Hillary ran between the raindrops in south Florida today. She
greeted early voters in West Miami, stopped by a field office in Miami,
and visited Little Haiti. Then she went on to a rally in Pembroke
Pines where Randi Weingarten warmed up the crowd and Trayvon Martin's
mother, Sybrina Fulton, greeted her.
Joined
by Sybrina Fulton at a GOTV rally in Pembroke Pines, Florida, Hillary
Clinton vowed to keep fighting for kids, families, and our country as
president, just as she has done her entire career. Clinton also called
out Donald Trump for his dark and divisive view of America and
contrasted it with her vision of an America that is stronger together.
Clinton vowed to unify our country as president, saying, “I want to be
the president for everybody, everybody who agrees with me, people who
don’t agree with me, people who vote for me, people who don’t vote for
me.”
Clinton closed by encouraging the crowd to vote either on
Election Day or through early voting, as around 37 million Americans
already have. She also asked them to send Patrick Murphy to the U.S.
Senate, so we can end the gridlock paralyzing Washington. Clinton’s remarks, as transcribed, are below:
“Thank you, thank you so much! Hello, Pembroke Pines! Hello, Florida!
I
am thrilled to be here, and boy, is this a hardy group. Rain or shine,
you’re ready. I just looked over here – I saw a man who has changed his
sign from ‘I will vote’ to ‘I have voted.’ I am thrilled to be here with
all of you, and I want to start by thanking Sybrina Fulton for that
introduction.
I have to tell you on a very personal note, one of
the privileges of this campaign over the last year and a half has been
getting to know Sybrina and all the Mothers of the Movement. They are
some of the bravest people you’ll ever meet. They have taken the
heartbreak and the anguish of losing their children to either gun
violence or encounters with the police, and they’ve turned it into
action.
The Trayvon Martin Foundation that Sybrina founded to
honor her son is part of the agenda, part of her mission. I’m very
grateful to her for her commitment to make America a fairer, safer,
better place. Thank you Sybrina.
Now, we’ve got a bunch of great
folks here with me. I want to have stand up, and I hope that you will
send him to work with me in the Senate: Congressman Patrick Murphy. Also
with us, Congressman Ted Deutch, Congresswoman Debbie
Wasserman-Schultz, Congressman Alcee Hastings, the mayor of Pembroke
Pines, Frank Ortis, the vice mayor of Broward County, Barbara Sharief,
Broward County school board member Patti Good, Mayor Phil Levine, all
the way from Miami Beach, and I especially want to thank my friend of so
many years – I was trying to think about this as I was driving. I don’t
remember when we first met, but we were both really, really young,
Randi Weingarten. And along with thanking Randi, the president of the
AFT, let me thank all of the educators, all the teachers. I think it’s
about time we stop scapegoating teachers and start supporting teachers.
Now,
every day in this campaign is exciting, and being here with all of you
the last Saturday before Election Day really gets me geared up. We are
seeing tremendous momentum, large numbers of people turning out,
breaking records in a lot of places.
Now just in case you didn’t
notice, I got to say, I was with Jay-Z and Beyoncé. They were amazing.
You can go online and watch it. It was the most extraordinary show. When
a famous entertainer says, ‘Hey, I want to support you. Help get out
the vote,’ that is such a gift, but the thought that went into what they
did last night – my personal favorite part was Beyonce had her backup
singers and dancers in pantsuits.
But what was really touching to
me is both of them talked about what this election means for their
daughter and for all of our daughters and our sons. Every single child.
So I’ve got to ask you: are you ready? How many of you have already
voted? Ok, so that means you’ve got time to get everyone else out to
vote, right?
Now, did any of you see the debates? I spent four
and a half hours standing next to Donald Trump on that stage, proving
once and for all that I have the stamina to be president of the United
States.
Now, he kept saying things like, ‘Well, what have you done
for 30 years?’ And I keep thinking to myself, ‘Donald, you don’t want
to go there.’ I mean, I would have been happy to spend all four and a
half hours talking about what I did compared to what he’s done for the
last 30 years.
As your First Lady, I helped to create the
Children’s Health Insurance Program, which insures 8 million kids a
year. As Senator, I worked to rebuild New York City, make our country
safer and get our first responders the health care they needed. As your
Secretary of State, I traveled to 112 countries. I’ve stood up for human
rights, women’s rights, worker’s rights and LGBT rights. I have spent
my career fighting for kids and families, and if you elect me, that’s
what I’ll keep doing.
