Today’s Hillary News & Views begins with coverage of last night’s MSNBC Town Hall.
MSNBC has the full transcript.
Here are some highlights.
Clinton on the Democratic Primary:
Well I think that what we've had is a very spirited contest. Certainly we share a lot of the same goals. We have a commitment to doing something about inequality, more good jobs and rising incomes, we have a commitment to try to counter the much-too-heavy influence that money has, particularly by overturning Citizens United -- I think we diagnose the problems in very similar ways. But as I have said repeatedly, it's not enough just to diagnose the problem, you have to have solutions, you have to be able to demonstrate you can achieve results.
And that's why throughout this campaign I've been laying out plans, I've been talking about what I'll do, I've been as specific as it's possible to be in a campaign, and I think voters respond to that. That's why -- you know I do have far more votes than anybody else. On either side. And I think it's because people want not just to understand better what we think the problem is but what are we going to do about it? Because at the end of the day that's what the real outcome should be about.
Rachel, let's look where we are right now. I've got 10.4 million votes. I have 2.7 million more folks, real people, showing up to cast their vote, to express their opinion than Senator Sanders. I have a bigger lead in pledged delegates than Senator Obama when I ran against him in 2008 ever had over me. I am winning. And I'm winning because of what I stand for and what I've done (APPLAUSE) and what I stand for.
Look, I think we have much more in common and I want to unify the Party, but my Wall Street plan is much more specific than his. We saw that when he couldn't even answer questions in the New York Daily News interview. I have laid out a very clear set of objectives about not just reining in the banks -- because we already have Dodd-Frank, which President Obama passed inside (ph) and I said I will implement it. But I've gone further.
He has yet to join me in going after the shadow banking industry. So there are so many areas where I'm more specific, where I have a track record, where I explain what I will do and I think that's why I have 2.7 million more votes than he does.
On Post-Primary Party Unity:
Let's look at what happened in 2008, because that's the closest example.
Then-Senator Obama and I ran a really hard race. It was so much closer than the race right now between me and Senator Sanders. We had (ph) pretty much the same amount of popular votes. By some measures I have (ph) slightly more popular votes. He has slightly more pledged delegates.
We got to the end in June and I did not put down conditions. I didn't say, "You know what, if Senator Obama does x, y and z, maybe I'll support him. I said, "I am supporting Senator Obama, because no matter what our differences might be, they pale in comparison to the differences between us and the Republicans." That's what I did.
At that time 40 percent of my supporters said they would not support him. So from the time I withdrew, until the time I nominated him -- I nominated him at the Convention in Denver -- I spent an enormous amount of time convincing my supporters to support him. And I'm happy to say the vast majority did.
Now wait a minute. I have the greatest respect for Senator Sanders. But really, what he and his supporters are now saying just doesn't add up. I have 2.7 million more votes than he has. I have more than 250 more pledged delegates. I'm very proud of the campaign that we have run and the support we have gotten and of course we're gonna work together. I, as I said, I share a lot of the same goals. We are going to work together.
I would never tell him what to do. Nobody told me -- I concluded after it was over in June that Senator Obama was going to be the nominee and I didn't want to hurt him. I didn't want to keep this going, so I stood up and said that it's over. And I withdrew.
And then I went to work to help get him elected, and I'm very glad I did. It was good for the country. It was the right thing to do.
But I am ahead and let's start from that premise when we talk about what happens next, OK?
That is what I think one does. That is certainly what I did and I hope that we will see the same this year.
On the GOP and the Koch brothers:
And you know I tweeted I really am not looking for endorsements from people who deny climate change and who have the views that the Koch brothers have had for so many years, so I'm gonna stay focused on what I'm doing right now. I will let the Republicans come to an agreement, maybe it won't happen before their convention in July as to who will be the nominee because I have no idea what the latest alliance between Cruz and Kasich will be, that's for them sort out.
But I'm gonna keep making the case to the American people about what I think we need to do right now to try to make sure we have broad-based prosperity, that we create opportunities for every American, get back to the basic bargain that I believe in, that if you work hard, you should get ahead and stay ahead, and your family should be coming right along with you. Focusing on education and healthcare and all the other issues that I've talked about and I've laid out specific plans about -- you know I know that for a long time people were saying," Why is she raising all these plans, you know? I mean my gosh, she has a plan for everything."
