Carol Moseley Braun: I am the clearest alternative to George Bush

[gottaB]

This is my hurried transcript of Carol's speech to the DNC carried on cspan just now. I've taken out the applause and laughter markers, but left in line breaks to reflect the syntactical structure provided by the speaker-audience interaction. I've edited out reptitions due to what seem to be a few fumblings, but kept in repititions which seem to carry rhetorical effect.

Thank you very much. Thank you Matt Brewer for the kind words and warm introduction and to Terry Mcaullife, thank you so much for your leadership, and for organizing this Fall meeting of the Democratic National Comittee.

The energy of this Democratic field has touched the American people. And I am just so proud of the alternative resonance we're setting up against the propaganda coming out of the White House.

And I want to thank you, members of the DNC, for your consistent committment to the Party, and for your advocacy of the values that Democrats share. You make this party the party of the big tent--and there are all kinds of Democrats here today: Old Democrats, Labor Democrats, New Democrats, Green Democrats, Progressive Democrats, Democrat Democrats. But the one thing that brings us together is that we are, and we have always been, the people's party.

You give of your time and your energy and your efforts to stand up for those who don't have special-interest backing, and for those who may not have the inside track, and for those who care the most about the American dream because they have to work for it. What brings us together as Democrats is a shared vision of this country as one that works for everybody, not just the privileged and the powerful. We believe that government exists to serve and protect people, and all of us are united in wanting a government of, by and for the people.

We are also united as members of the ABB club. ABB: Anybody but Bush.

This administration has failed on so many fronts, has insulted the American people on so many occasions, that to list the horribles of this failed presidency would take up my whole time here--so I'm not going to do it. But one thing is certain: Whoever, of the ten of the Democratic candidates, wins this nomination as the standard bearer for this party, should have the enthusiastic support of the whole party.

If we remain civil, and focused, and clear in our mission to send the current president back to the ranch, I have no doubt that we will savor a Democratic victory in 2004. Let me be very clear, and make one thing very clear to you today. I am in it to win.

However you may view my candidacy for this office, I can tell you one thing. I know how to win elections, I have a message that people are prepared to vote for, and I believe that the voters are ready to embrace a clear alternative to George Bush.

I am ready and able to speak to the hearts and minds of the American people and to give them hope. And I want your help to do what I have always done in my public life: Break down barriers, build bridges, and bring people together.

Let me tell you one other thing. People ask the standard question, How are you different than the other candidates? Well, I am--I hear chuckles because of the obvious, but let me tell you this.

I am the clearest alternative to George Bush: I don't look like him, I don't talk like him, I don't think like him, and I don't act like him.

And I have a recipe for Democrats to win the White House in 2004. (Aside: And Terry, you might want to take notes on this.)

First, you start with the people who elected Gore in 2000, and who haven't forgotten that their votes were discounted.

Then you add the people who voted for George Bush who are out of work, out of money, out of hope, and who are horrified that his PATRIOT Act has big brother spying on them and threatening to put the librarians in jail.

Now we know that hard times and Republican administrations have a way of going together, but this president has shown us the very worst of trickle-down economics. And so, you add a pinch of those voters who are distressed about the deficit, dismayed about the costs of Iraq, and disgusted about the way that Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld have frittered away our standing in the world, And you stir all of this up with tax cuts for the rich, Enron and Halliburton, and you have a powerful stew.

But, it's going to take a woman to transform it into a recipe of success for America.

I can create jobs and get the economy working for everybody and take a new rule to the mess that Bush has left and put our economic house in order. I will dust off the Constitution of the United States, and make sure that our children get no less liberty, no less opportunity, no less hope and optimism than we got from our parents.

We will bring our troops home with honor, and restore relationships with the rest of the world, in a global effort to stop terrorism, and drugs, and poverty, and violence, and the exploitation of women and children.

And we will finally, we will finally get health care reform right, and make sure that every American has healh care coverage, and that every physician, nurse and provider has more to say about care than somebody in a call-center thousands of miles away.

