Full Transcript: President Obama’s Rally Speech for Hillary Clinton in Cleveland; Newsweek, 10/14/16

[Full Transcript] Michele Gorman, Newsweek; Full Transcript: President Obama’s Rally Speech for Hillary Clinton in Cleveland:

[Pres. Barack Obama] "Donald Trump’s closing argument is “What do you have to lose?” The answer is: Everything. All the progress we’ve made right now is on the ballot. Civility is on the ballot. Tolerance is on the ballot. Courtesy is on the ballot. Honesty is on the ballot. Equality is on the ballot. Kindness is on the ballot. (Applause.) All the progress we made that last eight years is on the ballot. Democracy itself is on the ballot right now.

So if you want to send a message, make it loud. Turn back the voices of cynicism. Turn back the voices of ignorance. Send a message of progress. Send a message of hope. Send a message by voting for Hillary Clinton, and show our kids and the rest of the world we remain the greatest country in the world."

She’s With Us: The fundamental choice in this election is between Trump’s “I” and Hillary’s “We.”; Slate, 7/29/16

William Saletan, Slate; She’s With Us: The fundamental choice in this election is between Trump’s “I” and Hillary’s “We.” :

"Trump sees the “we” approach as timid and liberal. But Clinton, like Obama, hears echoes of the anti-government message of Ronald Reagan. “Our founders fought a revolution and wrote a Constitution so America would never be a nation where one person had all the power,” Clinton warned. Obama, in his speech to the convention, issued a similar rebuke: “Our power doesn’t come from some self-declared savior promising that he alone can restore order as long as we do things his way. We don’t look to be ruled.”

Framed this way, the election isn’t a choice between Trump and Clinton. It’s a choice between authoritarianism and self-government, between a man and a team. Clinton can’t match Trump’s ego, and she doesn’t have to. She just has to offer a better alternative. The alternative is a different conception of the presidency, one that’s less imperial but gets more done. It’s less about the president and more about us. The choice isn’t left versus right, or him versus her. It’s Trump versus America."

"Sketchbook from Philly 3"; robrogers.com, 7/31/16

robrogers.com; "Sketchbook from Philly 3"

‘Stronger together’ vs. ‘I alone can fix it’, Boston Globe, 7/29/16

Michael A. Cohen, Boston Globe; ‘Stronger together’ vs. ‘I alone can fix it’ :

"Thursday night at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Hillary Clinton did not deliver the best address of this convention or even the runner-up. Instead she gave a solid, substance-laden, and highly effective acceptance speech to her fellow Democrats. It never reached the rhetorical flights of fancy achieved by Obama the night before — but it didn’t need to. Clinton delivered rhetorical shot after rhetorical shot to Donald Trump as she laid out a clear vision for her presidency. She offered the nation an unabashedly liberal agenda — one surely intended to appeal to Bernie Sanders supporters — but in its wonkish, populist tone was eerily reminiscent of political speeches once delivered by her husband. She fully embraced the diverse and multicultural society America has become. But above all, she did the one thing that she and her party absolutely needed to do this week in Philadelphia — make clear the stark political contrasts between Clinton and Trump for the general election to come.

“Stronger together’’ has become the theme of Clinton’s campaign. In a country with the motto epluribus unum, out of many one — it’s an idea that would have resonance in any presidential race."

How the DNC Is Subtly Rebuking Donald Trump’s Mockery of a Disabled Reporter; Slate, 7/26/16

Ruth Graham, Slate; How the DNC Is Subtly Rebuking Donald Trump’s Mockery of a Disabled Reporter:

"It is worth contrasting Trump’s casual cruelty with the tone the DNC has set on disability issues so far. On Monday, disability rights advocate Anastasia Somoza delivered a powerful speech in which she said she felt sorry for Trump. “I honestly feel bad for anyone with that much hate in their heart,” she said. “Donald Trump doesn’t see me, he doesn’t hear me, and he definitely doesn’t speak for me.” Somoza, who has cerebral palsy and spastic quadriplegia, delivered her talk from a wheelchair to the roars of an approving crowd.

In his keynote speech on Tuesday, Bill Clinton acknowledged Somoza in the audience as he talked about his wife’s early work on equal educational access for children with disabilities. Hillary “never made fun of people with disabilities,” he said, alluding not-so-subtly to her opponent. “She tried to empower them based on their abilities.”

On Tuesday, the 26th anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act, several other disabled people took the stage in Philadelphia to share their stories."

Michelle Obama delivers a passionate defense of Hillary Clinton; Washington Post, 7/25/16

Krissah Thompson and Ed O'Keefe, Washington Post; Michelle Obama delivers a passionate defense of Hillary Clinton:

"Obama did not mention Donald Trump by name, but she had a pointed critique of the Republican nominee.

“When you have the nuclear codes at your fingertips and the military in your command, you can’t make snap decisions. You can’t have a thin skin or a tendency to lash out. You need to be steady and measured and well informed," Obama said...

“When they go low, we go high,” she said, repeating a mantra she heard as a child.

She delivered a passionate defense of Hillary Clinton — touting her “lifelong devotion to our nation’s children -- not just her own daughter – who she has raised to perfection, but every child who needs a champion.”...

"“When I think about the kind of president I want for my girls and for all children, that’s who I want,” Obama added. “I want someone with the proven strength to persevere. Someone who knows this job and takes it seriously. Someone who understands that the issues that a president tackles are not black or white and cannot be boiled down to 140 characters.”...

