Tonight when Hillary Clinton took the DNC stage, wearing white in honor of the suffragettes who have gone before her, there were tears in her eyes. As she hugged daughter Chelsea—the first time in history that a daughter has introduced her mother as the candidate for president of the United States—it was hard to overstate just how important this night was for both Clinton and the millions of women who never knew if they’d live to see it.
In a wide-ranging speech, she sought to appease and lure Bernie supporters, debunk the caricature of her that Donald Trump presented at the Republican National Convention, reintroduce herself as the most qualified candidate for the job—and knock her GOP opponent down a few pegs. She talked about working with Bernie to make tuition free and debt-free. She outlined again the years she spent both in office and behind the scenes. And she zinged Trump on his business deals and his temper.
But it was when she spoke about the historic nature of the night, when she declared, “We reached a milestone in our march toward a more perfect union—the first time a (major political party) has nominated a woman for president,” that the speech became buoyant and energized.
From then on, she hit crescendo after crescendo, sometimes recycling standard lines her supporters have grown to love (“If fighting for affordable child care and paid family leave is playing the ‘woman card,’ then deal me in!”), and other times pulling out a bevy of badass new ones that left the crowd chanting her name.
On Trump's temperament:
“A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons."
On gun control:
“I'm not here to repeal the Second Amendment. I'm not here to take away your guns. I just don't want you to be shot by someone who shouldn't have a gun in the first place.”
On climate change:
“I believe in science!”
On working with Bernie Sanders:
“Bernie Sanders and I will work together to make college tuition-free for the middle class and debt-free for all!"
On debt:
“It's just not right that Donald Trump can ignore his debts, but students and families can't refinance theirs.”
On who she's fighting for:
"I will be a president for Democrats, Republicans, and Independents. For the struggling, the striving, and the successful. For those who vote for me and those who don’t. For all Americans."
On the rigged economy and helping small businesses:
“Way too many dreams die in the parking lots of banks.”
On Trump's promises:
“Don't believe anyone who says: ‘I alone can fix it.’ Those were actually Donald Trump's words in Cleveland. And they should set off alarm bells for all of us. Really? I alone can fix it? Isn't he forgetting troops on the front lines? Police officers and firefighters who run toward danger? Doctors and nurses who care for us? Teachers who change lives? Entrepreneurs who see possibilities in every problem? Mothers who lost children to violence and are building a movement to keep other kids safe? He's forgetting every last one of us.”
On her reputation as a policy wonk:
“It's true, I sweat the details of policy. Whether we're talking about the exact level of lead in the drinking water in Flint, Michigan, the number of mental health facilities in Iowa, or the cost of your prescription drugs. Because it's not just a detail if it's your kid, if it's your family. It's a big deal. And it should be a big deal to your president.”
On Trump's foreign policy plans:
“Now Donald Trump says, and this is a quote, ‘I know more about ISIS than the generals do.’ No, Donald, you don't.”
On the shattered glass ceiling:
“Standing here as my mother's daughter and my daughter's mother, I'm so happy this day has come. Happy for grandmothers and little girls and everyone in between. Happy for boys and men too, because when any barrier falls in America, for anyone, it clears the way for everyone. When there are no ceilings, the sky's the limit.”
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