After a pretty brutal week, Hillary Clinton gave an incredible speech at a Children’s Defense Fund ceremony that honored her lifelong child advocacy work.
She spoke about the inspiration she draws from her own mother (who overcame an abusive childhood) and the belief that we all need to work to make sure every child has an advocate. She spoke about the work that was done to expand Medicaid to cover more pregnant women and children, about criminal justice reform, about making schools more accessible to children with disabilities, about the children of immigrants who fear deportation, about making sure poor children receive the same shot as anyone else.
That “fact” about Clinton defending a child rapist and laughing about it, came about in May of 2016 this year. It’s a new lie which is part of a carefully orchestrated smear campaign that’s been running against her for the last 20 years because the thought of a woman in power scares certain powerful men shitless.
What is true about it, is that in 1975 Hillary Clinton (then Hillary Rodham) was appointed to represent a man
charged with raping a 12-year-old girl. This was her job. And just in case you can’t wrap your head around how being a defense lawyer works then I’m sorry to tell you that lots of lawyers have had to defend people they have found to be monstrous. When people say in movies “you have the right to an attorney” they’re serious, everyone has that right, even child rapists. Hillary took the case reluctantly, which ended in a plea bargain for the defendant. He did not “get away with it”. He actually plead guilty. That’s what plea bargain means.
Hillary Clinton did not volunteer to be the defendant’s lawyer, she did
not laugh about the case’s outcome, she did not assert that the
complainant “made up the rape story,” she did not claim she knew the
defendant to be guilty, and she did not “free” the defendant.
Do some basic research before you support such claims. (x)
And just in case you’re too lazy to click the link, here’s a direct quote from Hillary and Gibson, the prosecution lawyer:
[Prosecuting attorney Mahlon Gibson] called me to tell me an indigent
prisoner accused of raping a twelve-year-old girl wanted a woman lawyer.
[Prosecutor Mahlon] Gibson had recommended that the criminal court
judge, Maupin Cummings, appoint me. I told Mahlon I really didn’t feel
comfortable taking on such a client, but Mahlon gently reminded me that I
couldn’t very well refuse the judge’s request.
*
“Hillary told me she didn’t want to take that case, she made that very clear,” recalls prosecutor Gibson, who phoned her with the judge’s order.
And murder? If we’re talking about the decisions all politicians make, then by that logic you could turn around and say that Obama has murdered 116 innocent civilians because of drone strikes (x), George W Bush murdered over
110,937 civilians in the Iraq war alone. (x) People might well believe Bernie Sanders is the savior we’ve been denied, but you’re dreaming if you think he could have taken the office of the presidency and avoided bloodshed entirely. But since we’re presumably cherry picking about bloodshed on politicians hands, lets talk about The Authorization of Military Force Against Terrorists Act, passed on September 14th 2001. This act is responsible for the United State’s continued engagement in the Middle East over the last 15 years—And Bernie Sanders voted for it. And I love Bernie, I would have voted for him in a heartbeat. But when we’re talking about “murder” on the hands of politicians hands, we cannot cherry pick the facts we want to believe in and ignore the rest.
Hillary Clinton is not a monster. Hillary Clinton does messy jobs no one else is willing to do, and she does them well. But Hillary Clinton is also the person who showed up at Ground Zero following in the wake of
9/11 to witness the carnage for herself. Clinton who did not do it
for photo-ops as so many did, and took the time to talk to first
responders and to make sure they
were getting the resources and help they needed to carry on their work. Clinton who advocated for those same people to receive health care when it was revealed the Bush administration lied about the air around Ground Zero not being toxic to breathe, putting rescuers at further risk. Clinton who stood by people for years and made sure they were doing okay in the aftermath:
Gorman recalls being pleasantly surprised by Clinton’s commitment, both
in terms of her mastery of policy detail and on a personal level. “She
would call me on my cellphone to ask how I was doing, how my members
were doing,” he said. “One time I was pumping gas at a Texaco station,
it was Christmas Eve, and she wanted to know how things were going. When
a senator calls someone on my level, that’s impressive.”
But we don’t hear so much about that do we? We don’t hear about Hillary who has been campaigning for universal health care since 1993 (x). Hillary who has stood with Planned Parenthood for a long time and who remains their most stalwart advocate (x)
And the reason we don’t hear about them is because Hillary has endured a 20 year smear campaign against her, and this is important, because she is a woman who dares to show ambition (x). So when you believe the things you read without fact checking them, you are giving weight and precedence to even bigger lies which has its roots in female oppression. Which is disgusting.
Do I agree with everything she has ever said and done? No of course not. But on that same level I don’t agree with everything Bernie Sanders has ever said and done either. Do I believe she is the most qualified candidate to be the next President of the United States? Unequivocally.
I’m a foreigner in this country and cannot vote, but morally and with the utmost support for the hope of the betterment of this country #I’m with her.
So that happened. The most surreal presidential debate in history unfolded here Sunday night at Washington University, as Donald Trump melted down on stage in front of millions of American voters watching at home. The night included Hillary Clinton having her own iconic “race speech” moment.
Y’all still wanna vote for this old white feminist thot
When Hilary dies
And this people of the internet, is what politicians call, a “sound bite”
“…And our problem is not all kooks and Klansman. It’s also in the cruel joke that goes unchallenged. It’s in the off-hand comments about not wanting “those people” in the neighborhood.
Let’s be honest: For a lot of well-meaning, open-minded white people, the sight of a young Black man in a hoodie still evokes a twinge of fear. And news reports about poverty and crime and discrimination evoke sympathy, even empathy, but too rarely do they spur us to action or prompt us to question our own assumptions and privilege.”
if you want to be political, stop being lazy
Hillary Clinton: Talks frankly about the very real problem of prejudice and people making racist assumptions when they see black people dressed a certain way
Media: QUICKLY WHAT’S THE EASIEST WAY WE CAN TRY AND SPIN THIS TO TRY AND MAKE HER LOOK RACIST
This is why I hate clickbait articles. Also, Trump has said far worse about Black people, and it wasn’t taken out of context either.
