FLOTUS is getting well-deserved plaudits for this speech. The PoliticsUSA version starts partway through, at the most immediately political portion:
… Some folks out there today seem to have a very different perspective. They seem to view our diversity as a threat to be contained rather than as a resource to be tapped. They tell us to be afraid of those who are different, to be suspicious of those with whom we disagree. They act as if name-calling is an acceptable substitute for thoughtful debate. As if anger and intolerance should be our default state rather than optimism and openness that have always been the engine of our progress.
But graduates, I can tell you that as First Lady, I have had the privilege of traveling around the world, and visiting dozens of different countries, and I have seen what happens when ideas like these take hold. I have seen how leaders rule by intimidation, leaders who demonize and dehumanize entire groups of people often do so because they have nothing else to offer. And I have seen how places that stifle the voices and dismiss the potential of their citizens are diminished, how they are less vital, less hopeful, less free.
Graduates that is not who we are. That is not what this country stands for. No, no, here in America, we don’t let our differences tear us apart. Not here. Because we know that our greatness comes from when we appreciate each other’s strengths, when we learn from each other, when we lean on each other, because in this country, it’s never been each person for themselves, no we’re all in this together. We always have been. And here in America, we don’t give in to our fears. We don’t up walls to keep people out because we know that our greatness has always depended on contributions from people who were born elsewhere…
But it’s also heartening to listen to the whole speech, through Mrs. Obama’s congratulations to the various speakers and honorees, because the City College of New York is the best of the American dream made real, a place where wealth and race and birthplace mean less than brains, hard work, and big dreams. We are not a ‘melting pot’, but a rich stew, where every ingredient adds new depth and richness to the mix.
MomSense
Thank you so much for featuring her speech. I encourage people to check out the photographs of the graduation. So many smiles. So much joy. If people saw ugly Trumpster fire rallies on a split screen with the joyful faces from the graduation it would take about 3 seconds to decide to be on team FLOTUS and to choose unity instead of hate.
Baud
A smorgasbord of tasty treats.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: Perhaps our diversity should be thought of as tossing America’s salad.
dedc79
O/T – Kristol beats his own record for quickest time to being proven wrong:
Baud
@dedc79:
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Baud: we are the Mr Creosote’s bucket of nations, all mixed up together in the bucket, with the eggs on top, and the Lord did not skimp on the paté
schrodinger's cat
Trump has to be defeated and by a huge margin. He is setting some extremely bad precedents and needs to be stopped.
redshirt
@MomSense: This next election is really hope versus fear. But so was 2008 and 2012 too. But this time it’s even more true. Trump is an existential threat to this country and if he’s given power through our system, I doubt our current system comes out the other side.
redshirt
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: By that analogy, choose your least favorite immigrant group and perhaps they are the wafer thin desert that is simply too much.
dedc79
@Baud: Sure, make fun of Bill, but he could well be calling you next.
MomSense
@redshirt:
I completely agree with you.
Jerzy Russian
@dedc79: You really feel for Mr. Kristol. It can’t be easy to be so thoroughly wrong all of the time. Most dumb people I know are sometimes right by chance, but Mr. Kristol avoids doing even that,
Baud
@dedc79: He’ll probably dial a wrong number.
redshirt
@MomSense: I wish more people did. And yet Trump will get many tens of millions of votes.
But I feel super confident in this election so far, barring some unforeseen calamity. Trump’s hating ways will motivate pissed off targets of his hate. Minorities, women, everyone really. Women are the majority of voters and Trump is a horrible misogynist. Oh yeah also a woman Presidential candidate. The first ever.
And soon to be our first lady President. It’s gonna be nuts.
Meaning: Clintons and Modern Media.
Anne Laurie
@Jerzy Russian:
Mostly revulsion, is what I really feel for the man. Never forget, he makes a very nice living for his hard work at being wrong all the time, since his wrongness is deliberately flattering to the worst elements in American and human nature.
gf120581
And I understand she got in some shots at Trump in this speech too. Going to love it if she’s on the campaign trail. Another strong woman to drive the short fingered vulgarian nuts.