Now, my friends, you are a hearty bunch
standing out here in the rain. I don’t think I need to tell you all of
the wrong things about Donald Trump, but here’s what I want you to
remember. I want to be the president for everybody, everybody who agrees
with me, people who don’t agree with me, people who vote for me, people
who don’t vote for me. So let’s get out, let’s vote for the future,
let’s vote what we want for our country and our children and our
grandchildren. God bless you!”
And then the deluge!
Let's build a BIG BLUE WALL and Make Donald Trump pay for his lies, shady cronyism, and innuendo!
Make calls with the tweeters!
Hillary hit the ground running today in the Sunshine State! She
began her day with a "voting brunch" at an Irish pub in Miami, went to
Sunday services at the New Mount Olive Baptist Church in Fort
Lauderdale, joined supporters for a bite to eat at Betty's Soul Food,
greeted supporters in Pompano Beach, and, finally, rallied voters at The
Manor Complex in Wilton Manors, Florida.
At
the Mount Olive Baptist Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Hillary
Clinton made the case that the upcoming election is the most important
in our lifetime, since “this election is not just about issues – as
important as issues are […] it is also about how we treat each other and
how we show respect for one another.” Clinton vowed if elected to pass
end-to-end criminal justice reform, implement common sense gun reform
and combat systemic racism in our society. Clinton spoke of the Mothers
of the Movement, who lost their children to police-involved incidents
and gun violence, and the families in Flint, who were poisoned by lead
in their water, as testimony to the urgent need to break down all the
barriers still facing African-Americans families, adding, “We’re going
to do everything we can in the remaining days of this election, but also
afterwards, to make it very clear there’s a place in America for
everyone of us. Everyone deserves to have a place, and we’re not going
to shy away from taking on injustice, and that includes systemic racism,
sexism, prejudice against other people – because when someone is being
treated with bigotry and discrimination, that opens the door for
everyone, then, to be subject to the same kind of mistreatment.”
Clinton
ended by urging the crowd to get out and vote and take advantage of
early voting, so we can continue the progress of the last eight years
and build an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top.
More than 20 million people, including 3 million Floridians, have taken
advantage of early voting, Clinton said, so that America not only
remains great but so that we make it even greater. Clinton added, “We
cannot get distracted by all the noise in the political environment, we
have to stay focused and remember what Michelle Obama taught us – when
they go low, we go high! So no matter what is thrown at us, we have to
stay focused on our goals.” Clinton’s remarks, as transcribed, are below:
“This
the day the Lord has made. I am so honored to be here with you, and I
thank, I thank Reverend Davidson for that very warm welcome, also
Reverend Kennedy. I just learned you have two pastors from Alabama!
It
is also a great honor to be here with my longtime friend Congressman
Alcee Hastings. But the special treat is to be here with all of you, the
members of the New Mount Olive Baptist Church, and anyone who, like me,
is visiting today can feel the warmth and embrace of this congregation.
Please be seated.
I am, I am, I’m up so high. It is very kind of
Pastor Davidson to put this box because he’s a tall man. But for me, it
is a special, special honor. I looked into the history of this church,
and for nearly a century now, you have been a source of strength and
solace, not only to your members but also to the community. And that
means a great deal to me because you answered the charge that Jesus gave
us – to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to visit the sick, and to
welcome the stranger.
And as we know, we are not asked to love
one another. We are not encouraged. We are not even urged. We are
commanded. In fact, Jesus said that was his greatest commandment. And
this church has answered that call – by serving our youth, providing
affordable housing for families, ministering to the sick, and investing
in neighborhoods neglected for too long.
So this is a remarkable
faith community. Congressman Hastings, when we were talking about where
we could go to church, he said, ‘This is the place. This is the place.’
But I want to just spend a minute talking about this great commandment
because when I used to occasionally teach Sunday school back in Little
Rock, I would talk about how we were commanded to love our neighbor as
ourself. So to me, it’s really a two parts commandment. We want people
to love themselves because it is out of that love and acceptance that we
can go and love another. And one thing we have to do in our country now
is to make sure that everyone, everyone who is equal in God’s eye is
equal in our eye, right?
It doesn’t matter how much money they
have or what their profession is or what their background has been. We
are commanded to love one another as we love ourselves so I hope we will
keep that in mind because we’re called to treat one another with
acceptance because every one of us has value.
I have made kids and
families the cause of my life. I want to make that the mission of my
presidency where I will do everything I can if I am so fortunate enough
to be elected to serve you. Every single day in the White House to think
about what can be done to give every single child in America the chance
to live up to his or her God given potential. I think that is what we
are […].
