is about one hour and 10 minutes. >> the brilliant, the beautiful, the hilarious, cheryl hines.

[applause] ♪ cheryl: hi, everybody. thank you for being here today. my gosh, i am so excited that you are here to help us celebrate another milestone on bobby's campaign for the presidency. yes. i just want to take a moment to say, as we move through our day, let's think about the people in baltimore who are experiencing their tragedy. we want to keep them in our thoughts, our hearts, and our prayers today. yes. [applause] you are probably here to hear

what bobby has to say today. it is a very exciting day, and you will not be disappointed. one of the things that i love about bobby, there are a lot. i won't spend the day naming them. but one of the things that i truly respect about him, i have watched him, and continue to watch him, inspire people of all different parties to come together for the greater good of this country. yes. so, when you look around you you are probably going to see republicans, democrats, independents all gathered together to see what we have in common and how we can work together. that is what bobby is all about, who he is, and what he's doing.

america is listening and is inspired. [applause] i think we should just do it. are you ready to hear from bobby? are you at all interested to hear from the new vp pick? let's make a lot of noise. i want to really hear how enthusiastic you are about this. please, ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for my love, for the next president of the united states, robert f. kennedy, jr.. ♪

mr. kennedy: thank you all, very much. thank you all very much. thank you, thank you. i want to start out, first of all, thanking all of you, thinking oakland and thanking all of you for being here today. i also want to thank the tribal chiefdoms and the chairwoman of

the tribal council for endorsing me today, putting their faith in me. [applause] they know very much the struggle for indigenous tribes has consumed a lot of my personal and professional life and this work will continue when we are in the white house. they are one of the many tribes that were decertified in the 1950's, 1960's, and they need to be re-legitimized.

that is something i will do as soon as i get to the white house. i want to say something. my father spent a lot of times -- a lot of time on the poverty committee in 1967 when he was the united states senator. he came back here in 1968 on the presidential campaign. during that presidential run he made an unscheduled visit to oakland's memorial church. he went there with willie brown, who became the mayor of san francisco but at that time was a family man. he came to meet with a lot of local activists in oakland at a very violent, turbulent time. he met with the naacp and black panther party. it was a very rancorous meeting.

he attended with two of his companions, john glenn, the astronaut, one of his best friends. johnson, the decathlon champion in 1960 and one of my father's closest friends. the meeting was so rancorous and vitriolic that at one point they advised my father to leave. people were insulting and threatening him. my dad refused. he said, this is between me and then. i need to hear them out. i need to hear what they are going to say. he stayed through the meeting. the next day, all of the people who were at that meeting signed up to join his campaign. the black panther party provided

his security detail in oakland and continued to provide security for him later on in the campaign in his convoys. it was a lesson that i just wanted to share with you, because it is a lesson all of us need to learn at this point in our history. we need to start listening to each other, even when it is difficult. we need to sit through the anger. we need to sit with each other and listen to the feelings and not walk away and not see each other as enemies. learn to love each other even through that anger and vitriol. we need to start coming back to each other as americans again. [applause]

the last time i was in oakland was when i served in the monsanto cases. we tried two of three cases. we won $289 million in the first. the third, we asked for $1 billion and an oakland jury gave us $2.2 billion. that brought monsanto to the negotiating table. we settled in all 40,000 cases. i lived here for several months during that trial. i got to really love the city. the monsanto case was the latest

in a lifetime of battles for me to get poisons out of our food, our farms, and restore our soils. that effort has consumed a lot of my life. i wanted a vice president who shared my passion for whol -- for wholesome, foods, good soils. i found exactly the right person. among other things she has used over the past several years cutting edge technology, including ai, to calculate the catastrophic health consequences of toxins in our soil, our air, our water, and our food. technology has been a lifelong passion for my future vice

president. this is important because i also wanted a vice president who shares my indignation about the participation of big tech as a partner in the censorship and surveillance and information warfare that our government is currently waging against the american people. that is why i am bringing on someone with a deep inside knowledge about how big tech uses ai to manipulate the public. i want a partner with strong ideas about those dire threats to democracy and our freedoms. i managed to find a technologist at the forefront of ai. she has spent the last decade relying on neural networks, artificial intelligence, and cutting edge science to identify

