Hillary Clinton will formally accept the nomination to become the Democratic candidate for president in Philadelphia at the Democratic National Convention, becoming the first woman to be nominated for the position by a major political party.
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Her speech comes at the end of a convention in which two presidents spoke on her behalf – one, the sitting president, the other, the last Democratic president, her husband, Bill Clinton.
The former Secretary of State offered an olive branch to supporters of former rival Bernie Sanders, telling them she had listened to their views.
“Let me tell you”, he said, “eight years ago, you may remember Hillary and I were rivals for the Democratic nomination”. For those who vote for me and those who don’t. The reference was to a Trump line. Experience is what underlies this difference, but it’s a more positive way of making the point, and a more negative way of portraying Trump’s lack of experience.
But her real audience was the millions of voters watching at home, many of whom may welcome her experience, but question her character.
“We are clear-eyed about what our country is up against”.
“We will not build a wall. Bonds of trust and respect are fraying”, she will say, according to prepared excerpts from her speech. “But we are not afraid”, Clinton said. “It was just hard to go to sleep”, she told supporters gathered in a West Philadelphia arena, a short hop from the arena where Clinton delivered her acceptance speech Thursday night.
Clinton has been a frequent Republican target during her more than three decades in national politics, most recently for her use of a private email server for government business at the State Department.
Today, over 80 percent of Americans aren’t confident that we would be able to stop a terrorist attack on American soil.
TCU political science professor James Riddlesperger on…
“Trump once demanded that Obama release his college transcript because it would be very revealing…”
Clinton reserved some of her most pointed language to take digs directly at Trump, wasting precious little time before taking on the Republican nominee.
Somewhere in Pennsylvania, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton smiles a cautious smile.
Hillary Clinton’s bid for the White House was an announcement eight years in the waiting.
Trump’s gaffe played right into Wednesday’s DNC speakers, who said it shows Trump is unfit to lead the United States.
Acknowledging Americans’ anxieties, Clinton is vowing to create economic opportunities in inner cities and struggling small towns. “I believe America thrives when the middle class thrives”.
Clinton touched on many raw subjects: gun violence, policing, immigration and race. And she was right. Hillary Clinton closed out the week with a speech that bet against fear and division, an optimistic, self-deprecating pitch driven by the conviction that Americans-Sanders voters as well as Republicans and independents wary of Donald Trump-need to rely on one another to solve the nation’s problems.
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“So enough with the bigotry and bombast”.
