NBC News - Democratic Convention - 1992-07-16 - 1 of 2 (partial)
Channel: malgent
Transcript
Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)
[0:00] I'm told
[0:02] that Hope, Arkansas
[0:05] is indeed a lot like my hometown of
[0:09] Carthage, Tennessee.
[0:11] A place where people do know about it
[0:15] when you're born and care about it when
[0:18] you die. That's the America Bill Clinton
[0:21] and I grew up in. That's the kind of
[0:24] nation we want our children to grow up
[0:27] in. Just as hope is a community, so is
[0:32] America. When we bring the community of
[0:35] America together, we will rekindle the
[0:39] American spirit and renew this nation
[0:42] for generations to come. And the way to
[0:45] begin is to elect Bill Clinton,
[0:49] president of the United States of
[0:51] America. Thank you very much.
[0:58] 44year-old Senator Al Gore of Tennessee,
[1:02] neighboring state to Arkansas,
[1:05] nominated by acclamation tonight for
[1:07] vice president of his Democratic party,
[1:10] doing what was expected of them,
[1:13] attacking the philosophy and the record
[1:16] of the Bush Reagan years, speaking out
[1:19] very strongly on behalf of the
[1:21] environment,
[1:23] invoking a tragic personal experience
[1:25] with his son Albert.
[1:27] use that as a metaphor for the country
[1:31] and then speaking directly to the Ross
[1:33] Barau supporters in which he looked
[1:35] straight ahead into the camera and said
[1:37] stay in the fight for change and by that
[1:40] he meant come to us Ross Barau
[1:43] supporters and finally big picture here
[1:46] although unspoken
[1:48] Democrats want America to look at Al
[1:50] Gore and to compare him to Vice
[1:52] President Dan John Cher tell you a
[1:56] little story about 1956 in the
[1:58] Democratic convention. Adlay Stevenson
[2:00] had the nomination and he threw open the
[2:03] vice presidential nomination to the
[2:05] convention. Rarely done. And on the
[2:08] second ballot, a fellow named John F.
[2:09] Kennedy of Massachusetts was in the lead
[2:12] and asked his keepover of Tennessee was
[2:14] the second for vice president. And
[2:16] Albert Gore, who was in the hall here
[2:18] tonight, got up and said, "I'm going to
[2:21] swing my votes to my fellow Tennessian
[2:24] as his keep over." And at the end of all
[2:26] that balloting, that's why Estus Keover
[2:29] ran for vice president. He won. And John
[2:32] F. Kennedy had his moment on television
[2:35] at the 56th convention and came back
[2:38] like gang busters in 1960.
[2:46] They met at a senior prom and based upon
[2:50] the years that they were
[2:53] seniors in high school. That's the dance
[2:56] they were doing with that thing. Typor
[2:58] of course has been a little bit of a
[2:59] controversial figure in the music
[3:00] industry because she wanted the labeling
[3:01] of rock and lyrics. But that works they
[3:04] believe to this ticket's advantage
[3:06] because of the strong family values
[3:08] reflected in her concerns about what's
[3:10] happening to children in America. Her
[3:14] real name is Elizabeth
[3:18] and that's Elbert
[3:20] now. So fully repaired as his father put
[3:22] it that he can pester his sisters who
[3:24] were so supportive of him when he was
[3:26] not well. We'll be back with more from
[3:28] Madison Square Garden in a moment.
[3:33] Decision 92. The Democratic National
[3:36] Convention is being sponsored in part by
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[4:28] You know the opera is like a moose. I
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[4:42] >> Get down.
[4:46] >> When I go on vacation, I love going out
[4:48] at night to shows, dancing the night
[4:50] away, enjoying great nightclub
[4:53] entertainment. And on this vacation, I
[4:55] can enjoy everything without cover
[4:57] charges, minimums, or even reservations
[4:59] because it's all included. But what I
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[5:22] We're back in Madison Square Garden. The
[5:24] demonstration for Al Gore's nomination
[5:26] as Vice President of the United States
[5:28] and his rousing acceptance speech has
[5:30] just been completed. James Carville, who
[5:32] is known as the cinjun guru of the
[5:35] Clinton campaign, tonight commented on
[5:36] the withdrawal today of Ross Perau from
[5:38] this presidential race. He said, "A week
[5:40] ago, it was 30 3030, said, "I'm not
[5:42] going to spin you tonight." When Perau
[5:43] pulled out the Republicans now said they
[5:46] can win Florida and Texas and then Carvo
[5:48] went on to say, "If American pe if the
[5:50] American people want Florida and Texas,
[5:52] they should vote for Republican. If they
[5:54] want change, they should vote for us."
[5:56] Uh, let's go down to the floor now and
[5:58] NBC's Lisa Myers, who's there with a man
[6:01] who was the vice presidential candidate
[6:02] just four years ago on this ticket,
[6:05] Senator from Texas, Lloyd Benson. Lisa,
[6:07] >> hi Tom. As you say, I'm here with one of
[6:09] the most respected members of the
[6:11] Democratic Party, the chairman of the
[6:13] Senate Finance Committ Committee,
[6:14] Senator Lloyd Benson. Senator, you know
[6:17] Ross Perau very well. Uh, you said you
[6:19] were surprised that he withdrew today.
[6:21] How does it complicate the effort to
[6:23] elect a Democrat in November?
[6:27] Well, frankly, I was surprised and I
[6:29] have known Ross a long time. What I have
[6:32] heard so far, a lot of Republicans are
[6:35] really quite concerned because the way
[6:38] this orchestrated personal attack on
[6:40] Ross Perau, orchestrated out of the
[6:42] White House, personal attack. They think
[6:46] that perhaps that's part of the
[6:48] motivation for his getting out of the
[6:49] race and that's very much resented by
[6:53] Perau's followers.