And I just checked in on PR results and of course Hillary’s crushing, but what is this I hear that the reduction in the polling places that’s causing problems down there was because Sanders requested it? WTH?
gf120581
@Anne Laurie: I just get irked at how damn smug Kristol acts all that time. His default expression is that self-satisfied smirk that says “I’m the smartest person in the room and you all know it.” Someone as consistently wrong about everything doesn’t get to have that expression.
hellslittlestangel
I can’t wait to vote for her in 2024!
raven
@gf120581: I’d like to wipe that smirk of his face if you know what I’m sayin!!
Renie
My son graduated from CCNY with a Master’s last month. He didn’t want to go to Graduation. Ok, no problem. Then I find out Michele is speaking and we aren’t going.
But don’t worry I had to listen to Chuck Schumer at my daughter’s graduation last week at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Eck.
kids.
SiubhanDuinne
@MomSense:
I suppose I could look this up, but it’s a lot more fun simply asking the Juicetariat: has Drumpf been invited to deliver any commencement talks this year? If he has given any, I would have thought they’d have received some media coverage, and I don’t remember seeing or hearing any….
Baud
@SiubhanDuinne: He’s going to testify about Trump University later this year.
Miss Bianca
@redshirt:
I tried to post something about this earlier. For some reason, FYWP thought it was spam. I’ll try parts of it and see what happens.
“Honor mattered because character mattered”.
Joseph Jay Ellis, describing why Hamilton felt compelled to fight a duel with Aaron Burr.
Hamilton’s political differences with Burr shouldn’t have triggered a duel – or “an affair of honor” – according to the strictest tenets of the code duello. Duels were intended to avenge or settle personal slights, personal differences. In the case of Hamilton and Burr, however, Hamilton was apparently unable to restrain himself from seeing – and commenting upon – Burr’s politics as a manifestation of his personal character defects. But Hamilton saw Burr’s opportunism – his willingness to switch sides and opinions to gain political power – as such a threat to nascent American political institutions that he literally put his life on the line over it.
I couldn’t help but think about Trump as I was listening to all this: the threat that his bluster, know-nothingness, willingness to switch sides or say anything for the sake of power – and the craven willingness of Republican officials and a large segment of the American population to go along with it, and cheer him on his way – and I found that phrase of Ellis’s had flipped itself around in my head:
Honor no longer matters because character no longer matters.
MomSense
@Baud:
Perfect!
MomSense
@SiubhanDuinne:
I don’t think he has been invited to deliver any commencement addresses even though he has all the best words.
hovercraft
Why does the NY Times employ so many terrible columnists?
Maureen Dowd thinks Trumps racism helps him.
Baud
@SiubhanDuinne:
@MomSense:
To be fair, has any candidate while they were still in the race?
Miss Bianca
@Omnes Omnibus: an ethnic salad bowl?
Amir Khalid
@SiubhanDuinne:
Why would anyone be so cruel to a whole graduating class and their families?
hovercraft
@gf120581:
Bernie didn’t have enough poll watchers so requested reduction from 1100 to 432. She’s leading 65 to 35
hellslittlestangel
@schrodinger’s cat: I think that’s very likely to happen. His most enthusiastic supporters seem to be motivated by spite, and will likely decide it’s not worth the bother of waiting in line to vote. His real base is people who vote Republican out of habit, but even that group will shrink as the true face of Trump is revealed, looking like the portrait of Dorian Grey.
I expect this election day to be a great victory for Democrats — complacency isn’t believing that Clinton is a shoo-in, it’s believing that we can’t take back the House.
Hillary Rettig
Just watched Arguing the World, a good documentary about four CCNY grads (and, at that time, friends) who went on to public prominence: Daniel Bell, Irving Howe, Irving Kristol (bleh), and Nathan Glazer. A great snapshot of NY and midcentury NY intellectual life. DVD from Netflix.
SiubhanDuinne
@Baud:
Obama gave the commencement address at Wesleyan University in May 2008. Haven’t had a chance to check others.
Elie
You know of course that Trump will attack Michelle in the strongest, nastiest terms. We can assume that Michelle, Hillary, Elizabeth Warren and other strong women will be targeted. All should be prepared to return fire…. Jane Sanders could help her legacy in this whole process by also attacking, but I doubt she will… something about taking time out to do those tax returns.
weaselone
@hovercraft:
He requests it and his Bros* are now claiming fraud because of the reduction. Typical.