abuses in our government. she understands that the health of every american is a national security issue and a national security risk. her work has proven time and again that health drives our economy and is the foundation of our mental health, our national happiness, our ability to lead the world in innovation and prosperity, and in peace. i also wanted someone who was an athlete, who could help me inspire americans to heal. to get them back in shape. i am happy to report that my vice president is an avid surfer . [applause] who attended school on a softball scholarship. i wanted someone who is battle tested, able to withstand

criticism, controversy, deformations, slanders, and perjury's throne against anyone who embarks on a presidential campaign -- perjuries thrown against anyone who embarks on a presidential campaign. i wanted someone who shared my indignation about the way it allows industries to commoditize our food, wildlife, and children. i wanted someone who would honor the traditions of our nation as a nation of immigrants, who also understands that to be a nation we need secure borders. i wanted a partner who was a gifted administrator and also possesses the gift of curiosity. an open, inquiring mind and

confidence to change even her strongest opinion in the face of contrary evidence. i wanted someone with a spiritual dimension and compassion, idealism, and above all a deep love of the united states of america. i found all of those qualities in a woman who grew up right here in oakland. the daughter of immigrants who overcame every daunting obstacle and went on to achieve the highest levels of the american dream. that is why i am so proud to introduce to you the next vice president of the united states, my fellow lawyer, brilliant scientist, technologist, fierce warrior-mom, nicole shanahan.

[applause] i have to tell you a little about nicole before we bring her out here. nicole's personal story began in oakland, the daughter of impoverished immigrants. she grew up on food stamps and welfare in the city beset by many unique challenges, all of which she overcame. her very, very american journey turned into a career as a patent attorney and silicon valley tech entrepreneur and stanford university fellow. like many of us, nicole assumed our government was working for our people.

our defense and intelligence agencies wanted peace. our public health agencies wanted us to be healthy. at the usda supported wholesome foods and family farms. that the epa would stand up for clean air and clean water. that the fed wanted prosperous america. that the democratic party was on the side of the middle class, the working poor, and main street small businesses, that scientists were incorruptible, and that science was a search -- an exalted search for the truth. that the president of the united states could always be counted on to defend free speech. i too used to believe those things. do you remember those days? she will tell you that she now understands that the defense

agencies work for the military-industrial complex. usda works for big ag and the processed foods cartel. the epa is in cahoots with the polluters. that scientists can be mercenaries. that government officials sometimes act as censors.that the fed works for wall street and allows bankers to prey on main street and the american worker. that is why nicole and i both left the democratic party. [applause] our values didn't change, but the democratic party did. the things that we love are still the same.

we love our families, our children, our faiths. we love clean air, clean water, productive soil, good food. we love the wilderness, our purple mountain's majesty, and above all, we love our country. we want america to live up to her highest ideals. we want her to be an exemplary nation again. a global leader in freedom, opportunity, and responsible government. we want america to be a peacemaker, a moral authority. we want our children to grow up as i did, in a country for which they feel love and pride. we want them to feel safe and have every opportunity for dignity, prosperity, and community. we want them to have confidence in their futures. we want them to have the best

education. we want america to be friendly to foreigners and entrepreneurs. we want america to honor its veterans and teachers. we want scientists to stand up for science and truth. we want our government to defend our right to free speech. [applause] nicole and i share all of these values. you know what? despite the artificially orchestrated divisions, nearly all americans share the same values that we do. i am grateful that nicole has put herself interest aside and made the momentous to an -- momentous and difficult decision to embark with me on this extraordinary crusade to win back our country. [applause]

i was most importantly looking for a partner who is a young person. nicole is only 38 years old. [applause] i wanted that because i want nicole to be a champion for the growing number of millennials and gen z americans who have lost faith in their future and lost their pride in our country. many in her generation have stopped believing that older people who have been running our government for so long understand them or represent their interests. that older generation now dominates congress, the supreme court, and the white house. it is the same generation, the same people who ran up the $34 trillion debt. millennials, gen zs, and their