[6:55] So, a lot of pro followers are now
[6:57] taking a second look at Bill Clinton.
[7:00] They seem a credible candidate. They
[7:02] seem leading in the polls. I think it's
[7:05] going to help Bill Clinton.
[7:08] >> This convention has heaped a fair amount
[7:10] of abuse on Vice President Dan Quail, a
[7:12] man you debated uh four years ago and
[7:14] many believe hands down. Would you
[7:17] advise the Clinton Gore ticket to go
[7:20] after the vice president in this race?
[7:23] I think that the debate between Al Gore
[7:27] and Dan Gray is going to be a lot of fun
[7:29] for Al Gore. I know I enjoyed mine. So
[7:35] I think that in this kind of a
[7:37] situation,
[7:39] you should choose someone that can
[7:41] succeed you as president of the United
[7:42] States. And Clinton did that with Gore
[7:46] if something should happen to Clinton.
[7:49] I just wish George Bush would be on the
[7:52] show.
[7:53] >> But do you think that the that the this
[7:55] ticket should make try to make a major
[7:57] issue of Dan Quail? I mean, the American
[7:59] people preferred you to Dan Quail after
[8:02] the election, the polls showed, yet it
[8:04] didn't seem to make a lot of difference
[8:05] in the race. Do you think there's
[8:07] anything different this time around?
[8:12] >> It it has to make a difference.
[8:16] And people people have to stop and think
[8:19] about what happens who takes over if
[8:22] something happens to the president of
[8:24] the United States and it happened to be
[8:25] George.
[8:27] >> I don't think people believe me up to
[8:30] that job.
[8:31] >> Thank you Senator Lloyd Benson who may
[8:34] must be having a lot of memories
[8:35] tonight. And now back to you Tom in the
[8:37] booth.
[8:38] >> Thank you Lisa Myers. It was Lloyd
[8:40] Benson who said to Dan Quail, "I knew
[8:42] John Kennedy and you're know John
[8:43] Kennedy." Was one of the electrifying
[8:45] moments in the campaign at the Kennedy
[8:47] Library in just outside of Boston. They
[8:50] went through all the files. They
[8:51] couldn't see much evidence that Lloyd
[8:52] Benson knew John Kennedy terribly well,
[8:54] but it certainly was an effective
[8:56] campaign ploy for him. My faithful
[8:58] assistant Gene Farane has gone through a
[8:59] lot of the speeches here and he has
[9:01] discovered that by unofficial count. Dan
[9:03] Quail has been specifically targeted
[9:06] more than two dozen times by speakers.
[9:08] Probably the roughest comparison came
[9:10] from Jesse Jackson who said that it was
[9:13] Herod, the quail of his day, who put no
[9:16] value in the family when he was talking
[9:19] about Mary who had family values. And
[9:22] then tonight, the Democrats managed to
[9:24] find William Figaro and had him as the
[9:29] man who the young man who had the pledge
[9:31] of allegiance here tonight. It's
[9:32] Faggerero. He's a sixth grader from New
[9:34] Jersey. And he led this convention hall
[9:37] in the pledge of allegiance. And it was
[9:39] young William who managed to spell
[9:40] potato correctly when Dan Quail insisted
[9:43] they should add an E to it and then
[9:45] became the butt of still more jokes.
[9:47] Let's go to the floor now. NBC's John
[9:48] Cochran with Senator John Glenn of Ohio.
[9:51] John, thank you. Tom, Senator Glenn, I
[9:53] know you like El Gore and you just think
[9:55] he's a terrific guy, but wouldn't you
[9:57] feel a little bit better even in this
[9:59] year when people say regionalism doesn't
[10:00] mean anything? It doesn't matter if two
[10:02] southerners are on the ticket. Wouldn't
[10:03] you feel a lot better if you had
[10:04] somebody from Ohio, Indiana, Michigan,
[10:06] Illinois on that ticket?
[10:07] >> No. You know, I really wouldn't. I think
[10:09] we've gotten beyond some of that kind of
[10:10] regionalism. I think it was important in
[10:13] the past maybe when we didn't have so
[10:14] much good communication to all the
[10:16] people of the country and they depended
[10:17] on a vice president sort of to be a
[10:19] communicator as it were to the president
[10:21] the people in Washington from a
[10:23] different part of the country but it's
[10:24] not that way anymore and it's there's
[10:26] instant communication people know what
[10:28] they stand for I think most Americans
[10:30] are far more concerned now about the
[10:32] issues and about what the people stand
[10:34] for than they are about the accent they
[10:36] have
[10:36] >> senator of the issues near part of of
[10:37] the country the fact is there's a
[10:39] competition going on between the north
[10:41] and the South. I wouldn't demean your
[10:42] state by calling it a rust belt state,
[10:44] but northern industrial states have been
[10:46] losing out to some of these sunb belt
[10:48] states. You got two southerners down
[10:50] there. Isn't this going to play rather
[10:52] badly in your state?
