DNC Acceptance 2008: "What the naysayers don't understand is that this election has never been about me; it's about you."
Speech in Berlin: "People of the world – look at Berlin, where a wall came down, a continent came together, and history proved that there is no challenge too great for a world that stands as one."
On Racism: "I chose to run for the presidency at
this moment in history because I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together - unless we perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes."
Launching his campaign: "By ourselves, this change will not happen. Divided, we are bound to fail. But the life of a tall, gangly, self-made Springfield lawyer tells us that a different future is possible. He tells us that there is power in words. He tells us that there is power in conviction. That beneath all the differences of race and region, faith and station, we are one people. He tells us that there is power in hope."
DNC Keynote 2004: "There's not a liberal America and a conservative America; there's the United States of America. There's not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America."
DNC Speeches
Al Gore: "We have a candidate whose experience perfectly matches an extraordinary moment of transition."
Joe Biden: "Like millions of Americans, they're asking questions as -- as ordinary as they are profound, questions they never, ever thought they'd have to ask themselves."
Bill Clinton:
"People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power."
Hillary Clinton: "We cannot let this moment slip away. We have come too far and accomplished too much."
Michelle Obama: "All of us driven by the simple belief that the world as it is just won't do, that we have an obligation to fight for the world as it should be."
Ted Kennedy: "The work begins anew. The hope rises again. And the dream lives on."
McCain-Palin
John McCain: "You know, I've been called a maverick; someone who marches to the beat of his own drum. Sometimes it's meant as a compliment and sometimes it's not."
Cindy McCain: "From its very birth, our party has been grounded in the notion of service, community, self-reliance..."
Sarah Palin: "I've learned quickly, these past few days, that if you're not a member in good standing of the Washington elite, then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone... Here's a little newsflash for those reporters and commentators: I'm not going to Washington to seek their good opinion."
Mitt Romney: "What do you think Washington is right
now, liberal or conservative? Is a Supreme Court liberal or conservative that awards Guantanamo terrorists with constitution rights? We need change all right — change from a liberal Washington to a conservative Washington."
Mike Huckabee: "Heck, I was in college before I found out it wasn't supposed to hurt to take a shower."
Rudy Giuliani: "At exactly the right time, John McCain said, "We're all Georgians."
Joe Lieberman: " The Washington bureaucrats and power brokers can't build a pen strong enough to hold these two mavericks."
Fred Thompson: "She has run a municipality and she has run a state. And I think I can say without fear of contradiction she is the only nominee in the history of either party who knows how to properly field-dress a moose."
Friday, February 27, 2009
TPMMuckraker | Talking Points Memo | Jindal Admits Katrina Story Was False
Why do they even do this? Why would you tell the story if people can verify that it's untrue???? (Thanks, Dina, for this one!)
Remember that story Bobby Jindal told in his big speech Tuesday night -- about how during Katrina, he stood shoulder-to-shoulder with a local sheriff who was battling government red tape to try to rescue stranded victims?
A little over three minutes from the start of the speech, the feed was turned on and showed a static shot of the outside of the mansion. Governor Jindal's microphone was turned on and could be monitored by anyone taking in the feed.
What was a necessary pep-talk in the 1980s from Reagan became calcified into a dogma that verges on national self-idolatry. The point of the American founding was not that Americans are somehow better than any other people on earth, but that they had figured out a way to make government more amenable to freedom, stability and prosperity. Many other countries have figured this out too. But not many others have dug themselves into the ditch the US now inhabits. I don't think more cant on the Jindal lines helps.
The weight of this crisis will not determine the destiny of this nation. The answers to our problems don't lie beyond our reach. They exist in our laboratories and our universities, in our fields and our factories, in the imaginations of our entrepreneurs and the pride of the hardest-working people on Earth.
Those qualities that have made America the greatest force of progress and prosperity in human history we still possess in ample measure. What is required now is for this country to pull together, confront boldly the challenges we face, and take responsibility for our future once more."
Dang, Poor Nancy Pelosi must have been exhausted after jumping up and sitting down all night.
Other precious moments: "We can no longer afford to put health care reform on hold." Cut to Hillary Clinton in hot pink in the front row.
"...with the name of Orrin Hatch...." Cut to Orrin, looking down reading his program... Hullo....
Joe Lieberman, slow-clapping at "eliminate the no-bid contracts that have wasted billions in Iraq..."
"I will soon announce a way forward in Iraq that leaves Iraq to its people and responsibly ends this war." Even John McCain gets up for applause.
"I can stand here tonight and say without exception or equivocation that the United States of America does not torture." John McCain is up again. (And yes, he should have led on that issue.) More stuff:
Reaction from insta-polling, "A CBS News poll of approximately 500 people saw approval of the president rise from 62 percent before the speech to 69 percent afterward."
GOP response from Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. "Dude, Bobby, hello? This is a rebuttal. BOBBY! Stop nattering on about your childhood. Seriously, WTF? Stop telling stories. Stop it. Now."
