DragonI

One of my first memories is standing outside our Richmond, Virginia polling place with my dad to hand out campaign literature in support of our chosen candidates, our chosen Republican candidates.

When it comes to campaigning, I have done it all: phone banked voters and knocked on so many doors. I bet a lot of you did the same. One difference though: I campaigned exclusively for the GOP…until this election.

I've voted Republican my entire life. I believe in the bedrock values of the Republican Party: liberty, equality, and the idea that there are individual rights that cannot be taken away. These are values to be proud of.

And because the Republican party has abandoned those values this year, this Republican is voting for Hillary Clinton.

In Donald Trump's America, it doesn't matter that I'm an accomplished attorney and a policy expert, it just matters how attractive I am on a scale of one to ten.

Trump's loathsome comments about women and our appearances are too many to list and too crass to repeat. But they are too important to ignore.

Trump can discount our accomplishments, he can disrespect our abilities, but come November he can't disregard our votes!

There are some who will say I'm supporting Hillary Clinton because she's a woman. People who say that dismiss my voice and Hillary's long record of public service.

And there are some who I know are contemplating staying home this November. Your voice can help define the next chapter of American values, American policy, and American leadership around the world – for better, or for worse.

I'm here tonight to ask my fellow Republicans and America's Independents to join me to not only OPPOSE Donald Trump, but to SUPPORT Hillary Clinton.

Because we're not just Republicans and Democrats, we're Americans.

"Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press. Let's see if that happens."

“If Russia or China or any other country has those emails, I’d love to see it.”

Donald Trump, July 27, 2016

I haven’t just voted Republican, I worked in President Reagan’s White House. I recently led an effort to place a statue of Ronald Reagan in California’s Capitol in Sacramento. I’m here tonight to say: I knew Ronald Reagan. I worked for Ronald Reagan. Donald Trump, you are no Ronald Reagan.

Trump is a petulant, dangerously unbalanced reality star who will coddle tyrants and alienate allies.

To my fellow Republicans — if you, like I do, believe loyalty to our country is more important than loyalty to party. If you want a president with a good judgment, a steady hand, and the temperament to represent our nation to the world — and our children, I ask you to join me in voting for Hillary Clinton as president of the United States.

Khizr Khan's son, Humayun S. M. Khan was a University of Virginia graduate and enlisted in the U.S. Army. Khan was one of 14 American Muslims who died serving the United States in the ten years after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Trump today: "I want to hit this guy so hard his head would spin"

Just now, at a Trump rally, yes that is what he said, about the speakers at the DNC. “I wanted to hit a couple of those speakers, so hard, I would have hit them, no, no, I was going to hit them so hard.” He said someone called him and he told...

www.dailykos.com

“I wanted to hit a couple of those speakers, so hard, I would have hit them, no, no, I was going to hit them so hard.”  He said someone called him and he told them “They were saying bad things about me.” and then he went on to say that he wanted to hit one guy, a little guy “I want to hit this guy so hard his head would spin.”  I am guessing this is about Bloomberg ...

When the Founding Fathers arrived here in Philadelphia to forge a new nation, they didn't come as Democrats or Republicans, or to nominate a presidential candidate. They came as patriots who feared party politics. I know how they felt. I've been a Democrat, I've been a Republican, and I eventually became an independent because I don't believe either party has a monopoly on good ideas or strong leadership. 

There are times when I disagree with Hillary Clinton. But whatever our disagreements may be, I’ve come here to say: We must put them aside for the good of our country and unite around the candidate who can defeat a dangerous demagogue.

We’ve heard a lot of talk in this campaign about needing a leader who understands business. I couldn’t agree more. I’ve built a business. And I didn’t start it with a $1 million check from my father.

Today, as an independent, an entrepreneur and a former mayor, I believe we need a president who is a problem-solver, not a bomb-thrower

I know Hillary Clinton can do all this, because I saw it firsthand when she was in the Senate. I was elected mayor two months after Sept. 11, as a Republican, and I saw how she worked with Republicans in Washington to ensure that New York got the help it needed to recover and rebuild. We didn’t always agree, but she always listened. That’s the kind of approach we need in Washington today, and it has to start in the White House. 

