Cory Booker remarks at "First In the West" event in Las Vegas on November 17, 2019

[brooklynite]

“My dad died here. It was during my primary to become a United States Senator, my father had a stroke and went to a hospital right here in Las Vegas. And I was distressed My mom told me don't leave the primary. It's days before it. He's in the hospital. He's stable. I'm going to be with him. And I will never forget I'm competing in a primary to become a United States Senator, but I'll never forget getting a call from a man named Harry Reid. Harry told me stay on the trail. I will go and be with your mom.”

“I am running not just because I stand with my colleagues on believing that healthcare should be a right I stand with my colleagues and understanding that we have to meet the existential crisis of climate change. I stand with my colleagues and know that a system of mass incarceration in a nation that professes freedom is obscene and objectively wrong. But I want to tell you right now, I am running for president of the United States, not because of him, not because of one man in one office, not because of his moral vandalism. We don't win as Democrats when we run races about simply what we're against. We win them when we talk about what we're for, and who we’re for and how we fight. And so, tonight, I want to tell you, I'm running for president because I believe in us. This is a moral moment in America. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise. It's not about left or right. It is about right or wrong. It is about the character of our country.”

“Love is what you see and how the Harry Reid led his life standing for people being there in the clutch.”

“I don't care how many people try to tear us down, or history speaks that we are a nation that has always responded by coming together and rising up. And now it's time again. It is that moment in history again, that we must join together in a course and say we will rise. We will rise for health care for all we will rise for public schools and public education. We will rise for the mentally ill and the homeless. We will rise for economic justice. We will rise for our unions. Let us remember that we democrats come from a great state Iraq with the Russians been up to Sputnik and the air with Sputnik. We didn't tear each other apart. We joined together with Hidden Figures together with white astronauts, and we went to the moon. We come from Kennedy who pointed to the moon king who pointed to a mountaintop and said we will rise. We when they push this back at Selma, and they tried to stop it a Stonewall, we said, we will rise with Donald Trump in the White House, he may try to tear us down. But in this next election, we will rise.”

[LuvNewcastle]

1. That last paragraph is interesting.