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After a week when we watched the goofs, gaffes and pratfalls of the RNC in Tampa along with the Vice Presidential nominee setting a record for being the first politician ever to reach the "Pants On Fire" bar on the Fact Check Meter, we were rewarded when the adults took the stage for the DNC in Charlotte.
Step Right Up, Folks! What an incredible show! Such verbal fireworks, what prize winning zingers. Not an issue was left uncovered. Not a question was left unanswered. For the first time in well over a decade, the gloves came off.
What a joy to witness the seemingly choreographed speakers, each with his or her talking point to lay bare the lies from the right. Every detail was attended to and one could have ticked off items from a list designed to "refudiate" the hot air noise machine that is the GOP. What a work of absolute beauty.
We can bask for today, but tomorrow it's back in the trenches and continuing to fight the good fight for there are only 57 days until the election. So, grab another cup of coffee and relive a collection of high points.
"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America..."
-- Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords
Ask Osama bin Laden if he is better off now than he was four years ago. -- Sen John Kerry
He loves our cars so much, they have their own elevator... In Romney's world, the cars get the elevator, the workers get the shaft. -- Jennifer Granholm
President Mitt Romney---three hypothetical words that mystified and alienated our allies this summer. For Mitt Romney, an overseas trip is what you call it when you trip all over yourself overseas. It wasn't a goodwill mission---it was a blooper reel. -- John Kerry
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President Bill Clinton:
So here’s another jobs score: President Obama plus 4.5 million, congressional Republicans zero.
No president, no president — not me or any of my predecessors, no one, could have repaired all the damage he found in just four years. But he has laid the foundation for a new, modern, successful economy, of shared prosperity, and if you renew the President’s contract you will feel it. You will feel it.
When Congressman Ryan looked into that TV camera and attacked President Obama’s Medicare savings as quote ‘biggest coldest power play,’ I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Because that 716 billion dollars is exactly, to the dollar, the same amount of Medicare savings that he has in his own budget. It takes some brass to attack a guy for doing what you did.
You won’t be laughing when I finish telling you this.
As their campaign pollster said ‘we’re not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact checkers.’ Now that is true. I couldn’t say it better myself.
Now people ask me all the time, how we go four surplus budgets in a row. What new ides did we bring to Washington? I always give a one word answer: Arithmetic.
The most important question is, what kind of country do you want to live in? If you want a you’re-on-your-own, winner-take-all society, you should support the Republican ticket. If you want a country of shared prosperity and shared responsibility — a we’re-all-in-this-together society — you should vote for Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
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First Lady Michelle Obama:
We learned about gratitude and humility -- that so many people had a hand in our success, from the teachers who inspired us to the janitors who kept our school clean ... and we were taught to value everyone’s contribution and treat everyone with respect.
I have seen firsthand that being president doesn’t change who you are -- it reveals who you are.
[W]hen you’ve worked hard, and done well, and walked through that doorway of opportunity, you do not slam it shut behind you. You reach back, and you give other folks the same chances that helped you succeed.
Barack and I were both raised by families who didn’t have much in the way of money or material possessions but who had given us something far more valuable -- their unconditional love, their unflinching sacrifice, and the chance to go places they had never imagined for themselves.
If so many brave men and women could wear our country’s uniform and sacrifice their lives for our most fundamental rights ... then surely we can do our part as citizens of this great democracy to exercise those rights ... surely, we can get to the polls and make our voices heard on Election Day
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Vice President Joe Biden:
I want to take you inside the White House to see the President, as I see him every day. Because I don’t see him in sound bites. I walk down the hall, 30 steps to the Oval Office, and I see him in action.
We’re on a mission to move this nation forward—from doubt and downturn, to promise and prosperity. A mission we will continue and a mission we will complete.
Ladies and gentlemen, I'm here to tell you what I think you already know, that, I watch it up close, bravery resides in the heart of Barack Obama and, time and time again, I witnessed him summon it.
This man has courage in his soul, compassion in his heart and a spine of steel, and because of all the actions he took, because of the calls he made, because of the determination of American workers and the unparalleled bravery of our special forces, we can now proudly say what you've heard me say the past six months:
Osama bin Laden is dead, and General Motors is alive!
One of the things I learned about Barack is the enormity of his heart. And I think he learned about me the depth of my loyalty to him. And there's another thing, another thing that has bound us together these past four years. We had a pretty good idea what all those families, all you Americans in trouble were going through, in part because our own families had gone through similar struggles.
America is NOT in decline. I’ve got news for Governor Romney and Congressman Ryan, it has never, never, ever, been a good bet to bet against the American people.
The only truly sacred obligation we have is to prepare those who we send to war and care for them when they come home from war. I want to acknowledge, as we should every night, the incredible debt we owe to the families of those 6,473 fallen angels and those 49,746 wounded, thousands critically, thousands who will need our help for the rest of their lives. Folks ... we must never, ever forget their sacrifice and always keep them in our care and in our prayers.
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President Barack Obama:
I’m no longer just a candidate. I’m the president.
The path we offer may be harder, but it leads to a better place. And I’m asking you to choose that future.
Now, our friends at the Republican convention were more than happy to talk about everything they think is wrong with America, but they didn’t have much to say about how they’d make it right. They want your vote, but they don’t want you to know their plan. And that’s because all they have to offer is the same prescriptions they’ve had for the last thirty years: ‘Have a surplus? Try a tax cut.’ ‘Deficit too high? Try another.’ ‘Feel a cold coming on? Take two tax cuts, roll back some regulations and call us in the morning!
You didn’t elect me to tell you what you wanted to hear. You elected me to tell you the truth
And yes, my plan will continue to reduce the carbon pollution that is heating our planet — because climate change is not a hoax. More droughts and floods and wildfires are not a joke. They are a threat to our children’s future. And in this election, you can do something about it
My opponent and his running mate are new to foreign policy, but from all that we’ve seen and heard, they want to take us back to an era of blustering and blundering that cost America so dearly. After all, you don’t call Russia our number one enemy — not al Qaeda, Russia — unless you’re still stuck in a Cold War mind warp. You might not be ready for diplomacy with Beijing if you can’t visit the Olympics without insulting our closest ally.
I know that campaigns can seem small, and even silly sometimes. Trivial things become big distractions. Serious issues become sound bites. The truth gets buried under an avalanche of money and advertising. If you’re sick of hearing me approve this message, believe me — so am I.
My grandparents were given the chance to go to college, buy their own home, and fulfill the basic bargain at the heart of America’s story: the promise that hard work will pay off, that responsibility will be rewarded, that everyone gets a fair shot, and everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same rules — from Main Street to Wall Street to Washington, D.C. I ran for president because I saw that basic bargain slipping away.
If you reject the notion that this nation’s promise is reserved for the few, your voice must be heard in this election.
I never said this journey would be easy, and I won't promise that now. Yes, our path is harder - but it leads to a better place. Yes our road is longer - but we travel it together. We don't turn back. We leave no one behind. We pull each other up. We draw strength from our victories, and we learn from our mistakes, but we keep our eyes fixed on that distant horizon, knowing that Providence is with us, and that we are surely blessed to be citizens of the greatest nation on Earth.