We the people

7 responses so far ↓

• 1    Taylor McClendon // Jan 23, 2008 at 12:09 pm

  this is a video of hillary walking through her health care plan

• 2    Blair McBride // Apr 8, 2008 at 6:34 pm

  For my extra credit, I went to the Hillary Clinton Rally. It was my very first rally and it was really interesting. I am not personally a Hillary Clinton fan, but it was very neat to see the support that people had for her. Everyone there was wearing t-shirts or had made signs or was just screaming and cheering a lot. They also had other local political figures come and speak about Hillary and about why they are supporting her. I don’t think that a rally could be used for conversion simply because the people who were there were all already strong Hillary fans and the speakers are only giving positive aspects of her and often talking down about the other presidential candidates and president Bush. But, it was very interesting to observe and to listen to her speak and hear what she had to say. It is not very often that you get to come that close to a presidential nominee and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

• 3    Caroline Wood // Apr 8, 2008 at 7:10 pm

  Although I am not the true conservative that my family wishes that I was, I will move out of the country if Hillary Clinton becomes president. I think she is conniving lady. So, it only makes sense that I would go to a Hillary rally. I went with Blair, Patricia and Elizabeth to Burger center to hear her words of wisdom. Let’s just say I was not impressed.
  To begin, Hillary was an hour late! I was an hour early to get a good seat for a candidate that I do not support and she does the injustice of arriving late. Typical. So, before she arrived, I strategically viewed her supporters. I was surprised to see that there was not an uneven ratio of woman to men. There were a lot of latino voters present. I enjoyed the signs that said “Tejanos for Hillary” and “Estamos contigo Hillary” (We are with you Hillary). Also, there were many speakers who rallied for her before she was present. And lo and behold, there were three women and two latino supporters. I know it was her strategy in order to target these groups. One name that I had never heard before was “Madame President.” I guess I never thought about what we would call a female president, but everyone started chanting that throughout the rally. Also, people handed out Texas and American flags so that we would all feel united for Hillary. We learned many cheers led by a Texas cheerleader. One goes like this: “H-I-H-I-L-H-I-L-L-A-R-Y, Hillary! (clap clap clap) Our nominee! I did not enjoy this one because it was stuck in my head for two entire days!
  When she finally arrived, she was accompanied by Ted Danson, her daughter Chelsea and some soap actress. I always think it is funny that she never divorced Bill because she needed to ride on his coattails and now we never see them together. I think if a male candidate did not have his wife behind him at every event, people would question. But I guess Hillary is in a league of her own. What made me really laugh was that when everyone was cheering, she would point to the crowd and mouth “thank YOU” as if she really were talking to a specific person. She tried to be so honorable and likeable, but I could see through her evil plotting.
  She talked about the same issues, nothing really excited me. I liked how when she or any of the other speakers talked about Obama, they never said his name directly. They simply said “that other guy” or “that Senator.” I am glad I went because I think it is necessary to give me a chance. But, Hillary did not win me over. I wish I had a chance to see McCain, Huckabee or Ron Paul, but Hillary was entertaining to say the least. She is quite an actress.

• 4    Caroline Wood // Apr 8, 2008 at 7:16 pm

  Here are the pictures. I hope this works.

• 5    Patricia Dewey // Apr 9, 2008 at 12:08 am

  For extra credit I attended the Hillary Clinton rally at Burger Center. I went with Blair McBride, Caroline Wood and Elizabeth Milburn. Although none of us are Hillary supporters, we had a great time listening to speakers, cheering with the crowd and, of course, seeing the woman who might be our next president. When we arrived we walked into an arena full of screaming fans with “Hillary” banners. It was interesting to see the diversity among her supporters. My favorite banner was a huge blue sign that read “CLINTON COUNTRY”. We listened to the mayor of a small town outside of Austin, two Texas representatives and a woman who led the cheers. Hillary finally came to the stage with her daughter, actor Ted Danza and his wife. The crowd went crazy when she came out and it was a matter of minutes before she was able to speak. I don’t recall every detail of what she said, but a major part of her speech was about her ability to actually make change. It is evident that she takes pride in the fact that she is a woman running for president. She didn’t mention her husband very much at the rally, presumably because she is trying to set herself apart from the former president. She mentioned her Health Care plan and other issues that she hopes to get passed if she gets the presidential nomination. I thought it was interesting that she didn’t once say “Barack Obama”. She made references to him but never actually spoke his name. Overall, she did a wonderful job at the rally and I left more informed of her major issues and ideas. Going to the rally was a wonderful learning experience and I am glad I was able to take part in it.

• 6    Elizabeth Milburn // Apr 10, 2008 at 12:43 am

  I went to the Hillary Clinton rally that took place at the Burger Center for extra credit this six weeks which was definately an interesting experience. Being a Republican, I felt slightly out of place. Everyone at the rally was excited and there was a lot of energy there. There were supporters handing out Texas flags and United States flags to wave and there were signs and banners scattered around the crowd. There was a college student who was leading cheers whichI must admit were pretty catchy. It was interesting because the speakers who gave short speeches before Hillary came included two women and two Hispanics which was a logical decision because they appealed to the people who were voting for Clinton. When Clinton finally came, she entered with her daughter and a few celebrities. She talked about her policies pretty broadly but didn’t really talk about specifics. I drove downtown the night of the Obama rally and his seemed to be a bigger deal than Hillary’s rally but obvioulsy her’s was effective. Because this rally was the night before the primary, one of the major points everyone talked about was getting out there and voting and making other people vote also. Overall, it was a positive experience and I am happy that I was able to attend.

• 7    Alli Gitnik // Apr 10, 2008 at 3:27 pm

  I saw the Bill Clinton rally the Wednesday before the Texas Primary. After waiting in a crowded line for an hour and a half, we were finally let in at five thirty, even though it wasn’t until around seven that Bill Clinton actually stepped up to the podium to speak. Before him though, spoke actor Sean Asten about his reasons for supporting Clinton, inserting powerful words such as “protecting this great lady and taking care of her and the country.” When Bill descended to the stage, the student body of UT went wild in the Main Mall, cheering, flashing the hook ‘em signs and their cameras for this great former president. When he first spoke, he honored the primary system that Texas set up (both primary and caucus, 65%, 35%) and even mentioned a great friendship he had with a well-respected Texas politician. After he had finished with the intros, he plunged straight into the issues. He spoke of insurance, taxes, the war in Iraq, and most importantly, he linked all these to the students at UT, relating each to the rising costs of education, an issue that all college students can relate to. He spoke with such charisma, and that when he would pause to take a breath, the crowd broke out into applause, flailing their Hillary posters. I would definitely say this experience was significant in swaying my vote, if I were to have one. Before the rally, I had only been leaning toward Hillary’s policies, but after noting the determination of both her and Bill, I truly saw the positive effects that those policies could muster.

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