Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

Examining Hillary Clinton's Acceptance Speech. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired July 29, 2016 - 06:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[06:00:00] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: -- issue presented a sharp contrast with Donald Trump.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: The speech was very important for her and she chose to fill with attacks on Trump and specifically his temperament. She called for Americans to rebuke his I alone message and unite at what she called a moment of reckoning. What happened, what will be its impact, we have it covered for you completely.

Let's begin with CNN's Joe Johns, live at the convention hall in Philadelphia. Joe?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Chris, you know when you look at a speech like this by Hillary Clinton or anybody else, you look at the setting, the goals, the words, the candidate uses, the reception of the audience, of course. And by all accounts, I think people can say Hillary Clinton accomplished what she set out to do with this speech. It was not soaring rhetoric, but it was reintroducing herself to an audience that has known her for decades. It was also about stressing the shared responsibilities and electing someone to highest office, and of course tearing into Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: It is with humility, determination, and boundless confidence in America's promise that I accept your nomination for president of the United States.

JOHNS: Hillary Clinton drawing a sharp contrast with Donald Trump's vision for America.

H. CLINTON: Don't believe anyone who says I alone can fix it. Those were actually Donald Trump's words in Cleveland. And they should set off alarm bells for all of us, really? I alone can fix it? He's forgetting every last one of us. Americans don't say I alone can fix it. We say we'll fix it together.

JOHNS: Repeatedly slamming Trump.

H.CLINTON: We heard Donald Trump's answer last week at his convention. He wants to divide us from the rest of the world and from each other. He's betting that the perils of today's world will blind us to its unlimited promise. He's taken the Republican Party a long way from morning in America to midnight in America.

JOHNS: Questioning his judgment.

H.CLINTON: Imagine if you dare, imagine, imagine him in the Oval Office facing a real crisis. A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons.

JOHNS: Knocking Trump's understanding of the issues.

H.CLINTON: Now, Donald Trump, Donald Trump says and this is a quote, "I know more about ISIS than the generals do". No, Donald, you don't. You didn't hear any of this, did you, from Donald Trump at his convention. He spoke for 70-odd minutes, and I do mean odd. And he offered zero solutions. But we already know he doesn't believe these things. No wonder he doesn't like talking about his plans. You might have noticed I love talking about mine.

JOHNS: Clinton also using her speech to praise Bernie Sanders and reach out to his supporters.

H. CLINTON: I want you to know I've heard you. Your cause is our cause.

JOHNS: Hoping to broaden her base with all voters.

H.CLINTON: If I will be a president for Democrats, Republicans, Independents, for the struggling, the striving, the successful, for all those who vote for me and for those who don't, for all Americans together.

JOHNS: Clinton's daughter Chelsea introducing her mother.

CHELSEA CLINTON, DAUGHTER OF HILLARY AND BILL CLINTON: People ask me all the time, how does she do it? How does she keep going amid the sound in the fury of politics? Here's how. It's because she never, ever forgets who she's fighting for.

JOHNS: The nominee herself acknowledging the history of the moment.

H. CLINTON: Standing here as my mother's daughter and my daughter's mother, I'm so happy this day has come. I'm happy for grandmothers and little girls and everyone in between. I'm happy for boys and men. Because when any barrier falls in America, it clears the way for everyone.

[06: 05: 05] After all, when there are no ceilings, the sky's the limit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: One thing Hillary Clinton did not address head on last night was the issue of voter trust, which dogged her throughout the primaries. Though, she has said in some other places that there was one standard for her and another standard for everybody else. What she seemed to be saying last night was that there's a more important principle here at play, and that is the principle of confidence and ready to serve in the highest office. Chris and Alisyn, back to you.

CUOMO: Character versus competence. That seems to be one of the setups here. Joe Johns, thank you so much.

All right, let's discuss what happens and what it means. We got CNN Political Analyst and host of the "David Gregory Show Podcast", David Gregory. CNN Political Analyst and Editor-in-Chief of "The Daily Beast," John Avlon and CNN politics editor, Juana Summers. So David, what did she need to do, and what did she get done?

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I mean she had to measure up to this moment. Everybody was building this up I think accurately is the most important speech of her political life. Here she is making history accepting the nomination as a woman. I think it was the culmination of a very well choreographed convention, which was about a stinging contrast to the Republicans on a vision for America.

This was a picture of the new America, an ascended coalition that has been a Democratic coalition of the different faces of America, more minorities, young people. It was very inclusive, patriotic, an emphasis on the military veterans and all of that. That I -- that it was really reminiscent to a Republican Conventions of the recent past. But I think for Hillary Clinton, she was also doubling down on a different argument.