[10:53] >> No, I don't think so at all. I really
[10:54] don't. I think the main thing that we're
[10:56] concerned about is the economy. What's
[10:58] going to be jobs for everybody? It's
[10:59] like our Jeep plant back in Toledo,
[11:01] Ohio, where we we just had an
[11:03] announcement there. They're going to
[11:04] reinvest in that plant. Now, it's going
[11:06] to be jobs for 4,500 workers. Those
[11:08] things are going on all over. The main
[11:10] thing is to get the economy of the
[11:11] government back on a balanced budget
[11:13] where we don't have these horrendous
[11:15] amounts going out in debt service every
[11:17] year that keep us from doing some of the
[11:18] other things we should be doing. So I'm
[11:20] more concerned about their their issues
[11:22] that they're putting forward for the
[11:23] whole country than what accents they may
[11:25] happen to have. Senator Glenn, thank you
[11:27] very much. Senator Glenn ran for
[11:29] president, you know, once and he says
[11:31] once was enough. Enjoy talking to
[11:33] >> It's quite an experience. Nothing like a
[11:34] big convention like this. is just
[11:36] terrific and and to look up and cross
[11:38] all this uh sea of waving signs and
[11:40] things is something that uh it's a real
[11:43] real experience. Thank you, Senator. Now
[11:45] back to Tom. Thank you, John Cochran.
[11:47] John Glenn was a person that a lot of
[11:49] people thought might become president of
[11:50] the United States someday. He had all of
[11:52] the credentials, Eagle Scout, Marine Air
[11:55] Ace during the Korean War, of course,
[11:57] the first astronaut from the United
[11:59] States to orbit the Earth. He was the
[12:01] subject of a film called The Right
[12:02] Stuff. A lot of people thought that
[12:04] would propel him right into the White
[12:05] House. And then for all of his
[12:08] credentials and all of his earnestness,
[12:10] he ran one of the most unimaginative
[12:11] presidential campaigns of the last 15
[12:13] years or so. But he remains a very
[12:15] effective senator.
[12:16] >> I don't know how many million people go
[12:18] through the capital of the United States
[12:19] every year. The three biggest office the
[12:22] biggest requests for offices are first
[12:24] Bill Bradley,
[12:26] >> right?
[12:26] >> Second, John Glenn, and you know who the
[12:28] third is?
[12:29] >> Teddy Kennedy.
[12:30] >> Ah, I'm not surprised. Do you think that
[12:33] Al Gore will be a factor? We've been
[12:36] talking about that a lot tonight uh in
[12:38] this presidential campaign by matching
[12:40] him up against Dan Quail. Dan Quail's
[12:42] approval ratings remain down in the
[12:44] mid20s somewhere. Is it going to be more
[12:46] of a of a situation this time than it
[12:48] has been in the past where we've always
[12:49] said, "Well, the vice presidential
[12:51] candidate doesn't mean that much. They
[12:53] vote for the top of the ticket." Well,
[12:54] they don't. You know, you vote for the
[12:56] top of the ticket, but the fact is that
[12:57] out of 41 presidents in the United
[12:59] States, 14 have made it vice presidents
[13:02] have moved up. And in the last in just a
[13:05] post-war period, starting with Truman,
[13:07] we've had nine presidents. And five of
[13:10] them have moved up either through death,
[13:12] resignation, or prominence. George Bush
[13:14] would not be president of the United
[13:15] States in all probability had he not
[13:18] been chosen by Ronald Reagan to serve as
[13:20] vice president. So this is very serious
[13:23] stuff when you think that in the age
[13:25] that we live in now the chances are more
[13:28] than 50% that a vice president will
[13:31] become president through either
[13:33] resignations have come almost never but
[13:35] through death or through prominence and
[13:38] that happens a lot. This is one of the
[13:41] real violations of democracy in the
[13:43] United States because vice presidents,
[13:45] all of these 14 who have gone up and
[13:48] become presidents have been chosen vice
[13:50] president by one vote. The presidential
[13:52] candidate, it's like the divine right of
[13:55] kings. The presidential candidate, Bill
[13:58] Clinton, went through 32 primaries this
[14:01] year. He got 10 million votes. Al Gore
[14:04] got one vote and his chances of becoming
[14:08] president of the United States are are
[14:10] one and in and what did I say more than
[14:12] 50%. So this is something this is what
[14:16] indicate Peabody was talking about
[14:17] earlier tonight within this party to go
[14:20] back to the practice of putting people
[14:22] on the ballot and letting the American
[14:24] people in primaries and other elections
[14:26] vote for them for vice president. It
[14:28] really is a colossal creasse in our
[14:31] democracy that we do this because these
[14:33] fellas move up as you know Tom a lot.
[14:36] >> I had no idea you were so impassion on
[14:38] the subject.
[14:39] >> Well, I am. I think Peabody is
[14:41] absolutely right. He appeared here
[14:43] tonight and in one of the speeches that
[14:45] was was less known and withdrew his
[14:48] candidacy for vice president in favor of
[14:51] Albert Gore.
[14:53] >> All right. John Chancellor and cut
[14:54] Peabody didn't get his speech on
[14:56] television, but John Chancellor got his.
[14:57] We'll be back with more right after
[14:59] this.
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[16:42] >> Hi you guys, Jay Leno here. will be on
[16:44] live on the Tonight Show writing jokes
[16:46] about the convention right as they're
[16:48] happening. Tom Bro will be here. Paula
[16:49] Poundstone, Annie Lennox will be here,
[16:51] Richard Jenny and Helen Hunt. And an
[16:53] interview with H. Ross Perau, which
[16:55] should be fun. So watch tonight on the
[16:57] Tonight Show live. I'm writing the jokes
[16:58] right now. That's why I'm dressed like
[16:59] this. I'll get dressed. What?
