AllPolitics - DNC '96

Christopher Reeve sets Dems sights on 'impossible dreams'

Actor Christopher Reeve capped the opening night of the Democratic Convention tonight, calling for greater funding for medical research and encouraging Americans to remember that "nothing is impossible."

Paralyzed from the neck down since he was thrown from his horse last year, the "Superman" star defended the Americans with Disabilities Act, calling it "a civil rights law that is tearing down barriers both in architecture and in attitude."

"Over the last few years," he said, "we've heard a lot about something called family values. And like many of you, I've struggled to figure out what that means. But since my accident, I've found a definition that seems to make sense: I think it means that we're all family, that we all have value. And if that's true, if America really is a family, then we have to recognize that many members of our family are hurting."

Reeve warned against overzealousness in budget cutting: "Sure, we've got to balance the budget. And we will. We have to be extremely careful with every dollar that we spend. But we've also got to take care of our family -- and not slash programs people need. We should be enabling, healing, curing."

Appealing for a greater commitment in Washington to funding medical research, Reeve said, "America has a tradition many nations probably envy. We frequently achieve the impossible. That's part of our national character. On the wall of my room when I was in rehab was a picture of the space shuttle blasting off, autographed by every astronaut now at NASA. On the top of the picture it says, 'We found nothing is impossible.' That should be our motto. Not a Democratic motto, not a Republican motto. It's an American motto."

"If we can conquer outer space, we can conquer inner space too."

"President Roosevelt showed us that a man who could barely lift himself out of a wheelchair could still lift a nation out of despair, " Reeve said to the thunderous applause of the rapt Democratic audience. "And I believe -- and so does this administration -- in the most important principle that FDR taught us: America does not let its needy citizens fend for themselves. America is stronger when all of us take care of all of us. Giving new life to that ideal is the challenge before us tonight."

Reeve's appearance was followed by a brief appearance via satellite by President Clinton, and hearty convention hall chants of "four more years."

Despite paralysis, Reeve full of plans for future - CNN, Feb. 22, 1996
New Hopes, New Dreams - TIME, Aug. 26, 1996

Full text of remarks

Republican Bradys tackle gun lobby

Two registered Republicans, Sarah and Jim Brady, addressed the Democratic National Convention tonight to plead for stronger gun control laws and a non-partisan approach to ending gun violence in America.

"Jim, we must have made a wrong turn," Mrs. Brady joked to her husband, the former Reagan Administration press secretary. "This isn't San Diego."

Jim Brady, wounded in the 1981 assassination attempt on President Reagan, sat in a wheelchair beside his wife, as she praised Democrats and President Clinton for helping enact the gun control law that bears her husband's name. The "Brady Bill," enacted in 1994, requires a national waiting period and background check on all handgun purchases through licensed dealers.

"The Brady bill was an overnight success," she said. "Every major national law enforcement group endorsed it. So did former Presidents Reagan, Carter, Ford and Nixon. In fact, nine out of 10 Americans supported a waiting period. It just made sense. But the gun lobby defeated the Brady bill. The National Rifle Association said that seven days, or even seven hours, was just too long to wait to buy a handgun: It was an inconvenience."

"Well, our family can tell the gun lobby a little something about inconvenience. And the despair and the pain that can result from a gunshot wound."

Mrs. Brady, the Chairwoman of Handgun Control, Inc., said it was when the gun lobby and the threat of a presidential veto killed the bill again in 1991, "we learned the value of having a president who is really committed to putting an end to gun violence. And four years ago, the American people elected just such a president."

According to the Bradys, since the law went into effect it has stopped more than 100,000 convicted felons and other prohibited purchasers from buying a handgun.

"Gun violence is not a Democratic or a Republican problem," Mrs. Brady said. "It's a problem that affects each and every one of us."

Full text of remarks

Dem Chairman savages GOP

Democratic National Committee Chairman Don Fowler sounded a note of optimism before the 4,329 delegates and gathered Democratic faithful tonight, declaring "We are ready to defeat the Dole-Kemp-Gingrich ticket."

Fowler came out swinging against the Republican party, accusing them of trying "to mug health care for the elderly," increase taxes on working families, and damage the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, "endangering the health of every American."

The GOP education plan, he said, was "to take Head Start from five-year-olds, school lunches from 10-year-olds, summer jobs from 15-year-olds, and college loans from 20-year-olds."

"They tried to do all of these things, but they were not successful because President Clinton said, 'No.' Not once, not twice, but three times, President Clinton said, 'you will not do this to our country.'"

"President Clinton has offered a different and far more powerful vision," Fowler concluded. "A vision of hope and change, of faith in the American people, of help for our families and aspiration for our future. It is a vision for the 21st century, and that is why Bill Clinton is, and will be, our president."

