Today’s Hillary News & Views begins with coverage of First Lady Michelle Obama’s speech.
The Briefing has the transcript:
Too many are treating this as just another day’s headline. As if our outrage is overblown or unwarranted as if this is normal, just politics as usual. But New Hampshire, be clear: this is not normal. This is not politics as usual. This is disgraceful. It is intolerable, and it doesn’t matter what Party you belong to: Democrat, Republican, Independent. No woman deserves to be treated this way. None of us deserves this kind of abuse.
And I know it’s a campaign but this isn’t about politics. It’s about basic human decency. It’s about right and wrong and we simply cannot endure this or expose our children to this any longer, not for another minute, let alone for four years.
Now is the time for all of us to stand up and say, ‘Enough is enough.’ This has got to stop right now. Because consider this: if all of this is painful to us as grown women, what do you think this is doing to our children? What messages are our little girls hearing about who they should look like, how they should act? What lessons are they learning about their value as professionals, as human beings? About their dreams and aspirations? And how is this affecting men and boys in this country? Because I can tell you that the men in my life do not talk about women like this, and I know that my family is not unusual.
And to dismiss this as everyday locker room talk is an insult to decent men everywhere. The men that you and I know don’t treat women this way. They are loving fathers who are sickened by the thought of their daughters being exposed to this kind of vicious language about women. They are husbands and brothers and sons who don’t tolerate women being treated and demeaned and disrespected. And like us, these men are worried about the impact this election is having on our boys who are looking for role models of what it means to be a man.
Rebecca Traister writes for The Cut:
As many have pointed out, while Trump has trafficked in racism and sexism throughout the campaign, the breaking point — the point of recognition for many in the media and many in the Republican Party — was in response to instances of abuse of white women, women whom the white Republican men who distanced themselves from Trump last weekend could identify with as worthy of their concern. But a discussion of sexual coercion with white women at its center provides a perniciously incomplete view of America, where the bodies of women of color have always been more vulnerable to assault, and where women of color have found it harder to get help or report assault thanks to unequal treatment by the criminal-justice system and medical Establishment.
It mattered that Michelle Obama, who is not a white woman, was making sure that it was not just the voices of white women that were being heard and registered on this subject; it mattered that she was describing sexual inequities, harassment, and assault as central to the experience of all women in America.
And, yes, she made the case for Hillary Clinton in the affirmative, discussing her preparedness, her lifetime of work on behalf of kids and families, her commitment to affordable health care and child care, her dedication to being a team player, as evidenced by her eagerness to work for her former opponent as secretary of State. She described Hillary with respect, as a full and complicated human being — a lawyer, law professor, First Lady, senator, secretary of State, and as a mother, wife, and daughter — a multifaceted, experienced candidate and role model who has “never quit on anything in her life,” who “waited her turn and helped out while waiting” and “who happens to be a woman.” It was a brief and yet more robust and vivid description of a woman than Donald Trump has seemingly ever offered.
Melissa McEwan writes for Shareblue:
Obama went on to talk about the potential impact on girls, having to listen to these things about a presidential candidate — and how it affects men and boys, too.
She then observed that there is a good role model in this race. And that our support for her is imperative if we want to model the values most parents teach their kids — embracing that we are stronger together and rejecting bigotry and bullying.
“We know that Hillary is the right person for the job,” she said, “because we’ve seen her character and commitment not just in this campaign, but over the course of her entire life. The fact is that Hillary embodies so many of the values that we try so hard to teach our young people.”
It was another remarkably moving and powerful speech from the First Lady, who has emerged as Clinton’s most effective ally in this campaign, in no small part because she is channeling so many of the things the first female major-party nominee surely wants to say, but can’t.
Greg Sargent writes for Washington Post:
Michelle Obama is a tremendously popular public figure, who is probably better positioned than anyone else in the country to make this particular case. And that’s what makes this a seminal, defining moment.
Trump had his chance to try to prove that this isn’t who he is. We were told for months and months that a “pivot” was coming. We were told again and again that, now, finally, Trump was going to show that the hateful, bigoted, sexist, xenophobic, birther-mongering figure who has screamed from our TV sets for the past year was not the real Trump — it was all an act, and now he’d surprise us all by showing the real Trump to the majority of the country who seemed to be in the process of deciding that he was fundamentally unacceptable.
But it never happened. If Trump has a capacity for basic and sustained public decency, it has yet to make its appearance. And now we really seem to have crossed a point of no return. Michelle Obama marked it down. No going back.
Hillary Clinton responded to the speech on the campaign rail.
Talking Points Memo reports:
“Once again, she not only made a compelling and strong case about the stakes in the election but about who we are as Americans,” Clinton said, referring to the first lady. “And we cannot let this pessimism, this dark and divisive and dangerous vision of America take hold in anybody's heart. We have to keep lifting up this campaign.”
“I want to give you something to vote for, not just against,” she continued. “I want to give you an agenda that will move us forward into the future.”
The first lady rallied Clinton supporters at a Manchester, New Hampshire with a vocal denunciation of Donald Trump’s recently leaked comments bragging about using his celebrity status to grope women without their consent.
