National

In Philadelphia at Jobs Tour Kick-Off, Clinton and Kaine Outline the Choice in This Election


Philadelphia, PA–(ENEWSPF)–July 29, 2016.  At a rally in Philadelphia on Friday, Hillary Clinton laid out the choice we face this November: the dangerous policies of Donald Trump or an America ready to face the future, where anyone who wants a good job can get one. The rally marked the kick off of Clinton’s bus tour that will highlight her plans to create jobs in America during her first 100 days in office and create an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top.

Clinton also paid tribute to the city of Philadelphia, the birthplace of our nation, saying that our Founding Fathers stood up to the world’s most powerful empire there by accepting that we are stronger together. “A democracy requires something from all of us, not just people we elect, but every single one of us. And Washington set that example. And I don’t know any Founder, no matter how strong they were, how smart they were who believed that only they could solve our problems, so – and I’ll tell you something else – they also expected a kind of raucous debate in America. But at the end of the debate, we have to come together and get things done, don’t we?,” Clinton said.

Tim Kaine reiterated his and Clinton’s shared vision of an America where all children feel they can go as far as their hard work and talent will take them. “And you know that Hillary Clinton, in good times and tough times, in victory and defeat, through hell or high water, in office or out of office, since she was a teenager has been putting kids and families first,” Kaine said.

Clinton and Kaine’s remarks, as transcribed, are below:

HILLARY CLINTON: 

Thank you! Thank you all so much. Thank you. Thank you very, very much. I have to begin by thanking our hosts, the people of Philadelphia. You know a little something about history and about making history. And I am so grateful to everyone in this city who pulled such a great convention together, who were so gracious, welcoming and hospitable, and I am thrilled that so many Americans from everywhere got a chance to see Philadelphia! To see what’s in this great city.

People kept coming back from going for walks, going to museums, going to other sites, telling me how much they were impressed. And so I want to thank your mayor. Thank you, Mayor Kenney. I want to thank your Congressman who tries to come home to Philadelphia everyday and I know why, because he loves this city: Bob Brady!

I am always happy to be here with someone who’s been a friend for Bill and me over so many years, an extraordinary public servant and advocate, former governor and mayor, Ed Rendell.

Now I, like Tim, I had the great pleasure of serving in the senate with senator Bob Casey, and I appreciated his tenacity, the attention to detail, the work he did for you every single day. And so I want to thank Bob, and I want also to recognize who I hope will be his partner in the Senate come November, Katie McGinty.

And I hope the next Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro.

This has been such an invigorating, exciting week. As I said last night, we heard from the man from Hope, Bill Clinton. And we heard from the man of hope, Barack Obama.

And I was so excited to introduce to America our partners. It’s going to be fun to travel with both Tim and Anne because they are going to demonstrate to the country what the people of Virginia already know. There are no better people to have in your corner than Tim Kaine and Anne Holton.

Now I don’t know about you, but I stayed up really late last night. It was just hard to go to sleep. Oh, thank you, thank you. It was so exciting, but I have to tell you, it was also kind of overwhelming. I take deeply and with great humility the responsibility that this campaign imposes on us.

There is no doubt in my mind that every election in our democracy is important in its own way, but I can’t think of an election that is more important, certainly in my lifetime. And it’s not so much that I’m on the ticket, it is because of the stark choice that is posed to America in this election.

So when I did, when I did wake up this morning, thank you – when I did start moving, and Bill and I started drinking our coffee, or asking that it be administered through an IV, we suddenly looked at each other and we realized, as of tomorrow, we have 100 days to make our case to America.

So what better place to kick off this campaign than right here in Philadelphia where it all started 240 years ago. I believe with all my heart that our Founders came together to create one nation because they understood what we understand: we are stronger together!

And as we pointed out during our four great days of our convention, you heard something very different from the Republicans, didn’t you? We might as well be talking about two different countries, or, as someone said to me, two different planets.

Donald Trump painted a picture, a negative, dark, divisive picture of a country in decline. He insisted that America is weak, and he told us all, after laying out this very dark picture, that ‘I alone can fix it.’

Now, as I watched and heard that, it set off alarm bells because just think about what happened here 240 years ago. Think about our Founders, coming together, a Declaration of Independence, writing a Constitution. They set up our form of government, the longest lasting democracy in the history of the world. And you know they did it because they knew they didn’t want one person, one man to have all the power like a king. And think about George Washington, our first president. After he served, he stepped down voluntarily. People around him couldn’t believe it, but he said no, this is an example we should set.

A democracy requires something from all of us, not just people we elect, but every single one of us. And Washington set that example. And I don’t know any Founder, no matter how strong they were, how smart they were who believed that only they could solve our problems, so – and I’ll tell you something else – they also expected a kind of raucous debate in America. But at the end of the debate, we have to come together and get things done, don’t we?

So as Tim said, we are going to get on a bus as soon as we leave here and we’re going to drive through Pennsylvania into Ohio. It’s kind for nostalgic for me, my dad was born in Scranton, I spent every summer of my life up in northeast Pennsylvania. My father, my brother went to Penn State, so I know, I know how beautiful this commonwealth is and how wonderful the people are.

