7.28 Hillary Clinton: “A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons.”
7.28 Donald Trump: ““I was going to hit one guy, in particular a very little guy. I was going to hit this guy so hard his head would spin. He wouldn’t know what the hell happened.”
7.27 Michael Bloomberg: “Let’s elect a sane, competent person.”
7.27 Barack Obama: “Look, we Democrats have always had plenty of differences with the Republican Party, and there’s nothing wrong with that. it’s precisely this contest of ideas that pushes our country forward. But what we heard in Cleveland last week wasn’t particularly Republican and it sure wasn’t conservative. What we heard was a deeply pessimistic vision of a country where we turn against each other and turn away from the rest of the world. There were no serious solutions to pressing problems, just the fanning of resentment and blame and anger and hate. And that is not the America I know. You know, the Donald is not really a plans guy. He’s not really a facts guy, either. He calls himself a business guy, which is true, but I have to say, I know plenty of businessmen and women who’ve achieved remarkable success without leaving a trail of lawsuits and unpaid workers and people feeling like they got cheated.. . . . Does anyone really believe that a guy who’s spent his 70 years on this Earth showing no regard for working people is suddenly going to be your champion? Your voice? Hey, if so, you should vote for him. But if you’re someone who’s truly concerned about paying your bills, if you’re really concerned about pocketbook issues and seeing the economy grow and creating more opportunity for everybody, then the choice isn’t even close. If you want someone with a lifelong track record of fighting for higher wages and better benefits and a fairer tax code and a bigger voice for workers and stronger regulations on Wall Street, then you should vote for Hillary Clinton.. . . . He’s betting that if he scares enough people, he might score just enough votes to win this election. And that’s another bet that Donald Trump will lose. And the reason he’ll lose it is because he’s selling the American people short. We are not a fragile people, we’re not a frightful people. 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. . . .America has changed over the years. But these values my grandparents taught me — they haven’t gone anywhere. They’re as strong as ever; still cherished by people of every party, every race, every faith. They live on in each of us. What makes us American, what makes us patriots, is what’s in here. That’s what matters. And that’s why we can take the food and music and holidays and styles of other countries, and blend it into something uniquely our own. That’s why we can attract strivers and entrepreneurs from around the globe to build new factories and create new industries here. That’s why our military can look the way it does — every shade of humanity, forged into common service. That’s why anyone who threatens our values, whether fascists or communists or jihadists or homegrown demagogues, will always fail in the end.”
7.27 Joe Biden: “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. We cannot elect a man who exploits our fears of ISIS and other terrorists, who has no plan whatsoever to make us safer; a man who embraces the tactics of our enemies — torture, religious intolerance. You all know. All the Republicans know. That’s not who we are. It betrays our values. It alienates those who we need in the fight against ISIS. Donald Trump with all his rhetoric would literally make us less safe.
We cannot elect a man who belittles our closest allies while embracing dictators like Vladimir Putin. No I mean it. A man who seeks to sow division in America for his own gain and disorder around the world; a man who confuses bluster with strength. We simply cannot let that happen as Americans. Period. Folks, let me tell you what I literally tell every world leader I met with — and I’ve met them all. It’s never, never, never been a good bet to bet against America. We have the finest fighting force in the world. . . .We have the strongest economy in the world. We have the most productive workers in the world. And given a fair shot, given a fair chance, Americans have never, ever, ever, ever let their country down. Never! Never! Ordinary people like us who do extraordinary things. We’ve had candidates before who attempted to get elected by appealing to our fears. But they have never succeeded. Because we do not scare easily. We never bow. We never bend. We never break when confronted with crisis. No! We endure. We overcome. And we always, always, always move forward. That’s why I can say with absolute conviction: I am more optimistic about our chances today than when I was elected as a 29-year-old kid to the Senate. The 21st Century is going to be the American Century. Because we lead not only by the example of our power, but by the power of our example. That is the history of the journey of America. And God-willing, Hillary Clinton will write the next chapter in that journey. We are America, second to none. And we own the finish line. Don’t forget it. (Applause.) God bless you all and may God protect our troops. Come on! We’re Americans!”
7.27 Khizr Khan, father of the late Captain Humayun Khan: “Hillary Clinton was right when she called my son ‘the best of America. If it was up to Donald Trump, he never would have been in America. Donald Trump, you are asking Americans to trust you with our future. Let me ask you: Have you even read the U.S. Constitution? I will gladly lend you my copy. In this document, look for the words ‘liberty’ and ‘equal protection of law. Have you ever been to Arlington Cemetery? Go look at the graves of the brave patriots who died defending America—you will see all faiths, genders, and ethnicities. You have sacrificed nothing and no one.”
7.27 Ted Danson: “Anybody can brag, anybody can talk. Hers is the poetry of doing.”
7.27 Donald Trump: “They probably have her 33,000 emails, too. I hope they do. Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.”