[17:47] As we await the arrival in Madison
[17:48] Square Garden tonight of the Democratic
[17:51] presidential nominee Bill Clinton and
[17:52] his acceptance speech to this national
[17:54] television audience, there is a kind of
[17:56] heightened urgency not only in this hall
[17:58] but across the country with the
[18:00] withdrawal call today of Ross Perau. The
[18:02] arithmetic obviously has changed and we
[18:04] expect that Justice Al Gore did. Bill
[18:06] Clinton will make a direct appeal to
[18:08] those Perau volunteers who are out there
[18:10] tonight wondering where they go now. Has
[18:13] their cynicism been deepened or will
[18:14] they turn to what even Rush Perau called
[18:17] a revitalized Democratic party? Uh we'll
[18:20] hear from Bill Clinton before too long.
[18:22] But as we do the new math of this
[18:24] electoral map of the United States, we
[18:26] have to look at a state like Florida.
[18:28] And NBC's Andrea Mitchell is down there
[18:30] now with someone who knows Florida well.
[18:32] Andrea.
[18:32] >> Yes, indeed. I'm here with Lieutenant
[18:34] Governor Buddy McKay of Florida. Florida
[18:37] has gone Republican all but twice out of
[18:40] the last seven presidential elections.
[18:42] Lieutenant Governor and this election of
[18:44] Al Gore was thought to have helped in a
[18:46] three-way race certainly to push Florida
[18:49] in the Democratic column. Now with Prow
[18:51] out of the race, what does it mean?
[18:53] >> Well, I think we're back where we were.
[18:55] And I think that what Perau said this
[18:57] morning was very insightful and that is
[19:00] our best hope in this country is through
[19:02] a revitalized Democratic party. We know
[19:05] we've got that. What we've got to do is
[19:07] convince the people of Florida that. I
[19:09] think if they realize that we're
[19:11] serious, that we really have revitalized
[19:14] this party. We've repositioned it. It's
[19:16] mainstream. I think we can carry
[19:18] Florida.
[19:19] >> But isn't that a long shot really?
[19:20] Because uh the Democrats have not been
[19:23] able to make very many inroads. In fact,
[19:24] Florida's become more and more
[19:26] Republican, especially with the the
[19:28] growing Cuban-American population, which
[19:30] has been very very solidly Republican.
[19:32] >> I think that you can look at the last
[19:34] two statewide races in Florida and you
[19:38] can see that there are about 40% of the
[19:40] people of Florida that are really
[19:41] independent. They're persuadable in
[19:43] every election and I believe we can
[19:46] persuade them and that's our challenge
[19:48] between now and November.
[19:49] >> Thank you very much, Lieutenant Governor
[19:50] Buddy McKay of Florida. Back to Tom at
[19:52] the
[19:53] >> Thank you, Andrew. Well, one of the real
[19:55] debating points in Florida will be Bill
[19:57] Clinton's attitude about social security
[19:59] benefits. About 55% of the social
[20:02] security of the social benefits of the
[20:04] federal budget go to about 12% of the
[20:07] population, those people who are 65 and
[20:09] older. He says that equation now must
[20:11] change. He's going to ask wealthier,
[20:14] elder Americans, to pay full taxes on
[20:17] their Social Security benefits. He's
[20:19] also going to have some means testing
[20:20] for Medicare. He beat up on Paul Sanus
[20:23] pretty good on those very points in
[20:24] Florida. Sus lost that state Bill
[20:26] Clinton won. It was important on his
[20:28] march to the Democratic presidential
[20:30] nomination. Now he'll have to go back to
[20:32] Florida and contest George Bush down
[20:34] there on these very same points. Down on
[20:37] the floor right now is NBC's Tim
[20:39] Russard, one of our political analyst,
[20:41] the moderator of Meet the Press. Tim,
[20:43] >> Tom, I was just speaking with Governor
[20:44] Clinton, his advisor backstage. They
[20:46] have two missions tonight. They realize
[20:49] that about 60% of the American public
[20:51] believe he came from a privileged
[20:52] background, privileged upbringing. He
[20:55] has to demonstrate that's just not the
[20:56] case. He has to identify much more with
[20:58] the middle class. The second is the
[21:00] character issue. He's going to talk very
[21:02] openly about trying to get the trust of
[21:04] the people. They believe tonight if
[21:06] they're successful, if they can develop
[21:07] some empathy for Bill Clinton, the
[21:09] person, they may look down the road
[21:11] towards election day actually have
[21:13] people believe Bill Clinton the
[21:15] politician. that that's what he wants to
[21:17] achieve tonight.
[21:18] >> All right, Tim. And it doesn't end here
[21:20] as well. When they leave here, they're
[21:22] going to go on a bus tour and they're
[21:23] going to go to a lot of the impoverished
[21:26] states in America that have been hit
[21:27] hard. Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New
[21:29] Jersey, Missouri.
[21:31] >> Actually, that outreach to the middle
[21:32] class. I've been asking all our
[21:34] speakers, Tom, what headline would they
[21:36] want for the speech? So, I said to the
[21:37] Clinton people, Clinton says what? They
[21:40] thought a minute and said, no, no, not
[21:41] Clinton says Clinton chose heart, soul,
[21:44] and vision. This will be a speech, a
[21:46] present full of symbolism, hoping they
[21:48] can have the American people take a
[21:50] second look and start listening to Bill
[21:51] Clinton in the months ahead.
[21:53] >> And part of that is going on in this
[21:55] hall even as we speak. It's now become
[21:58] part of the tradition of these
[21:59] conventions to have a kind of
[22:01] biographical film to introduce the
[22:03] candidate. It is the attempt to get the
[22:06] message out in the order that you would
[22:07] like to get it out before you hear from
[22:08] the candidate themselves. It's playing
[22:10] in this big hall. That's Chelsea. Let's
[22:12] join the conclusion now of this
[22:14] introductory film of Bill Clinton before
[22:17] we hear from the presidential candidate
[22:18] himself.