But we’ve got work to do. I’m not satisfied with the status quo. I’m not telling you that everything is just peachy keen. I’m telling you, we’ve made progress but we have work to do if we’re going to make sure that everybody is included.

And you know, I think that we’ve got to have more good jobs, we’ve got to raise wages, we’ve got to tackle inequality. We’ve got to make this economy work for everyone, not just those at the top.

And if you listen really closely to the Republican Convention, you know that Donald Trump talked for 75 minutes and did not offer one solution. In fact, his speech, his whole convention seemed more about insulting me instead of helping the American people.

So here’s what I’ve said I will do. And we’re going to get to work on the very first day, within the first 100 days of our administration we’re going to break through the gridlock in Washington and make the biggest investment in new, good-paying jobs since World War II. We’re going to do it in infrastructure, technology, clean energy, advanced manufacturing.

And I’m also going to pay special attention to those parts of our country that have been left out and left behind. From our inner cities to our small towns, from Indian Country to Coal Country. From communities ravaged by addiction and places hollowed out by plant closures.

Anybody willing to work in America should be able to find a job to get ahead and stay ahead. That’s my goal.

So on our bus tour we’re going to be visiting a few places where people are making things. I find it highly amusing that Donald Trump talks about ‘Make America Great Again.’ He doesn’t make a thing in America except bankruptcies.

So there’s a lot to be done my friends, and I’m excited. I’m excited to have Tim and Anne as part of this team, and I’m excited to have the 42nd President of the United States as part of this team. The four of us are going to barnstorm the country because, as a very smart president who just so happens to be here today once said, ‘There is nothing wrong with America that can’t be cured by what’s right with America.’

So now, we had a great convention, but we’ve got to go out and we’ve got to fight for our vision of the future. And I can’t do it alone. I need each and every one of you, here’s what I ask you to do. Please, join us. Go to hillaryclinton.com or text JOIN, J-O-I-N to 47246 to be part of this campaign. And we are hiring organizers here in Pennsylvania and across the country.

And between now and election day, we are going to register 3 million more people. And we’re not just going to register them, we’re going to get them to commit to vote.

We feel deeply the responsibility for continuing the work that started down the road from here 240 years ago. Now, nobody who looks like me was thought to be possible to run for president back then. No one who looked like Barack Obama was thought to be possible.

But contrary to Donald Trump, I believe every time we knock down a barrier in America, it liberates everyone in America.

I have to say, last night, after the end of our convention, I knew that every parent in this country could look at their son or their daughter and now say the very same thing: you too could be President of the United States.

Thank you all, God bless you!

TIM KAINE:

“Hey, Philadelphia!  […]  Wow.  Man, wow.  I was tired after last night, but I’m awake now.  Listen, what a warm welcome.  Hello to Philadelphia.  I’ll tell you, we come from Virginia and we think we have this hospitality thing down pat, but Philadelphia really showed off this week.

So, some thank-yous.  I want to thank my great friend and Senate colleague Bob Casey.  What a wonderful – what a wonderful public servant. And we are so excited to have another great Pennsylvanian about to join us in the United States Senate, Katie McGinty.  Katie! You have heard earlier today already from two of the people who were absolutely key to making this convention work like a charm, and that’s our Congressman Bob Brady and Mayor Jim Kenney.  Thank you, guys, for all your great work.  Governor Ed Rendell – he and I share being mayors, governors and DNC chairs.  We surely have time – we get to go right by purgatory and right to the golden gates because of what we’ve done. Ed Rendell – great, great public servant.  We have – in the pre-program you’ve already heard from Councilwoman Cherelle Parker and Reverend Bonnie Camarada and Bobby Hill and Josh Shapiro, so many great public servants broadly defined in this room.

It has been an incredible week, and I could not be prouder to be here in Philadelphia and accept the request of a spectacular public servant, Hillary Clinton, to accept my party’s nomination to be vice president.  Hillary!  Hillary!  Hillary!

I shared the other night at the convention how kind of weird I feel being here.  I mean, I just grew up in such a non-political household.  My dad ran this union-organized ironworker shop, and mom and dad are here somewhere in this room.  They’re 81 years old and we’re having a great time together. And I don’t know if there’s any Irish Americans here, but they’re standing with a buddy – they’re standing with a buddy from County Cork, Pádraig Fleming, who flew over to surprise me.

So, look, we’re here, a strong family, all of us.  We worked in my dad’s business, my mom and my brothers and me, and pitched in.  That’s what family businesses do.  I know a lot of you come from that.  When family says, ‘You’ve got to help,’ you’ve got to help – and we like helping.  I learned a lot from working for my dad.  I learned a lot from a Jesuit high school I went to that taught – wow.  Jesuits aren’t that big an applause line in every city, but I’m glad – I’m glad to know in Philadelphia – I’m glad to know in Philadelphia – I bet there were a lot of Pope Francis Catholics here before there was a Pope Francis. But those values of hard work and of faith were my guiding principles, and that’s one of the reasons that I developed such an admiration and friendship for Hillary Clinton, because those are the same values that have driven her – her growing up in a small business household, her growing up inspired by a Methodist youth pastor.  Those are her values, and she’s been living them fighting for kids and families, putting them first for her entire career – your entire career.