*Please note that when I use the term Bros it is not to insult the vast majority of Sanders’ supporters, but rather to explicitly identify a small subset douchebags that can be found in the mix.
hovercraft
@SiubhanDuinne:
Apart from a place like Liberty, I can’t imagine any school would have had the balls this year, it would have been was too controversial.
schrodinger's cat
@hellslittlestangel: Taking back the house should be the goal. Agreed completely.
Baud
@SiubhanDuinne: Thanks. I can see many colleges not wanting to be drawn into the campaign.
Mnemosyne
@schrodinger’s cat:
I’m actually not worried that Trump will win, because mathematically he has no path to victory unless minority voters suddenly switch to him. But I agree that unless Trump is crushed at the polls, it will only embolden his idiot followers to ramp up their racist rhetoric and violence, so I am willing to spend my time and money to ensure that said crushing happens this fall.
SiubhanDuinne
@Amir Khalid:
Extra credit?
hellslittlestangel
@SiubhanDuinne: …has Drumpf been invited to deliver any commencement talks this year?
No. People were disappointed by the last commencement address he gave, to graduates of Trump University. Many felt that, “So long, suckers!” lacked gravitas.
Ramping Up
Nobody’s challenging Trump and he’s not dropping out. He’s amazed the political world with unconventional strategy and will continue to do so. What does Hillary have that his GOP opponents didn’t?
Mnemosyne
@Ramping Up:
The balls to attack him. Face it, Hillary is a better man than anyone on the Republican side, including Trump.
raven
exactly what it wants
hovercraft
@Elie:
I hope that is part of the strategy, send out strong women and let him attack them, driving even more women away from [email protected]weaselone:
It’s always someone else’s fault. Unintended consequences.
Elie
I believe (no evidence) that our military and government leadership are well aware of the risk that Trump poses and are modeling approaches to deal with it. I also assume that insurgent members of same will be on the lookout and counter anything that they learn about. I think a larger risk is that given Trumps stupidity/dementia — that he would be less likely to rule himself, but to be the host to a coup by much more savy and prepared operatives. No one — no one with a brain anyway, thinks Trump could do much of anything by himself in terms of governance. He is very weak but there are forces in our military and corporate sectors that could fully use him as a façade while they do the real deal behind the scenes. This aint for play folks…
Omnes Omnibus
@Miss Bianca: Sure, why not?
raven
@Omnes Omnibus: You see that site I sent last night?
schrodinger's cat
OT but related, Another example of hope not hate, this time from Mumbai, India.
Flash mob at CST station in Mumbai where Kasab started his rampage, in the 2008 attacks on Mumbai.Marks the third anniversary of the November attacks. Its great to see the smiling faces and the participation of the observers not a part of the flash mob. I find it inspirational and hopeful.
Elie
@Mnemosyne:
That is for true but she is gonna have to be ready to play a very ruthless game behind the scenes while things look relatively “normal” on the surface.
amk
@Ramping Up: It’s been 3 days since she lit the little fingered vulgarian’s small balls on fire. Is he still feeling the bern?
Baud
@schrodinger’s cat: You saw that Modi is coming to the U.S. again?
Mike J
@schrodinger’s cat: I would call the house a stretch goal, but the Senate is certainly within reach. That’s not to say we shouldn’t go for, just that the house is a lot harder.
It’s vitally important to win state houses, particularly in 2020.
weaselone
@Ramping Up:
The ability to actually call out his racism and misogyny without alienating her base?
Or how about a rational foreign policy?
Or a workable economic plan?
Association with two popular presidential administrations?
The ability to learn and adapt?
Competent campaign advisors?
Smarter internet trolls?
Miss Bianca
@Omnes Omnibus: Sounds nicer than a melting pot. Tastier, anyway.
Omnes Omnibus
@raven: The helicopter stuff? Yep.
Baud
@Miss Bianca: oh my.
raven
@Omnes Omnibus: cool
Omnes Omnibus
@Miss Bianca: Just stay away from the Urban Dictionary.
lollipopguild
@SiubhanDuinne: Why, so he can start a race riot?
Dog Dawg Damn
@Ramping Up: his 37% vote share looks like a winning coalition! Please visit us on election night so we can mock you ruthlessly.