Actually when you run for President I think you should tell people exactly what you're going to do. You shouldn't make promises you can't keep. You shouldn't just rant and rave with a Trump-like demagoguery, you should tell people what you're going to do because you should want people to hold you accountable for actually delivering, and that's what I've tried to do.
On Downballot Democrats and Senator Sanders in a Clinton Administration:
Well, I can't answer that because obviously I don't have the nomination yet. I'm not yet elected president but here's what I will say. I'm already raising money for Democrats up and down the ballot. I am dedicated to electing Democrats -- it's something that I've spent many years doing. I am a Democrat and I want to see more Democrats elected from the small boroughs in Montgomery County to Philadelphia to across the country.
So you can count on me doing that because I feel very strongly that we need to have a vital, dynamic Democratic Party. We need to recruit more people into it. We need to have a bigger pipeline so that more people are taking local positions and then moving up the ladder and I want to be a very strong ally of elected Democrats across the country.
Well, I think that we have some good examples from our two most recent Democratic presidents. I happen to be looking hard at what my husband accomplished and what President Obama accomplished. And I know there are some who raise questions about how much they could have done that maybe they didn't do but I had a front row seat both with the Clinton administration and the Obama administration. And I know how hard they work and I know how much they got accomplished when they had a Democratic Congress.
If you look at the first two years of my husband's administration, you look at the first two years of President Obama's administration and then what happened? They pushed through a lot of changes. They pushed through regulation on guns, they pushed through the Affordable Care Act. They pushed through a lot. The deficit reduction plan, the Dodd-Frank regulations.
What happened? Democrats didn't show up in the midterm elections. So here's how I want to change the Democratic party: I want to be absolutely clear that when we have a Democratic president we have to support that Democratic president and we have to show up in midterm. And we have to elect governors and state legislatures and county officials because that's how you have the kind of broad based political campaign and the momentum you need to get change at all levels.
Right now majority of states are run by Republican governors and we see what they're doing. On choice, on voting rights, on LGBT rights. It makes a difference so my job will be to make sure that the Democratic party is producing results through our elected officials, electing more Democrats and then convincing our supporters to turn out and vote in midterm elections.
I do absolutely think it can be changed. I want to have the kind of emphasis on reaching out to voters and concerned citizens and elected officials that doesn't just happen every four years, that happens every month of every year. And that is -- if you take a lesson from what the Republicans have done. They're in trouble right now but they never quit working on electing Republicans, on creating the kind of base that they need to put people into office and we need to be doing exactly the same thing.
On Systemic Racism and Sexism:
We are still facing and struggling with systemic racism. It's true in employment and promotion and other job opportunities. It's true in education, it's true in health care, it's true in the criminal justice system. That's why I talk about breaking down all the barriers. We have economic barriers to be sure but we have very entrenched barriers of discrimination.
So here are some things that I think we have to do. Number one, we have to talk about it more and as a white person, I have to talk about it more and say that we are not a pro-racial society. We still struggle with racism and it is …
It is not only wrong but it is holding us back because for every young woman like yourself -- ready, willing, able to get to work who is held back that not only hurts you, it hurts us. We want as productive a society as possible. So we have to enforce the civil rights law. We have to use the bully pulpit which I intend to use to speak out about systemic racism every chance I get -- to talk to organizations like the American Bar Association in your case as a lawyer. To speak up and say, "we still have work to do."
When I was a young lawyer, I chaired the commission on women in the profession because there's also a lot of sexism still. And even though we came up with a lot of good recommendations we still haven't fully implemented them and people are still not being fairly based on gender, based on race. So I want to enforce the laws, I want to make it clear that this is unacceptable, I want to speak out about it and then I want to call people into the White House because one of the great powers of the president is to be the conveyer in chief.
Bring people in and say, "you've got to do more and here are ideas that we have that have worked" -- excuse me. "And you have to try to implement those." And that's exactly what I intend to do because I don't want to see any young person held back because of any of these barriers. And so I'm going to try to tackle all of them head on.
On Minimum Wage and Indexing:
Well, first of all let me say this because I think the facts are important here. The facts are obviously critical. I have supported the fight for 15. I supported raising the minimum wage in Los Angeles, in Seattle, in New York City and I stood with Governor Cuomo (ph) after he passed a $15 minimum wage increase in New York. So what I have said is I wanted to align myself with the Democratic members of the Senate who have come around to a $12 national level.