Clinton told her fans to watch the speech as an antidote to the “negativity” pushed by Trump’s campaign. She struck a similar note at a campaign event in Colorado on Wednesday, saying that negativity was all Trump and his team "have left."
“We're not going to let him get away with it,” she told a crowd in Pueblo.
Because of the abnormal nature of this election, getting Clinton’s policies effective coverage has been nearly impossible. But she’s got ‘em, and they’re worth paying attention to.
Vox reports:
Hillary Clinton unveiled a proposal on Tuesday that adjusts a few parameters in the tax code — but would be a huge deal for the poorest Americans.
Right now, Americans earning very little money can’t qualify for the $1,000 child tax credit. Many more have to take a smaller credit rather than the full one, because they don’t earn enough.
The child tax credit doesn’t benefit the very poor, so Clinton wants to change some of these provisions.
The first is that under her plan, you can benefit from this no matter how little money you earn. That’s because she wants the first $3,000 of your income to count toward how much you get back.
If you have young children, Clinton wants to alter the provisions even more.
First, she wants double the amount you can receive per child under 4 years old — a maximum of $2,000 per child.
Second, she wants to let you receive a maximum of 45 percent of your income per child, which means the very poor receive a lot more money.
Washington Post reports on Clinton's extensive responses to their education questionnaire. Please read the whole thing.
Here’s an excerpt focused on vouchers:
I do not believe we should be diverting precious resources away from financially strapped public schools to fund private school voucher programs.
I’ve visited too many public schools where kids learning in classrooms that are crumbling around them. I’ve met too many teachers who are working full-time, but struggling to support a family. We should be investing more in public education, not less.
The ideas my opponent has offered on this subject are particularly dangerous. Not only has he proposed cutting 30 percent of the federal K-12 education budget, he’s called for gutting an additional 45 percent of the existing budget to fund private vouchers. This proposal would threaten funding for 70,000 high-poverty public schools, and devastate students who remain in the public school system. It would also be detrimental to many students who use the vouchers – research shows that students who attend private schools with vouchers often do worse than those who stay in their neighborhood public schools.
On top of all that, private schools are not subject to the same accountability, teacher quality standards, and legal requirements as public schools. For example, when a student with a disability uses a private school voucher, they might not receive the civil rights protections that would be guaranteed in public schools. Private schools can decline to accept students with disabilities, refuse to abide by the Individualized Education Plans of students they do accept, and segregate students with disabilities away from other kids. That’s why I believe we should keep public resources in our public schools.
And the endorsements continue to roll in.
BuzzFeed reports:
The political group affiliated with the largest Hispanic advocacy organization in the country is endorsing Hillary Clinton the day before the final debate in Las Vegas, four sources tell BuzzFeed News.
The nonpartisan National Council of La Raza has a separate 501c4 called the NCLR Action Fund, which is taking the step to endorse for the first time, reflecting the seriousness of the moment many in the Latino community feel the country is in due to Donald Trump’s unrelenting negative rhetoric and policies concerning Mexicans and immigrants.
NCLR Action Fund will push the message that at a time when Latinos are being talked about negatively by Trump, the organization is mobilizing voters with door knocks, Latino voter programs, and taking the major step of endorsing Clinton.
“It is definitely big news that the nation’s largest Latino organization is taking the unprecedented move of endorsing a candidate for president,” said Clinton superdelegate and veteran Democratic strategist Andres Ramirez. “In a state like Nevada where Latinos play a pivotal, NCLR’s efforts will certainly help Hillary Clinton win the state.”
Washington Post endorses:
IN THE gloom and ugliness of this political season, one encouraging truth is often overlooked: There is a well-qualified, well-prepared candidate on the ballot. Hillary Clinton has the potential to be an excellent president of the United States, and we endorse her without hesitation.
Ms. Clinton underlined her fitness for office in what was essentially the first major decision of her potential presidency: her choice of Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) as running mate. Rather than calculate how best to assuage or excite this or that part of her base, Ms. Clinton selected a person of sound judgment, with executive and legislative experience and unquestionable capacity to serve as president if necessary.
That presages what Americans might reasonably expect of a Clinton presidency: seriousness of purpose and relentless commitment, even in the face of great obstacles, to achievements in the public interest. We believe that Ms. Clinton will prove a worthy example to girls who celebrate the election of America’s first female president. We believe, too, that anyone who votes for her will be able to look back, four years from now, with pride in that decision.
Idaho Statesman endorses:
In a very complex world, we find someone with Clinton’s broad experience and vast connections to be the best choice to deal with our future problems. We base that on the fact that she solved a lot of issues for New York constituents while serving in the Senate: championing children and 9/11 victims, for starters. We have faith Clinton can find the bipartisan sweet spots to get things done. We suspect she will do this better than Obama, and we know she will accomplish more than a man who consistently demonstrates ignorance of the process.
Trump’s fantasies about a new country and era where “outsiders” are better equipped to fix Washington will always be undefined and out of reach. The need to compromise could never happen with him in charge.
We live in the real world, with real problems that need real solutions. We need someone with pragmatic approaches that include patience and compassion. We need Hillary Clinton to be the next president.
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