Highlights from the DNC: Night Two

I  know it's Wednesday, and usually we'd be wondering on whatever strikes me. 

But, because we've got more  highlights from the Dems in Zoomland, we'll forgo our usual wondering and instead dive in and see what the main speakers had to say, starting with Stacey Abrams.

 This nation belongs to all of us and in every election, we choose how we will create a more perfect union. Not by taking sides, but by taking stock of where we are and what we need. This year’s choice could not be more clear. America faces a triple threat, a public health catastrophe, an economic collapse, and a reckoning with racial justice and inequality. So our choice is clear. A steady, experienced public servant who can lead us out of this crisis just like he’s done before, or a man who only knows how to deny and distract. A leader who cares about our families or a president who only cares about himself. We know Joe Biden. America, we need Joe Biden. 

Sally Yates. 

...from the moment President Trump took office, he’s used his position to benefit himself rather than our country. He’s trampled the rule of law, trying to weaponize our justice department to attack his enemies and protect his friends. 

His constant attacks on the FBI, the free press, inspectors general, federal judges, they all have one purpose, to remove any check on his abuse of power. Put simply, he treats our country like it’s his family business. This time, bankrupting our nation’s moral authority at home and abroad.

But our country doesn’t belong to him. It belongs to all of us. Joe Biden embraces that. He has spent his entire life putting our country first. He has never backed down from a challenge or a bully. He summons the best in us, and lives by the values that define us as Americans, service, integrity, courage, compassion.

There are countless stories of Joe Biden reaching out to someone in their moment of need. Well, this is our country’s moment of need. We need a president who respects our laws and the privilege of public service. Who reflects our values and cares about our people. We need a president who will restore the soul of America. We need Joe Biden.

Chuck Schumer.

Behind me is a site I see out of my window every night, the Statue of Liberty. The same site that greeted hopeful immigrants, like my grandparents. A symbol of freedom and a beacon of hope to the world.

Today, Donald Trump has divided our country, diminished our greatness, and demeaned everything that this statue represents. 

America, Donald Trump has quit on you. We need a president with dignity, integrity, and the experience to lead us out of this crisis. A man with a steady hand and a big heart who will never, ever quit on America. That man is my friend, Joe Biden.

Together, we can reignite the hope once felt by millions of men and women, huddled masses on creaking ships, who glimpsed this mighty woman with her torch, knowing they could build a better life here in America. And out of this long, national nightmare, America will finally awaken to a brighter future and a new day.

Jimmy Carter. 

We deserve a person with integrity and judgment, someone who is honest and fair, someone who is committed to what is best for the American people.

Joe is that kind of leader, and he is the right person for this moment in our nation’s history. He understands that honesty and dignity are essential traits that determine not only our vision, but our actions. More than ever, that’s what we need.

During these uncertain times, Joe Biden realizes that many American lives can be saved each day with the use of masks and testing, as recommended by our medical experts. Joe Biden must be our next president.

Bill Clinton. 

At a time like this, the Oval Office should be a command center. Instead, it’s a storm center. There’s only chaos. Just one thing never changes, his determination to deny responsibility and shift the blame. The buck never stops there.

Our party is united in offering you a very different choice, a go-to-work president. A down-to-earth, get-the-job-done guy. A man with a mission to take responsibility, not shift the blame; concentrate, not distract; unite, not divide. Our choice is Joe Biden.

Joe helped bring us back from a recession before, and he can do it again. In 2009, Barack Obama and Joe Biden started with the worst economy since the Great Depression. When they were done, they delivered more than six straight years of job growth.

In this job interview, the difference is stark. You know what Donald Trump will do with four more years, blame, bully, and belittle. And you know what Joe Biden will do, build back better. It’s Trump’s “us vs. them” America against Joe Biden’s America, where we all live and work together. It’s a clear choice. The future of our country is riding on it. Thank you.

Tom Perez. 

Indeed, every American story is a story about that hope, that sense of possibility. It’s what unites us, defines us, and it’s what sustains us now. We will work to meet our extraordinary challenges, because progress is made by the hopeful, not the cynical. We will do that work together because movements are built by the many, not the few.

As you watch tonight’s decidedly unconventional roll call and reflect on the diversity of our nation, remember you too are part of the American story. No matter where you come from or where you’re watching from tonight, you have a place in Joe Biden’s Democratic Party.

John Kerry.