MikeBoyScout
@Mnemosyne: She’s smarter and better than Trump or the other 16 nitwits which has nothing to do with her or their genders.
Jerzy Russian
@Anne Laurie: I was being facetious of course. In a civilized society he would be stripped down naked and chased out of town by people with sticks.
Ramping Up
@weaselone:
White voters are still the vast majority of the electorate, and if she goes full-on “Black Lives Matter” and La Raza she’s playing right in to Trump’s hands.
As Buchanan once said to Nixon “we will split the country in half, and take, I believe, the larger half.
Miss Bianca
@Elie: aren’t some of his known advisors currently or formerly on the payroll of one V. Putin? Not like *that* would be a concern or anything, tho’…
Elie
@Mnemosyne:
We will be doing a lot of “clean up” at the local and state levels for a while. Make no mistake. Bernie has given an opening for anyone “outside the tent” and given Democrats a false sense of security around “independents”. This is gonna be rough for a while in some states, particularly western states…. Lots of old dead wood in democratic party that is good clean out but the replacements are very important. Bernie stripped the Dems of young enthusiastic future leaders until they can be re-energized/dedicated to the “cause”.
redshirt
@Mike J: I’d say a realistic yet awesome expectation is:
President: Clinton
Senate: Democratic
House: Slightly Republican
If we can turn the House, hooray! But it seems unlikely given the odds.
lollipopguild
@weaselone: All of the above and more.
schrodinger's cat
@Baud: He has lost most his luster in India, so he escapes every opportunity he gets, it seems.
Miss Bianca
@Omnes Omnibus: errr? Not. Tracking.
Baud
@schrodinger’s cat: I did not know that. The religious stuff or economic woes?
Elie
@Miss Bianca:
I don’t want to get too black helicopter, tin foil, but we are in a time of change and its probably not bad to be suspicious without being totally paranoid. Honestly, I promise to get normal again after all this is settled, but things seem real weird, My “nice” across the street neighbor just put out his Trump sign….
amk
Piers Morgan @piersmorgan 16h16 hours ago
I hope people don’t make me sound too perfect when I die.
No coats of sugar please.
787 retweets 657 likes
John Legend Verified account
@johnlegend
[email protected] you could test us by announcing your retirement.
Retweets 4,500 Likes 7,002
11:00 AM – 5 Jun 2016
Omnes Omnibus
@Miss Bianca: Ask Baud.
ksmiami
@Ramping Up: Balls, motherf**cker.
Mnemosyne
@Ramping Up:
Sure, let’s take a look at that most recent poll. Tell me, can you add 40+38+8? What number do you come up with?
Yutsano
@Ramping Up: In June. Which matters about as much as spit from a June bug in Phoenix in July does.
weaselone
@Ramping Up:
White men aren’t the larger half of the country. You’re candidate is going down and he’s going to take Republican Control of the Senate with him.
Just out of curiosity, do you ever worry that some small fraction of the population that you have helped stoke into white hot balls of rage is going to figure out that you and your fellow grifters have essentially been stealing from them for the last several decades?
Mnemosyne
@Ramping Up:
So what happened to Trump’s flamethrower during Hillary’s speech the other day? Run out of fuel? It suddenly seemed to go strangely limp while she was attacking him, ifyouknowwhatImean.
Miss Bianca
@Omnes Omnibus:
OK
@Baud: ?? So, nu?
Ramping Up
@Mnemosyne:
=TOO CLOSE TO CALL.
Many people will vote for Trump simply because they hate Hillary!
@Yutsano:
All races are “down to the wire” now ever since 2000. Or at at least enough within the MOE that they can be spun that way. If Trump is so awful shouldn’t he break that trend and have Hillary crushing him from early on like the ’96 polls had Bill doing to Dole?
The Thin Black Duke
Jesus. Fucking pathetic.
Jeffro
@Jerzy Russian:
Yeah but you’d think he’d learn and adapt. It’s like my sense of direction: if I don’t force it, and let my instincts tell me which way to turn…AND THEN IMMEDIATELY TURN THE OTHER WAY…I usually get where I’m supposed to go.
weaselone
@Ramping Up:
Keep applying powder to that yam.