But I want to go higher than that in any place that will go higher than that. That's why I have supported these cities and these states and in fact, in New York which Senator Sanders and others have called a model it works the way that I think it should. You will get to $15 faster in the city than you will in the small towns and rural areas upstate.
In Philadelphia you can probably get faster to 15 than you can in rural places in Pennsylvania. So my goal is to raise the bottom. Getting to 12 since we are at $7.25 would be a major accomplish and the real difference is not between Senator Sanders and myself. We both want to raise the minimum wage. The difference is with Republicans who do not and Donald Trump who actually says that wages are too high in America.
So I think our battle has to be with the Democrats who want to raise it and are on the front lines doing so and the Republicans who refuse to acknowledge the terrible struggles that people are facing because you -- at $7.25, $9.50, $10 -- that's not enough. So I'm going to continue to fight for 15 but I did go along with the other Democrats in the Senate who did a lot of work on this because if you have different parts of the country where they're not going to move.
They're not moving off of 7.25, let's get everybody to 12 and then index it to the cost of living so we don't have to keep voting on it. It just keeps going on and that way we will solve this problem once and for all.
On President Obama’s Legacy:
I think -- I agree with a lot of what President Obama has done and I don't think he gets the credit he deserves for all that he has accomplished. And in particular saving our economy from what could have been a great depression. People I think now don't really remember how bad off we were. So I do want to build but there are things that I want to go further on.
I want to really make a big, big push on equal pay for women. This has to finally be accomplished and I believe that if we start early and we are absolutely determined we can make a big change there. I want to make a big push for early childhood education because we can talk all we want about our schools …
But if children come not prepared or able to learn we're never going to close the achievement gap. I will make a big push for affordable college -- debt free tuition and to pay down student debt by allowing students to refinance their debt …
And I want to get the government out of the business of making money off of lending money to students. I just disagree with that and …
I will build on the Affordable Care Act but I want to tackle the prescription drug costs and make sure that Medicare gets the authority to negotiate for lower drug costs and those costs are then spread throughout our health care system. And I will make a very big push on mental health and addiction. We are not doing enough in either area and we're paying a very big price.
And then finally, let me just quickly say when it comes to criminal justice reform, I want to build on some of the recommendations that President Obama's policing commission has made because I think that we've got to do more to retrain our police forces. We have to get best practices from those department that have good records. We have to make sure that we deal with the -- what is called the school to prison pipeline and turn it into a cradle to college pipeline and also …
Go right after incarceration.
On Guns:
And then I really support everything President Obama said he would do through regulation on guns but we're going to start the very first day and tackle the gun lobby to try to reduce the outrageous number of people who are dying from gun violence in our country. And I will take that on.
In the last month he has come out with some very tough regulations and getting those implemented -- and I hope he gets them done before he leaves but I will certainly make sure they are -- they're executive orders. They have to be re-introduced and signed with a new president. That will give us a base we haven't had before to build on. If we take back the Senate which I believe we can and you here in Pennsylvania have a real opportunity to help us take back the Senate by …
Electing a Democrat -- that the Democrats have decided they will be led by Chuck Schumer and Chuck Schumer has been one of the most effective legislators in taking on the gun lobby. He and I work together to get the Brady bill passed way back in my husband's administration. So I think that it's the kind of issue you have to start early, you have to work on it every day and we need to make it a voting issue.
We were talking about people not showing up in midterm. Well, that's when you can hold legislators, members of Congress accountable with -- if they continue to be intimidated by the gun lobby and indeed here in Pennsylvania and I see my friend Red Rendell (ph) there -- the legislature in Pennsylvania has passed some of the worse kind of legislation favoring the gun lobby. It's just outrageous.
And you have these killings going on in Philadelphia and it wasn't just this weekend. Last weekend 12 people were shot, four people were killed. There was a man executed on the streets here in Philadelphia. Talking to somebody, running for office. This is out of control and if anything were killing 33,000 Americans a year we would all be working as hard as we could to save lives.
I am determined we're going to save lives and we're going to do it by taking on the gun lobby and getting common sense gun safety measures. But we're also going to do it by addressing the gun violence culture. Too many young in particular are turning to guns to settle disputes, grievances, resentments. We have got to help our young people understand guns are never an answer and there have to be other ways. And that's going to take all of us working in our schools, working through our churches and our houses of worship.
