memeorandum: Former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords to Lead Pledge at DNC (ABCNEWS)

2:45 PM ET, September 6, 2012

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Transcript of Bill Clinton's Speech to the Democratic National Convention — The following is the full text of former President Bill Clinton's speech on Wednesday from the Democratic National Convention. — PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON: Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. (Sustained cheers, applause.)

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:

Bill Clinton's long, long speech about the meanie Republicans — Bill Clinton, don't get me wrong, was the best speaker Wednesday night. But that is largely because the rest of the evening was atrocious. Clinton was hoarse, and he seemed to holler for no reason at all.

Discussion: New York Times, Power Line, Weekly Standard, Washington Monthly, Roger's Rules, Fausta's Blog, The Fix, Outside the Beltway, Pirate's Cove, Blue Crab Boulevard and Balloon Juice

Ezra Klein / Washington Post:

Bill Clinton: wonk-in-chief — “People ask me all the time how we delivered four surplus budgets,” former President Bill Clinton said on Wednesday night. “What new ideas did we bring? I always give a one-word answer: arithmetic.” — That's also the one-word answer to what Clinton brought to his convention speech.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The New Republic, Washington Monthly, Washington Wire, Balloon Juice, The Daily Beast, A plain blog about politics, Wall Street Journal, First Draft and The Daily Dish

Brooks Jackson / FactCheck.org:

Our Clinton Nightmare — CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Former President Bill Clinton's stem-winding nomination speech was a fact-checker's nightmare: lots of effort required to run down his many statistics and factual claims, producing little for us to write about. — Republicans will find plenty of Clinton's scorching opinions objectionable.

Discussion: ECHIDNE of the snakes, ThinkProgress, Twitter Blog, Hit & Run, The New Civil Rights Movement and Poynter, more at Mediagazer »

Politico:

How Bill Clinton does it — The crowd was roaring, TV commentators were gushing, and Barack Obama himself thanked Bill Clinton for his nominating speech with a big hug as he left the stage here Wednesday night. — Well might Obama be grateful: In 48 minutes, the 42nd president had stated …

Discussion: Washington Post, The Atlantic Online, No More Mister Nice Blog and Daily Kos

Benjy Sarlin / Talking Points Memo:

Romney, Ryan Double Down On False Welfare Attack Clinton Decried — CHARLOTTE — In one of the most pointed moments of President Clinton's Wednesday speech to the Democratic National Convention, he slammed the Romney campaign for lying in ads and statements by claiming President Obama …

Discussion: msnbc.com and Washington Post

CNN:

PHOTO: Hillary Clinton watches husband deliver convention speech — (CNN) - A photo released by the State Department shows Secretary of State Hillary Clinton watching her husband deliver remarks Wednesday night at the Democratic National Convention. — Hillary Clinton didn't watch …

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Associated Press, Taylor Marsh and The Agonist

Aviva Shen / ThinkProgress:

Associated Press ‘Fact Checks’ Clinton's Speech By Bringing Up Monica Lewinsky — Bill Clinton's 48-minute speech at the Democratic National Convention Wednesday night was, as FactCheck.org put it, “a fact-checker's nightmare: lots of effort required to run down his many statistics and factual claims …

Discussion: Politifact.com Truth …, more at Mediagazer »

James Fallows / The Atlantic Online:

Why Bill Clinton's Speeches Succeed — Because he treats listeners as if they are smart. — That is the significance of “They want us to think” and “The strongest argument is” and “The arithmetic says one of three things must happen” and even “Now listen to me here, this is important.”

Associated Press:
Bill Clinton's DNC speech: Fact check finds former president's claims of compromise a stretch

Discussion: US Politics, New York Magazine and Politicker

Maggie Haberman / Politico:
Boston's response to Clinton as of midnight...(Updated)

Discussion: Daily Kos

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Democratic National Convention Night 2: Winners and Losers

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico, The Daily Beast, Swampland, The Daily Dish, Applesauce, Hot Air, ABCNEWS, Taegan Goddard's …, Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Newsy

Jared A. Favole / Washington Wire:
In East Timor, Hillary Clinton Watches Bill Clinton's Speech in Charlotte

Discussion: The Hill

Kevin Cirilli / Politico:
Pundits swoon over Bill Clinton's speech

Discussion: CNN, New York Times, A plain blog about politics, Queerty, The Daily Beast, Grist and The Hill

Daniel Larison / The American Conservative:
The Clinton Speech and the “Campaign of Ideas”

Discussion: ThinkProgress, The Daily Dish, News Desk and Outside the Beltway

New York Times:
Check Point: Democrats Stretch the Truth in Talk and Text - Check Point

Discussion: Prairie Weather and The Stranger …

Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:
Fact checking Bill Clinton's speech and other Democrats at the convention in Charlotte

Discussion: Sister Toldjah, National Review, Wake up America and LifeNews.com

David Dayen / Firedoglake:
Bill Clinton Manages to Trust America to Listen to 46 Minutes of Policy

Discussion: Suburban Guerrilla

Washington Wire:
Text of Bill Clinton's Address to the Democratic Convention

Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Jawa Report, ABCNEWS, Booman Tribune, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Hinterland Gazette, Liberty Street, Liberal Values, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Reaction, Politico, Gallup and CNN

Jonathan Bernstein / A plain blog about politics:
Democrats Day 2 — I already did one item about Bill Clinton's speech …

Discussion: Associated Press, The Reality-Based Community, Politico and The Daily Dish

Politifact.com Truth-O-Meter rulings from National:
Bill Clinton: “Since 1961 ... our private economy has produced 66 million private-sector jobs.