Democrats, it is time to be bold and creative, and to put away the cynicism and the cronyism and do what you know is right. All that we are saying is give a woman a chance to lead. I have the credentials, the experience, the track record and the platform to rebuild and renew this country, and to give us an American renaisance.

I tell people what I believe in. I do what I say I'm going to do, and I hold myself accountable to the voters for my service. My campaign has inspired people. Not just the girls and the women who know we can do it, but the men who have the vision to see capacity and potential.

For every detractor who would call my campaign silly and hopeless, there are many more who see it as bold and courageous and the silver bullet to send Bush back to the ranch.

I am asking, I am asking for your support. I am asking for a chance to lead. I am asking you to believe in yourself and what you tell your daughters. Democrats, it is time for a woman to save America, and I have the strength to do it.

Together, together, we will break down barriers, bring Americans together, and yes, rebuild that bridge to the Twenty-First Century. Thank you all so very much. Thank you.

[Terwilliger]

1. I'd vote for her

if she had a snowball's chance in hell of gaining the Dem nom

[queer outlaw]

2. Illinois resident here ...

I live in Illinois, where Carol Moseley Braun is from. I respect her immensely, and would definitely support her as a vice-presidential candidate. However, although she is an Ambassador, I don't believe she would be my first pick as a leader who could handle international issues such as terrorism. She'd be terrific with domestic policy though!

[Terwilliger]

4. why is that?

some kind of institutional prejudice against women? or those who appear to be less than manly? what's the criteria for her not being able to be an effective international leader?

[noiretextatique]

16. she needs to "butch up," terwilliger

:hi: i have some friends at the white horse who can help her with that :D but wait...THAT would be a problem too :shrug:

[Terwilliger]

17. yep...women aren't allowed to be unfeminine in politics

you better wear that dress!

[queer outlaw]

19. criteria ...

Hi Terwilliger, hope I didn't offend you. It seems that I did.

Of course, CMB would be a much more effective international leader than GWB, especially when diplomacy is concerned. But I've not seen much development on her international platform as of yet, although I've been receiving her campaign updates by email since June. Perhaps you could share some information here? I'd appreciate it, and would look forward to learning something I may be overlooking about CMB.

I remember when she was a state representative here in Illinois. I was working for a fellow democrat state representative at that time. As I said before, I have nothing but the utmost respect for CMB.

[Terwilliger]

21. no offense

that assertion seemed baseless on its face

Still, what other candidates have articulated their foreign policy positions? Maybe she's working on it?

No offense taken...just checking :hi:

[queer outlaw]

23. Articulation

Thanks T, I'm still new here. I admit I should assert my opinions with evidence. It seems logical. Now's a good time to start, maybe?

On a different evening, and after a few drinks, I'd love to compare notes. :) Not just on the candidates' takes on terrorism and the middle east, because we all know that the Iraq war is just a charade put forth by the Bush admin. Where have the candidates spoken about the UN and the default by the Bush regime on several international treaties? Just a thought ...

Peace.

[gottaB]

24. Infodrop on Moseley Braun's foreign policy ideas

In lieu of a policy brief from the campaign, let me share with you what I've gleaned so far concerning Braun's positions on foreign policy.

Essentially Braun is a multilateralist when it comes to foreign affairs. She is a strong believer in the the United Nations. It would be fair to say that she has a realist or pragmatic approach to foreign affairs. However, unlike the realists in the Republican party, she recognizes that poverty, disease, and global warming are serious challenges that must be addressed. According to the csm quiz, that would make her something of a liberal, but a pragmatic liberal, I guess you could say. In her own words:

Our greatest foreign policy challenge remains creating an environment in which our dominance as the world's superpower does not give rise to worldwide resentment and antipathy. The instability of failed states, rogue governments and terrorism, as well as world poverty, disease and environmental challenges, require that we collaborate with other nations on behalf of shared interests.

(From Q&A with LA Times)

The UN. Her recent statement is a must-read.