We have to continue to knock down those barriers that
stand in the way of people being able to fulfill their potential. But I
know we can do this. It’s something I learned from my mother who remains
my greatest inspiration and motivation. She was abandoned by her
parents as a young girl. She was sent to live with grandparents across
the country who decided they didn’t want her either. She ended up on her
own at the age of 14 as a maid and babysitter in someone else’s home.
When I learned about all of this as I got older and started asking my
mother questions about her life, I was so struck by something she said
when I asked, ‘How could you, how could you keep going?’ She said, ‘It
was the kindness of strangers and people in her life who kept her
going.’
The first-grade teacher who saw she had nothing to eat at
lunch and brought enough food to give her lunch every day. And even the
woman whose house she had to work in, who knew my mother wanted
desperately to go to high school, said to my mom, ‘If you get up early
and you get your chores done, you can go to high school, but you’re
going to have to come right back.’ Now that might sound harsh to our
ears, but to my mother, it was a gift. So for four years, she got up
early, she got her chores done, and she ran to high school. She couldn’t
stay after school to do any activities, but getting her education was
that important to her. So when I see young kids struggling against some
pretty high odds, I think about my mom and I think about how she got
through with the help and kindness of others to form a loving family.
And I know that we have to look out for each other and lift each other
up. That takes strength, that takes resilience. Everyone, everyone is
knocked down in life, and as my mother taught me and showed me is
whether you get back up.
And those of us who are people of faith
know that getting back up is part of what we are called to do, for
ourselves, for those around us. Scripture tells us to ‘rejoice in our
sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance
produces character, and character produces hope.’
And I want all
of us to look around and think about the disappointments we’ve had in
our own lives and how we were able to overcome them. It is, for me, part
of my mission, because I want people to understand that this election
is not just about issues – as important as issues are. Not just about
getting the economy working for everyone, not just those at the top.
It’s not just about making college affordable for everybody and helping
you pay back and pay down and get rid of your student debt. It’s not
just about healthcare for everybody. It is about all of that, but it is
also about how we treat each other and how we show respect for one
another.
In the last year and a half, I have met so many people
who have also inspired me. I’ve met women who call themselves Mothers of
the Movement who’ve lost their children to gun violence or police
incidents. Now they spend all of their time reaching out to others who
have been similarly struck with the loss of a child but also to change
what has happened to prevent other parents from experiencing the same
pain.
I’ve met parents and kids in Flint who are going to schools
that are falling down around them, who can’t drink the water that comes
out of the taps in their communities, who wonder whether anybody really
sees them or cares about them. And we’re going to do everything we can
in the remaining days of this election, but also afterwards, to make it
very clear there’s a place in America for everyone of us. Everyone
deserves to have a place, and we’re not going to shy away from taking on
injustice, and that includes systemic racism, sexism, prejudice against
other people – because when someone is being treated with bigotry and
discrimination, that opens the door for everyone, then, to be subject to
the same kind of mistreatment.
We need to fix our criminal
justice system from end to end, and I know that we will do that working
together, communities and the police, because everybody is safer when
the police respect the communities they protect and the communities also
work with the police, right? And we’re going to fight for common sense
gun safety reform to get these guns out of the hands of people who
should not have them in the first place.
But it’s more than just
being against things. We’ve got to be for what will make a difference. I
want to end the so-called ‘school-to-prison pipeline.’ Let’s start with
early childhood education. Let’s make it possible for every single
child to be prepared to learn in school. Are there any educators and
teachers or retired teachers who are here? I want to be your partner,
but I also want to partner with the faith community and with civic and
non-profit groups to reach every single family, particularly young
families, to help them know how best to prepare their children to learn,
to develop the skills and the vocabulary. 80 percent of our brain is
physically formed by the age of three, and the more we can talk and sing
and read to our babies, the better prepared they will be to actually
succeed when they get to kindergarten and first grade.
And then
we’ve got to do more to make sure that every school in every zip code
has what they need to be able to prepare our young people for the
future. We need more computer science teachers, and we need to end the
digital divide. We have five million homes in America with school-aged
children that do not have access to the Internet. So when the teachers
here give an assignment and assume that the child is going to be able to
go on the Internet to look for information, they can’t. That is wrong.
That is unjust. We’re going to finish the job of making sure every
single family is connected to affordable, high-speed Internet.
And
we are going to make sure that we bring technical education back into
high school, because we have disadvantaged a lot of our kids who have
different skills. They learn differently. I want to make it possible for
everyone who wants a four-year college education to be able to go and
afford it, but I also want people who want to be machinists and welders
and tool-and-die makers and computer coders and health aides and other
worthy, important jobs to feel that they’re included, too.
