The Big Dog Stumps - Best I've Ever Seen (VIDEO)

If you have an hour this is perhaps the best speech I have ever seen Bill Clinton give. It's a stump speech from today in College Station, Texas. I doubt anyone can watch this entire thing and not end up being moved by his committment and belief in Hillary Clinton, her competence and ability to lead our nation out of the mess we are in.

After the introductions Bill Clinton starts at 11:00.

CSPAN VIDEO - Fmr. Pres. Bill Clinton Campaigns in Texas (March 2, 2008)

[You need Real Player and C-SPAN doesn't do permalinks, and DKos doesn't allow embedded rtsp links but is on top of their recent programs right now C-SPAN]

RTSP LINK: rtsp://video.c-span.org/archive/c08/c08_030208_clinton.rm

This is not just campaign rhetoric. This is an hour of detailed substantive discussion of Hillary's past, her abilities and plans for the future of our country. I highly recommend taking the time to watch one of our country's greatest speakers talking about a subject that he believes in with all his heart. Whomever you candidate of choice is, you won't be disappointed.

It aired live on C-SPAN this afternoon. Anyone else catch it? I was weeping at the end, but then again I cried at Disney's Enchanted to the disgust of my daughter.

•  If he can stay positive, then kudos to him. nt

  by DaveV on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 06:12:02 PM PDT

  •  I already knew he was convinced of Hill

    But Hill needs to convince ME of Hill.  the Big Dog is taking up Hills sun again.  Call him home. The co_presidency is not on the ballot, but it seems we need his name on that ballot too now that he is such a big part of the campaign.   We still need convincing from Hill about Hill.  Or is this indeed, after all is said and done, just an end run around the Constitution for Bill and his co-President's  3rd term

    by SmithsLastWord on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 07:09:17 PM PDT

•  No thank you. Had enough of them forever. n/t

  by jeff in nyc on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 06:12:31 PM PDT

  •  None so blind as

    will not see, nor deaf as will not hear!!

    (Though I'm not going to take a look either, as this is a drive-by post. (And I'm an Obama guy.) But come on, when Bill is good, he is very, very good.)

    by Pondite on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 06:17:32 PM PDT

    •  There's lot's of stuff to pick from. I choose not

      to look at lots of stuff. You do, too.

      by jeff in nyc on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 06:33:54 PM PDT

      •  agreed -

        I was being a little snarky.  Still, I would enjoying watching Bill in top form even though Hillary is (rightfully, IMHO) crashing and burning.

        by Pondite on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 06:44:23 PM PDT

  •  Too Bad Hillary Can't Close The Deal Herself

    And Bill's not running.

    Or is he?

    by bernardpliers on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 06:37:57 PM PDT

•  I can

  I doubt anyone can watch this entire thing and not end up being moved by his committment and belief in Hillary Clinton, her competence and ability to lead our nation out of the mess we are in.

  I'll be moved by Bill again when he and Hillary do what is right for the party and the nation and support Barack Obama against John McCain instead of amplifying right wing smears.  

  by Sun dog on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 06:14:26 PM PDT

•  The Big Dog...

  lost my respect in South Carolina.

  Winning meant more to him then a coalition he cultivated for years.

  by First Amendment on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 06:15:02 PM PDT

•  Bill's best speech:

  by khereva on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 06:16:02 PM PDT

  •  True: The Obama Endorsment Is Bill's Best Moment!

    by bincbom on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 06:21:03 PM PDT

    •  ding ding

      by khereva on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 06:25:53 PM PDT

  •  oops

    by el vasco on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 06:36:18 PM PDT

•  Rep. Silvestre Reyes

  "Hillary understands the world wide threats"

  If she understands so much, how did she vote the way she did on Iraq?

  by Sam Wise Gingy on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 06:16:46 PM PDT

  •  She understood that reading 95 pages

    might hurt her political career!

    by Shhs on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 06:25:22 PM PDT

•  sorry for all the flip, hostile comments above...

  ... but welcome to dkos-obama-08-land where the ORKS swarm -

  Great diary.  Thanks for wading into the thicket.

  by Molee on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 06:17:39 PM PDT

  •  Thanks

    I've been here a long time (check my UID), and I'm sure I'll be around for a long time to come. We have an election to win. If John McCain appoints two more "conservative" Supremes, that little daughter won't grow up in any country I recognize, and that is really something to cry about.

    by MediaFreeze on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 06:21:58 PM PDT

    •  Well said, Media Freeze.

      That's very much at issue.

      by mayan on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 06:43:48 PM PDT

    •  Thanks for providing the video.

      I watched the event on C-span and like you I was brought to tears at the end.  

      by Lying eyes on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 06:47:47 PM PDT

•  Did he talk about NAFTA ??

  Did he talk about why his wife voted for the War without reading the NIE?

  Did he talk about why his wife voted for the evil Bankruptcy bill?

  Did he talk about why Hillary voted for Kyl-Lieberman??

  by Al Rodgers on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 06:20:53 PM PDT

  •  Nice to see you again too Al

    It's been a while.

