The second night of the Democratic National Convention was behind schedule and broadcast against the first night of football season. There was no shortage of hard hits and one high profile platform fumble.
1. Bill Clinton ardently backs President Obama
Former President Clinton declared that America is better off than it was four years ago during his involving, detailed, rousing speech, which ended in a joyful hug between the former president and the current Oval Office occupant and capped the speeches of the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday.
Clinton (unsurprisingly) departed from his prepared remarks to range wide, attacking Republican VP candidate Paul Ryan for his cuts to Medicare and riffing on jobs, education, and the auto bailout, among many (many) other things. And of course, there were jokes. Praising Obama for his spirit of cooperation, he quipped: “Heck, he even appointed Hillary!”
From Yahoo News’s Chris Moody:
In a speech that was repeatedly interrupted by standing ovations and often veered from the prepared remarks on his Teleprompter, Clinton took on nearly every criticism that Republicans leveled at Obama last week at their party convention in Tampa. Clinton’s wide-ranging speech defended several aspects of Obama’s record, including his health care law, the controversial Recovery Act, the restructuring of cash-strapped American auto companies and even his choice of Joe Biden as vice president.
“We believe ‘we’re all in this together’ is a far better philosophy than ‘you’re on your own,’” Clinton said in his speech that went on for nearly an hour. “I want to nominate a man who’s cool on the outside but burns for American on the inside.”
2. Sandra Fluke speaks to women in prime time
Women’s rights activist Sandra Fluke, who became a public figure earlier this year when Rush Limbaugh attacked her