Most of us who have created a business know that we’re only as good as the way our employees, clients and partners view us. Most of us don’t pretend that we’re smart enough to make every big decision by ourselves. And most of us who have our names on the door know that we are only as good as our word.

But not Donald Trump. Throughout his career, Trump has left behind a well-documented record of bankruptcies, lawsuits, and angry shareholders and contractors who feel cheated, as well as disillusioned customers who feel ripped off. He says he wants to run the nation like he has run his business. God help us.

I’m a New Yorker, and New Yorkers know a con when we see one. Trump says he’ll punish manufacturers that move to Mexico or China, but the clothes he sells are made overseas in low-wage factories. He says he wants to put Americans back to work, but he games the U.S. visa system so he can hire temporary foreign workers at low wages. He says he wants to deport 11 million undocumented people, but he seems to have no problem in hiring them. What’d I miss here?

Truth be told, the richest thing about Donald Trump is his hypocrisy. He wants you to believe that we can solve our biggest problems by deporting Mexicans and shutting out Muslims. He wants you to believe that erecting trade barriers will bring back good jobs. He’s wrong on both counts.

We can only solve our biggest problems if we come together and embrace the freedoms that our Founding Fathers established here in Philadelphia, freedoms that made possible the American exceptionalism we now enjoy. Donald Trump doesn’t understand that. Hillary Clinton does.

I understand the appeal of a businessman president. But Trump’s business plan is a disaster in the making. It would make it harder for small businesses to compete, threaten the retirement savings of millions of Americans, lead to greater debt and more unemployment, erode our influence in the world, and make our communities less safe.

The bottom line: Trump is a risky, reckless and radical choice, and one we can’t afford to make.

No matter what you may think about her politics or her record, Hillary Clinton understands that this is not reality television. This is reality. She understands that the job of president involves finding solutions, not pointing fingers, and offering hope, not stoking fear. 

The presidency of the United States is the most powerful office in the world. And so I say to my fellow independents: Your vote matters now. Your vote will determine the future of your job and your business -- and our future together as a country.

"I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves, And I watch my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent, black young women, playing with their dogs on the White House lawn. And because of Hillary Clinton, my daughters and all our sons and daughters now take for granted that a woman can be president of the United States. So, don't let anyone ever tell you that this country isn't great, that somehow we need to make it great again, because this right now is the greatest country on Earth.", Michelle Obama

When Anastasia Somoza first met Hillary Clinton, she was a brave third-grader speaking out for the rights of people with disabilities. On Monday night, more than 20 years later, she took the Democratic National Convention stage to champion the same cause, advocating for the party to be open and inclusive of all people.

“Over the past 23 years, she has continued to serve as a friend and mentor, championing my inclusion and access to classrooms, higher education and the workforce,” she said. “She has never lost touch with people like me. She has invested in me. She believes in me. And in a country where 56 million Americans with disabilities so often fill invisible, Hillary Clinton sees me.”

“Donald Trump has shown us who he really is, and I honestly feel bad for anyone with that much hate in their heart,”

“Donald Trump doesn’t see me, he doesn’t hear me and he definitely doesn’t think for me.”

Nine-year-old Anastasia Somoza caught President Clinton by surprise on national television with a plea that her severely disabled twin sister be allowed in a regular classroom.

"We're twins and we love each other," the youngster explained Monday at her family's cramped apartment, three days after taking part in the town meeting for about 40 kids at the White House.Anastasia and her identical twin, Alba, have cerebral palsy and use wheelchairs. Alba cannot walk or talk and communicates through a computer. But the girls have the same high IQs, their mother said.

"People who don't know her don't understand her," Anastasia said. "When she makes a sound they don't know what she wants. They don't know she's smart."