We've got to break the grip of the gun culture on our young people because the number one leading cause of death for young African American men are guns. It outranks the next nine together so this is a -- this is a health issue, a safety issue, a cultural issue, and I'm going at it from the very first day. I'm going to keep talking about it, and we are going to make it clear that this has to be a voting issue. If you care about this issue, vote against people who give in to the NRA and the gun lobby all the time.
On Feminism:
Well, I believe I am a feminist because I believe that women deserve the same rights as men in every aspect of our economy and our society, here at home and around the world. And I have devoted...
You know, I've devoted a lot of my public life to advocating for women's rights being human rights, and making the case that we have to do everything we can, through laws, regulations, culture, to change the still-existing stereotypes that hold women back.
And I think it's also really important to recognize that we have made progress but we are still a long way from where we need to be. I know that if you look at pay, for example, equal pay is still a problem, and it's a problem that gets worse as you get older.
So young women coming right into the workforce often are paid pretty close to equal, if not actually equally. But within a few years there begins to be a disparity. And it's hard to explain all of the difference because people claim, well, women make different choices and therefore they have a different kind of work life because of those choices but that does not explain all of it.
I was with Lily Ledbetter a few days ago outside of Philadelphia here, and she was talking about how she never knew that she was paid 40 percent less than the men doing exactly the same job in the factory that she worked in. Now what does that mean? It meant that her family was cheated.
It's not just a woman's issue. If you have a wife, a mother, a sister, a daughter who is working and they are not being treated fairly, the whole family suffers. But so does the whole economy because we are a 70 percent consumption economy.
The other thing Lily said which really struck me, because she was paid less, she will be paid less when she gets Social Security, which she is now on. She is paid less because in her 401(k) not as much money was put in as was put in for everyone else. So this has pervasive effects on women's lives and their well-being. So I think we have to keep hammering the point.
I remember when I came back from making my speech in Beijing. I went on one of the international radio programs that the United States sponsors and we were taking call-ins from around the world. I got a call from the Middle East, and this man's voice said, what do you mean by saying that women have the same rights as men?
And I said, well, I want you to shut your eyes and imagine everything you do. What I mean is that every woman should have the same right to do everything you do. And that's how we need to really stand up and speak out. And we have to start early because a lot of little girls as they become teenagers, they begin to suffer all of these pressures on social media, on, you know, you're not good enough, you're not pretty enough, you're not this, you're not that.
Stop it. We need to build the confidence of our children, both girls and boys, to be able to go out into a complicated world and start their own futures.
Well, I am going to have a cabinet that looks like America, and 50 percent of America is women, right?
On Immigration Detention Facilities:
Yes, I'm against that. Absolutely I'm against that. I've been against it for a long time. I've said we should have family detention. We should end private prisons and private detention centers. They are wrong. We should end raids and roundups, and when I am president we are going to get comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship. So we will end all of these problems at the time we are successful.
On Keeping Jobs in America:
Right. Well, I have a really robust jobs plan, and let me tell you about it because it includes exactly what you are asking about. First, we need a much bigger investment in infrastructure jobs. They can't be exported. They have to be done in Pennsylvania. So roads, bridges, tunnels, roads, water systems, ports and airports, we can employ literally millions of people over a ten-year period.
Second, we need to bring back advanced manufacturing to Pennsylvania. How are we going to do that? Change the incentives in the tax code and override the incentives in the trade agreements that enable people to take jobs and move them overseas. Instead, have them bring jobs back, because what we are finding, we are finding that there are economic benefits to do that so I want to incentivize them.
And if any company in Pennsylvania ever took a penny of taxpayer dollars in tax abatements or grants or loans or anything that they got from the taxpayers, and if they move jobs out overseas, they are going to have to pay all of that back before they are permitted to leave.
We are also going to look at how we use clean renewable energy to create more jobs because we have to deal with that. And somebody is going to be the 21st century clean energy superpower. It's either going to be China, Germany or us. I want it to be us because there will be a lot of jobs, again, that have to be done right here in America.
And finally, look, when I was a senator from New York, I stood up for a lot of workers, particularly union workers who were being disadvantaged by unfair trade around the world. And I took after China, took after some of these other countries. I am absolutely committed to making sure that we don't let those kinds of unfair trade practices cost us jobs anymore.
So I'm going to take a lot of actions that will prevent that kind of exodus of jobs and make those countries and those companies pay a price. That's the way to change their behavior, and that's what I intend to do.