NATO. Braun supports using NATO to deal with security crises. As Senator, she voted no on limiting NATO expansion to Poland, Hungary & Czechelslovakia. The more the merrier, I guess. I'd have to search thomas to see what she said exactly--another day.

The Middle East. Braun is for increased diplomatic ties with all nations in the region, including Suadi Arabia and Pakistan. The Arab American Institute has a summary of her positions. Be sure to check out her answers to the questionnaire. (NB, I'm not sure about their chacterization of her record on immigration--more thomas.) Her record on Israel/Palestine is pro-Israel. I don't know of any recent statements, anything touching on the Sharon government.

Latin America. I don't know much in particular, but at the debate in Albequerque she criticized Bush's negligence of the region and I think there's an oblique dig there at the way Bush has alienated Fox in particular. It's a long answer in response to the question of amnesty for illegal immigrants. Scroll down.

North Korea. Braun Favors multilateral responses to North Korea's nuclear gambit, which means working with allies in the region *and* the UN. See the LA Times Q&A cited above:

Nuclear disarmament is in the interest of the world community, and it will take the force of global cooperation in opposition to the intrigues of rogue states. By supporting, instead of enfeebling, the authority of the U.N. weapons inspections effort, by providing real support to halt the sale of nuclear materials, and by collaborating with efforts by the diplomatic and intelligence communities to track the movement of such materials, we can halt the threat of nuclear blackmail before it happens.

At that Harkin forum (webcast on cspan: search for Moseley Braun, it's the one with Sharpton too), the last question from the audience concerned North Korea. Braun was asked about using a military response to the North Korean crisis. She replied:

"North Korea is a problem. And frankly we need to engage every friend we have, every diplomatic opportunity we can find, even trade as an opportunity--and that's the toughie--but we need to do everything we can to get them to stand down from the kind of nuclear blackmail (in my opinion) that they're trying to foist on this country. That's the first effort.

But I think that, and while you know that Biblical line about beating swords into ploughshares--the difficult thing is that you have to keep the sword available. You do. It's a dangerous world out there, and that's a horrible thing to have to admit, but believe me when I tell you I've seen it straightup, I've seen it face on, and it can be ugly. And we are a superpower and we have to maintain (1) our own security, but make certain that others don't think they can take advantage of our values.

So, would I use war as an option? As a final, final, final, final, get down on my knees first and beg for intervention kind of resort, yes.

Iraq. You know that one, but if you're feeling wonkish check out the interview with Ray Suarez in which she talks about US foreign policy more broadly, the role of the UN, the fight against terrorism, and the stupidity of Bush and the gang:

We have to be smart about how we fight terrorism. It's not just enough to fight it -- we've got to fight it smart -- and fighting in ways that provide for our domestic security, over the long haul. When you're looking at the way this money is just kind of going up in smoke, literally, we have to ask, I think, if the administration were to level with us and say, you know, this really is about oil, then we could have a better sense of whether or not the money that we're paying, the burdens that we're carrying ourselves alone in this case, whether it's worth all of that or whether or not there are smarter and more clever ways to do this.

Liberia. Braun supported sending troops to aid the Nigerian peace-keeping effort, and disagreed with Bush's insistence that US support be contigent upon Taylor first stepping down. She of course wanted to see Taylor go, but believed the U.S. should act decisively and consistently. Read the interview with Pat Buchanan for more details.

Nigeria. That's a topic in itself, but basically Braun's position during the Abacha years was the same as Clinton's: UN sanctions should be applied, diplomatic sanctions should applied, including restrictions on military aid, but a unilateral trade embargo should not be applied. Had Clinton been successful in enlisting South Africa's support for an oil embargo, I believe that might have put Braun in a pickle--or not, who's to say?--, but since it was a question of unilaterally singling out Nigeria, Braun argued that it was not consistent with U.S. foreign policy goals. Nigeria had no program of nuclear or other extreme weapons, had no history of sponsoring terrorism, and posed no threat to US vital interests. Therefore, it did not deserve the most punitive economic sanctions reserved for nations hostile to the U.S.

