Bristol, PA Hillary Clinton Event
by Todd Beeton, Mon Apr 14, 2008 at 03:40:57 PM EDT
I'm here in a high school gym in Bristol, PA, just over the border from New Jersey, northeast of Philadelphia, at a Hillary Clinton event. It's not a huge crowd -- apparently the event was planned somewhat late -- but it's an enthusiastic one. The area, you will probably not be surprised to hear, has a very working class small town feel. And the event's soundtrack matches the locale -- John Mellencamp's "Small Town" and "Our Country" and Bruce Springsteen's "The Rising" to name just a few.
Ed Rendell is on stage with Hillary. He got the crowd riled up by saying "Know what the two best words in the English language are? Madame President."
Update [2008-4-14 23:5:0 by Todd Beeton]:You can read the rest of the liveblog below the fold. I had wanted to put a summary of my thoughts up right after the event but the wireless was pulled once the traveling press took off. My general takeaway was that it did feel rather rushed and sort of inserted into the schedule -- not the best event of hers I've been to -- but regardless, considering she was here for a total of an hour and a half (she shook hands for quite a while after), she certainly got plenty of bang for her buck.
As fir content, I was surprised she didn't hit Barack harder. She did add "When Americans hit adversity they don't get bitter, they roll up their sleeves and get to work" to her speech but no references to "elitist" or "out of touch." I wonder if this is a sign that she is walking back from the "elitist" language. Lord knows she doesn't need to amplify it. That would be a welcome change. Perhaps a response to the less than welcome reception it got at her speech this morning.
"We don't quit, we don't get bitter, we roll up our sleeves and get to work. A week from tomorrow, we're going to get to work, roll up our sleeves and make sure we elect Madame President."
The place is chanting "Hillary! Hillary!" She just began speaking.
Hillary is talking about her dad who was born in Scranton and her grandfather who worked in a lace mill all his life. "We all have some hard knocks. And I know a little bit about hard knocks." She's talking about the adversity previous generations have been up against, whether the founders or those who lived through the depression. "They didn't get bitter. They rolled up their sleeves and worked hard to overcome challenges."
"What's great about us is that we come back. You may know I've had a few challenges in my life...When life hits you hard you have a choice: you can either get bitter or better."
It's interesting, the people in this room definitely self-identify as the middle class and hardworking sort that Hillary is talking about. Hillary's rhetoric really resonates with this crowd. By the way, the gym is almost full now.
She just pointed to a sign that reads "Hope: Hillary Offers Proven Experience."
Talking about fiscal discipline "it worked pretty well in the 90s." Place goes nuts. "What part of the 90s is my opponent criticizing? The peace or the prosperity?"
She's talking about the price of oil and gas. The people in this room are very angry about this issue. Even "strategic petroleum reserve" got a huge applause.
This is interesting. She's talking about investing in American infrastructure again and the way she puts it is "We're going to put people back to work rebuilding America.""Rebuilding" here has a double meaning that works quite well rhetorically, a nice addition to her stump speech.
The mention of "universal healthcare" gets a huge response, especially when she says "we're going to open up the same plan that federal employees have." She's framing it as a matter of fairness and a matter of universality, which Obama does not offer.
"I want to make education the passport to opportunity." I am consistently surprised what a strong response "I will end No Child Left Behind" gets. Interesting, this is new: "No Child Left Behind has singlehandedly raised property tax rates. The unfunded mandate of NCLB has been a direct tax increase at the property tax level.""We need to restore our moral authority around the world and that begins with ending the war in Iraq." OK, that is officially the biggest applause line of the night. "I will begin withdrawing troops within 60 days of my inauguration...Some people ask me 'why not the first day?' Because I don't think the Bush administration has made any plans and we need to be very careful about withdrawing our troops...I will be a commander in chief who will lead us out of Iraq but also put resources into Afghanistan."
"As we bring our troops home, let's take care of our veterans. It's one of the greatest obligations we have as a country."
"I can't do this unless I have your help. I know this is a spirited, close contest, we haven't seen anything like it before. That's why it's so important Pennsylvania gets to vote." Huuge applause. "Don't you think every American should have their voices heard? Have the chance to vote? And what about Michigan and Florida?" Again, huge applause.
"Think of this as the longest job interview in the world. We need to get this country back to where you are in charge. The president works for you."
She just suggested that Bush apologize to the country.
"You need someone to go up against the rightwing noice machine. One thing you know about me, they've been after me for 15 years and I'm still here."
Her closing line that's getting people on their feet and screaming is "It took a Clinton to clean up after the first Bush, it's going to take another Clinton to clean up after a second Bush."
She left the stage to Mellencamp's "Our Country."
Tags: 2008 Presidential election, Democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton (all tags)
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