Friday, August 23, 2024

Highlights from Kamala's speech

I came home from a busy night and was able to hop on my laptop the exact moment when Kamala Harris was being introduced for her keynote address to the DNC and the country. My newly minted middle schooler is very interested in this race, and he watched it with me. 

Below are my favorite snippets. I know that some of it is exactly what you'd expect from a big, splashy political speech: appeals to the middle class, campaign promises, and general love for America and American ideals. But the sharp comparisons she drew between herself and her opponent, about our troops, about dictators, about who the president should serve? She hit her mark. She stuck that landing like Simone Biles.

I can't wait to vote for this intelligent, accomplished, joyful patriot.


"You can always trust me to put country ahead of party and self."

*****

"I will be a president who unites us around our highest aspirations. A president who leads. And listens. Who is realistic. Practical. And has common sense. And always fights for the American people."

*****

"In many ways Donald Trump is an unserious man. But the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious."

*****

"Consider the power he will have, especially after the United States Supreme Court just ruled he would be immune from criminal prosecution. Just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails.

How he would use the immense powers of the presidency of the United States? Not to improve your life. Not to strengthen our national security. But to serve the only client he has ever had: Himself."

*****

(On Project 2025) "Written by his closest advisors. And its sum total is to pull our country back into the past. But America, we are not going back."

(Crowd chanting: We’re not going back. We're not going back.)

*****

"I will fulfill our sacred obligation to care for our troops and their families. And I will always honor, and never disparage, their service and their sacrifice."

*****

"I will not cozy up to tyrants and dictators like Kim-Jong-Un, who are rooting for Trump. Because they know he is easy to manipulate with flattery and favors.

They know Trump won't hold autocrats accountable- because he wants to be an autocrat."

*****

"In the enduring struggle between democracy and tyranny, I know where I stand, and where the United States of America belongs."

*****

"None of us has to fail for all of us to succeed."

*****

"Our opponents in this race are out there, every day, denigrating America. Talking about how terrible everything is. Well, my mother had another lesson she used to teach. Never let anyone tell you who you are. You show them who you are. America, Let us show each other- and the world- who we are. And what we stand for. Freedom. Opportunity. Compassion. Dignity. Fairness. And endless possibilities. 

We are the heirs to the greatest democracy in the history of the world."

*****

"Guided by optimism and faith [...] together, let us write the next great chapter in the most extraordinary story ever told."

Here is the full speech, and I think it's worth it to take the time to watch it. She got it done in under 40 minutes, because who in the world wants to listen to a 90 minute speech?

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