This is the bottom line, our interests, our ideals, and our brave men and women in uniform can’t afford four more years of Donald Trump. Our troops can’t get out of harm’s way by hiding in the White House bunker. They need a president who will stand up for them. And President Biden will. Joe’s moral compass has always pointed in the right direction, from the fight to break the back of Apartheid, to the struggle to wake up the world to genocide in the Balkans. Joe understands that none of the issues of this world, not nuclear weapons, not the challenge of building back better after COVID, not terrorism, and certainly not the climate crisis, none can be resolved without bringing nations together with strength, and humility. Joe understands our values don’t limit our power, they magnify it. He knows you can’t spread democracy around the world if you don’t practice it at home.

Before Donald Trump, we used to talk about American exceptionalism. The only thing exceptional about the incoherent Trump foreign policy is that it has made our nation more isolated than ever before. Joe Biden knows we aren’t exceptional because we bluster that we are, we are exceptional because we do exceptional things. On June 6th, 1944, young Americans gave their lives and the beaches of Normandy to liberate the world from tyranny. Out of the ashes of that war we made peace and rebuilt the world. That was, and remains exceptional. It is the opposite of everything Donald Trump stands for. This moment is a fight for the security of America, and the world. Only Joe Biden can make America lead like America again. 

Colin Powell.

The values I learned growing up in the South Bronx, and serving in uniform were the same values that Joe Biden’s parents instilled in him in Scranton, Pennsylvania. I support Joe Biden for the presidency of the United States, because those values still define him. And we need to restore those values to the White House. Our country needs a commander in chief who takes care of our troops in the same way he would his own family. For Joe Biden, that doesn’t need teaching, it comes from the experience he shares with millions of military families, sending his beloved son off to war, and praying to God he would come home safe. Joe Biden will be a president we will all be proud to salute. With Joe Biden in the White House, you will never doubt that he will stand with our friends, and stand up to our adversaries, never the other way around. He will trust our diplomats and our intelligence community, not the flattery of dictators and despots.

He will make it his job to know when anyone dares to threaten us, he will stand up to our adversaries with strength and experience. They will know he means business. I support Joe Biden because beginning on day one, he will restore Americans leadership, and our moral authority. He’ll be a president who knows that America is strongest when, as he has said, we lead both by the power of our example, and the example of our power. He will restore America’s leadership in the world and restore the alliances we need to address the dangers that threaten our nation, from climate change to nuclear proliferation. Today, we are a country divided, and we have a president doing everything in his power to make it that way, and keep us that way. What a difference it will make to have a president who unites us, who restores our strength, and our soul. I still believe that in our hearts, we are the same America that brought my parents to our shores, an America that inspires freedom around the world. That’s the America Joe Biden will lead is our next president. Thank you very much.

Dr. Jill Biden.

We found that love holds a family together. Love makes us flexible and resilient. It allows us to become more than ourselves together. And though it can’t protect us from the sorrows of life, it gives us refuge, a home. How do you make a broken family whole? The same way you make a nation hole, with love and understanding, and with small acts of kindness, with bravery, with unwavering faith. You show up for each other in big ways and small ones again and again. It’s what so many of you are doing right now for your loved ones, for complete strangers, for your communities. There are those who want to tell us that our country is hopelessly divided, that our differences are irreconcilable, but that’s not what I’ve seen over these last few months. We’re coming together and holding onto each other. We’re finding mercy and grace in the moments we might have once taken for granted. We’re seeing that our differences are precious and our similarities, infinite. We have shown that the heart of this nation still beats with kindness and courage. That’s the soul of America Joe Biden is fighting for now.

...if you listen closely, you can hear the sparks of change in the air across this country. Educators, parents, first responders, Americans of all walks of life are putting their shoulders back, fighting for each other. We haven’t given up. We just need leadership worthy of our nation, worthy of you, honest leadership to bring us back together, to recover from this pandemic and prepare for whatever else is next.

Leadership to re-imagine what our nation will be. That’s Joe. He and Kamala will work as hard as you do every day to make this nation better. And if I have the honor of serving as your first lady, I will too. And with Joe, as president, these classrooms will ring out with laughter and possibility once again. The burdens we carry are heavy and we need someone with strong shoulders. I know that if we entrust this nation to Joe, he will do for your family what he did for ours, bring us together and make us whole, carry us forward in our time of need, keep the promise of America for all of us.

Tonight, we've got Barack, and HRC, and Kamala, among others - which should make for an interesting night don't you think?

Highlights tomorrow.