Yesterday was a big day in the world of political speeches. My colleagues here at Crooks and Liars started our day early and got ready to cover the day's events.
Rep. John Conyers opened the House Committee meeting with Attorney General Lynch with remarks about the job Congress should be doing and is not doing.
As is our habit, we waited until a transcript was released in order to cover his words accurately. Here's the transcript.
Shortly thereafter, Bernie Sanders gave a speech endorsing Hillary Clinton for President.
Again, the staff here made sure we quoted from a published transcript. Here's a copy of his prepared remarks, directly from his own campaign website.
And finally, The President in Dallas. These are the easiest to find. Bookmark Whitehouse.gov.
As I said, the staff here is very careful to make sure than when we quote a speech, we refer and link to the published and prepared remarks, and we much prefer to use a link that comes directly from the speaker his or her self. That is the most accurate source.
And the other really important point: If you follow along with these speeches, most politicians go off script a little, but not too much.
Not like Donald Trump.
So I was looking and looking for a transcript of what Donald Trump said last night in Indiana, when he tried out the campaign stage with possible running mate Mike Pence. Because I wanted to make sure I had heard Trump correctly when he said, as I heard it,
"We'll repeal Obamacare, and replace it with something terrific."
I thought that was a statement that only Jimmy Fallon and Saturday Night Live made up. I didn't realize that the candidate himself actually said that in any speech anywhere.
Well, finding a transcript of that speech was hard work. I finally found a fourth generation link-to a link-to a link on Twitter, that sent me to an "assets" page at Trump's campaign domain. It's a PDF of the prepared remarks complete with footnotes. Donald did not write this.
The prepared remarks did not include when the candidate went off script. That is true for all the prepared remarks, of course. But no other candidate goes off script like Donald Trump.
Last night Donald Trump went off script and said, "We'll repeal Obamacare, and replace it with something terrific."
Along with a back and forth chant with the audience about building a wall and making Mexico pay for it.
One of my colleagues pointed out that it was "an obvious pivot because he was losing the audience. I observed that in real time yesterday Those people didn't come for policy. They came for hate."
And they don't care if he's lying.
Politifact -Trump has rated more Pants on Fire than the 21 other candidates combined https://t.co/Ons2d67NO5 via @PolitiFact
— Valerie Douglas aka (@ValerieDouglasA) July 4, 2016
The vast majority of things @realDonaldTrump said are lies and his supporters don't care. https://t.co/2uKzcMlZOo pic.twitter.com/KcbkuyLbfP
— RiotWomenn (@RiotWomennn) July 13, 2016
I would like the Hillary Clinton campaign to ask an intern to actually transcribe what Donald Trump actually says in these speeches, and then read it aloud on Jimmy Fallon or Saturday Night Live, without emotion and without comment.
Hearing this stuff from a sane person would point out perfectly how bonkers Trump really is.
What news outlets post as transcripts (talking to you, Politico) are not transcripts. They are prepared remarks, and with Donald Trump, that really, really matters.
Shame on the media for not being willing to notice.