Full text of Alma Brown's remarks

Democrats pay tribute to Ron Brown

Democrats eulogized late Commerce Secretary Ron Brown in Chicago tonight, making his widow, Alma Arrington Brown, an honorary convention chairwoman.

After a moment of silence, Mrs. Brown, flanked by the couple's two children, Michael and Tracy Brown, said "While Ron may not be with us, I know he's looking down with that little smile of his -- you all rember that little smile? -- and he's mapping out a winning campaign strategy. And he's going to cheer us on all the way . He's going to make sure he's doing whatever he can up there to make sure President Clinton and Vice President Gore are reelected in November. As I know all of you all are going to do."

The one-time Democratic National Chairman was killed with 34 others April 3 when the plane carrying him on a trade mission to Bosnia crashed in stormy weather in Dubrovnik, Croatia.

One of Brown's favorite musicians, jazz artist Kenny G, provided a musical tribute.

Bio of Secretary Ronald H. Brown from the Commerce Department web site
The Official Kenny G Home Page

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Gephardt blasts Republicans, lauds Clinton

House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt took shots at the Republican Party tonight and gave a spirited defense of the president, saying it was time for the gathered delegates to "go to work."

Gephardt, who briefly ran for the 1988 Democratic nomination, recalled the day on Tuesday, January 5, 1995, when he had to turn over the speaker's gavel to Georgia Republican Newt Gingrich.

"One of the worst days of my life," he said. "I had no choice. I felt like I was surrendering on behalf of hard-pressed working families."

But, he said, he is looking forward to the day when he can take the gavel back: "Next January, we will call to order a congress that sustains education, protects the environment not the polluters, stands up for a woman's right to choose, and strengthens Medicare instead of slashing it."

Gephardt took a few shots at the Republican agenda, blasting "a San Diego convention that was no more than a remake of the tired supply-side economics that brought us record interest rates, record deficits and a record recession."

The Missouri Democrat praised President Clinton, exhorting the delegates "to enlist again under the banner of a president who has led and won great battles from increasing the minimum wage, to passing health care reform, to defending civil rights, to reducing taxes for working families and reducing the federal deficit on a continuing basis for the first time in a long generation of rising red ink."

Calling Clinton's effort to reduce the deficit an "act of genuine bravery," Gephardt said "I have sat there with him as he confronted the hardest decisions and said, very plainly, 'let's do what's right -- and damn the political risk.'"

"Now we proceed to our business. Which is not just to renominate Bill Clinton and Al Gore, not just to state a case or win an election, not just to make promises for a campaign, but to set out again on a course that will fulfill the true promise of America, to all our people and all the world."

Dick Gephardt House home page

Full text of remarks

Daschle touts Democrats' vision of freedom

Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) cast the Democratic party as the party of moderates, in contrast to the GOP, in his speech to the gathered Democrats in Chicago's United Center tonight.

"It's been said Republicans and Democrats have very different notions of freedom," he said. "Republicans believe in freedom 'from,' and Democrats believe in freedom 'to.'"

Daschle said Democrats believe in freedom to education. "That's why we fought back against this Republican Congress when it tried to make the biggest education cuts in our nation's history. And we won."

Democrats, he claimed,believe in the freedom to job training, health care, and "the freedom to earn a decent living on 40 hours work a week."

"That's why we raised the minimum wage," he said.

Daschle promised seniors that "Medicare will not wither on the vine. Not as long as a Democrat in the White House and in Congress are there to protect it."

Tom Daschle Senate home page

Actor makes emotional plea for children, elderly

Actor and activist Edward James Olmos opened the evening session of the Democratic National Convention with an emotional plea for improving the lives of children and the elderly.

Whistling at rowdy delegates on the floor of Chicago's United Center and repeatedly chiding them for talking during his speech, Olmos lamented the "cynicism and contempt for life" among American youth, and pleaded for adults to set an example for them by treating him, each other, and youngsters with respect.

Currently Executive Director of the Lives in Hazard Education Project, a national gang prevention program funded by the Department of Justice, Olmos didn't advocate any particular legislation, instead calling for changing the entire national focus: "We desperately need to place our children at the forefront of any agenda," he said.

"When we uplift our children," he said, "we empower ourselves."

Edward James Olmos Info Net

Democrats Open Convention

With the words "I declare the 42nd Quadrennial National Convention of the Democratic Party of the United States convened and in session," Democratic National Committee Chairman Don Fowler called "the oldest political party in the world" to order.

The 59-year-old South Carolinian said, "Today we begin a process that will result in the renomination of President Bill Clinton and continue the march to victory in November for which we all hope so fervently."

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