You may not love me, you may not connect with me, you may not trust me, but do you have grudging respect for me that I can do the job and that I'm better than the other guy? That was a core message, and it's a bet that even though people may not trust her, that she can do the job more effectively, that she can be a Commander-in-Chief. If there was a dissonant note, it was still what we've talked about this week. Did she do a good enough job speaking to all those people, not just Bernie supporters, but Trump supporters, who feel like the system -- the political system is rigged, the economy is rigged, and they feel totally left out because she is status quo, for sure.

JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yeah, to that point, one of the most important lines in the speech and the speech did have a couple good lines. I think in some ways the sum was not a total on this parts. It was the line where she said that the economy is not working the way it should it's because our politics aren't working the way it should.

And I think that was her outreach to those populous forces that have really driven our politics with anger and anxiety the cycle despite the economic recovery, and she is squaring the circle effectively and saying if you're angry about the economy, if you're frustrated with Washington, it's because the division and dysfunction of Washington and implicitly that's a Republican problem and I can help address that. So she's trying to take some of that energy and redirect it, a very important strategic tactic.

CAMEROTA: Well, let's talk about her personal story. Because she didn't say, I know some people think that I'm not trustworthy. What she did say was some people don't know what to make of me. And she used that to launch into kind of her life story about her mother's childhood.

She also talked about her marriage. And it was an interesting contrast because her husband, Bill Clinton, had come on and talked about their courtship and when he first met her. And so she went back to that moment of when they first met. So let's play that for a second.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

H. CLINTON: And Bill, that conversation we started in the law library 45 years ago, it is still going strong. You know, that conversation has lasted through good times that filled us with joy and hard times that tested us, and I've even gotten a few words in along the way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: What did you think of that? I mean, the hard times that have tested us. What did you think of how she addressed those?

JUANA SUMMERS, CNN POLITICS EDITOR: I thought that was actually a very nice moment by Hillary Clinton, you know, acknowledging the public struggles that many Americans have watched her marriage endure in a way that most of us have the luxury of keeping behind closed doors and talking about it in a real way after being introduced by her daughter, who now has two young children, who's now a mother herself. And I think that goes a long way to humanizing Clinton, who many voters have trouble relating to.

She's not necessarily a natural campaigner, not like her husband was in the way he connects with people on the stump. She doesn't have those qualities. It's just not in her arsenal, so I think she connected as best she could and made it personal by talking about her mother, by being open about those struggles. And I think that if she's able to do that a little more, to bring out the human side, it could help with those numbers that we see.

[06:10:05] And in a recent CNN poll, we saw that 68 percent don't see Hillary Clinton as honest and trustworthy. I think part of that's because they feel like there's this calculated demure there. She's very poetical. She is constantly performing and out there doing the political shift but not really getting to know people one on one. And I think she kind of tried to get at that last night.

GREGORY: It's interesting you know there's a reservedness to her, right. The reservedness which I thought she owned little bit last night that does come from her mother saying we stand up to bullies. You know, there's no room in this house for anybody who's ...

CUOMO: Cowards.

GREGORY: For cowards, no room in this house for cowards. You know, but I have an interview from my Podcast with Ron Fournier formerly with this A.P. National Journal who's covered the Clinton since the Arkansas days. And he describes a kind of scar tissue that builds up on Hillary Clinton very early on, on her political career that she's never really been able to get over. And it creates a defensiveness to her, a bunker mentality to her, which is created a lot of the criticism toward her and it impacted her public persona that she has to own. It doesn't have to way to speak about that publicly. AVLON: And she's trying to turn that thick skin, that scar tissue into an asset contra Donald Trump, who she's saying is effectively too thin-skinned. You can, you know, get him on a rant just because she's reacting to a tweet. So it's an interesting -- it's an interesting tact, but she has the honor this, somebody once said, you know, you campaign in poetry and government prose. She is campaigning in prose because that's just simply who she is.

CUOMO: And that it's also her bet. Her bet is personality versus performance.

AVLON: Correct.

CUOMO: She's going to performance. He's going to the personality. He also has the benefit of momentum. He has people who are upset. They want things to be different. How did she do in taking down Donald Trump in a way that works to her benefit? As just we've seen, just hitting Donald Trump is seen as disrespect by the people who say he supports.

GREGORY: Hey, I think the temperamental piece is what's most important. It's as if uniquely unqualified? We talked about this a couple days ago, which is that they are separating him from being a Republican and saying he is a unique outlier who you cannot trust temperamentally who doesn't know the issues, who really is so unprepared.

What's interesting, and you've talked about this, Chris, is that there are a lot of his supporters, even soft supporters of him, who I think say, oh, yeah, all that outrageous stuff he does or says, he probably doesn't believe that. Because he'll shake things up, he'll get things done. That's what she's up against. It's making an argument against a kind of archetype that may not be as effective as otherwise. But I think that disqualifying aspect. She did in a pretty cutting way with some pretty sharp lines last night. The Twitter line, if you can be baited by Twitter, you shouldn't have your fingers on the codes.