Cuba. I believe she does not think our unilateral trade embargo against Cuba is wise. In the Senate she voted no on strengthening the embargo. In response to a question on cspan's Washington Journal she suggested that Cuba the current policy was not meeting its objectives. (Need to verify this.)

New Zealand. New Zealand and Braun got on famously, you know.

[gottaB]

25. A few more statements on foreign policy

A few recent statements touching on Bush's fiasco in Iraq and what that implies for the future direction of US policy, more for the sake of anybody who's curious than in answer to queer outlaw's orginal question.

From the Baltimore Debate:

Williams: Ambassador Moseley Braun, Ambassador, what concessions would you make to France to get their vote in the United Nations? How much authority or control should the United States concede to join--to win, I should say, the U.N. mandate for a multinational force that would operate under U.S. command?

Braun: Let me say at the outset that this problem -- and it is a problem -- was caused in the first place when Congress advocated its Article 1, Section 8 authority under the Constitution and gave a president, who was not elected by the American people, the right to go on, on a free-for-all with a preemptory attack in Iraq. But that's beside us.

What he did was fritter away international goodwill, fritter away our international institutions, our friends around the world, Old Europe conversation--it was just over the top and unnecessary. So now we're in a position of having to go back to those allies that that this administration thumbed its nose at and asked for help and burden-sharing.

I think in the first instance, it's not just about France; it's about Germany, it's about other members of United Nations and other members of NATO. We need to go back and make up. We don't have to relinquish and I don't think we can relinquish command and control. But at the same time, we have every responsibility to engage a multinational force to help us out of the quagmire in Iraq.

Again from the Baltimore Debate:

Chideya: Thank you. I wanted to ask Ambassador Braun a question that came from one of many people who wished that she could be here tonight. A mother of twins in New York City wants to know how you'd address the problem of terrorism concerning Saudi Arabia, a country from which much of Osama bin Laden's money allegedly comes.

Braun: You know, I'm glad you asked the question. I would like to respond in part to your last one about strength. You know, strength in the war on terrorism is not represented by bravura and bullying and striding around the world stage pushing people around. It's not represented by the kind of showing off that we've seen, failing to--making the speeches and using the words, but not even putting the money in the state and local governments for first responders, for the police and fire and the emergency workers to protect people.

This administration will not work with others, will not ask directions.

And they're spending like drunken sailors. We have a blown-up budget deficit.

Strength in my mind would have represented--would have been represented by a singular focus on getting the criminals who violated every American on 9/11, who destroyed the fabric of our confidence in our ability to protect ourselves and would work with others to go forward and begin to hunt out these criminals wherever in the world they might be found. And that's not what's happened under this administration, which is why we have to replace them in 2004.

From the New York Debate:

Borger: Now I'm going to ask the $87 billion question to Ambassador Moseley Braun. And I--obviously, you do not have a vote in Congress on this, so it's a little easier for you to talk about it. But do you think it's a smart move for your fellow Democrats out here to be sort of split on this decision on this vote the way they are?

Braun: I stand with the mothers of the young men and women who are in the desert in Iraq and who, right now, are in a shooting gallery without even sufficient supplies to sustain themselves. And so it is absolutely, I think, critical that we not cut and run, that we provide our troops with what they need and that we not just blow up that country and leave it blown up. We have a responsibility. Following in on that responsibility means we will have to vote some money. The estimates vary as to what that is. Almost a year ago, I called on this president not to go into Iraq, and I called--I called on the Congress not to give him the authority to go into Iraq. And at the same time, asked the question, "Mr. President, how much is this going to cost?" He didn't answer the question then. He's not answering the question now. But I believe it's going to be important for us to come up with the money to make certain that our young men and women and our reputation as leaders in the world is not permanently destroyed by the folly of preemptive war.

From a Flipside interview:

Morris: I know there's another huge issue that we all want to get to and that is the geopolitical issues that we are facing. It's a large topic. But I'd like to give you an opportunity to tell us an effective way that you would choose to deal with the issues that we're facing. We're looking at Iraq. We're looking at the world in general looking at the United States oftentimes as the aggressor and the occupier. How do you support our issues? What would you change with these policies going forward?