And
when it comes to college, I want you to know my goal is that, for every
public college and university, you can go tuition-free if you make less
than $125,000 a year. And I’ve got to say, that’s most people in
America. But if you are among the fortunate who make more than that,
we’re going to make it debt-free: which means maybe you’ve got five or
five kids and you’re over that line. Pay what you can afford, but
otherwise, don’t go into debt. This should be an investment that we make
in the young people in America who make it possible for you to afford
to go to college.
And I have a particular commitment to
historically black colleges and universities. Think of all the
professionals, all of the business and political leaders, people who
have gone through the halls of HBCUs. I want to be sure that we continue
to support them, and I will do everything I can with a $25 million fund
to make sure that the facilities and the resources and the faculty are
able to continue to perform this important service.
And then, if
you already have debt, we are going to get your interest rates down. We
are going to help you pay it back as a percentage of your income. It is
just wrong. If you go out to be a teacher or a social worker or a nurse
or a police officer or a firefighter and you don’t start out making a
lot of money, you can barely afford to pay that. I want it to be a set
percentage of what your income is, and if you’re willing to do public
service in the professions I just mentioned, you should be able to get
it paid down even faster. And if you do some national service, you
should be able to be forgiven from the debt that comes from attending
college. And I’m going to defend President Obama’s legacy. And
especially his Affordable Care Act which gave 20 million people the
chance to get income insurance. I know how hard it is to be president.
I’ve worked through one, I live with another.
This is a tough job.
I’ve said before. You’ve seen these young men, they go into office like
my husband and President Obama. And when they […] they turn […] Now
I’ve been coloring my hair for years and years, and you will not see me
go white. But seriously, we have some big issues we have to address. And
the last thing we need, is someone who is a loose cannon. I’m willing
to believe the slogan of my campaign, we are stronger together. And I
want to be the president for everybody. Democrats, Republicans
Independents, everybody. But I can’t do that without the help of people
who understand that our future is at stake in this election. My name may
be on the ballot, but every issue you care about – […] and so many more
[…] because whether we go forward or backwards is really up to us. And I
– how many of you have seen the debates, I stood next to Donald Trump
for three debates – for and a half hours, proving, conclusively that I
have the stamina to be president.
But in the third debate when he
refused to say he would respect the outcome of the election – nobody has
ever said that before. No Democrat, no Republican. It really is so
troubling. We move forward – and it has not been easy, making progress
in America. Moving toward a more perfect union. And we need to
understand the work still to be done, but also, what we have
accomplished as President Obama has said many times, we have made
progress. So we have to protect that progress while we build an even
better, stronger, and fairer future. So, we have nine days left in the
most important election of our lifetimes. And there is some good news.
With all the negativity and everything happening, 200 million people –
the most in our history have registered to vote.
I think they
believe there’s a lot at stake, and of that number, more than 50 million
are young people. Which is really exciting. 20 million have already
voted, including three million right here in Florida. And so we cannot
get distracted by all the noise in the political environment, we have to
stay focused and remember what Michelle Obama taught us – when they go
low, we go high! So no matter what is thrown at us, we have to stay
focused on our goals. We have to understand that the best way to
repudiate a negative, hateful, bigoted vision is to […] as scripture
tells us, where there is no vision, […] perish and I would only slightly
edit that – where there is a slightly negative, hateful, divisive,
negative vision, the people also perish. So we need to lift up our eyes
and have a vision of what we will do and become together. No matter what
is thrown our way, we will not back down. We are not going to give up.
We are going to reject anyone […] and remember that […] commended to try
and love each other. And as the pastor said, there’s always early
voting places, all over Broward County, all over Miami-Dade County that
are just waiting for you to vote.
And I always like to end with a
Scripture that’s particularly important to me. ‘Let us not grow weary in
doing good, for in due season, we shall reap, if we do not lose heart.’
So let us, my friends, have faith in one another. I pledge to you that I
will do everything I can to heal the divides, to repair the breaches
that have been created. I don’t want to be the president of only some
Americans. I want to be the president for all Americans. If you will
give me your prayers and your support going forward, I believe that we
can build on what has been accomplished by President Obama. We can go
even further. We can become even greater, because we already are great –
if we could just recognize that, accept that, and do our part to make
it better for everyone.
And I will conclude with thanking you,
thanking you for having me here with you in this church, at this point
in time, and certainly for welcoming […] in my heart. And I look forward
to working with you to be your partner in making America […]. Thank
you, and God bless you!”
Pompano Beach
Wilton Manors
This was the overflow crowd at the Wilton Manors event.
