'There Is No Place For Hate In America': Joe Biden Addresses The Nation From Gettysburg, PA
The former VP will address the racial reckoning we face as a nation from the town that's home to the most hallowed battlefield of the Civil War.
After attending a fundraiser with the African American Leadership Finance Council (AALFC), Democratic Candidate for president, Joe Biden traveled to Gettysburg, PA to deliver remarks on our nation's long history of racial oppression, and his devotion to the mission of righting those wrongs.
Pool reporter Ruby Cramer got some quotes from Biden about the nature of his speech:
"Look, I'm going to say something that, I don't know how to sound to you, but I'm getting out of this chair and heading to Gettysburg, the fields of Gettysburg, and I'm making a speech that I've worked and worked and worked on about how the soul of America and racial equality and what significant trouble we're in right now. Some people may think it's a little dramatic, but I think it's appropriate. We have to unite this nation and I've decided to do it from Gettysburg. I've worked on this speech very, very, very hard. You'll see it and know it -- I mean every word of it."
"And it's all about what we talked about today. It's about bringing people along. It's about finally fulfilling that promise: Frederick Douglass has talked about — in [the] second inaugural of Lincoln — he said it is a 'sacred try.' We have to have the sacred try to get this right," Biden said, appearing to reference Douglass's comments to Lincoln, “Mr. Lincoln, that was a sacred effort."
"And we really can. I really think we can," said Biden.
Watch with us.
UPDATE: I will update this with his remarks as prepared for delivery. This speech will be the one people talk about when they look back on this campaign. Whether he succeeds with the goals he outlined, I'd rather have him say this than the cynical, hateful attitude of Donald Trump.
Or, as Jennifer Rubin says:
UPDATE 2: Here are his remarks as prepared for delivery in PDF format.