Braun: Well, where do I start? I think the issue is to pursue, if you will, our enlightened self-interest as Americans. And what that means, in my opinion, is that we seek balance in our trading arrangements. We seek balance in terms of our relations with the world community. That if we pursue running a nasty dictator out that we do it with this collaboration and the support of the world community.

It is that balance that I think is lacking. And that's one of the reasons I'm running for president of the United States, because I believe that a practical approach would mean that you take the steps to do it step by step, incrementally in the right way. So that you don't wind up hurting our own, the interests, if you will, of the American people. I want to put Americans first in the decision-making that comes out of Washington.

[newyawker99]

6. Hi queer outlaw!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[queer outlaw]

15. Thanks newyawker!

Born and bred in NY myself! Elmhurst, Queens, NY.

[CMT]

3. We need diversity on the ticket

and she would be terrific.

[noiretextatique]

5. a black female president...i can only DREAM!

she's right...she is NOTHING like the occupant...even her 'scandals' pale in comparison to HIS. gotta go change my avatar :D i was giving sharpton some free advertisement...now it's CMB's turn!

[jiacinto]

7. She had a lot of potential

Had she not found herself in the scandals that plagued her she would still be in office.

[gottaB]

9. She has potential right now, Carlos

I wouldn't expect you to be inspired or visionary, but a teensy speck of enthusiam for this Democrat might make your important work more fruitful--and easier to bear.

Something to think about.

[noiretextatique]

11. let's hope the same standard applies to BUSH...THIS TIME

oh wait...IT DOESN'T!!! :hurts:

--AWOL
--DRUG USER
--DUI CONVICTION
--FUNERALGATE
--and this is only the short list

and all this BEFORE he got elected :eyes:
since then...
the latest, and greatest: TRAITORGATE

not too mention his brother stole FLORIDA for him, and his daddy's friends on scotus SEALED OUR COLLECTIVE FATE by annointing him.

let's hope HIS SCANDALS get the EVERLASTING scrutiny that apply to Sharpton, Moseley-Braun, McKinney, and Jesse Jackson :toast:

[Cheswick2.0]

13. yeah, but bush isn't black and that is the real problem for Al And CMB

We know that, others are in denial.

[noiretextatique]

20. righto...the "magical negroes"

always have more of a problem...it seems that "they" are burdened with the projection of being more "moral" than others, hence their transgressions, real or imagined, are always MUCH MORE problemmatic.

[Cheswick2.0]

12. Carlos, she was victim of a right wing smear machine

Same as Clinton. Don't give into their tactics, ignore the nonsense.

[gottaB]

8. You crack me up, noiretblu

I was thinking of the new Cubs avatar. What do you think, too obvious?

[noiretextatique]

10. the CMB avatar isn't working right now

so i opted for mandela instead :D i think the cubs would be great :thumbsup:

[Cheswick2.0]

14. you can take her avatar from my sig line

Put her right next to Mandela. :hi:

[noiretextatique]

18. thanks, cheswick...done!

:toast: to you cheswick...a scholar and a gentlewoman :D

[jumptheshadow]

22. Carol Moseley Braun

She's not going to win the nomination, but I get the impression she could emerge as a very important catalyst in the presidential campaign. She could well turn out to be one of the leaders and brokers who unite the party behind the nominee. Others will be important, of course, but with her pragmatic diplomacy Moseley Braun could emerge as a leader during the convention and on the campaign trail.

I've read about the money scandals. Would they be enough to keep her from being ambassador to the U.N.? I think she would do very well there. She certainly has the statesmanship and she would instantly raise American credibility. She also would be a Democratic president's direct repudiation of the anti-woman global policies of the Bush administration.

[KittyWampus]

26. Carol Puts A Wonderful "Moderate" Face

On a fairly Progresssive agenda.

She is really good at the debates. Just a real Professional, in the best sense of that word.