children will shoulder the burden. it was my baby-boom generation that unleashed the epidemic of chronic disease that made america the sickest country in the world. the only response to this calamity by government officials today is to gaslight us into pretending that it's all normal. that it's not really happening. nicole and i both share doubts about the corporate captured uniparty and that it can produce leaders capable of imagining a different version of america, a hopeful version of the future. we doubt the republican or democratic nominees are capable of dealing with the complexities and fulfilling the great promise of a technology-driven economy. in the right hands technology can be america's salvation. it can give us the path out of

debt chaos, out of the chronic disease epidemic. but we both fear that in the wrong hands technology can turn its power against humanity. we don't think that either president trump or president biden understands the promise or peril of technology sufficiently to direct its trajectory towards freedom and healing and prosperity. [applause] we are now witnessing the contest between the two oldest presidential candidates in history. those two men during their terms as president both worked to close our main street businesses for a year. 3.3 million businesses with no due process, no scientific

citation, no public hearings, no environmental impact statements.they just told us to shut them down. those policies that both of them engineered transferred $4 trillion from the middle class to this new oligarchy of billionaires. they created 500 new billionaires in 500 days. a billionaire a day. together, they ran up a greater debt than all previous presidents combined since george washington. two men with a single term in office each. they don't want us talking about those things. they want us instead to hate each other. to fear the other guy. two young americans, they look like two sides of the same coin. if we vote for either of them

again we can expect, and we deserve, more of the same.the annihilation of our middle-class . the further impoverishment of the working poor. more chronic disease. more epidemics. more environmental destruction. more debt. more war. fewer constitutional rights. i have asked nicole to use the platform of the vice presidency to speak for all, not just young people, but all the invisible, voiceless americans who feel let down by our government. as your vice president, nicole will represent working poor who feel forgotten, who sink every day deeper into debt. she will fight for all those americans who know what it's like to skip meals to pay for gasoline and who watched food prices spike ever higher and wonder how in the world they will make it through the grocery

store checkout line. i want her to stand up for the children who are receiving substandard educations. and for the veterans who are feeding their families in soup kitchens. and for the 1.1 million american children whose parents served in afghanistan and iraq, and who silently struggle with ptsd and traumatic brain injury. i want her to represent the mothers who struggle to protect their children from bad chemicals, bad pharmaceuticals, and bad food. [applause] as vice president, she will stand between them and the big ag, big pharma, and the processed food industry, the

government regulators who are colluding to poison our kids for profit. as vice president, she is going to stand with me against the military-industrial complex. [applause] and the neocon interventionists and all of their forever wars. in 1932 franklin roosevelt had my grandfather run his new social securities exchange commission. my grandfather had in a stock manipulator on wall street. fdr wanted a chairman who understood the stock market inside and out as the only person who could reform it. in a similar vein, nicole will stand up to silicon valley,

which she knows inside and out. [applause] she will stand up to wall street, the big banks, the larcenous, k street lobbyists, the regulatory czars, the money printers, the crony capitalists, and all of the other people who have turned our country from a democracy into a corporate kleptocracy. these are the people -- [applause] they drive our corrupt campaign-finance system that is no more than legalized bribery. this system has put agency capture on steroids and made our

government regulators sock puppets for the industries that they are supposed to regulate. the corrupt merger of state and corporate power now straddles our nations capital like a mythical harpy, sucking the economic, social, and moral vitality out of the nation's free citizens. gorging itself on the bleaching bones of the american middle class. nicole is going to help me free our country from that predatory cabal. [applause] our independent run for the presidency is finally going to bring down the democratic and republican duopoly. that gave us this ruinous debt,

chronic disease, enlist wars, lockdowns, mandates, agency capture, and the same trump-biden unit -- uniparty that has turned it over to blackrock and vanguard and the other corporate donors. nicole shanahan will help me rally support for our revolution against the uniparty rule from the right and left political spectrum. let me tell you what nicole and i are up against. and what we need to do to win and how we are going to do it. the new york times this week published an article estimating that the democratic party warchest will ultimately be 1.1 billion today already. the largest in history of any political party.

