave to the crowd during the third day of the Democratic National Convention. (John Locher/Associated Press)
Barack Obama took to the stage for his final Democratic convention as a sitting president, saying he was "more optimistic about the future of America than ever before," and that Hillary Clinton was eminently qualified to be the next U.S. president.
While touting accomplishments at home and aboard with respect to health care reform and climate change, Obama admitted there were several challenges confronting the country.
Obama, speaking exactly 12 years after he raised his national profile as a junior senator from Illinois with a rousing convention speech, said the country wasn't facing a typical election in November.
"There is only one candidate in this race who believes in that future, and has devoted her life to it; a mother and grandmother who'd do anything to help our children thrive; a leader with real plans to break down barriers, blast through glass ceilings, and widen the circle of opportunity to every single American â the next President of the United States, Hillary Clinton," said Obama.
Obama traced the evolution of his relationship with Clinton, including their bitterly-contested campaign for the 2008 Democratic leadership.
"She was doing everything I was, but just like Ginger Rogers, it was backwards in heels," he said.
The president said given her experience, from partner of former president Bill Clinton to New York senator to secretary of state in his administration, "there has never been a man or a woman more qualified than Hillary Clinton" to be president.
Obama took Donald Trump to task for his suggestion at the Republican convention last week he alone could solve the nation's challenges.
"America's never been about what one person says he'll do for us," said Obama. "It's about what can be achieved by us together, through the hard and slow and sometimes frustrating, but ultimately enduring, work of self government, and that's what Hillary Clinton understands."
After Obama's nearly hour-long speech, Clinton walked on to the stage to rousing applause from the crowd and a hug from the current president.
Obama followed the current vice-president, Joe Biden, and Biden's would-be successor, Tim Kaine, who took turns in attacking Trump's suitability for the presidency.
Biden told Democrats gathered for the party's convention that Hillary Clinton is the only candidate in November's election who understands the issues facing middle class families.
He praised Clinton as being smart and passionate, having known her for three decades, first as a rival politician's wife and then as a colleague in the Senate and in Obama's administration.
Biden then turned his attention to Republican candidate Trump, setting up a refrain that would be repeated by the crowd.
"He has not a clue about what makes America great. Actually he has no clue, period," said Biden, leading to chants of "Not a clue" at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
Kaine took the stage soon after to make his introduction to a national audience. The Virginian has served as a mayor, a lieutenant-governor and governor of his state, and is currently its senator.
"I humbly accept my party's nomination to be vice-president of the United States," Kaine said to loud cheers.
Kaine, who sprinkled Spanish and colloquialisms into his speech, touted his economic stewardship as governor during the recession and legislative response to reform gun laws after the Virginia Tech mass shooting in 2007.
He scored his biggest applause line by mentioning Trump's unwillingness to release his tax returns, a common practice in modern presidential campaigns.
"You cannot believe one word that comes out of Donald Trump's mouth," he said, prompting a reprise of the "Not a clue" chant.
Obama and others attempted to rebut Trump and the Republicans, who painted a dark portrait of an America under siege at their Cleveland convention last week.
That theme was tackled early in night three of the convention by Connecticut senator Chris Murphy, who filibustered for 15 hours last month to agitate for gun control. Murphy, who has advocated on behalf of families of the children killed in a mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, said in his speech on the convention stage that Trump's comments and plans surrounding guns would lead to more carnage.
"I am furious that in three years since Sandy Hook, three years of almost daily bloodshed in our cities, the Republican Congress has done absolutely nothing to prevent the next massacre," said Murphy.
Martin O'Malley, who ran for the Democratic nomination, was also a vociferous speaker in attacking Trump.
"I say to hell with Trump's American nightmare," O'Malley said. "We believe in the American Dream."
The third night of the convention came hours after Trump was encouraging Russian hackers to find missing emails from private servers Clinton set up, which resulted in an FBI investigation.
"No major party nominee in the history of this nation has ever known less, or has been less prepared to deal with our national security," Biden said.
Leon Panetta, the former defence secretary and CIA head, contrasted Clinton's experience dealing with foreign threats and flashpoints with Trump's "erratic" statements.
"This is no time to gamble with our future," said Panetta, as some in the crowd chanted "No more war!"
John Hutson, retired admiral with the U.S. navy, brought up Trump's derisive comments to U.S. senator John McCain in 2015 about getting captured during the Vietnam War.
"Donald Trump isn't qualified to shine John McCain's boots," he said.
Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire political independent, admitted he's disagreed with Hillary and Bill Clinton at times, but cast doubt on Trump's business acumen.
"I'm a New Yorker and I know a con when I see one," he said.
Rev. Jesse Jackson, in a speech early Wednesday evening, brought up the spectre of gun violence, imploring for a ban on assault weapons.
He characterized the election between Trump and Clinton as a "tug of war for America's soul."
"It's healing time, it's hope time, it's Hillary time," Jackson said in a refrain, his voice growing more forceful as he ended his speech.
Testimonials also were given on gun control from families affected by the Charleston, S.C., church shooting in 2015, the Pulse nightclub shooting on June 12 and Gabrielle Giffords, the congresswoman who survived her injuries from a gunman in her own Arizona district.
The party also championed its devotion to environmental issues.
Karen Weaver, mayor of Flint, Mich., touted Clinton's commitment to "work for a lead-free America" as her city deals with an ongoing water crisis.
California Gov. Jerry Brown excoriated Trump for denying climate change and his state's water crisis.
"Trump says global warming is a hoax. I say Trump is a fraud," said Brown.
U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton addresses the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday, the second day of proceedings, via a live video feed from New York. (Mark Kauzlarich/Reuters)
Speaking of Bernie Sanders, U.S. civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson told the crowd on Day 3 of the convention that 'the Bern must never grow cold,' but he added, 'It's healing time. It's hope time. It's Hillary time.' (Shawn Thew/EPA)
U.S. TV personality Star Jones speaks on the third day of the convention at the Wells Fargo Center. (Peter Foley/EPA)
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio speaks on the third day of the Democratic National Convention. The four-day convention is expected to end with Hillary Clinton formally accepting the nomination of the Democratic Party as its presidential candidate in the 2016 election. (Tannen Maury/EPA)
Former president Bill Clinton joked on the second day of the DNC that it took three proposals before Hillary accepted him, but it only took the party two. (John Locher/AP)
New interim chair of the Democratic National Committee Donna Brazile delivers remarks at the convention. She landed the role when former DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned suddenly earlier this week. (Alex Wong/Getty)
Clinton's former primary rival Bernie Sanders, standing in the Vermont delegation with his wife, Jane, at his side, makes a motion to suspend the rules and nominate Clinton as the party's presidential candidate. (Carlos Barria/Reuters)
Sanders and his wife react after his older brother, Larry Sanders, casts his vote. The elder Sanders said their late parents 'would be immensely proud.' (Scott Audette/Reuters)
A delegate cries after Hillary Clinton clinches the nomination. Clinton said she 'just put the biggest crack in that glass ceiling.' (Jim Young/Reuters)
Members of Mothers of the Movement, a group that consists of mothers who have lost children to gun violence, take the stage on Day 2 of the DNC. (Mary Altaffer/AP)
A Sanders supporter sits in the the media centre after walking out of the convention in protest after Clinton was nominated. (Charles Mostoller/Reuters
Florida delegate Gladys Evans wears a picture of Clinton on her head during the second day of the DNC. (Matt Rourke/AP)
Michelle Obama praised Clinton on the first day of the DNC, and sent subtle jabs at Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, saying, 'Don't let anyone ever tell you that this country isn't great.' (Mark Kauzlarich/Reuters)
Protesters react as Wasserman Schultz arrives for a Florida delegation breakfast. She resigned after leaked emails appeared to show bias by party officials against Sanders during the primary race. (Matt Slocum/AP)
Clinton campaign staffer Liz Hart, left, reacts as fellow campaign staffer Andrew Binns proposes on stage the day before the start of the DNC. (Scott Audette/Reuters)
Arguments, provocations and observations from Times Opinion writers.
Times columnists, editorial writers and contributors bring their insights to bear on Hillary Clinton and the Democrats in Philadelphia. Here are their notes and observations from day 3, day 2 and day 1.
Credit Nick Oza/The Arizona Republic, via Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA â Jerry Emmett is 102, the oldest delegate to the Democratic convention. On Tuesday she proudly cast 51 votes from her home state, Arizona, for Hillary Clinton. Sheâs been a Clinton fan since the 1990s, admiring her for âthe way she handled Bill Clintonâ and âall of thatâ while first lady. Mrs. Clinton, with all her travels as secretary of state, also reminds her of her friend Eleanor Roosevelt, who after her husbandâs death became a good-will ambassador to the world.
Mrs. Emmett will be in the arena Thursday night when Mrs. Clinton becomes the first woman to accept the Democratic presidential nomination.
âI canât see and it doesnât matter,â she said. âAll I want to do is hear it happen, and be able to say âGod bless you, Hillary.ââ Our chat with Mrs. Emmett is here.
Elizabeth Williamson is a member of the editorial board of The Times.
Bai Jugi you gotta stop listening to Fox Noise
Credit Damon Winter/The New York Times
If youâve watched or attended past Democratic conventions, you know that the partyâs coalition was stitched together from organized interest groups, and the seams start to show quickly.
They were mentioned line by line in speeches: unions, especially those for teachers and public employees; environmental groups; workers for reproductive rights, L.G.B.T. rights, civil rights and gun-control laws; campaign-finance reformers; and so forth.
Not many of these causes had universal support among elected Democrats, and keeping this coalition of interests intact was the work of the party. When Democratic leaders did their job right, as in the 1990s, this coalition held together. An ideological movement needs a steady diet of enemies and ever bigger promises, whereas interest groups are satisfied with incremental progress and a seat at the table.
But the interest-group party had drawbacks, too. It was difficult to present a coherent vision to the many voters who werenât committed to one particular cause. It neglected dozens of issues, like Wall Street regulation, that had no advocacy groups to counter the interests of campaign donors. Deep structural conflicts, like trade, were often ignored. Racial justice issues were spoken of quietly, as the party struggled to retain its hold on working-class white voters. The phrase âBlack Lives Matterâ would have terrified the Democrats of 1996.
The first two days of the Democratic convention felt different, reflecting a long transition that began in the mid-2000s to a more seamless party vision. It started with Howard Deanâs term as chairman of the Democratic National Committee and an effort to build a stronger sense of the party itself, and with Elizabeth Warrenâs work, before she was a senator, to call attention to such everyday economic issues as bankruptcy laws.
Hillary Clintonâs political lifetime is wholly within the interest-group party, but she has adapted slowly to the more robustly ideological world of this decade, more open to ideas once considered too far left and leery of compromise. But, as the convention is showing, what that means still isnât quite clear.
For supporters of Bernie Sanders and allies like Ms. Warren, that means naming both heroes and villains, as on Monday night, when Ms. Warren described the âhuge difference between the people fighting for a level playing field, and the people keeping the system rigged.â
But other convention speakers, notably Michelle Obama and Senator Cory Booker, showed a different kind of ideology, one that incorporates racial justice, inclusion, tolerance and a commitment to economic justice in a way that doesnât just check off interest-group boxes. Mr. Booker, for example, laid out a broad agenda of economic and individual justice and yet embedded it in the abstractions of the Declaration of Independence.
Itâs a new voice for the Democratic Party, not the familiar checklist, not quite Mr. Sandersâs bigger and more confrontational dreams, but also not quite the same as Barack Obamaâs frustrated dreams of unity and compromise.
The question for the week will be whether Hillary Clinton can master this new voice.
Mark Schmitt is the director of the political reform program at the research organization New America.
Credit Drew Angerer for The New York Times
WASHINGTON â Donald J. Trump and Hillary Clinton have each described the other as unfit to be trusted with classified information. But as is customary for the official nominees of both parties, the two candidates will get their first intelligence briefings as early as next week.
American intelligence officials will soon contact the two campaigns to schedule a wide-ranging briefing for each on global conflicts, the status of Americaâs military campaigns overseas and the latest maneuverings by foreign governments, both friend and foe.
This quadrennial rite of passage for presidential candidates usually takes place while few people pay attention. Not now. Recent statements on the campaign trail, and barbed accusations by both candidates about their opponentâs ability to handle classified information, have focused attention on the intelligence briefings and raised questions about how much, or how little, the spies will share with the candidates.
The subject came up again on Wednesday after Mr. Trumpâs comments at a news conference, where he said he hoped the Russians had hacked Mrs. Clintonâs computer server and then encouraged them to publish whatever they had stolen. This drew outrage from current and former government officials, both Republicans and Democrats, who said a presidential candidate had for the first time invited a foreign power to carry out espionage on American soil. Some former senior intelligence officials said Mr. Trumpâs comments bordered on treason.
For his part, Mr. Trump said that Mrs. Clintonâs decision to set up a private email server during the time she was secretary of state meant she could not be trusted to receive classified briefings. âNow why are they giving her briefings? Why are these people with great knowledge of the inner workings of our country and our security, why are they giving Hillary Clinton briefings?â Mr. Trump asked. âBecause itâs going to get revealed.â
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence coordinates the briefings that the candidates will receive, and they will be conducted by intelligence briefers who will meet each candidate on the campaign trail, at a nearby F.B.I. field office or other secure government facility.
The information given to the candidates hardly amounts to the crown jewels of American intelligence. Current and former government officials said the briefings were broad overviews of how American spy agencies see the state of the world, similar to the briefing that James R. Clapper Jr., the director of national intelligence, gives to Congress each year. The briefings will contain top secret information, but the candidates are given no information about covert action programs or the identities of intelligence sources.
During an appearance on Thursday at the Aspen Security Forum, Mr. Clapper said that the three most significant topics for the candidate briefings would be the threat of cyberattacks, the Islamic State and Russia.
This year, Mr. Clapper said that career intelligence officers would conduct the briefings, and that neither he nor any other political appointee would attend.
âAs a legal matter, the president can tell the nominees as much or as little as he believes is necessary or prudent,â said Susan Hennessey of the Brookings Institution, adding that President Obama had indicated that he would allow intelligence officials to make the determination about what information Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton will receive.
âWith all forms of sharing classified information, there is a strong tendency to err on the side of caution,â she said.
Shortly after the November election, the president-elect will receive a more detailed set of intelligence briefings.
The practice of giving intelligence briefings to presidential candidates dates back to the Truman administration, but not the politics surrounding them.
On Wednesday night at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Democrats weighed in. âDonald Trump, who wants to be president of the United States, is asking one of our adversaries to engage in hacking or intelligence efforts against the United States of America to affect an election,â Leon E. Panetta, who served as C.I.A. director and secretary of defense under Mr. Obama, told the delegates.
Senator Harry Reid, the Senate minority leader, had a proposal for American spy agencies planning to meet with Mr. Trump.
âI would suggest to the intelligence agencies: If youâre forced to brief this guy, donât tell him anything, just fake it, because this man is dangerous,â Mr. Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said in an interview Wednesday with The Huffington Post. âFake it, pretend youâre doing a briefing, but you canât give the guy any information.â
Mr. Trumpâs position is that he is already schooled in national security issues, like how to defeat the Islamic State. âI know more about ISIS than the generals do, believe me,â Mr. Trump said in Iowa in November.
Hillary says that if Trump wants to make America great again then he should starting MAKING stuff in America again.
Heard that baseman. Your boy has his stuff made in Mexico, China, and India. That is in addition to being funded by Putin's buddies.
And if any one says something that he doesn't like on FB he will send his Russian allies to intercept them.
Hillary Clinton presented a valuable and simple presentation with specific points on the issues.
It clearly shows the difference between the now political nominees for each organization, with Hillary Clinton in the lead.
By Stephen Collinson and Maeve Reston, CNN, Updated 12:17 AM ET, Fri July 29, 2016, http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/28/...m-convention-speech/
Philadelphia (CNN)Hillary Clinton beamed with emotion as she took the convention stage to become the first woman ever to accept a major U.S. party's presidential nomination.
CNN's Jeff Zeleny contributed to this report
For the record: Hillary Clintonâs speaking remarks at the Democratic National Convention
macleans.ca, July 28, 2016, http://www.macleans.ca/politic...it-alone-transcript/
Hillary Clinton waves after taking the stage at the Democratic National Convention. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Hillary Clinton spoke to the Democratic National Convention Thursday night â the first woman presidential nominee for a major party in the States. For the record, here are her prepared remarks:
Thank you! Thank you for that amazing welcome.
And Chelsea, thank you.
Iâm so proud to be your mother and so proud of the woman youâve become.
Thanks for bringing Marc into our family, and Charlotte and Aidan into the world.
And Bill, that conversation we started in the law library 45 years ago is still going strong.
Itâs lasted through good times that filled us with joy, and hard times that tested us.
And Iâve even gotten a few words in along the way.
On Tuesday night, I was so happy to see that my
Explainer-in-Chief is still on the job.
Iâm also grateful to the rest of my family and the friends of a lifetime.
To all of you whose hard work brought us here tonight âĶ and to those of you who joined our campaign this week.
And what a remarkable week itâs been.
We heard the man from Hope, Bill Clinton.
And the man of Hope, Barack Obama.
America is stronger because of President Obamaâs leadership, and Iâm better because of his friendship.
We heard from our terrific vice-president, the one-and-only Joe Biden, who spoke from his big heart about our partyâs commitment to working people.
First Lady Michelle Obama reminded us that our children are watching, and the president we elect is going to be their president, too.
And for those of you out there who are just getting to know Tim Kaine â youâre soon going to understand why the people of Virginia keep promoting him: from city council and mayor, to Governor, and now Senator.
Heâll make the whole country proud as our Vice-President.
And. I want to thank Bernie Sanders.
Bernie, your campaign inspired millions of Americans, particularly the young people who threw their hearts and souls into our primary.
Youâve put economic and social justice issues front and centre, where they belong.
And to all of your supporters here and around the country:
I want you to know, Iâve heard you.
Your cause is our cause.
Our country needs your ideas, energy, and passion.
Thatâs the only way we can turn our progressive platform into real change for America.
We wrote it together â now letâs go out there and make it happen together.
My friends, weâve come to Philadelphia â the birthplace of our nation â because what happened in this city 240 years ago still has something to teach us today.
We all know the story.
But we usually focus on how it turned out â and not enough on how close that story came to never being written at all.
When representatives from 13 unruly colonies met just down the road from here, some wanted to stick with the King.
Some wanted to stick it to the king, and go their own way.
The revolution hung in the balance.
Then somehow they began listening to each other . compromising . finding common purpose.
And by the time they left Philadelphia, they had begun to see themselves as one nation.
Thatâs what made it possible to stand up to a King.
That took courage.
They had courage.
Our Founders embraced the enduring truth that we are stronger together.
America is once again at a moment of reckoning.
Powerful forces are threatening to pull us apart.
Bonds of trust and respect are fraying.
And just as with our founders, there are no guarantees.
It truly is up to us.
We have to decide whether we all will work together so we all can rise together.
Our countryâs motto is e pluribus unum: out of many, we are one.
Will we stay true to that motto?
Well, we heard Donald Trumpâs answer last week at his convention.
He wants to divide us â from the rest of the world, and from each other.
Heâs betting that the perils of todayâs world will blind us to its unlimited promise.
Heâs taken the Republican Party a long way âĶ from âMorning in Americaâ to âMidnight in America.â
He wants us to fear the future and fear each other.
Well, a great Democratic President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, came up with the perfect rebuke to Trump more than eighty years ago, during a much more perilous time: âThe only thing we have to fear is fear itself.â
== To Be Continued ==
== Continued ==
Chelsea Clinton and former President Bill Clinton applaud as Hillary Clinton speaks. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Now we are clear-eyed about what our country is up against.
But we are not afraid.
We will rise to the challenge, just as we always have.
We will not build a wall.
Instead, we will build an economy where everyone who wants a good paying job can get one.
And weâll build a path to citizenship for millions of immigrants who are already contributing to our economy!
We will not ban a religion.
We will work with all Americans and our allies to fight terrorism.
Thereâs a lot of work to do.
Too many people havenât had a pay raise since the crash.
Thereâs too much inequality.
Too little social mobility.
Too much paralysis in Washington.
Too many threats at home and abroad.
But just look at the strengths we bring to meet these challenges.
We have the most dynamic and diverse people in the world.
We have the most tolerant and generous young people weâve ever had.
We have the most powerful military.
The most innovative entrepreneurs.
The most enduring values. Freedom and equality, justice and opportunity.
We should be so proud that these words are associated with us. That when people hear them â they hear. America.
So donât let anyone tell you that our country is weak.
Weâre not.
Donât let anyone tell you we donât have what it takes.
We do.
And most of all, donât believe anyone who says: âI alone can fix it.â
Those were actually Donald Trumpâs words in Cleveland.
And they should set off alarm bells for all of us.
Really?
I alone can fix it?
Isnât he forgetting?
Troops on the front lines.
Police officers and firefighters who run toward danger.
Doctors and nurses who care for us.
Teachers who change lives.
Entrepreneurs who see possibilities in every problem.
Mothers who lost children to violence and are building a movement to keep other kids safe.
Heâs forgetting every last one of us.
Americans donât say, âI alone can fix it.â
We say, âWeâll fix it together.â
Remember: Our Founders fought a revolution and wrote a Constitution so America would never be a nation where one person had all the power.
Two hundred and forty years later, we still put our faith in each other.
Look at what happened in Dallas after the assassinations of five brave police officers.
Chief David Brown asked the community to support his force, maybe even join them.
And you know how the community responded?
Nearly 500 people applied in just 12 days.
Thatâs how Americans answer when the call for help goes out.
20 years ago I wrote a book called âIt Takes a Village.â A lot of people looked at the title and asked, what the heck do you mean by that?
This is what I mean.
None of us can raise a family, build a business, heal a community or lift a country totally alone.
America needs every one of us to lend our energy, our talents, our ambition to making our nation better and stronger.
I believe that with all my heart.
Thatâs why âStronger Togetherâ is not just a lesson from our history.
Itâs not just a slogan for our campaign.
Itâs a guiding principle for the country weâve always been and the future weâre going to build.
A country where the economy works for everyone, not just those at the top.
Where you can get a good job and send your kids to a good school, no matter what zip code you live in.
A country where all our children can dream, and those dreams are within reach.
Where families are strong. communities are safe.
And yes, love trumps hate.
Thatâs the country weâre fighting for.
Thatâs the future weâre working toward.
And so it is with humility âĶ determination âĶ and boundless confidence in Americaâs promise . that I accept your nomination for President of the United States!
Now, sometimes the people at this podium are new to the national stage.
As you know, Iâm not one of those people.
Iâve been your First Lady. Served 8 years as a Senator from the great State of New York.
I ran for President and lost.
Then I represented all of you as Secretary of State.
But my job titles only tell you what Iâve done.
They donât tell you why.
The truth is, through all these years of public service, the âserviceâ part has always come easier to me than the âpublicâ part.
== To Be Continued ==
== Continued ==
Chelsea Clinton waves to the delegates. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
I get it that some people just donât know what to make of me.
So let me tell you.
The family Iâm from âĶ well, no one had their name on big buildings.
My family were builders of a different kind.
Builders in the way most American families are.
They used whatever tools they had â whatever God gave them â and whatever life in America provided â and built better lives and better futures for their kids.
My grandfather worked in the same Scranton lace mill for 50 years.
Because he believed that if he gave everything he had, his children would have a better life than he did.
And he was right.
My dad, Hugh, made it to college. He played football at Penn State and enlisted in the Navy after Pearl Harbor.
When the war was over he started his own small business, printing fabric for draperies.
I remember watching him stand for hours over silk screens.
He wanted to give my brothers and me opportunities he never had.
And he did. My mother, Dorothy, was abandoned by her parents as a young girl. She ended up on her own at 14, working as a house maid.
She was saved by the kindness of others.
Her first-grade teacher saw she had nothing to eat at lunch, and brought extra food to share.
The lesson she passed on to me years later stuck with me: No one gets through life alone.
We have to look out for each other and lift each other up.
She made sure I learned the words of our Methodist faith: âDo all the good you can, for all the people you can, in all the ways you can, as long as ever you can.â
I went to work for the Childrenâs Defence Fund, going door-to-door in New Bedford, Massachusetts on behalf of children with disabilities who were denied the chance to go to school.
I remember meeting a young girl in a wheelchair on the small back porch of her house.
She told me how badly she wanted to go to school â it just didnât seem possible.
And I couldnât stop thinking of my mother and what she went through as a child.
It became clear to me that simply caring is not enough.
To drive real progress, you have to change both hearts and laws.
You need both understanding and action.
So we gathered facts. We built a coalition. And our work helped convince Congress to ensure access to education for all students with disabilities.
Itâs a big idea, isnât it?
Every kid with a disability has the right to go to school.
But how do you make an idea like that real? You do it step-by-step, year-by-year . sometimes even door-by-door.
And my heart just swelled when I saw Anastasia Somoza on this stage, representing millions of young people who â because of those changes to our laws â are able to get an education.
Itâs true âĶ I sweat the details of policy â whether weâre talking about the exact level of lead in the drinking water in Flint, Michigan, the number of mental health facilities in Iowa, or the cost of your prescription drugs.
Because itâs not just a detail if itâs your kid _ if itâs your family.
Itâs a big deal. And it should be a big deal to your president.
Over the last three days, youâve seen some of the people whoâve inspired me.
People who let me into their lives, and became a part of mine.
People like Ryan Moore and Lauren Manning.
They told their stories Tuesday night.
I first met Ryan as a seven-year-old.
He was wearing a full body brace that must have weighed forty pounds.
Children like Ryan kept me going when our plan for universal health care failed . and kept me working with leaders of both parties to help create the Childrenâs Health Insurance Program that covers 8 million kids every year.
Lauren was gravely injured on 9-11.
It was the thought of her, and Debbie St. John, and John Dolan and Joe Sweeney, and all the victims and survivors, that kept me working as hard as I could in the Senate on behalf of 9-11 families, and our first responders who got sick from their time at Ground Zero.
I was still thinking of Lauren, Debbie and all the others ten years later in the White House Situation Room when President Obama made the courageous decision that finally brought Osama bin Laden to justice.
In this campaign, Iâve met so many people who motivate me to keep fighting for change.
And, with your help, I will carry all of your voices and stories with me to the White House.
I will be a President for Democrats, Republicans, and Independents.
For the struggling, the striving and the successful.
For those who vote for me and those who donât.
For all Americans.
Tonight, weâve reached a milestone in our nationâs march toward a more perfect union: the first time that a major party has nominated a woman for President.
Standing here as my motherâs daughter, and my daughterâs mother, Iâm so happy this day has come.
Happy for grandmothers and little girls and everyone in between.
Happy for boys and men, too â because when any barrier falls in America, for anyone, it clears the way for everyone. When there are no ceilings, the skyâs the limit.
So letâs keep going, until every one of the 161 million women and girls across America has the opportunity she deserves.
Because even more important than the history we make tonight, is the history we will write together in the years ahead.
Letâs begin with what weâre going to do to help working people in our country get ahead and stay ahead.
Now, I donât think President Obama and Vice-President Biden get the credit they deserve for saving us from the worst economic crisis of our lifetimes.
Our economy is so much stronger than when they took office. Nearly 15 million new private-sector jobs. Twenty million more Americans with health insurance. And an auto industry that just had its best year ever. Thatâs real progress.
But none of us can be satisfied with the status quo. Not by a long shot.
Weâre still facing deep-seated problems that developed long before the recession and have stayed with us through the recovery.
Iâve gone around our country talking to working families. And Iâve heard from so many of you who feel like the economy just isnât working.
Some of you are frustrated â even furious.
And you know what??? Youâre right.
Itâs not yet working the way it should.
Americans are willing to work â and work hard.
But right now, an awful lot of people feel there is less and less respect for the work they do.
And less respect for them, period.
Democrats are the party of working people.
But we havenât done a good enough job showing that we get what youâre going through, and that weâre going to do something about it.
So I want to tell you tonight how we will empower Americans to live better lives.
My primary mission as President will be to create more opportunity and more good jobs with rising wages right here in the United States âĶ from my first day in office to my last!
Especially in places that for too long have been left out and left behind.
From our inner cities to our small towns, from Indian Country to Coal Country.