[22:19] >> Many hands and sometimes they'll come
[22:21] over and talk to me during the game, but
[22:23] that's okay. What I would like America
[22:25] to know about my mother and father is
[22:27] that they're great people and they're
[22:29] great parents. Um, they taught me that I
[22:32] had to think for myself and they taught
[22:34] me to treat other people how you would
[22:35] want to be treated and follow the golden
[22:37] rule. Once early in the in the campaign
[22:41] when I'd been beat up a lot by the press
[22:43] and Hillary and I went on national
[22:45] television and and basically
[22:48] acknowledged that we'd had some problems
[22:50] in our marriage and we were proud of the
[22:53] fact that we've been able to keep it
[22:54] together.
[22:56] Uh when the show aired, Chelsea wanted
[22:58] to watch it. So the three of us went
[22:59] upstairs and sat down and watch it
[23:01] together. It was pretty painful, you
[23:03] know, to have your child watch that. And
[23:05] uh
[23:07] after it was over, I looked at her and I
[23:08] said, "Um,
[23:13] what do you think?" And she said, "I
[23:16] think I'm glad you're my parents."
[23:20] And after that, I knew whatever happened
[23:21] at all.
[23:24] When the history of this campaign is
[23:26] written, they may say, "Well, Bill
[23:28] Clinton took a lot of hits in this
[23:30] campaign." I want you to know something.
[23:32] The hits that I took in this election
[23:34] are nothing compared to the hits that
[23:36] the people of this state and this
[23:38] country are taking every day of their
[23:39] lives under this administration.
[23:42] We no longer can have a country where I
[23:45] worry about me, you worry about you,
[23:47] they worry about them. That's the kind
[23:49] of country the Republicans have given us
[23:51] for more than a decade. We've got to be
[23:54] one country again, going up or down
[23:56] together again.
[24:01] Sometimes late at night on the campaign
[24:03] plane, I look out the window and think
[24:05] how far I am from that little town in
[24:07] Arkansas. And yet, in many ways, I know
[24:10] that all I am or ever will be came from
[24:12] there. A place and a time when nobody
[24:15] locked their doors at night. Everybody
[24:17] showed up for a parade on Main Street
[24:19] and kids like me could dream of being
[24:21] part of something bigger than
[24:22] themselves.
[24:24] I guess there'll always be a sadness in
[24:25] me that I never heard the sound of my
[24:27] father's voice or felt his hand around
[24:29] mine. But all of us have sadness and
[24:32] disappointment in our lives. And
[24:33] hopefully we grow stronger for it. I
[24:36] know every day that I'm alive, I hope
[24:38] I'm a better person than the day before.
[24:40] I hope that every day from this day
[24:42] forward, we can be a nation coming
[24:44] together instead of coming apart. And I
[24:47] hope that we as a people will always
[24:48] acknowledge that each child in our
[24:50] country is as important as our own. I
[24:54] still believe these things are possible.
[24:56] I still believe in the promise of
[24:58] America and I still believe in a place
[25:01] called hope.
[25:09] Want to drop and run for president of
[25:10] the United States. It does not hurt to
[25:11] be in a town called Hope Arkansas.
[25:15] Ladies and gentlemen,
[25:33] That's
[25:36] he was governor. He had to set up a
[25:37] sting operation because he was dealing
[25:39] cocaine for his own habits.
[25:43] He said it is one of the experiences
[25:45] that he's gone through in life
[25:48] that he can make the hard decisions and
[25:50] that's his mother.
[26:00] Heat.
[26:11] Heat.
[26:17] Governor
[26:32] Richards,
[26:33] Chairman Brown,
[26:36] Mayor Dinkens, our great host,
[26:46] my fellow delegate, And my fellow
[26:48] Americans,
[26:51] I am so proud of Al Gore.
[27:01] He said he came here tonight because he
[27:03] always wanted to do the warm-up for
[27:05] Elvis.
[27:08] Well, I ran for president this year for
[27:11] one reason and one reason only. I wanted
[27:14] to come back to this convention and
[27:16] finish that speech I started four years
[27:18] ago.
[27:33] Last night,
[27:35] Mario Cuomo taught us how a real
[27:37] nominating speech should be given.
[27:50] He also made it clear why we have to
[27:52] steer our ship of state on a new course.
[27:56] Tonight, I want to talk with you about
[27:58] my hope for the future, my faith in the
[28:02] American people, and my vision of the
[28:04] kind of country we can build together.
[28:08] I salute the good men who were my
[28:10] campaign companions on the campaign
[28:13] trail.
[28:15] Tom Harkin,
[28:22] Bob Kerry,
[28:27] Doug Wilder,
[28:32] Jerry Brown,
[28:36] and Paul Sus.
[28:47] One sentence in the platform we built
[28:51] says it all. the most important family
[28:55] policy,
[28:57] urban policy,
[28:59] labor policy, minority policy, and
[29:02] foreign policy America can have is an
[29:06] expanding entrepreneurial economy of
[29:08] highwage, highskilled jobs.
[29:19] And so
[29:21] in the name of all those who do the
[29:23] work, pay the taxes, raise the kids, and
[29:27] play by the rules. In the name of the
[29:29] hardworking Americans who make up our
[29:32] forgotten middle class, I proudly accept
[29:35] your nomination for president of the
[29:38] United States.
[29:59] I am a product of that middle class.
[30:03] And when I am president, you will be
[30:05] forgotten no more.
[30:13] We meet at a special moment in history,
[30:15] you and I. The Cold War is over. Soviet
[30:20] communism has collapsed. And our values,
[30:24] freedom, democracy, individual rights,
[30:27] free enterprise, they have triumphed all
[30:30] around the world. And yet, just as we
[30:33] have won the Cold War abroad, we are
[30:36] losing the battles for economic
[30:38] opportunity and social justice here at
[30:40] home.
