Democratic presidential candidate former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was told “I’ve heard from quite a few people my age that they think you’re dishonest” by a first-time caucusgoer at Monday’s Democratic Presidential Town Hall on Monday.
Hillary was asked, “It feels like there’s a lot of young people like myself, who are very passionate supporters of [Democratic candidate Senator] Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and I just don’t see the same enthusiasm from younger people for you. In fact, I’ve heard from quite a few people my age that they think you’re dishonest, but I’d like to hear from you on why you feel the enthusiasm isn’t there.”
Hillary responded, “Well, I think it really depends upon who you’re seeing and talking to. you know, today in Oskaloosa, I spent time with about ten high school students who are enthusiastically working for me. I see young people across the state who are doing the same. But I’m totally happy to see young people involved in any way. That’s what we want. And we want to have a good primary, to pick a nominee, and then, we want to have everybody join together to make sure we win in November. Which after all, is the purpose of this whole campaign.”
She continued, “[Y]ou know, look, I’ve been around a long time. People have thrown all kinds of things at me. and you know, I can’t keep up with it. I just keep going forward. They fall by the wayside, they come up with these outlandish things, they make these charges, I just keep going forward because there’s nothing to it. They throw all this stuff at me, and I’m still standing. But if you’re new to politics, if it’s the first time you’ve really paid attention, you go, ‘Oh my gosh, look at all of this.’ And you have to say to yourself, ‘Why are they throwing all of that?’ Well I’ll tell you why, because I’ve been on the front lines of change and progress since I was your age.”
Hillary further said, “I have been fighting to give kids and women and the people who are left out and left behind a chance to make the most out of their own lives. And I’ve taken on the status quo, time and time again. I have had many, many millions of dollars spent against me. When I worked on healthcare back in ’93 and ’94, and I don’t know if you were born then, I can’t quite tell, but, if you’d been around, and had been able to pay attention, I was trying to get us to universal healthcare coverage, working with my husband. Boy, the insurance companies, the drug companies, they spent millions, not just against the issue, but against me. And I kept going. And when we weren’t successful, I turned around and said, ‘At least we’re going to get healthcare for kids.’ And we got the Children’s Health Insurance Program, working with both Democrats and Republicans, and eight million kids have insurance because of that today. So, you’ve got to keep going. You can’t give up. You can never get knocked off course. That’s my hope for you and for all the young people who are getting involved this first time, don’t get discouraged. It’s hard. If it were easy, hey, there wouldn’t be any contest, but it’s not easy. There are very different visions, different values, different forces at work. And you have to have somebody who is a proven fighter, somebody who has taken them on and won, and kept going, and will do that as president. That’s why I hope you’ll reconsider.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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