On the 1994 Crime Bill:
The answer is yes. And it's both on the front end because we need more diversionary programs so that young kids don't get caught up in the criminal justice system in the first place. It also means addressing the systemic racism that I spoke with the young woman about because a young African-American man is more likely to be arrested, charged, convicted and incarcerated for doing exactly the same thing as a young white man who doesn't suffer any of that.
So we are going to focus on the front end. But we are also going to focus on the back end. We need to have a lot more done to try to release nonviolent offenders, low-level offenders. We need to get them out of our prisons and jails. But then we've got to do something for them.
And when you were introduced, it was said that you were working with ex-offenders. I want us to have the best programs that are funded from the federal level to provide housing, job training, the kind of support that will enable young people to finish their education, to be able to get back into society. And I've seen some excellent programs that are doing that.
I visited one here in Philadelphia, Impact Services, where they are really working hard to help put the pieces together for people getting out of prison. That has to be done at the federal level, and that requires a multibillion dollar investment. And it's worth it because we need to be providing people with the services and support they deserve to be back in society.
And then we need to restore voting rights for everybody. And I intend to do that.
Baltimore Sun endorses:
Ms. Clinton, by contrast, has offered solid policies on the issues Americans care about: income and wealth inequality; job creation and the problems faced by working families in a changing economy; the need for federal investment in cities and the nation's crumbling infrastructure; and strengthening U.S. national security to meet the challenges posed by China's growing military might, a resurgent Russia and new threats from rogue states and terrorist organizations. On all these issues Ms. Clinton has advanced realistic, well thought out proposals whose details make sense both as sound policy and as good politics.
Ms. Clinton also possesses the personal qualities of steadiness, resolve, empathy and resilience that are absolutely essential in a commander-in-chief. Whether or not she is as gifted a campaigner as President Barack Obama or her husband, former president Bill Clinton, her dedication to public service, which she has demonstrated throughout her career, has never been in doubt. She has stumped tirelessly for the things she believes in since well before she announced her candidacy last year, and voters can count on her to bring that same passion for getting the job done to the White House if elected.
Ms. Clinton has been criticized for everything from her choice of clothing and hairstyle to her supposed "shrill" tone on issues she cares about. It's impossible not to suspect that she is being held to a higher standard than male politicians. Yet the lingering discomfort among some with the idea of a powerful female politician is wholly out of step with contemporary attitudes toward women's place in society.
Ms. Clinton has weathered it all with rare grace and composure. On the campaign trail her ability to connect with people has been her great strength, and her groundbreaking candidacy is one that all Americans — men and women alike — should be proud of. She is the right Democrat to represent her party in this most consequential of presidential election years, and we are pleased to endorse her candidacy.
Clinton went after Trump again yesterday.
Politico reports:
"I have said, 'Come out of those towers named for yourself and actually talk and listen to people.' You know, at some point, if you want to be president of the United States, you gotta get familiar with the United States. You gotta spend time with Americans of all sorts and backgrounds in every part of our country," Clinton said at an event in Wilmington, Delaware.
"Don't just fly that big jet in and land it, go make a big speech and insult everybody you can think of and then go back, get on that big jet, and go back to you know your country club house in Florida or your penthouse in New York," Clinton said. "I somehow don't think that kind of puts you in touch with what's going on. I have spent now more than a year talking and listening to people, and I can tell you there's a lot of concern. People are having a hard time."
"When you hear Trump and Cruz and the Republicans talking about their economic policies, they want to go back to what failed us before," Clinton said, after praising her husband's economic plans as president. "They talk a good game, but if you look at what they are actually putting out, they want to slash taxes on the wealthy."
Later Monday, Clinton said at an event in Youngwood, Pennsylvania that some statements by Cruz and Trump could be "dangerous." She said Trump's suggestion to rethink NATO, for example, would be a "terrible mistake."
“It’s the worst time for us to walk away from that defense alliance," Clinton said.
Clinton has hired a new staff member to oversee interactions with Congress.
Politico reports:
Hillary Clinton's campaign is bringing on a new director of congressional affairs from the Hill starting early next month
Laura Schiller, currently the chief of staff to retiring California Sen. Barbara Boxer, is joining the campaign, a Clinton aide confirmed Monday evening. She will replace Maura Keefe.
Schiller has served as Boxer's chief of staff for more than a decade, and prior to that, she was a special assistant to the president in the Clinton White House and a senior speechwriter for the first lady.
Clinton’s new ad is called “Love & Kindness”: