Hillary Clinton in Harrisburg - Part 7 (3/11/08)

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Senator Hillary Clinton gives a presidential campaign speech at the Forum Theatre in Harrisburg in March of 2008. Here's a story I wrote about the event. HARRISBURG — Being a Hillary Clinton supporter in an area where the mere mention of her name raises the blood pressure of conservatives can be daunting. Yet Lancaster County was well represented by dozens of enthusiastic supporters who traveled to Harrisburg on a yellow school bus bedecked with Clinton campaign signs to listen to the presidential hopeful speak at the ornate Forum theater near the Capitol building in Harrisburg on Tuesday afternoon. Clinton addressed more than 2,000 campaigners who packed the theater, saying the Democratic nomination will come down to which candidate supplies the choices Americans need to succeed. "If you want to know what someone will do, look and see what they have done," Clinton said. "And year after year after year, I have been fighting for jobs and fighting for health care and fighting to give families a chance to be able to balance work and family obligations." The New York senator and former first lady spoke for more than half an hour, touching on her presidential platform and the direction the United States has taken since George Bush took office. Americans have been burdened with rising prices in energy, education, health care and food, Clinton said, and families are struggling to maintain their homes and way of life. She said workers are looking for relief and someone "who will once again be on their side, not on the side of the wealthy and well connected." Clinton said she constantly hears people complaining about the direction the country was headed in the 1990s, but she said people in Pennsylvania experienced a better standard of living in that decade. "I always ask people when I hear them complaining about the 1990s, 'Well, which part of it didn't you like — the peace or the prosperity,'" she said. Clinton spoke about measures she would employ to ensure jobs stay in the United States, including eliminating tax breaks to companies exporting jobs overseas. She also said the country is in need of a fair tax code in which all workers pay their fair share — from a Wall Street money manager making $50 million a year to truck drivers, nurses and teachers in Harrisburg. The creation of new jobs through the growth of the clean-and-renewable-energy sector using a $50 billion strategic energy fund she'd create by taking tax subsidies away from oil companies is one of Clinton's platform planks. Clinton said she wants to send a message to oil producing companies that the United States is not going to be held hostage by paying $107 for a barrel of oil. "It's time we stood up and said, 'We are tired of being taken advantage of,'" Clinton said. "As your president, you will not see me holding hands with the Saudis. I will be holding them accountable." Clinton spent time talking about ending "Bush's war on science" by asking Congress to submit a stem cell research bill as one of the first for her to sign into law. Health care was prominent in Clinton's speech. She said she has met too many families suffering from inadequate health care or the inability to receive the care they need because health insurance companies won't pay. Clinton said the Constitution makes it illegal to discriminate on race, religion or gender, but she said health-insurance companies discriminate against the sick. "(Health-insurance companies) should not be making life-and-death decisions," she said. Clinton mentioned ending the Iraq war by starting a withdraw of American troops within 60 days of taking office. She said U.S. soldiers have done everything that's been asked of them, including getting rid of Saddam Hussein and preparing the way for Iraqi elections. But she said the government needs to make it clear that the Iraqi people need to figure out how to use their freedom. "You cannot be a leader if no one is following, and therefore we have to get back into leading the world on all of these big threats and dangers," Clinton said. "I believe the world will let out a big sigh of relief when George Bush finally leaves the White House."

Category: News
Uploaded: March 14th, 2008 @ 4:16 pm
Author: CoolLikeMiles

Length: 08:16
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Tags: clinton forum harrisburg hillary pennsylvania senator theatre

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