CAMEROTA: Juana she also invoked Jackie Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy talking about sort of arch enemies back then and she's sort of tied back up to Donald Trump. So listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: I can't put it any better than Jackie Kennedy did after the Cuban missile crisis. She said that what worried President Kennedy during that very dangerous time was that a war might be started not by big men with self-control and restraint but by little men, the ones moved by fear and pride.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: What did you think of that reference?

SUMMERS: That was one from a history books, certainly. I think it works very well in this case though because what we've seen from the Trump campaign thus far frankly is a lack of self-control. Donald Trump at one moment does the reserve thing where he has the Teleprompters. He gives a very stoic speech. The next day he can go online, get on Twitter, and call Elizabeth Warren Pocahontas.

CAMEROTA: But they call that spontaneity. I mean his supporters like that spontaneity. They call that lack of political correctness.

SUMMERS: Sure, they call that those things, but it's different being spontaneous when you're talking about speeches and rhetoric than when your talking about dealing with global crisis's and governing and sitting in the Oval Office, as President Obama has said. You don't know what it's like to sit in the office until you're in the office.

So I think that's really the contrast that Hillary Clinton has tried to show. And I would argue that she's done so effectively. It's temperament versus trust is really what this election is going to come down to. I think if Hillary Clinton can push to Donald Trump lacks the temperament she could perhaps come out in front.

AVLON: Yeah, I mean temperament is the core to the argument they're making.

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: Doesn't temperament sounds a little like what they talk to about your kids when you don't need to ...

AVLON: You know, its way too buttoned up. What we're talking about is do you want a reality T.V. star who is basically an entertainer, or do you want somebody who's a combination of competence and confidence dealing with Foreign Affairs? It's a question how serious you think the office is and the stakes in this election.

CAMEROTA: Panel, thank you very much. Great to get your insights on pride and prejudice and temperament. Coming up in our 8: 00 hour, I'll talk exclusively with Democratic vice Presidential nominee Tim Kaine so stick around for that.

CUOMO: Now, there was a big moment last night, and I'm not talking about the Hillary Clinton speech. Some were saying that this was the kind of pivotal moment, the kind of metaphor for what the Democrats were trying to get done all week long.

[06:15:00] You're looking at it on your screen right now. This man lost his son. This man and this woman lost their son in Iraq. He's a Muslim. Wait until you hear what he said to Donald Trump. Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: All right. So this is the moment that you need to see in terms of the state of play between the Democrats and the Republicans. You saw what the GOP wanted as a main message last week. We have to be concerned about the people who are coming into this country. It's a very different message last night. Look who delivered it and look what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KHIZR KHAN, FATHER OF THE DECEASED MUSLIM U.S. SOLDIER: Let me ask you, have you even read the United States constitution? I will gladly lend you my copy in this document. Look for the words -- look for the words liberty and equal protection of law.

[06:20:00] Have you ever been to Arlington cemetery? Go look at the graves of brave patriots who died defending United States of America. You will see all faiths, genders, and ethnicities. You have sacrificed nothing and no one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Parents who have lost their son, fighting for America in Iraq saying you have lost nothing and no one.

The impact of this, let's discuss with Democratic Congressman Seth Moulton of Massachusetts and Hakeem Jeffries of New York. This took people by surprise, gentlemen, I think that's a fair submission as somebody who's monitoring the events. Hakeem, let me start with you. What do you think this moment meant to the Democratic movement?

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES, (D) NEW YORK: Well, it was a very powerful moment, one because both the father and the mother had lost a son who had sacrificed to help protect the liberties and all that is important to America. In the context of his Muslim faith, someone who we shouldn't look at based on his religion, but who we should look at as an American.

That's a different approach than what Donald Trump has taken. And for the constitution of the reference, and we understand that Donald Trump has conducted himself as fast and loose with the facts and shown no real understanding of the basic principles of American Democracy, and the things that are in the constitution that make us the country that we are today. For him to communicate that from the context of a father who lost a son sacrificing for us was particularly profound.

CAMEROTA: Congressman Moulton, this father seem to encompass all of the qualities that Democrat say represents sort of Americans or the new American image that they are contracting with Donald Trump. He's the father of a fallen soldier. He's a Muslim man. He carries a copy of the constitution in his pocket. What do you think that moment represented?

REP. SETH MOULTON, (D) MASSACHUSETTS: Well, it certainly showed the sharp contrast between what we saw in Cleveland last week and what this week was all about. This is all about coming together and stronger together. That's not just a campaign theme, that's something that is fundamental to what America is all about.