“I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves. And I’ve watched my daughters, two beautiful intelligent black young women, playing with their dogs on the White House lawn. And because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters and all of our sons and daughters, now take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States,” she said."

Hillary Clinton Broke One Glass Ceiling. When Were Others Broken?; New York Times, 7/25/16

Karen Yourish, Larry Buchanan, Adam Pearce, New York Times; Hillary Clinton Broke One Glass Ceiling. When Were Others Broken? :

"Hillary Clinton made history by becoming the first woman poised to accept a major political party’s nomination for president. Her achievement comes 180 years after the first non-white man was elected to a major political position. A look at milestones in politics for women and minorities..."

Jimmy Kimmel Shows How F**ked Up Criticism Of Hillary Clinton’s Voice Can Be; Huffington Post, 3/25/16

Paige Lavender, Huffington Post; Jimmy Kimmel Shows How F**ked Up Criticism Of Hillary Clinton’s Voice Can Be:

"To prepare the former Secretary of State to debate someone like Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, Kimmel volunteered to mansplain her remarks. In the process, Kimmel proved just how ridiculous it is when people hit Clinton for how loudly or calmly she speaks — criticism the male presidential candidates don’t often receive...

The joke went on, with Kimmel saying Clinton wasn’t “doing it right.”

“I can’t put my finger on it,” he said. “But you’re not...”

“A man?” Clinton quipped."

Hey, Hillary: Smile, Girl; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 3/16/16

Connie Schultz, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Hey, Hillary: Smile, Girl:

"Fox News' Howard Kurtz tweeted: "Hillary shouting her speech. She has the floor; a more conversational tone might be better for connecting with folks at home."

Uh-oh.

Kurtz's follow-up tweet: "Getting attacked for saying Hillary shouted. Was not saying she was shrill. I've just heard her deliver more effective speeches."

This reminded me of another primary night — the one two weeks ago, when MSNBC cut away from Clinton's live victory speech so that three guys could talk about how she needs to speak more softly...

Some men hear what they want to hear, and too many men don't want to hear from women at all. This is an unhappy century for them, and it's only going to get worse. One grandmother barreling her way toward the presidency is bound to work up all kinds of other women who've had it up to here with the catcall mentality of men who measure our worth by our ability to make them feel better about their limited view of us.

"Where will it all end?" they wonder.

At the White House, I'd guess."

Clinton's comments on the Reagans and Aids demand more than apology; Guardian, 3/11/16

Steven W. Thrasher, Guardian; Clinton's comments on the Reagans and Aids demand more than apology:

"Aids historians, LGBT activists and anyone who cares about little things like the truth were immediately enraged at Clinton’s false claims. Ronald and Nancy Reagan were no more leaders discussing Aids in the 1980s than Republicans are at championing abortion access today.

“It may be hard for your viewers to remember,” Clinton said, “how difficult it was for people to talk about HIV/Aids back in the 1980s.”

She didn’t lie there. Indeed, it was difficult to talk about Aids throughout the 1980s – largely because of the silence from the White House. In April 1987, activists unveiled a poster that said “Silence = Death” – a month before Reagan would finally devote a speech to the years-long epidemic. That slogan would become the motto of the group Aids Coalition To Unleash Power (ACT-UP), and according to their website, the slogan was asking “Why is Reagan silent about Aids? What is really going on at the Center for Disease Control, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Vatican?”...

But for those of us who care about Aids and LGBT people, it is much harder and important to criticize the frontrunner of the Democratic party, who takes the support of gay voters for granted. Why, in 2016, did the Democratic frontrunner engage so blithely in the erasure of the people who actually did start the “national conversation” about Aids? Was it because they were gay men of the in-your-face variety of activism – many of whom died of the virus?

When Clinton said the Reagans led the way on Aids when “nobody wanted to do anything about it”, she is erasing these people from history in an ugly and dismissive fashion. People initially got HIV in this country through IV drug use, blood transfusions and sex. But while the Reagans looked the other way – even when a friend asked for help – it was was queer activists who were loud as hell in New York and San Francisco who forced the nation to face the plague...

I have been frightened for some time that the crisis of AIDS is not over, especially for black America, and yet it has again largely been erased from our national political consciousness. Aids, which is projected to infect one in two black gay American men, is almost invisible from the presidential race. And now even the Democratic frontrunner has diminished Aids history herself."

Hillary Clinton Praises Reagans for Starting “A National Conversation” About AIDS. That’s Insane.; Slate.com, 3/11/16

Michele Goldberg, Slate.com; Hillary Clinton Praises Reagans for Starting “A National Conversation” About AIDS. That’s Insane. :

"On MSBNC, [Hillary Clinton] offered the following baffling encomium for the late Nancy Reagan: “It may be hard for your viewers to remember how difficult it was for people to talk about HIV/AIDS back in the 1980s. And because of both President and Mrs. Reagan—in particular Mrs. Reagan—we started a national conversation.” Clinton credited Nancy with “very effective low-key advocacy” that “penetrated the public conscience.”

It’s hard to imagine where Clinton got this ludicrous idea. One of the most shameful things about Reagan’s presidency was his determined refusal to acknowledge an epidemic that was killing Americans by the tens of thousands. The first reports of AIDS surfaced in 1981, but Reagan didn’t speak about it until 1987, at which point more than 20,000 people were dead. When his press secretary Larry Speakes was asked about it, he made sniggering jokes. In 1987, when Reagan finally gave a speech about AIDS, he called for mandatory testing of immigrants. “Mr. Reagan issued no call for legislation or state action to protect AIDS victims against discrimination,” the New York Times reported."