“It is truly up to us”. Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an independent who is one of the wealthiest men in the country, blasted Trump as a poor businessman – “The richest thing about Donald Trump is his hypocrisy” – and implored voters to choose “a sane, competent person” in Clinton.
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The FBI and the Justice Department are investigating a computer hacking of the Hillary Clinton White House campaign and other Democratic Party organizations, CNN and Reuters reported Friday, citing law enforcement officials.
Clinton was introduced by her daughter, Chelsea, who said her mother is someone “who knows women’s rights are human rights, and who knows that LGBT rights are human rights – here at home and around the world”. “Here’s how. It’s because she never ever forgets who she’s fighting for”.
But the main event was Clinton herself. “It’s her life story”. She has been caricatured by the right and some on the left.
Clinton took the stage to roaring applause from flag-waving delegates. And then she made her pitch. Whatever else she might be, Clinton is a survivor. A separate pre-convention controversy over hacked Democratic Party emails showing favouritism for Ms. Clinton in the primary threatens to deepen the perception that Ms. Clinton prefers to play by her own rules. “She’s worked to make it easier for foster kids to be adopted, for our 9/11 first responders to get the healthcare they deserve, for women around the world to be safe, to be treated with dignity and to have more opportunities”. On Thursday, she pitched a host of progressive policy ideas, on corporate taxes, trade, gender and college tuition. “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”.
When he won he rewarded her with a top job: secretary of state.
In his valedictory speech Wednesday night, Obama quoted Reagan’s description of the country as a “shining city on a hill” and contrasted it with Donald Trump’s nightmare vision of “a divided crime scene”. Donald Trump was also all for the Iraq War.
Clinton’s speech capped a four-day convention heavy on glitz and high-profile names.
Pop singer Katy Perry is schedule to perform.
But the convention hasn’t been without controversy.
Hardcore Bernie Sanders believers won’t go quietly. Another tense moment arose when protesters knocked over part of a security fence, but police quickly moved in and put the fence back up. As of Thursday morning, the protests had yielded 103 citations and 11 arrests. Sanders holdouts interrupted Clinton’s speech repeatedly. The mostly supportive crowd aimed each time to drown out the taunts with chants of “Hillary!”. This is the legacy of Hillary Clinton: death, destruction, terrorism and weakness.
How much ugliness voters will take remains an open question. On Monday, delegates arriving to the arena by train walked a gauntlet of fenced off protesters. In recent weeks, Clinton has begun acknowledging the fact that many Americans do not trust her, a problem she once dismissed as the result of decades of Republican attacks. When Clinton used an old line about the “woman card” they nearly exploded with joy.
The assembled Republicans did come away unified in their determination to defeat Clinton.
After beating out the rival Republicans all week long, the Democratic National Convention fell to Trump in its final night.
For Wednesday, an average of 24.4 million people watched the Democratic convention, 1 more than the 23.4 million who watched the Republican convention. His focus on his own operation, over the Democratic National Committee, prompted criticism that he looked the other way while the party’s infrastructure and management withered.
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There is a fringe that Clinton will never win. “Maybe her ears”, he explained, not implicitly referring to menstruation, as was widely interpreted. “America is already strong”, Obama added. “None of us can do it alone”.