From communities ravaged by addiction to regions hollowed out by plant closures.
And hereâs what I believe.
I believe America thrives when the middle class thrives.
I believe that our economy isnât working the way it should because our democracy isnât working the way it should.
Thatâs why we need to appoint Supreme Court justices who will get money out of politics and expand voting rights, not restrict them. And weâll pass a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United!
I believe American corporations that have gotten so much from our country should be just as patriotic in return.
Many of them are. But too many arenât.
Itâs wrong to take tax breaks with one hand and give out pink slips with the other.
And I believe Wall Street can never, ever be allowed to wreck Main Street again.
I believe in science. I believe that climate change is real and that we can save our planet while creating millions of good-paying clean energy jobs.
I believe that when we have millions of hardworking immigrants contributing to our economy, it would be self-defeating and inhumane to kick them out.
Comprehensive immigration reform will grow our economy and keep families together â and itâs the right thing to do.
Whatever party you belong to, or if you belong to no party at all, if you share these beliefs, this is your campaign.
If you believe that companies should share profits with their workers, not pad executive bonuses, join us.
If you believe the minimum wage should be a living wage . and no one working full time should have to raise their children in poverty . join us.
If you believe that every man, woman, and child in America has the right to affordable health care . join us.
If you believe that we should say ânoâ to unfair trade deals âĶ that we should stand up to China âĶ that we should support our steelworkers and autoworkers and homegrown manufacturers.join us.
If you believe we should expand Social Security and protect a womanâs right to make her own health care decisions . join us.
And yes, if you believe that your working mother, wife, sister, or daughter deserves equal pay . join us.
Letâs make sure this economy works for everyone, not just those at the top.
== To Be Continued ==
== Continued ==
Democratic vice presidential candidate, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., second from right, introduced by Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton waves as Marc Mezvinsky, left, his wife Chelsea Clinton, Former President Bill Clinton and and Kaineâs wife Anne Holton, right, applaud during the final day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Thursday, July 28, 2016. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Now, you didnât hear any of this from Donald Trump at his convention.
He spoke for 70-odd minutes â and I do mean odd.
And he offered zero solutions. But we already know he doesnât believe these things.
No wonder he doesnât like talking about his plans.
You might have noticed, I love talking about mine.
In my first 100 days, we will work with both parties to pass the biggest investment in new, good-paying jobs since World War II.
Jobs in manufacturing, clean energy, technology and innovation, small business, and infrastructure.
If we invest in infrastructure now, weâll not only create jobs today, but lay the foundation for the jobs of the future.
And we will transform the way we prepare our young people for those jobs.
Bernie Sanders and I will work together to make college tuition-free for the middle class and debt-free for all!
We will also liberate millions of people who already have student debt.
Itâs just not right that Donald Trump can ignore his debts, but students and families canât refinance theirs.
And hereâs something we donât say often enough: College is crucial, but a four-year degree should not be the only path to a good job.
Weâre going to help more people learn a skill or practice a trade and make a good living doing it.
Weâre going to give small businesses a boost. Make it easier to get credit. Way too many dreams die in the parking lots of banks.
In America, if you can dream it, you should be able to build it.
Weâre going to help you balance family and work. And you know what, if fighting for affordable child care and paid family leave is playing the âwoman card,â then Deal Me In!
(Oh, youâve heard that one?)
Now, hereâs the thing, weâre not only going to make all these investments, weâre going to pay for every single one of them.
And hereâs how: Wall Street, corporations, and the super-rich are going to start paying their fair share of taxes.
Not because we resent success. Because when more than 90% of the gains have gone to the top 1%, thatâs where the money is.
And if companies take tax breaks and then ship jobs overseas, weâll make them pay us back. And weâll put that money to work where it belongs . creating jobs here at home!
Now I know some of you are sitting at home thinking, well that all sounds pretty good.
But how are you going to get it done? How are you going to break through the gridlock in Washington? Look at my record. Iâve worked across the aisle to pass laws and treaties and to launch new programs that help millions of people. And if you give me the chance, thatâs what Iâll do as President.
But Trump, heâs a businessman. He must know something about the economy.
Well, letâs take a closer look.
In Atlantic City, 60 miles from here, youâll find contractors and small businesses who lost everything because Donald Trump refused to pay his bills.
People who did the work and needed the money, and didnât get it â not because he couldnât pay them, but because he wouldnât pay them.
That sales pitch heâs making to be your president? Put your faith in him â and youâll win big? Thatâs the same sales pitch he made to all those small businesses. Then Trump walked away, and left working people holding the bag.
He also talks a big game about putting America First. Please explain to me what part of America First leads him to make Trump ties in China, not Colorado.
Trump suits in Mexico, not Michigan. Trump furniture in Turkey, not Ohio. Trump picture frames in India, not Wisconsin.
Donald Trump says he wants to make America great again â well, he could start by actually making things in America again.
The choice we face is just as stark when it comes to our national security.
Anyone reading the news can see the threats and turbulence we face.
From Baghdad and Kabul, to Nice and Paris and Brussels, to San Bernardino and Orlando, weâre dealing with determined enemies that must be defeated.
No wonder people are anxious and looking for reassurance. Looking for steady leadership.
You want a leader who understands we are stronger when we work with our allies around the world and care for our veterans here at home. Keeping our nation safe and honouring the people who do it will be my highest priority.
Iâm proud that we put a lid on Iranâs nuclear program without firing a single shot â now we have to enforce it, and keep supporting Israelâs security.
Iâm proud that we shaped a global climate agreement â now we have to hold every country accountable to their commitments, including ourselves.
Iâm proud to stand by our allies in NATO against any threat they face, including from Russia.
Iâve laid out my strategy for defeating ISIS.
