The Town Hall Forum on CNN enabled each Democratic Candidate to have equal time to put forth their platform. Bernie, the first of the three Democrats to speak, began by sounding absolutely presidential, impressing several Hillary fans to switch to his camp. Martin O'Malley, although struggling in the polls, still sounded like an amazingly sane alternative to those on the radical right side of the aisle.
Lastly, Hillary Clinton spoke, and she managed to comfort those who had any doubts she would be a well-qualified Commander in Chief. She also gave a few anecdotes as to where her 'dishonest' reputation originated: her time as First Lady when she wholly dedicated herself to the idea of Universal Healthcare. It's been a battle ever since.
At one point during her Q & A time, she was asked by a Muslim woman, wearing a hijab, who served in the U.S. Military. (Sadly, we don't have to wonder how she would be treated at a Trump rally.)
ERUM-TARIQ-MUNIR: With the current rise in Islamophobia and the Black Lives Matter movement, how can we make sure that the U.S. today, that we protect the Constitutional rights of all groups people without marginalizing any one community, specifically as a mother of three young children, as an American Muslim, how can I make sure that this country is the best place on Earth to raise my family?
HILLARY: One of the most distressing aspects of this campaign, has been the language of Republican candidates, particularly their front runner, that insults, demeans, denigrates different people. He has cast a wide net, he started with Mexicans, he's currently on Muslims. I find it particularly harmful how he's talked about Muslims: American Muslims and Muslims around the world...
It's not only shameful and offensive. It's dangerous...
Hillary described her meetings with Somali immigrants in Minnesota who not only face Islamophobia and fear for their children's safety, but they are also trying to keep the lure of ISIS propaganda from radicalizing their disenfranchised youth. Hillary explained why Republicans' approach will only aggravate tensions with all Muslims and lead to more terrorism, war and destruction.
HILLARY CLINTON: We have to protect ourselves in America in a unified way, that means making sure our Muslim friends and neighbors are part of us, they are with us. They are on the front lines of defending themselves, their families, their children and all the rest of us. And the same is true with Muslims around the world. We need a coalition that includes Muslim nations to defeat ISIS. And it's pretty hard to figure out how you're going to make a coalition with the very nations you need if you spend your time insulting their religion. So we need to stand up and point out how wrong this is!
The criticism from the Right will consist of the Democrats being 'weak' on terror. Diplomacy, however, has made our nation stronger than any war, but the troglodyte psyche of Republicans can't grasp that logic and won't see the forest through the trees. Fortunately, Democrats outnumber Republicans, and that trend is only getting more obvious.