7.27 Democrats nominate Hillary Clinton for president. She is the first woman to head the ticket of a major party.
7.26 Greg Sargent in the Washington Post: “There is a direct link between Trump’s alienation of key demographics and the lack of high profile surrogates that will be there for him this fall. Senior Republicans are keeping Trump at arm’s length in part precisely because he’s putting off those voter groups, which many top Republicans know the party must improve among for the sake of its future. This is a dynamic that both Republican and Democratic strategists are taking note of this morning. “Hillary will have Bernie Sanders, the Obamas, Elizabeth Warren, who has been elevated to star status by Donald Trump, and Joe Biden,” Stuart Stevens, the chief strategist for Mitt Romney in 2012, tells me. “Who will be campaigning with Donald Trump that has a large constituency?” Stevens adds that many Republicans who do have large constituencies —such as Mitt Romney, George W. Bush, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio — will likely be M.I.A. once the campaign kicks into high gear. Stevens also noted a connection between the disparity in high wattage surrogates and Trump’s alienation of key demographics. “The essence of politics is about addition, not subtraction,” Stevens said. “Donald Trump finds it very hard for any given moment not to be about Donald Trump, which makes coalition building and the blocking and tackling of politics more difficult. If you’re in a fight with the Republican governor of Ohio and the Hispanic governor of New Mexico, how can you expect to build a broader coalition?” “Trump’s fight with Susana Martinez is a perfect illustrator,” Stevens concluded, referring to the governor of New Mexico. “He desperately needs women and Hispanics.” Or, as Democratic strategist Simon Rosenberg argued in an email, Day One of the Democratic convention revealed a core contrast with the GOP: “The Democratic Party has become a mature and successful governing Party, with a talented and experienced set of diverse leaders to guide it and a changing country confidently into the future.”
7.25 Michelle Obama: “We challenge them to ignore those who challenge their father’s citizenship or faith. We insist that the hateful language from public figures on television does not represent the true nature of this country. We explain when someone is cruel or acts like a bully, you don’t stoop to that level. No. Our motto is: When they go low, we go high.”
7.25 Sarah Silverman to the Bernie or Bust crowd: “You’re being ridiculous.”
7.25 Sarah Silverman: “This Democratic primary was exemplary. No name calling, no comments about the size of candidates’ hands or ethnicity,or how much they sweat or if they go to the bathroom. Inside secret: they do. That stuff is for third graders. Like c’mon, major arrested development stuff, that’s I’m-still-emotionally-four-and-calling-people-names-from-my-gold-encrusted-sandbox-because-I-was-given-money-instead-of-human-touch-or-coping-tools stuff. ”
7.25 Bernie Sanders: “Hillary Clinton will make an outstanding president, and I am proud to stand with her tonight.”
7.24 A campaign ad on John Kasich‘s site features retired Air Force Col. Tom Moe, a former Vietnam POW, speaking at an event in Ohio, the same day Trump held a rally in Columbus. Moe paraphrases a quote from Protestant pastor Martin Niemöller, taken from his lectures after World War II. “You might not care if Donald Trump says Muslims should register with their government, because you’re not one. And you might not care if Donald Trump says he’s going to round up all the Hispanic immigrants, because you’re not one. And you might not care if Donald Trump says it’s okay to rough up black protesters, because you’re not one. And you might not care if Donald Trump wants to suppress journalists, because you’re not one. But think about this: If he keeps going, and he actually becomes president, he might just get around to you. And you better hope there’s someone left to help you.”
7.22 James Hohmann in the Washington Post: “Beginning on January 20th of 2017, safety will be restored,” he declared. Trump is the crisis candidate. If voters feel safe, confident and hopeful in November, his team knows he will lose. To win, he does not just need to convince Americans that the country is on the wrong track – they already believe this – but that we are in the midst of an existential crisis. “The attacks on our police, and the terrorism in our cities, threaten our very way of life,” he said, repeatedly touting himself as “the law and order candidate.” He spoke of a violent crime wave, murderous illegal immigrants “roaming free,” innocent children “sacrificed on the altar of open borders,” and an America “shocked to its core.” He described the current environment as “more dangerous … than, frankly, I have ever seen and anybody in this room has ever watched or seen.” Then he suggested that elites are covering up how bad things have gotten. “I will tell you the plain facts that have been edited out of your nightly news and your morning newspaper,” he declared. Trump also spoke of “growing threats from outside” the country. “After fifteen years of wars in the Middle East, after trillions of dollars spent and thousands of lives lost, the situation is worse than it has ever been before,” he said. “This is the legacy of Hillary Clinton: death, destruction, terrorism and weakness.”
strong>7.22 Alexandra Petri in the Washington Post: “Say what you will about dictators, royalty, mafia dons, supervillains and Trumps, they have a well-defined aesthetic. You get an immense, Wonderful Wizard of Oz-scale picture of your head, some flags, and then you stand in front of it with your well-groomed family, and they say that if only people knew the real you, they would admit that you were great.”
7.22 Fareed Zakaria in the Washington Post: “The Republican convention has been colorful and chaotic, but above all, it has been consumed by a vigilante rage, complete with mock prosecutors, show trials and chanting mobs. The picture presented to the world has been of America as a banana republic. We have descended so far so fast that it is sometimes difficult to remember that this is not normal. It was only eight years ago that the Republican nominee, John McCain, interrupted one of his supporters who claimed that Barack Obama was an Arab and thus suspicious to explain that his opponent was in fact “a decent family man [and] citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues.” Contrast that with the tenor of this campaign, which has been set from the top by Donald Trump, who has repeatedly insisted that Hillary Clinton deserves to be in jail. He even promised that were he elected, his attorney general would reopen the books and “take a very good look” at possibly indicting her, himself having concluded that she is “guilty as hell.” That might have happened in a Latin American country — 30 years ago.”