We will strike their sanctuaries from the air, and support local forces taking them out on the ground. We will surge our intelligence so that we detect and prevent attacks before they happen.
We will disrupt their efforts online to reach and radicalize young people in our country.
It wonât be easy or quick, but make no mistake â we will prevail.
Now Donald Trump says, and this is a quote, âI know more about ISIS than the generals do..â
No, Donald, you donât.
He thinks that he knows more than our military because he claimed our armed forces are âa disaster.â
Well, Iâve had the privilege to work closely with our troops and our veterans for many years, including as a Senator on the Armed Services Committee.
I know how wrong he is. Our military is a national treasure.
We entrust our commander-in-chief to make the hardest decisions our nation faces.
Decisions about war and peace. Life and death.
A president should respect the men and women who risk their lives to serve our country â including the sons of Tim Kaine and Mike Pence, both Marines.
Ask yourself: Does Donald Trump have the temperament to be Commander-in-Chief?
Donald Trump canât even handle the rough-and-tumble of a presidential campaign.
He loses his cool at the slightest provocation. When heâs gotten a tough question from a reporter. When heâs challenged in a debate. When he sees a protestor at a rally.
Imagine him in the Oval Office facing a real crisis. A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons.
I canât put it any better than Jackie Kennedy did after the Cuban Missile Crisis. She said that what worried President Kennedy during that very dangerous time was that a war might be started â not by big men with self-control and restraint, but by little men â the ones moved by fear and pride.
Americaâs strength doesnât come from lashing out.
Strength relies on smarts, judgment, cool resolve, and the precise and strategic application of power.
Thatâs the kind of Commander-in-Chief I pledge to be.
And if weâre serious about keeping our country safe, we also canât afford to have a President whoâs in the pocket of the gun lobby.
Iâm not here to repeal the 2nd Amendment.
Iâm not here to take away your guns.
I just donât want you to be shot by someone who shouldnât have a gun in the first place.
We should be working with responsible gun owners to pass common-sense reforms and keep guns out of the hands of criminals, terrorists and all others who would do us harm.
For decades, people have said this issue was too hard to solve and the politics were too hot to touch.
But I ask you: how can we just stand by and do nothing?
You heard, you saw, family members of people killed by gun violence.
You heard, you saw, family members of police officers killed in the line of duty because they were outgunned by criminals.
I refuse to believe we canât find common ground here.
We have to heal the divides in our country.
Not just on guns. But on race. Immigration. And more.
That starts with listening to each other. Hearing each other. Trying, as best we can, to walk in each otherâs shoes.
So letâs put ourselves in the shoes of young black and Latino men and women who face the effects of systemic racism, and are made to feel like their lives are disposable.
Letâs put ourselves in the shoes of police officers, kissing their kids and spouses goodbye every day and heading off to do a dangerous and necessary job.
We will reform our criminal justice system from end-to-end, and rebuild trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve.
We will defend all our rights â civil rights, human rights and voting rights . womenâs rights and workersâ rights . LGBT rights and the rights of people with disabilities!
And we will stand up against mean and divisive rhetoric wherever it comes from.
For the past year, many people made the mistake of laughing off Donald Trumpâs comments â excusing him as an entertainer just putting on a show.
They think he couldnât possibly mean all the horrible things he says â like when he called women âpigs.â Or said that an American judge couldnât be fair because of his Mexican heritage. Or when he mocks and mimics a reporter with a disability.
Or insults prisoners of war like John McCain -a true hero and patriot who deserves our respect.
At first, I admit, I couldnât believe he meant it either.
It was just too hard to fathom â that someone who wants to lead our nation could say those things. Could be like that.
But hereâs the sad truth: There is no other Donald TrumpâĶThis is it.
And in the end, it comes down to what Donald Trump doesnât get: that America is great â because America is good.
So enough with the bigotry and bombast. Donald Trumpâs not offering real change.
Heâs offering empty promises. What are we offering? A bold agenda to improve the lives of people across our country _ to keep you safe, to get you good jobs, and to give your kids the opportunities they deserve.
The choice is clear.
Every generation of Americans has come together to make our country freer, fairer, and stronger.
None of us can do it alone.
I know that at a time when so much seems to be pulling us apart, it can be hard to imagine how weâll ever pull together again.
But Iâm here to tell you tonight â progress is possible.
I know because Iâve seen it in the lives of people across America who get knocked down and get right back up.
And I know it from my own life. More than a few times, Iâve had to pick myself up and get back in the game.
Like so much else, I got this from my mother. She never let me back down from any challenge. When I tried to hide from a neighbourhood bully, she literally blocked the door. âGo back out there,â she said.
And she was right. You have to stand up to bullies.
You have to keep working to make things better, even when the odds are long and the opposition is fierce.
We lost my mother a few years ago. I miss her every day. And I still hear her voice urging me to keep working, keep fighting for right, no matter what.
Thatâs what we need to do together as a nation.
Though âwe may not live to see the glory,â as the song from the musical Hamilton goes, âlet us gladly join the fight.â
Let our legacy be about âplanting seeds in a garden you never get to see.â
Thatâs why weâre hereâĶnot just in this hall, but on this Earth.
The Founders showed us that.
And so have many others since.
They were drawn together by love of country, and the selfless passion to build something better for all who follow.
That is the story of America. And we begin a new chapter tonight.
Yes, the world is watching what we do.
Yes, Americaâs destiny is ours to choose.
So letâs be stronger together.
Looking to the future with courage and confidence.
Building a better tomorrow for our beloved children and our beloved country.
When we do, America will be greater than ever.
Thank you and may God bless the United States of America!
== END ==
DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION
PHILADELPHIA, PA
THURSDAY, JULY 28, 2016, http://www.prnewswire.com/news...inton-300306118.html
PHILADELPHIA, July 28, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Thank you! Thank you! It's such an honor to be here tonight.