    No, I don't think he talked about those things. Well maybe AMUF a little.

    As I recall Obama skipped Kyl-Lieberman, but I didn't drop by to duke it out, just to give ya'll a heads up on a pretty impressive speech in my opinion.

    by MediaFreeze on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 06:25:59 PM PDT

    •  He at least didn't proudly support

      The basis for an invasion of Iran.

      If you want to get into skipped votes during presidential campaigns, I wouldn't start if I were a Hillary supporter.

      by jkennerl on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 07:22:20 PM PDT

  •  Perhaps

    you should listen to what Clinton said.

    by ActivatedbyBush on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 06:26:28 PM PDT

  •  9-11

    He did have an interesting bit about 9-11.  I was surprised to see him play THAT card but whatever.

    by Nellcote on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 06:59:26 PM PDT

•  The greatest president in American History? n/t

  by Sam Wise Gingy on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 06:24:47 PM PDT

•  This race is coming down to Texas and Ohio

  14:00

  Does that mean the Clintons will drop out if they loose in Texas and Ohio?

  by Sam Wise Gingy on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 06:26:55 PM PDT

•  Bill is doing a good job of defining the problems

  I'll give him that.

  by Sam Wise Gingy on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 06:31:54 PM PDT

•  sorry...

  after his race-bairing in SC I just want to see him leave politics forever.

  Hopefully he can go back to his charity work where he might redeem his usefulness for a good cause.

  by jdw on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 06:34:23 PM PDT

  •  Not If Bill's Charity Work Also Involves

    Coincidentally hooking up his deep-pocketed friends with dictators just to get donations to his library.

    by Empower Ink on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 06:38:26 PM PDT

  •  Not if he does what he did in Kazakhstan,

    New York Times

    by Sam Wise Gingy on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 06:39:16 PM PDT

•  I was equally impressed with the speech Bill

  gave in Lebanon, NH in early December. It is too bad that his lecture style does not translate well to soundbites.

  I realize most folks are "sick and tired" of the Clintons but I maintain that if folks had the opportunity and time to watch the entire video of everything that Bill has said on the trail including back and forth with all supporters, detractors and reporters they would have different opinions of the supposed horribly racist and angry remarks.
  Go ahead and flame me as naive but as a CSPAN junkie and a rally attendee what I have seen in real life does not fit with the MSM clips and interpretations.

  I guess I'll be labeled a "concern troll" but please be prepared, this will happen to Barack and it will not be pretty 8 yrs from now. I hope he has the stamina and personal brick walls to weather the coming storm while managing to get some progressive ideas into action.

  I hope you won't buy in to the media propaganda and hate machine against Barack that will come.
  In the meantime, obviously Hillary is losing so save your vitriol for the real Karl Rove and not for fellow Democrats.

  by Lisactal on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 06:36:19 PM PDT

  •  Actually, as an Obama supporter

    I wouldn't think of flaming you.  I tipped you instead because your comment was good.  Cheers.

    by gchaucer2 on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 06:46:36 PM PDT

•  He lost me at "biggest fairy tale" or maybe it

  was "reality check."  Whatever. I will never vote for a Clinton again (and I hosted house parties for Bill in 92).  

  by nycmom on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 06:37:57 PM PDT

  •  that was pretty bad,

    and then lie about him always being against the war(really Bill? WTF were you?), and then the race-baiting.

    i've lost all admiration for him.

    by jdw on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 06:42:48 PM PDT

    •  Good question.

      Where was Bill in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 on Iraq.

      Anyone have any evidence he was against American involvement in Iraq until the presidential campaign?

      by Sam Wise Gingy on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 06:46:31 PM PDT

      •   Aren't ex presidents supposed to stay out of

        present day politics?  Isn't that the convention? Jimmy Carter speaking out on a number of things Bush has done wrong was given a lot of bad press (not that MSM ever did nice things for Jimmy).

        by sailmaker on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 07:54:08 PM PDT

        •  Gore spoke out. n/t

          by Sam Wise Gingy on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 08:07:50 PM PDT

          •  I know Gore was elected . . . but

            he does not have the privilege of having served.

            by sailmaker on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 08:51:52 PM PDT

        •  Jimmy Carter and Bill and HW have spoken out

          from time to time on various topics.It is not forbidden or really unexpected. Jimmy Carter got his head bitten off over his book on Palestinian Apartheid. Ex-pres' are not immune to the create a new reality press and Rovian news machine.

          by Lisactal on Mon Mar 03, 2008 at 12:46:43 PM PDT

      •  Bill spoke out quite a bit about continuing to

        press for UN inspections to continue.That is why he said he was aginst the war from the beginning, he was. That is what we all wanted a threat of actual consequences to get back in with UN inspections.

        Sadly, we did not yet know how hell bent on war Bush was.

        Check out Joe Wilson's article on Huff post about the "fairy tale" that has become this stark black and white/for and against the war. It was not like that for anyone including Barack.