It's what I experienced as a marine serving in Iraq myself. You know, I had marines in my platoon from all over this country. From Massachusetts and Vermont, but also Alabama and Texas, from a gated community outside of Park city, Utah, and inner city Brooklyn, New York.

We had remarkably different religious beliefs, different political beliefs and at the end of the day, we were able to set aside those differences to do what's best for America. That's what we're showing here in Philadelphia. And that's the quite a contrast to the division, the hatred, the outright racist comments that you've heard in Cleveland.

CUOMO: Right. I mean Seth, that's what you guys have been looking for against Trump, right? You've been looking for somebody in some way to make him stop in your opinion, disrespecting what the strength of America is, which is its diversity.

Do you think this was that man -- the right man and the right moment? When he pulled out that constitution, you know, Melvin (ph) being an American with being a Muslim at the same time, do you think this was the moment that may have struck at what you think needs to be said to Donald Trump?

MOULTON: It was an incredibly powerful moment. It talked about what America really is fundamentally about and it contrasted that with a man who doesn't even read the constitution. Who's never been to Arlington cemetery, who has no idea what sacrifice is all about, has never sacrificed for anyone or anything besides himself.

So I think these really crystallized things, not just for Democrats, but for all Americans. The stark choice that we have in this election.

CUOMO: It really does remind you of the Welch moment with McCarthy. David Axelrod was talking about, have you no decency sir, that at certain point you just cross a line beyond politics into just the basing humanity.

CAMEROTA: So, Congressman Jeffries, if this is an iconic moment, all of that previous moment in history. What do the Democrats do now to further it, to exploit that moment, for lack of a better word?

JEFFRIES: Well, I think what you saw throughout the entire convention was a great diversity of America on display and everyone from people from different races, social economic backgrounds, different religions who believe in America as a melting pot of individuals from all over the world who come here to improve their lives and to make the lives of their children and grandchildren better in a way that is hopeful and optimistic, not hateful and looks to motivate the worst in individuals.

[06: 24: 57] What's been interesting throughout this entire week is that even when you compare Donald Trump to prior Republican Presidential candidates, Ronald Reagan of course, talked about a shining city on the hill. George H. W. Bush talked about a thousand points of light in a peaceful sky. George W. Bush offered the country compassionate conservatism.

And Donald Trump views America as a divided crime scene. That's not the Democratic view of this country. We believe in the power of American exceptionalism and what makes us the country that we are is the great diversity and people coming together, in some cases sacrificing ...

CAMEROTA: Yeah.

JEFFRIES: ... but coming together to improve the lot of this wonderful country. And that's really what this week was all about.

CUOMO: But nobody really has dealt with that list of presidents that you put up there. Seth, I'll direct this to you based on what Hakeem Jeffries just said.

Nobody has dealt with the real time threat from Islamic extremists that America is right now. So the push back as powerful it is as sympathetic as those parents were last night, is that, yeah, well, they don't represent the people who are trying to kill us on a regular basis here, and we haven't been strong enough and America looks weak and ISIS is on the, you know, they're just going everywhere, they're going to be more of these attacks. That's a reality also for people.

So how do you counter not just compassion but how do you show that you're strong enough and you have a way to keep us safe?

MOULTON: Well, talk about strength, I mean, these are the parents of someone who was serving overseas in Iraq. I mean, this is what America is all about. It's not only being strong with our allies but confronting our enemies. And who better prepared to lead as Commander- in-Chief than someone who has served as Secretary of State, who understands the fight against the ISIS.

Now, contrast that with Donald Trump, who's out there praising Saddam Hussein, who's saying that the military is a disaster. Who's praising dictators and telling Russia to attack us, which is frankly treason. So there's a sharp contrast in this election.

And I know myself, speaking as a Marine veteran. I want a Commander- in-Chief that I can trust. I want someone who's not going to be erratic. I'm not -- I don't want someone who's praising our enemies and debasing my service by castigating the military.

Secretary Clinton is someone that we can trust to take the fight to ISIS, to defeat our enemies, and to stand by our allies and that's exactly what we need in a Commander-in-Chief.

CAMEROTA: Congressman Moulton, Congressman Jeffrey, thanks so much for joining us this morning.

CUOMO: Amazing that it wasn't a politician that had the biggest political impact last night. All due respect to Hillary Clinton but that was a powerful moment on a very human level.

CAMEROTA: I think that happens a lot that when you hear from regular people, they can drive home the message better than politicians often. We'd love to hear what you think about that as well.

You can find us on Twitter. So, there are these two nominees he always says that and they have two vastly different visions for America and of course, strategies for defeating ISIS.

So up next, we talk to a former General about the candidates' plan to battle terror.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)