I'm here as a proud AmericanâĶ a proud DemocratâĶ a proud motherâĶ and tonight in particular, a very, very proud daughter.
Marc and I almost can't believe it, but our daughter Charlotte is nearly two years old. She loves ElmoâĶ she loves blueberriesâĶ and above all, she loves Facetiming with Grandma. My mom can be about to give a speech or walk on stage for a debate. It doesn't matter. She'll drop everything for a few minutes of blowing kisses and reading "Chugga Chugga Choo Choo" with her granddaughter.
Our son Aidan is just five and a half weeks old. Thankfully, he's healthy and thriving â and well, we're biased, but we think he's just about the cutest baby in the world â a view I'm pretty sure my mom shares.
And every day I spend as Charlotte and Aidan's mother, I think about my own mother â my wonderful, thoughtful, hilarious mother.
My earliest memory is my mom picking me up after I'd fallen down, giving me a big hug, and reading me Goodnight Moon.
From that momentâĶ to this oneâĶ every single memory I have of my mother is that â whatever else may be happening in her life â she's always, always there for me.
Every soccer and softball game. Every piano and dance recital. Sundays at our Methodist church and local library. Countless Saturdays spent finding shapes in the clouds. Making up stories about what we'd do if we ever met a triceratops â in my opinion, the friendliest dinosaur, though my mom would always remind me that, friendly or not, it's still a dinosaur. I was obsessed with dinosaurs. The day my parents took me to Dinosaur National Park, I didn't think life could get any better.
Whenever my mother was away for work â which thankfully didn't happen very often â she left notes for me to open every day she was gone â all stacked neatly in a special drawer, each with a date on the front so I'd know which one to open on which day. When she went to France to learn about their childcare system, one was all about the Eiffel Tower. Another was about the ideas she hoped to bring home to help the kids of Arkansas. I treasured each and every one. They were another reminder that I was always in her thoughts and in her heart.
Growing up, conversations around our dinner table would start with what I learned in school that day. I remember one week talking every night about a book that had captured my imagination, "A Wrinkle in Time." Only then would we talk about what my parents were working on â education, health care â whatever was consuming their days and keeping them up at night. I loved that my parents expected me to have opinions and be able to back them up with facts. I never once doubted that they cared about my thoughts and ideas. And I always, always knew how deeply they loved me.
That feeling â being valued and loved â that's something my mother wants for every child. It is the calling of her life.
My parents raised me to know how lucky I was â to never have to worry about food on the table, good schools to go to, a safe neighborhood to play in. And they taught me to care about what happens in our world â and to do whatever I could to change what frustrated me and felt wrong. They taught me that's the responsibility that comes with being smiled on by fate. I know my kids are a bit young â but I'm already trying to instill those same values in them.
There's something else my mother taught me: public service is about service.
And as her daughter, I've had a special window into how she serves.
I've seen her holding the hands of mothers who are struggling to feed their kids or get them the health care they need â my mother promising to do everything she could to help.
I've seen her right after those conversations, getting straight to work â figuring out what she could do, who she could call, how fast she could get results. She always feels like there isn't a moment to lose â because she knows that for that mom, for that family, there's not.
And I've seen her at the low points â like the summer of 1994. Several people this week have mentioned her fight for universal health care. I saw it up close. It was bruising and exhausting. She fought her heart outâĶ and she lost. For me, then 14 years old, it was pretty hard to watch. But my mom â she was amazing. She took a little time to replenish her spirits. Family movie nights definitely helped â Dad, as you heard, liked Police AcademyâĶ my mom and I loved Pride and Prejudice. And then, she got right back to work â because she thought she could still make a difference for kids.
People ask me all the time how she does it. How she keeps going amid the sound and fury of politics.
Here's how.
It's because she never forgets who she's fighting for.
She's worked to make it easier for foster kids to be adopted. For our 9/11 first responders to get the health care they deserve. For women around the world to be safe, to be treated with dignity, to have more opportunities.
Fights like these â they're what keep her going. They grab her heart and her conscience, and they never let go.
That's who my mom is â a listener and a doer, a woman driven by compassion, by faith, by a fierce sense of justice and a heart full of love.
So this November, I'm voting for a woman who is my role model as a mother and as an advocate. A woman who has spent her whole life working for children and families.
I'm voting for the progressive who will protect our planet from climate change and our communities from gun violence. Who will reform our criminal justice systemâĶ and who knows that women's rights are human rights â and LGBT rights are human rights â here at home and around the world.
I'm voting for a fighter who never, ever gives upâĶ and who believes we can do better, when we come together and work together.
I hope that one day my children will be as proud of me as I am of my mother. I'm so grateful to be her daughter. I'm so grateful that she's Charlotte and Aidan's grandmother. She makes me proud every single day.
And MomâĶ
Grandma would be so, so proud of you tonight.
To everyone watching tonight, I know with all my heart that my mother will make us proud as our next President.
This is the story of my mother, Hillary Clinton.
[Biographical film]
Ladies and gentlemen: my motherâĶ my heroâĶ and our next President: Hillary Clinton.
Basement, Yuuuugeeeee, and HaKnife-ah all gone quiet like a sc0nt. Dey backside don't want come hay at all because their narcissistic demagogue looks like he's being beaten like a pineata.
Kari posted:Basement, Yuuuugeeeee, and HaKnife-ah all gone quiet like a sc0nt. Dey backside don't want come hay at all because their narcissistic demagogue looks like he's being beaten like a pineata.
Kari by the debates basemen will be swearing that he was always a Hillary supporter and that its only bad minded people who say otherwise.
I will concede that baseman has a brain, unlike poor Bibi thinking that pics can prove who a politician likes. So shame will force him to change.
Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine, (D) Presidential / Vice-Presidential nominees are on the campaign road that will lead to their victory in November 2016.
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