        He was as conflicted as anyone, read all of what he said and wrote, not just the 2002 speech.

        Don't let the MSM and campaign rhetoric create reality, look at the reality.

        by Lisactal on Mon Mar 03, 2008 at 12:44:59 PM PDT

  •  how about roll of the dice

    someone should ask if the roll of the dice people took on an inexperienced governor from arkansas worked out or not.  

    by ejpoeta on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 08:28:33 PM PDT

    •  Roll of the dice was the phrase used by

      Charlie Rose. Bill replied something like well yes, with Hillary you know what you are getting.

      The fact is this is true, we know her warts, her votes, her history. He just didn't/doesn't have as much for us to know about him.

      Another taken out of context BS argument.

      by Lisactal on Mon Mar 03, 2008 at 12:48:33 PM PDT

  •  The fairy tale flap was manufactured

    A single sentence was taken out of context and reframed as a racial comment.  In fact, he was referring to Obama's claims of being more anti-Iraqmire than Hillary.  He was talking about Obama's 2002 speech against the war  which was removed from his website during his 2004 Senate campaign.  He was talking about the FACT that Senators Obama and Clinton have identical voting records on Iraq related issues.  It was the rhetoric of the Obama campaign regarding Iraq which he characterized as a fairy tale.

    They seized on it as an opportunity to paint Bill Clinton as a racist despite the plain meaning of what he said and the context in which he said it.  GE Corporate Whore Timmeh on Meet Depressed played along with the Clinton smear by playing just the fairy tale soundbite and claiming that it was a racial remark.  And given the number of people who still believe it, such as yourself, it was very successful propaganda.  But that's all it was.  An ugly lie, dressed up to appear respectable.

    by kbman on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 08:44:51 PM PDT

    •  another example of press created reality

      hillary is a lesbian
      Troopergate
      Whitewater
      Clintons murdered vionce foster
      and on and on

      all fantasy and yet believed as fact by many Americans

      MY advice, watch the real thing on CSPAN, no edits, no idiotic commentary and spin.

      They will do this to Barack and we need to counter it asap or we will have another set of solids Dems destroyed bit by bit, piece by piece.

      by Lisactal on Mon Mar 03, 2008 at 12:52:19 PM PDT

•  If Hillary's health plan is the best then

  you have to vote for Hillary.

  I don't agree with that.

  by Sam Wise Gingy on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 06:42:34 PM PDT

  •  both plans suck

    if only because universally insuring people will not guarantee that they get the healthcare they need. we need to move beyond universal insurance. insurance companies are about making money not keeping people healthy, we will not have netter healthcare till we remove the money making aspect.

    by Liberal Youth on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 06:46:30 PM PDT

    •  It all depends on how many Senate seats we can

      pick up.
      If we get manage to 60 seats then I think we'll get single payer universal health care. If less than that it is going to have to be something less.

      by Sam Wise Gingy on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 07:49:23 PM PDT

•  Lots of irrelavent stuff

  Issues aren't important unless he compares and contrasts Hillary's position to Obama's.

  by Sam Wise Gingy on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 06:53:12 PM PDT

•  High speed rail. Bill said high speed rail.

  That's cool.

  by Sam Wise Gingy on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 06:54:05 PM PDT

•  Well its an hour which probably means I won't

  be listening to it. I do believe you that its probably good though.

  by CTMET on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 06:54:38 PM PDT

  •  I see how Bill won in 1992.

    He is a good speaker with good ideas.

    by Sam Wise Gingy on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 06:56:03 PM PDT

  •  too bad you wil miss out on interesting polictica

    commentary from a person who lived it and even if you hate him is very intelligent and insightful about the process.

    Listening could help you become a better advocate and supporter of Barack.

    by Lisactal on Mon Mar 03, 2008 at 12:54:52 PM PDT

•  No sale

  I listened.

  I'm still with Obama.

  Reasons:

  1. Iraq, HRC voted for the war, she supported the war until she started running for President.

  2. Her policies are pretty much the same as Obama's.

  3. Even if I grant that Hillary is a better executive executive than Obama, which this campaign does not evidence, I don't have any confidence that HRC can build the kind of support from the general public to get real changes made.

  4. Hillary has not been honest in this campaign. She knows very well Obama is not a Muslim. She knew he wasn't praising Regan's ideas.  

  by Sam Wise Gingy on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 07:16:11 PM PDT

•  Are you serious when you say . . .

  This is not just campaign rhetoric. This is an hour of detailed substantive discussion of Hillary's past, her abilities and plans for the future of our country.

  Oh, I forgot, when Obama speaks it IS "just campaign rhetoric" not "detailed substantive discussion."

  I was hanging out with a friend last night who told me his first political act was campaigning for Bill Clinton, but now (in my friend's words) "I wouldn't buy that bastard a Big Mac."

  It's sad that a leader of the party that so many of us stood by through hard times has burned through the good will he had with the half of the country that loved him and made most of us join the half that already hate him.

  by Ho Ho on Sun Mar 02, 2008 at 07:56:24 PM PDT