Renie
Oh no my pie filter is not working. I can see Retching Up!!
Mnemosyne
@Ramping Up:
Trump hasn’t even started running yet. He’s only been inside the bubble of the Republican primary. As I’ve said before, Trump’s like a frat boy at a bar who thinks he can pick a fight with The Rock and win because he’s been able to bully all of his bros into taking a dive. Watching him learn otherwise while the entire world is watching is going to be so, so sweet.
Yutsano
@Ramping Up: You really have no idea what you’re talking about do you?
Mnemosyne
@Elie:
Ugh. One of the most annoying things about elections is finding out how secretly crazy your neighbors actually are.
Renie
@Elie: I got a Trump neighbor directly across from me but I put out my Hillary sign already. Waiting for him to countermove and put up a Trump sign. I live in a Republican area in metro NY so I got two Hillary signs in case one is “taken”.
Mnemosyne
@Ramping Up:
The polls are saying something very interesting that you don’t seem to have figured out yet, even though I pointed it out to you.
Ruckus
@hovercraft:
He’s getting a bit less than the percentage that they cut the polling places to. 432/1100=39%. I wonder if he’d have done better by just letting the system work and not worry about his belief that he’s always getting screwed, or that maybe he’s not the only honest person in the world?
redshirt
@Mnemosyne: I love this actually. Such an easy identification system.
Renie
I’m such a jerk. I couldn’t understand why everything Retching Up posts is about pie until I realized the filter still lets me see him but not what he wrote. I thought the filter made him completely invisible. He’s still annoying though
redshirt
@Renie: Haha. You thought he was posting about pie?
Mnemosyne
@Renie:
There’s a different filter that suppresses the troll comments entirely — it may be Troll-B-Gone, but I’m not sure.
Ramping Up
The FLAMETHROWER speech is tomorrow, fuckers!
schrodinger's cat
@Baud: He has not delivered on his campaign promises of economic transformation. He still has his core supporters but the people who had hopped on the bandwagon, because he was promising the moon are kinda disillusioned. That’s my read from elebenty miles away sitting in a tiny hamlet in the People’s Republic.
Ruckus
@Renie:
If I’m just strolling through the comments I sometimes stop and read the pie comment before I realize that the commenter is someone I’ve pied. But you are correct, most of the pie eaters are useless for anything but annoyance.
Mnemosyne
@Ramping Up:
Poor Donald. You guys keep assuring him that he has a flamethrower when he really only has one of these.
Ruckus
@Mnemosyne:
And he’s run out of money to buy more butane. So it’s now a table decoration.
Renie
@redshirt: Yes exactly. Thought he was trying satire and kept writing posts about pie. Should have realized he is not that intelligent.
Mnemosyne
@Ruckus:
Or, the someecards version.
? Martin
True that. They’ve done better than most publics at meeting that goal. They deserve more praise than they get.
redshirt
@Renie: That’s funny. But it should be default to take people seriously. The Internet has made this concept difficult, however.
KS in MA
@SiubhanDuinne: I was there!!! Pretty far away from him, but exciting anyway!
Mike in NC
@Ramping Up: More info needed on your non-existent spread in the fucking Shenandoah Valley, asshole. 15 acres or 150 acres, motherfucker? The only spreading down in your mother’s basement between you and fellow skinheads spreading each other’s butt cheeks. Enjoy that.
rikyrah
The First Lady points out how far America has come, seeing that she wakes up in a home built by slaves, and watches her two Black daughters go off to school to be educated.
Man, the RW went crazy. ….yeah,I think that FLOTUS was trolling them?
Omnes Omnibus
@rikyrah: Since she never really wanted to be in politics, how many fucks do you think she has left to give?
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Jerzy Russian:
Kristol was a student at the Harvard Government School at the same time my father was an assistant professor there. Dad said he was really smart (and he graduated magna cum laude in three years), and has no idea what the hell happened to him over the ensuing years.
Kristol was also a really good softball player, which, if you have any idea how seriously the softball is taken at the annual Government Department picnic, you’ll know was a big deal.
Uncle Cosmo
@Mnemosyne: You give him too much credit. He’s got a Zippo with no lighter fluid. Wheel turns, sparks fly…nothing happens.