[30:47] Now that we have changed the world, it's
[30:50] time to change America.
[31:02] I have news for the forces of greed and
[31:05] the defenders of the status quo. Your
[31:07] time has come and gone. It's time for a
[31:10] change in America.
[31:18] Tonight,
[31:20] 10 million of our fellow Americans are
[31:23] out of work. Tens of millions more work
[31:26] harder for lower pay. The incumbent
[31:29] president says unemployment always goes
[31:32] up a little before a recovery begins.
[31:35] But unemployment only has to go up by
[31:38] one more person before a real recovery
[31:41] can begin
[31:53] and Mr. President, you are that man.
[32:11] This election is about putting power
[32:14] back in your hands and putting the
[32:16] government back on your side. It's about
[32:19] putting people first.
[32:27] You know, I've said that all across the
[32:30] country, and whenever I do, someone
[32:32] always comes back at me, as a young man
[32:34] did just this week at a town meeting at
[32:37] the Henry Street Settlement on the Lower
[32:40] East Side of Manhattan.
[32:44] He said, "That sounds good, Bill, but
[32:47] you're a politician. Why should I trust
[32:50] you?
[32:52] Tonight, as plainly as I can, I want to
[32:56] tell you who I am, what I believe, and
[33:01] where I want to lead America.
[33:10] I never met my father. He was killed in
[33:14] a car wreck on a rainy road three months
[33:17] before I was born. driving from Chicago
[33:19] to Arkansas to see my mother. After
[33:23] that, my mother had to support us. So,
[33:27] we lived with my grandparents while she
[33:28] went back to Louisiana to study nursing.
[33:35] I can still see her clearly tonight
[33:38] through the eyes of a three-year-old
[33:42] kneeling at the railroad station and
[33:44] weeping as she put me back on the train
[33:47] to Arkansas with my grandmother.
[33:50] She endured that pain because she knew
[33:53] her sacrifice was the only way she could
[33:56] support me and give me a better life. My
[34:00] mother taught me. She taught me about
[34:04] family and hard work and sacrifice.
[34:08] She held steady through tragedy after
[34:10] tragedy. And she held our family, my
[34:14] brother and I, together through tough
[34:15] times. As a child, I watched her go off
[34:19] to work each day at a time when it
[34:22] wasn't always easy to be a working
[34:24] mother.
[34:25] As an adult, I've watched her fight off
[34:29] breast cancer. And again, she has taught
[34:31] me a lesson in courage.
[34:34] And always, always, she taught me to
[34:39] fight.
[34:40] That's why I'll fight to create
[34:43] highpaying jobs so that parents can
[34:45] afford to raise their children today.
[34:48] That's why I'm so committed to make sure
[34:51] every American gets the healthc care
[34:54] that saved my mother's life.
[35:06] And that women's healthc care gets the
[35:09] same attention as men's.
[35:18] That's why I'll fight to make sure women
[35:21] in this country receive respect and
[35:23] dignity whether they work in the home,
[35:26] out of the home, or both.
[35:36] You want to know where I get my fighting
[35:39] spirit? It all started with my mother.
[35:43] Thank you, mother. I love you.
[35:58] When I think about opportunity for all
[36:01] Americans, I think about my grandfather.
[36:05] He ran a country store in our little
[36:07] town of Hope. There were no food stamps
[36:10] back then. So when his customers,
[36:12] whether they were white or black, who
[36:16] worked hard and did the best they could,
[36:18] came in with no money, well, he gave
[36:21] them food anyway. Just made a note of
[36:23] it. So did I. Before I was big enough to
[36:27] see over the counter, I learned from him
[36:30] to look up to people other folks look
[36:33] down on.
[36:40] My grandfather just had a high school
[36:43] education, a grade school education.
[36:46] But in that country store, he taught me
[36:48] more about equality in the eyes of the
[36:50] Lord than all my professors at
[36:52] Georgetown.
[36:54] More about the intrinsic worth of every
[36:57] individual than all the philosophers at
[37:00] Oxford. more about the need for equal
[37:03] justice under the law than all the
[37:05] jurists at Yale Law School.
[37:10] If you want to know
[37:13] where I come by the passionate
[37:14] commitment I have to bringing people
[37:17] together without regard to race, it all
[37:20] started with my grandfather.
[37:29] I learned a lot from another person,
[37:32] too. A person who for more than 20 years
[37:35] has worked hard to help our children.
[37:38] Paying the price of time to make sure
[37:40] our schools don't fail them. someone who
[37:43] traveled our state for a year studying,
[37:46] learning, listening, going to PTA
[37:48] meetings, schoolboard meetings, town
[37:50] hall meetings, putting together a
[37:53] package of school reforms recognized
[37:55] around the nation, doing it all while
[37:59] building a distinguished legal career
[38:01] and being a wonderful, loving mother.
[38:05] That person is my wife.
[38:23] Hillary taught me.
[38:27] She taught me that all children can
[38:29] learn and that each of us has a duty to
[38:31] help them do it.
[38:33] So, if you want to know why I care so
[38:35] much about our children and our future,
[38:38] it all started with Hillary.
[38:52] Frankly, I'm fed up with politicians in
[38:55] Washington lecturing the rest of us
[38:56] about family values.
[39:00] Our
[39:07] families have values, but our government
[39:11] doesn't.
[39:25] I want an America where family values
[39:27] live in our actions, not just in our
[39:30] speeches.
[39:33] An America that includes every family.