In my own life, I took the lessons from my parents and I took the lessons from the Jesuits that I worked with as a missionary in Honduras and I basically decided to do what virtually all of you guys are doing, which is to measure what I do by how it helps somebody else.  Can you serve others?  Can you do good for others?  It’s not about title.  It’s not about money.  It’s not about prestige.  It’s not about popularity.  It’s not about anything other than serving other people, and that’s the kind of candidate we have.

So we’re starting today this bus tour.  Now, this is the part of the campaign I really like.  I mean, the big events are fun, but I don’t like wearing a tie that much, so I’d rather – I’d rather just go out and pound the pavement.  And so we’re starting a three-day bus tour today, and this is the first rally.  And then we’re going to go – and it’s no accident this is the first rally.  And then we’re going to go across Pennsylvania and we’re going to go across Iowa, and Secretary Clinton is going to be laying out why she is going to be such a fantastic president – a fantastic president.

We’re going to be drawing that contrast between Hillary Clinton’s plans for our country and Donald Trump’s empty promises and no plans for the country. You know – you know her plans.  I mean, I don’t know.  Is there anybody at Temple that likes the idea of debt-free college?  I mean.  Yeah.

She has pledged in the first 100 days of the administration to make a massive investment in new jobs, education, work training, rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure, fighting the battles that she has fought time and time again.  And it’s not just about what she says.  It’s that she’s delivered.

I know you watched last night as she talked about and as Chelsea talked about her battling to get health insurance for 8 million American kids when she was First Lady.  Now, don’t you want – don’t you want a president who knows how to battle and get things done for regular people, who might not be able to get those things done without a great champion?  Of course, you do.  Of course, you do.

So that’s what we’ll do over the next couple of days.  We’ll talk about creating jobs.  We’ll talk about raising wages.  We’ll talk about the leadership that America needs to play in the world, a leadership that’s got to be based on alliances and building bridges and just using the relationships we have to defeat forces of terrorism and forces of prejudice, forces of anti-Semitism.  We can do that when we work together around the world.

And, finally, and, finally – and in some ways, this is the thing that matters the most to me as a former civil rights lawyer, that we want to make sure that we’ve got a community of respect– right? – or, as the civil rights leaders used to say, a beloved community, where people are not demeaned because of who they are, not dissed because they are somebody with a disability or they’re LGBT or they come from another country or their skin color is different or they speak a different language but embraced.

Hey, don’t you guys in Pennsylvania call yourself a commonwealth, just like we in Virginia do, just like we in Virginia do?  That’s different than saying you’re a state.  Anybody who says we’re a commonwealth, what you are saying is the wealth we hold we hold in common. It’s got to be about everybody.  It’s got to be about bringing everybody together.  And those are Hillary Clinton’s values.

Now, the last thing I’ll say before we bring up our champion and the main event is I’ve noticed there’s a few differences between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Now, let’s see.  What’s today, Friday?  I think I can – well, I’m going to try to boil it down.  You’ve seen Trump basically pitch in a very dark and negative convention in Cleveland a very different view of this country.  Weren’t you proud of how optimistic, upbeat, positive, pro-America the convention was here in the message of our candidate?  Absolutely.  Absolutely.  Absolutely.  The Republican convention was like a twisted and negative tour.  It wasn’t a tour of this country.  It was a journey through Donald Trump’s mind, and that is a very frightening place.  That is a very frightening place.

When it comes to the economy – we’re at a college.  We’re at a college.  Can I ask you a question?  In Hillary, we’ve got a ‘You’re hired’ president.  Would you rather have that or a ‘You’re fired’ president? Absolutely.  That’s not that hard.  That’s not that hard. In Hillary, you’ve got a bridge builder.  Would you rather have that or have a trash talker?  A bridge builder, right?  A bridge builder.  And in Hillary, you’ve got that character from before she was ever in office that puts kids and families first.

This is really important.  This is really important.  If you want to know about trustworthiness and character of somebody in public life, look to see –

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  “We trust Hillary.”

TIM KAINE:  “All right.  You got to the punchline.  He got to the punchline.  He got to the punchline.  I like you.  I like you.  All right. All right.

Now, look.  If you want to know how you can view somebody in public life, look to see if they had a passion before they got in office and whether they have continued that passion consistently throughout their entire time.  And you know that Hillary Clinton, in good times and tough times, in victory and defeat, through hell or high water, in office or out of office, since she was a teenager has been putting kids and families first.  And you also know that Donald Trump has had a passion, too.  And that passion is Donald Trump, Donald Trump.  So it’s kids first or me first.

But, look, I am so glad to be on this ticket.  It’s a history-making ticket.  Anything I can do to help us succeed and anything I can do that will help this administration be a fantastic one from first day to last is going to be my humble honor to do.  So please give a great Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, American welcome to our next president, Hillary Clinton.”

Source: http://www.hillaryclinton.com

 

 

 

 


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