within a few months it will be $3 billion and the democratic party is not going to use that warchest to amplify president biden's voice. they are using it to stop opponents from getting on the ballot and turn americans against each other, and inundate us with fear. incidentally, the republican party raise about the same amount. does anybody here think that these big-money donors who are giving all that money are acting out of a patriotic impulse? do you think they are acting out of a humanitarian impulse? no, of course they're not. for them, this is an investment. they expect a return on that investment. they expect a very, very big return. the campaign-finance system has transformed our government from

a model democracy into a corporate laptop to her -- a corporate kleptocracy. we are against the most powerful campaign interest in history and the determination to keep us off the ballot, by fair means or foul. they have little faith in their candidates to win the old-fashioned way at the voting booth. we are going to overcome these financial legal challenges. i want to talk about another obstacle that's even more important. the obstacle of cynicism. the obstacle of fear. it is the deeply ingrained habit of voting for someone you have little passion for because he is the lesser of two evils because you are so afraid that the other guy will win. well, don't you want to vote for

someone this time? [applause] and not just against someone? don't you want to vote for a candidate and a country that you can be proud of? i know you do, because 70% of americans say they don't want to have to choose between president trump and president biden. they don't want to choose between the lesser of two evils again. they especially don't want to choose between the two men who brought us the $34 trillion debt, the endless wars, the censorship, a corrupt merger of state and corporate power. they have taken turns in office

and all of these problems have gotten worse. that is why those same polls show that my approval ratings are far above those of president trump and president biden. both the democrats and republicans are looking at those poll results and devising ways to keep me off the ballot. they don't want to give you the choice. when i was a kid, the democratic party was fighting -- it's primary fight was to make sure that every american had the right to vote and none of us were disenfranchised. today's democratic party is doing the opposite. it is working to disenfranchise any americans who they don't think will vote for their agenda. the principal technique is to call me a spoiler and instill

fear in americans that voting for me will get some other terrifying candidate elected. our campaign is a spoiler. i agree with that. [applause] it is a spoiler for president biden and for president trump. [applause] it is a spoiler for the war machine. [applause] it is a spoiler for wall street and big ag, big tech, big telecom, big pharma, and the corporate-owned media, and all the corrupt politicians and corporations. that is why they are trying to keep me off the ballot and frighten you into choosing between the two tired and

unpopular heads of the uniparty. millions of americans are not going to vote at all if they are not given another choice. they are simply withdrawing from american democracy. nicole and i are going to give those millions another choice. the democrats and republicans are trying to divide america. they tell us to hate each other, to mistrust you just there, to accuse each other of treason, to warn us against in apocalyptic will terms that democracy is doomed if the other side wins. they turn families against each other. they turned neighbors and friends against each other. they are trying to divide america. nicole and i will unite it.

that is our path to victory. [applause] that is how we are going to win. that is how we are going to forge unstoppable coalition of homeless democrats and homeless republicans who are ready to look at the universal values that unite us all and that every conscientious american wants the same way nicole wants it and i want it. all of those things that i described. love our children. good food. good soil. moral authority around the world. an incorruptible government. in all those things we want. if we could only persuade enough americans to vote out of hope rather than of fear we are going

to be in the white house in november. [applause] we have all had the advantage of seeing what president trump and president biden can do for our country. do any of you want more of the same? if you want more of the same you should vote out of fear. if you want genuine change, you need to take a risk and join team kennedy. [applause] join the new american revolution. what that means is to vote from your conscience. vote from your heart. vote out of idealism. vote out of optimism for this

country. refuse, above all, to vote from fear. you know, in 1776 there was a generation of americans who believed that democracy, something that didn't exist anywhere else in the world, something so improbable and implausible and impossible. most people thought it was a joke. they took a risk. not a little risk. not the little risk that you're taking today by going through a voting booth. they risked their lives, and many of them lost it. they risked their properties. they risked their reputations. they gave us the democracy we have today, the model democracy for the whole world. if you vote out of fear on this election, you are dishonoring that generation of americans and