[39:37] Every traditional family and every
[39:39] extended family,
[39:42] every two parent family, every single
[39:44] parent family, and every foster family,
[39:48] every family,
[39:59] I do want to say something
[40:02] to the fathers in this country who have
[40:04] chosen to abandon their children by
[40:08] neglecting their child support. Take
[40:11] responsibility for your children or we
[40:14] will force you to do so.
[40:30] Because
[40:33] governments don't raise children.
[40:35] Parents do. And you should.
[40:41] And I want to say something to every
[40:42] child in America tonight who's out there
[40:45] trying to grow up without a father or a
[40:48] mother. I know how you feel.
[40:52] You're special, too. You matter to
[40:55] America. And don't you ever let anybody
[40:58] tell you you can't become whatever you
[41:01] want to be.
[41:14] And if other politicians make you feel
[41:17] like you're not a part of their family,
[41:19] come on and be part of ours.
[41:58] The thing that makes me angriest about
[42:02] what's gone wrong in the last 12 years
[42:05] is that our government has lost touch
[42:08] with our values while our politicians
[42:11] continue to shout about them. I'm tired
[42:14] of it.
[42:20] I was raised to believe the American
[42:22] dream was built on rewarding hard work.
[42:28] But we have seen the folks in Washington
[42:31] turn the American ethic on its head. For
[42:34] too long, those who play by the rules
[42:36] and keep the faith have gotten the
[42:38] shaft.
[42:41] And those who cut corners and cut deals
[42:44] have been rewarded.
[42:47] People are working harder than ever,
[42:49] spending less time with their children,
[42:51] working nights and weekends at their
[42:53] jobs instead of going to PTA and little
[42:56] league or scouts. and their incomes are
[42:59] still going down.
[43:04] Their taxes are still going up and the
[43:08] cost of health care, housing, and
[43:11] education are going through the roof.
[43:16] Meanwhile, more and more of our best
[43:18] people are falling into poverty even
[43:20] though they work 40 hours a week.
[43:24] Our
[43:26] people are pleading for change,
[43:29] but government is in the way. It's been
[43:33] hijacked by privileged private
[43:35] interests. It's forgotten who really
[43:38] pays the bills around here. It's taken
[43:41] more of your money and giving you less
[43:44] in return.
[43:46] We have got to go beyond the brain
[43:48] deadad politics in Washington and give
[43:50] our people the kind of government they
[43:52] deserve. A GOVERNMENT THAT WORKS FOR
[43:54] THEM.
[44:11] A president,
[44:14] a president ought to be a powerful force
[44:18] for progress.
[44:20] But right now, I know how President
[44:23] Lincoln felt when General Mlelen
[44:26] wouldn't attack in the Civil War.
[44:29] He asked him, "If you're not going to
[44:31] use your army, may I borrow it?"
[44:37] And so I say, "George Bush, if you won't
[44:41] use your power to help America, step
[44:44] aside. I will.
[44:55] Heat
[45:00] up
[45:08] here.
[45:13] Our
[45:22] country
[45:30] our country is falling behind.
[45:34] The president is caught in the grip of a
[45:37] failed economic theory.
[45:40] We have gone from first to 13th in the
[45:43] world in wages since Reagan and Bush
[45:47] have been in office.
[45:50] Four years ago,
[45:53] candidate Bush said America is a special
[45:57] place, not just another pleasant country
[46:00] somewhere on the UN roll call between
[46:04] Albania and Zimbabwe.
[46:08] Now under President Bush, America has an
[46:13] unpleasant economy stuck somewhere
[46:16] between Germany and Sri Lanka.
[46:22] And for most Americans, Mr. President,
[46:26] life's a lot less kind and a lot less
[46:29] gentle than it was before your
[46:31] administration took office.
[46:44] Heat
[46:47] up
[46:49] here.
[47:06] Do it some more.
[47:18] Our country has fallen so far, so fast
[47:23] that just a few months ago, the Japanese
[47:27] prime minister actually said he felt
[47:30] sympathy for the United States.
[47:34] sympathy.
[47:37] When I am your president, the rest
[47:43] the rest of the world will not look down
[47:47] on us with pity, but up to us with
[47:50] respect again.
[48:02] What was George Bush doing about our
[48:05] economic problems?
[48:08] Now,
[48:09] four years ago, he promised 15 million
[48:13] new jobs by this time, and he's over 14
[48:16] million short.
[48:20] Al Gore and I can do better.
[48:26] He has raised taxes on the people
[48:29] driving pickup trucks and lowered taxes
[48:32] on the people riding in limousines.
[48:36] We can do better.
[48:39] He promised to balance the budget, but
[48:42] he hasn't even tried. In fact, the
[48:45] budgets he has submitted to Congress
[48:48] nearly double the debt. Even worse, he
[48:50] wasted billions and reduced our
[48:53] investments in education and jobs. We
[48:57] can do better.
[49:04] So,
[49:05] if you are sick and tired of a
[49:09] government that doesn't work to create
[49:11] jobs, if you're sick and tired of a tax
[49:14] system that's stacked against you, IF
[49:17] YOU'RE SICK AND TIRED of exploding debt
[49:19] and reduced investments in our future,
[49:22] or if like the great civil rights
[49:25] pioneer Fanny Liu Hammer, you're just
[49:30] plain old sick and tired tired of being
[49:32] sick and tired?
[49:39] THEN
[49:41] JOIN US, work with us, WIN WITH US, AND
[49:44] WE can make our country the country it
[49:47] was meant to be.
[50:02] Now,
[50:03] George Bush talks a good game, but he
[50:08] has no game plan to rebuild America from
[50:12] the cities to the suburbs to the
[50:14] countryside so that we can compete and
[50:16] win again in the global economy. I do.