Discussion: ABCNEWS and Business Insider

Benjy Sarlin / Talking Points Memo:
Bill Clinton To Mitt Romney: Barack Obama Is My True Heir

Discussion: The Daily Beast, Applesauce, The Stranger …, The Mahablog, Sky Dancing, msnbc.com and CNN

Annie-Rose Strasser / ThinkProgress:
Bill Clinton Takes On Paul Ryan: ‘It Takes Some Brass’

Discussion: Crooks and Liars and The Satirical Political Report

Greg Sargent / Washington Post:
Bill Clinton, playing ‘referee,’ makes strongest case yet for Obama's reelection

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Hullabaloo and First Read

Eric Kleefeld / Talking Points Memo:

Romney, GOP Groups Pull Ads From Michigan and Pennsylvania — Republicans signaled this week that they might have given up hope in two important swing states. — TPM Slideshow: Romney Takes The Stage At The RNC — The Romney campaign and conservative groups like Crossroads GPS …

Discussion: The Mahablog, Little Green Footballs, Booman Tribune, Balloon Juice and The Stranger …

Politico:

Verdict is in: Obama levels more personal attacks — A crabby, negative campaign that has been more about misleading and marginal controversies than the major challenges facing the country? Barack Obama and Mitt Romney can both claim parenthood of this ugly child.

Discussion: CNN, Hot Air, Outside the Beltway, Wake up America, The PJ Tatler and Betsy's Page

Chad Livengood / detroitnews.com:

Conservatives pull ads from Michigan — Pro-Romney groups focus on key states; Obama's campaign off air for weeks — Mitt Romney's conservative allies are bypassing Michigan with their advertising while stepping up efforts in other battleground states — suggesting campaign strategists …

Discussion: GOP 12, CNBC, Daily Kos, USA Today, Outside the Beltway and The Political Carnival

Pema Levy / Talking Points Memo:

Disillusioned Obama Supporter In Romney Ad Is Actually GOP Staffer — Republicans debuted a new ad Thursday in which a frustrated former Obama supporter expresses her disappointment with the president. The only problem: The woman in the video is actually an RNC staffer.

Discussion: msnbc.com, Naked Politics and The Stranger …

BuzzFeed:

Republican Staffer Breaks Up With Obama — Could they not find anyone else? — Source: youtube.com — CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Republicans are out with a new web video today highlighting their messaging push during the Democratic convention that President Barack Obama is a disappointment …

Discussion: FishbowlDC, Daily Kos and Jammie Wearing Fools

Rick Klein / ABCNEWS:

Bob Woodward Book: Debt Deal Collapse Led to ‘Pure Fury’ From President Obama — An explosive mix of dysfunction, miscommunication, and misunderstandings inside and outside the White House led to the collapse of a historic spending and debt deal that President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner …

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, USA Today, Outside the Beltway, AEIdeas, americanthinker.com, Instapundit, ABCNEWS and Politico

Steve Luxenberg / Washington Post:
Woodward book chronicles Obama's fiscal policy battle with congressional Republicans

Discussion: Balkinization, CNN and Washington Examiner

Miranda Green / The Daily Beast:
Speed Read: Juiciest Bits From Bob Woodward's Book ‘Price of Politics’

Discussion: Townhall.com and Politico

Chris Ariens / TVNewser:

Tom Brokaw Rushed to Charlotte Hospital — NBC News special correspondent Tom Brokaw was taken by ambulance to a Charlotte hospital this morning after an appearance on MSNBC's “Morning Joe.” — Brokaw, 72, who stepped down as anchor of “Nightly News” after the 2004 election …

Discussion: Gawker, The Hill, Mediaite, Fox News Insider, Deadline.com and New York Magazine, more at Mediagazer »

Dylan Byers / Politico:
NBC's Tom Brokaw sent to hospital

Discussion: The Atlantic Online and CNN

New York Times:

Libyan Alleges Waterboarding by C.I.A., Report Says — WASHINGTON — Days after the Justice Department closed out its criminal investigation of the deaths of two detainees while in the custody of the C.I.A., new information has surfaced calling into question official accounts of the extent of waterboarding by American interrogators.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Wired and Law Blog

hrw.org:
Delivered Into Enemy Hands

Discussion: Guardian and Firedoglake

Talking Points Memo:

Sununu Thinks Obama Camp Lying About Cost Of Michelle Obama's Dress — Former New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu questioned reports that the Tracey Reese dress Michelle Obama wore for her convention address Tuesday night cost $350 on a conference call with reporters Wednesday.

Discussion: The Hinterland Gazette, Wonkette and New York Times

Tom Blanton / Foreign Policy:

A Classified CIA Mea Culpa on Iraq — In this exclusive from the National Security Archive, a secret agency report on its WMD failures is published for the first time. — This remarkable CIA mea culpa, just declassified this summer and published here for the first time …

S.A. Miller / New York Post:

Dems trotting out H'wood beauties to introduce Obama — CHARLOTTE, NC — Call them Barack's Angels. — Democrats have secretly scheduled an appearance by Hollywood beauties Scarlett Johansson and Kerry Washington tonight at their national convention, in a bid to counter Clint Eastwood's surprise speech …

Discussion: Althouse

Daniel Strauss / The Hill:

Obama senior adviser: Don't expect big bounce in polls from convention — White House senior adviser David Plouffe doesn't think President Obama's reelection campaign will receive a polling bounce after the Democratic National Convention. — Speaking on ABC's “Good Morning America” …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, americanthinker.com and The PJ Tatler