Hillary came here to speak at the last minute after the debate in Orangeburg, SC, and I was lucky enough to get a ticket without coughing up $200 thanks to my buddy/lawyer/chairman of the county demos.
It was at an African American AME church, the secret service did a GREAT job of getting us checked in quickly. Mara Liason from NPR was running around with a microphone (That's her in the background of the pic), and little did I know it, but I sat next to a reporter from the Denver Post. He said that he hates sitting in the press pool. Groupthink he said. Hmmmm.
Overall she was very personable. Just me, but she sometimes appears a little stern in the MSM, because you just know they love to veer off and discuss the most important topics of the day. Like $400 haircuts.
She joked with some guy who had to be 100 years old in a wheelchair, who said, "The best day of my life is when your husband sent me an autographed picture." She laughed, and went over hugged him and kissed his face. She said, "Believe me, Bill is jealous he is not here, but he is in Indonesia giving a speech." She warmed up and seemed very relaxed after that.
She spoke for about 40 minutes about healthcare, a little about the economy and a disappearing middle class, yada, yada. No Iraq except for the poll tested, Mom approved, "If I'm president in 2009 I will bring the troops home." Everyone cheered, I clapped. IMO that's a cop out. No one knows what they will do in the big chair once arrived. This is Junior's f-up. Defund the war. Then impeach the Cheney administration.
Then questions, a softball about being a woman candidate, another about social security privatization, and then a blue-haired lady stood up and hit below the belt.
"How can you continue to support the killing of millions of babies a year after the 40 million already murdered. Abortion is murder." (paraphrasing here)
Arggghhhh. Just an FYI, the rethugs here in SC are trying to pass a bill to force all women considering abortion to view an ultrasound. More in a sec.
Hillary knocked it out of the park. Again paraphrasing here, "We are on the same side. I want fewer abortions. You achieve that by offering more education about sex, and birth control, and more resources for young parents. The math shows that when you have all of those, abortion rates go down. Help me support you by voting for me."
Blue-hair sat down in the midst of loud applause. Shocker, there is more to the abortion issue than Faux news style talking points and questionable statistics.
After that it was over, Hillary thanked us, most folks filed out to get back to work, and then a few of us went up to the front to snap a few pics, and try to shake hands.
I got a few pics like the one above, shook her hand and said, "Senator, why do you need to come to a compromise on Iraq with a guy who has 28% approval."
She said, "No one compromises on supporting our troops, but we want some accountability." Then she moved on to the lady on my left.
Well, what would you ask?
Just one point about the ultrasound boolsheet. If the woman turns her head to avoid looking, do you have cop force her head forward? How about if she closes her eyes, does a security guard prop them open with toothpicks?
-Prodigal Son
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