Tim Kaine Visits Penn State, Attacks Trump
Tim Kaine Visits Penn State, Attacks Trump
Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Tim Kaine made his way to Penn State Thursday afternoon in the most high-profile visit in Centre County by the Clinton campaign this political season.
The event, held in Alumni Hall at the HUB-Robeson Center, hit its 800-person capacity and had over 200 people watching in an overflow room, according to Clinton campaign organizers.
Tim Kaine’s visit prompted a protest by supporters of Republican nominee Donald Trump, with signs in and outside of the venue with drawn phrases including, “Hillary for Prison 2016,” and “If you can’t win an election, RIG IT!” At one point, there were dueling chants inside between the wait line and protesters shouting, “Love trumps hate!” and “Lock her up!”
Several speakers spoke before Kaine’s event, including Chairman of the Centre County Board of Commissioners Mike Pipe, Representative for Pennsylvania’s 77th district Scott Conklin and State College Mayor Elizabeth Goreham.
Once introduced by Ricardo Rojas, a Penn State student and organizing fellow with the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, Kaine mentioned how honored he was to be the running mate of a woman after being helped by women throughout his political career.
“What a great thing to support such a strong and compassionate leader as Hillary Clinton who’s going to be such a wonderful president,” Kaine said to cheers from the audience.
Kaine mentioned Clinton’s performance at the third and final debate, held on Wednesday in Las Vegas. He mentioned Trump’s refusal to say that he would accept the results of the election, calling it “serious stuff,” and after quoting Trump saying that he would keep everyone in suspense, Kaine responded, “Folks, this isn’t a TV show,” he said. “This is running the country.”
Kaine added that Trump has run a campaign based on insulting people, including his Republican opponents, Mexicans, Muslims, and women. He said that with no other group left to insult, Trump has resorted to “insulting traditions of American democracy,” by raising doubts on the integrity of the results.
“If you’re running for president of this nation, you’ve got to be committed to accepting the outcome, win or lose,” Kaine said.
Kaine also targeted Trump on his alleged sexism, citing the Republican nominee’s comment on Wednesday night’s debate, calling Hillary Clinton being a “nasty woman.”
“I think it’s been pretty clear that Donald Trump’s got major problems in terms of looking at a woman and seeing an equal,” Kaine said.
Kaine drew some of his strongest applause when mentioning policy on education and student debt reform, proposing “debt-free” college, which includes making college tuition free for families making less than $125,000 a year enrolling in public universities, and refinancing current student loan debt.
Outside, protesters sparred with Hillary supporters, including Mike Wang, a student majoring in Political Science. Wang describes Trump as a fascist and described a Clinton protester holding a “Hillary for Prison” sign as such. Even as a libertarian, Wang finds himself in favor of Clinton over Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson. He finds the Clinton/Kaine ticket to be a practical choice this election season. “If Hillary gets elected, we’re pretty much going to get more of the same; the machine will continue to turn,” Wang said. “But that’s quite frankly better than an authoritarian regime.”
Kaine ended his speech by warning voters not to be complacent in the final 18 days of the campaign. “The best way to defeat [doubts of the election results’ legitimacy] is to make the margin as absolutely big as possible,” he said.
“We can’t take anything for granted because we ought to produce a congress that will actually work with Hillary,” Kaine said.
“I was inspired,” said State College Mayor Elizabeth Goreham. “I think he was welcomed very warmly,” adding that Democrats “showed our devotion to winning this election.” Goreham felt vindicated when Kaine commended Goreham for having one of the “hardest jobs there is.”
“I’m sure it was a lot harder to be mayor of Richmond, Virginia when he was mayor,” Goreham responded after the event.
Goreham admits that “it does take as much of my life as I can spare and you do have to make some difficult decisions, but I love it.”
Kaine ended his 45-minute speech by noting that the one thing that unifies Democrats, no matter how progressive or moderate they are is that “we’re underdog people.” He said that Democrats seek to elevate those that are at an unfair disadvantage.
Kaine said that there are a lot of people who “walk on by,” when they see people in despair. “Hillary Clinton is not somebody that will walk on by,” he said.
“There’s folks out there who need our help, and that’s what this election is about!” Kaine said amid applause.
“Now let’s go win!”