[50:24] HE WON'T TAKE ON THE big insurance
[50:26] companies and the bureaucracies to
[50:29] control health cost and give us
[50:30] affordable health care for all
[50:33] Americans. But I will.
[50:43] He won't even implement the
[50:45] recommendations of his own commission on
[50:48] AIDS. But I will.
[51:02] He won't streamline the federal
[51:04] government and change the way it works.
[51:07] Cut a 100,000 bureaucrats and put a
[51:10] 100,000 new police officers on the
[51:13] streets of American cities. But I WILL
[51:24] HE'S NEVER balanced a government budget,
[51:27] but I have 11 times.
[51:36] He won't break THE STRANGLE HOLD THE
[51:38] SPECIAL INTERESTS have on our elections
[51:41] and the lobbyists have on our
[51:42] government. But I will.
[51:49] He won't give mothers and fathers the
[51:53] simple chance to take some time off from
[51:56] work when a baby is born or a parent is
[52:00] sick. But I will
[52:12] We're losing our farms at a rapid rate
[52:15] and he has no commitment to keep family
[52:17] farms in the family, but I do.
[52:29] He's talked a lot about drugs, but he
[52:31] hasn't helped people on the front line
[52:33] to wage that war on drugs and crime. But
[52:36] I will.
[52:42] HE WON'T TAKE THE lead in protecting the
[52:45] environment and creating new jobs in
[52:48] environmental technologies for the 21st
[52:50] century, but I will.
[53:00] And you know what else?
[53:02] He doesn't have Al Gore and I do
[53:26] Just in case,
[53:29] just in case you didn't notice, that's
[53:31] gore with an E on the end.
[53:45] And George Bush,
[53:50] George Bush won't guarantee
[53:53] a woman's right to choose. I will
[54:28] Hear me now.
[54:32] I am not pro-abortion. I am pro-choice
[54:37] strongly.
[54:41] I believe
[54:43] this difficult and painful decision
[54:46] should be left to the women of America.
[54:52] I hope the right to privacy can be
[54:55] protected and we will never again have
[54:58] to discuss this issue on political
[55:00] platforms.
[55:09] But
[55:12] I am old enough to remember what it was
[55:15] like before Ro v. Wade and I do not want
[55:19] to return to the time when we make
[55:22] criminals of women and their doctors.
[55:34] jobs,
[55:36] education,
[55:38] healthc care.
[55:39] These are not just commitments from my
[55:42] lips. They are the work of my life.
[55:49] OUR
[55:55] priorities
[55:56] must be clear. We will put our people
[56:02] first again.
[56:10] But priorities without a clear plan of
[56:13] action are just empty words. To turn our
[56:17] rhetoric into reality, we've got to
[56:20] change the way government does business
[56:22] fundamentally. Until we do, we'll
[56:25] continue to pour billions of dollars
[56:27] down the drain. The Republicans have
[56:30] campaigned against big government for a
[56:32] generation. But have you noticed they've
[56:35] run this big government for a
[56:37] generation?
[56:40] And they haven't changed a thing. They
[56:44] don't want to fix government. They still
[56:46] want to campaign against it and that's
[56:48] all.
[56:54] But my fellow Democrats,
[56:57] it's time for us to realize that we've
[56:59] got some changing to do, too. There is
[57:02] not a program in government for every
[57:04] problem. And if we want to use
[57:07] government to help people, we have got
[57:10] to make it work again.
[57:19] Because we are committed in this
[57:22] convention and in this platform to
[57:25] making these changes,
[57:27] we are as Democrats, in the words that
[57:30] Ross Perau himself spoke today, a
[57:33] revitalized Democratic party.
[57:55] I am well aware
[57:58] that all those millions of people who
[58:00] rallied to Ross Perau's cause wanted to
[58:04] be in an army of patriots for change
[58:09] tonight. I say to them, join us and
[58:12] together we will revitalize America.
[58:29] Now,
[58:31] I don't have all the answers, but I do
[58:34] know the old ways don't work. Trickle
[58:37] down economics has sure failed.
[58:42] And big bureaucracies, both private and
[58:44] public, they failed, too.
[58:48] That's why we need a new approach to
[58:50] government. A government that offers
[58:52] more empowerment and less entitlement.
[58:55] More choices for young people in the
[58:57] schools they attend, in the public
[58:59] schools they attend.
[59:07] AND
[59:08] MORE CHOICES for the elderly and for
[59:11] people with disabilities and the
[59:12] long-term care they receive.
[59:18] A government that is leaner, not meaner.
[59:22] A government that expands opportunity,
[59:24] not bureaucracy. A government that
[59:27] UNDERSTANDS THAT JOBS MUST COME FROM
[59:29] growth in a vibrant and vital system of
[59:32] free enterprise.
[59:34] I call this approach
[59:36] a new covenant, a solemn agreement
[59:42] between the people and their government
[59:45] based not simply on what each of us can
[59:47] take but what all of us must give to our
[59:51] nation.
[60:00] We offer our people a new choice based
[60:03] on old values. We offer opportunity. We
[60:07] demand responsibility.
[60:10] We will build an American community
[60:12] again. The choice we offer is not
[60:16] conservative or liberal. In many ways,
[60:18] it's not even Republican or Democratic.
[60:21] It's different. It's new. And it will
[60:25] work.
[60:30] It will work because it is rooted in the
[60:33] vision and the values of the American
[60:36] people.
[60:38] Of all the things George Bush has ever
[60:41] said that I disagree with, perhaps the
[60:44] thing that bothers me most is how he
[60:48] derides and degrades the American