Democrats turn focus to national security Wednesday
With the third day of the Democratic convention gaveling in this afternoon, Hillary Clinton's campaign says national security will be a big part of the program--after two days in which the topic was relatively absent from the convention stage.
Clinton national security adviser Jake Sullivan said at a DNC briefing Wednesday morning that the evening's lineup of speakers includes former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, as well as a former admiral and an Iraq combat veteran.
"Tonight this set of issues, this national security set of issues will really come into focus," he said. "We will have a number of people who served in uniform as well as senior former Defense Department officials speaking about what it takes to be commander-in-chief and why it is Hillary Clinton has what it takes."
The focus on national security will be a shift from the first two nights of the convention: on Monday, terrorism and ISIS were not mentioned explicitly at all throughout the program, and Tuesday night's programs contained only passing mentions.
On Monday night, no speaker said the words "ISIS" or "terror"--the closest anyone came to discussing the issue was a clip from a previous speech of Clinton's, in which she discussed the Orlando shooting.
Tuesday, though, did see some discussion of terrorism, though it was not the focus of the night. The evening's program, which went through the various periods of Clinton's life, featured a section on her tenure as secretary of State and some discussion of ISIS and terrorism as a result.
Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said Clinton is prepared to take on the fight against the Middle Eastern terror network--and blasted Trump for making that fight more difficult, even just as a candidate.
"As I travel today, I am reminded how important it is that the person who represents our nation is trusted by our allies -- who knows how to work with them, not alienate them, to defeat ISIS -- and who listens more than she talks," she said.
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar spoke about Clinton's work on human trafficking issues, making reference to ISIS' sale of young girls as brides and sex slaves.
"As long as ISIS is selling girls for $165, and parents in Nigeria are left with nothing but bows and arrows to chase the terrorists who steal their daughters in the middle of the night, we will never have a just and good world," she said.
And in his speech, former President Bill Clinton noted his wife's efforts to fight terrorism recruitment online, an issue he says is "really important today." "She launched a team, this is really important today, she launched a team to fight back against terrorists online and built a new global counterterrorism effort," he said. "We've got to win this battle in the mind field."
That relative lack of talk about terrorism earned the convention some criticism from GOP nominee Donald Trump, as well as from the Republican National Committee on Twitter. "61: Number Of Speeches At The DNC Tonight," the RNC tweeted. "0: Mentions Of The Global Terrorist Threat Posed By ISIS."
Politifact, which deemed the RNC's assertion about Monday "true," also noted that Clinton did address the issue of ISIS and terrorism on Monday--but she did so during a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Charlotte, N.C., not in Philadelphia.