Yeah when Donald Trump says something that sounds racist it’s not because it was taken out of context, it’s because it was REALLY RACIST
But no people would rather take stuff out of context to try and make Hillary look bad than focus on the ways Trump ACTUALLY IS bad
I want everyone to know what Hillary Clinton did tonight. It isn’t just that she ‘won’ the debate; Democratic presidential candidates have been winning these debates on substance since 1980 and often, it doesn’t help them in the election. She went in there tonight with two objectives: 1) make people warm up to her personally and 2) make Donald Trump self-destruct. Donald Trump’s objective was to make people believe that he is a grown-up, or at least that he can pretend to be a grown-up for ninety minutes.
I knew how it was going to go down as soon as she said, “Donald, it’s good to be with you.” I knew for two reasons. First: because she really meant it. She was genuinely pleased to be on a stage with him. And it’s not because she likes him. It’s because she knew she was going to fuck him up and she knew exactly how she was going to do it and she was really looking forward to it.
Second: she called him Donald. She called him Donald all night long. Consistently and deliberately and for three good reasons. One: it reminds everyone that he has never held a position that gives him any right to a title other than “Mr.” Two: it seems friendly, but it also really pisses him off. And three: By calling him Donald, she avoided repeating his brand name.
This is the level on which Clinton and her team are working. Donald Trump has staked everything on his last name–the name he inherited from his father. It’s Trump this, Trump that, Trump the other. When he puts his name on a thing, it doesn’t say Donald anywhere, it just says TRUMP. TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP. Trump is a good brand name. It’s a noun, it’s a verb, it’s triumphant-sounding. “Donald” has none of those qualities. If she’d been calling him “Mr. Trump,” every time she said it, she would be advertising the Trump brand, which is of course the exact opposite of what she’s there to do. So she called him Donald. And he could not take it.
Without losing her temper, raising her voice, or descending to his level, she made that bastard reveal himself to the Jedi. She brought up things that are going to seem completely unsympathetic to voters, but of which Trump himself is really proud: like not paying any federal taxes (”That makes me smart,” Trump said), stiffing his contractors (”Maybe they didn’t do good work,” Trump said; “I took advantage of the laws,” Trump said), his repeated bankruptcies, the $14 million loan from his father (”A very small loan,” Trump called it). She noted that he exploited the housing crisis for personal gain (”That’s called business,” Trump said). She called him out for his racism; he responded by proving that she’s right (Trump, apparently, is aggrieved that he did not get a medal for opening a club that did not discriminate against Black people even though it was in a really nice part of Florida). When he made what to me was a cryptic jab about her “staying home” while he was traveling, she just smiled and said, “I think Donald just criticized me for preparing for this debate. And yes, I did. You know what else I prepared for? I prepared to be President. And I think that’s a good thing.”
He tried to talk over her. She ignored him. That was beautiful. One, because it’s exactly the way Trump should be treated, all the time; and two, because it made him even madder. His inability to get a rise out of her made him lose his mind. This is a man who wants to be President of the United States. And he spent an entire 2-minute segment begging people to call Sean Hannity so he could vouch for the fact that Trump was always against the Iraq war. Nobody would talk to Sean Hannity, he complained. Why would no one talk to Sean Hannity?
She was capable of actually remembering the original question and getting around to answering it after dealing with the human distraction standing next to her. He often seemed to completely forget the question seconds into his answer. At times, he was so busy talking over the moderator that he didn’t even hear the question.
Hillary Clinton has been dealing with entitled, narcissistic, patronizing, asshole men her entire life as a Senator and as Secretary of State. She has skills in this area. She used them all tonight; and she enjoyed doing it. She looked like she was at ease, confident, and having a great time. She looked young. That was the way I put it to Mrs. Plaidder, and she agreed. She looked fresh, and energized, and exhilarated by the challenge. And that only made Trump’s “stamina” bullshit seem even dumber.
She stayed focused, despite his distractions. She dropped every bomb she came to drop at exactly the right moment. She used everything he bragged about against him. She made him too mad to put together a coherent sentence. And she smiled.
We knew she could to the job. We now know she can win this election.
During, I believe, the 2012 presidential election, people used to pass around a photo of Obama pointing forcefully at the camera with the caption, “Everybody chill the fuck out. I got this.”
Y’all can chill the fuck out now. Hillary Clinton has this shit handled. She knows how he works and if he is ever fool enough to share a stage with her again she will fillet him. And yes. I AM WITH HER.
make sure you’re registered to vote HERE, it’s so easy to do.
Yes, she looked great and did really well. I look forward to more of the same. And after that comes the tough part: putting the right person who actually stands a chance of being elected into the Oval Office.
Pleas go get registered NOW. Then VOTE.
When he puts his name on a thing, it doesn’t say Donald
anywhere, it just says TRUMP. TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP. Trump is a
good brand name. It’s a noun, it’s a verb, it’s triumphant-sounding.
This is endlessly hilarious to me, because in certain parts of Britain ‘trump’ is slang for ‘fart’.
Donald Trump, a man who has never been elected to any public office, just tried to describe the Presidency to Hillary Clinton, the most over qualified candidate in the history of our country.
Hillary Clinton, when asked if police are biased against African-Americans at tonight’s debate.
She talk about internalized racism and systemic racism. It was the only time Trump didn’t interrupt her, because he was just trying to catch up and figure out what she was talking about. In response, he went off about Obama’s birth certificate, which says it all.