the hundreds of thousands of americans who gave their lives of the civil war, world war ii, world war i, and all of the other times that people went and risked their lives to defend our country. if nicole and i can get americans to refuse to vote from fear, we are going to be in the white house in november. [applause] nicole and i are running to heal the symptoms of an ailing america. to heal our divisions. to heal our economy. to heal our mental health, our spiritual and physical health. but we can't do it alone. we need you. now, i have a governing partner who will fight for you and for your family until the last corporate kickback from our

government, the last toxin is cleared from our water and our soil. [applause] until the last american child gets to live a healthy life and pursue their own happiness in the land of the free. until the last censor is gone from our government. i'm confident that there is no american more qualified than nicole shanahan to play this role. i am proud to introduce to all of you, the next vice president of the united states of america, nicole shanahan. thank you very, very much. [applause] ♪

mrs. shanahan: hi, everybody. thank you so much for being here today. it is so good to be here in oakland. this city will always have a special place in my heart. i grew up two miles from this very spot. my mother, who is standing right there with her phone up, she immigrated here from gong show, china. and my late father was an irish-german-american. i wanted to tell you a little about my childhood. so that you can understand the

source of my politics and conviction. my mother's first job when she came to the united states in 1983 was as a live-in caretaker to an elderly woman here at lake merritt. by the time that i was born she worked as a dental office secretary. my father loved my brother and i dearly, but he was very troubled , plagued by substance abuse and he struggled to keep a job. from watching my father and his struggles, i learned not to be judgmental. he was doing the best he could. i think of him when i see the statistics of the millions of americans who are addicted, depressed, or suffering. this is one of the epidemics of our time. it affects nearly every american family. i wish my experience was

unusual. but it's not. it has become part of my determination to do something for our country. every time my dad lost his job our family just couldn't cover expenses. food, gas, clothing, upkeep. it adds up more in that situation. i know a lot of americans know exactly what that's like. to just be one misfortune away from disaster. i think -- i don't think we would have made it without food stamps and government help. my mom worked hard. that it wouldn't have been possible to keep it together without that -- but it wouldn't have been possible to keep it together without that help. as you know i became wealthy

later on in life, but my roots in oakland taught me many things i've never forgotten. that the purpose of wealth is to help those in need. that's what it's for. i want to bring back -- i want to bring that back to politics. that is the purpose of privilege. i went to st. mary's high school, just a few miles from here. in my junior year -- we have some st. mary's panthers here. in my junior year, i had another formative experience. that set me up for this lifetime of political consciousness. i applied for a program to live with families in el salvador. praying with these families and helping them rebuild after the civil war there, i learned what war really is.

i learned how it rips life apart. it brutalize his children. how it visits unspeakable horror on the innocent. i also learned the resilience of the human spirit and its infinite capacity to heal. to forgive and restore. el salvador is where i came to understand war, but more importantly it is where i also came to understand peace. that is what inspired me to take my first political action in high school. at the onset of the iraq war i became an iraq war activist. if i am being honest, i didn't really know how to do it. i printed pamphlets and i led a walkout. we went to our local radio station. i knew in my bones then that violence begets more violence. i had seen what that does to

society and i didn't want my country, the country i love so dearly, to be doing that in the world. [applause] so, these are two of my political convictions i hold today. to serve peace and help those in poverty. [applause] so, you can understand why i gravitated to the democratic party. because that was supposed to be the party of peace, the party of compassion. many democrats, we still believe in those ideals. unfortunately, as an institution it has lost its way. there is only one antiwar

candidate today, and you won't find him in the democratic party or republican party. he is an independent, robert f. kennedy, jr.. [applause] yes. yes. it is his commitment to the peace and welfare of the hard-working people of america that drew me as a person of compassion to his candidacy. yes. [applause] as recently as a year ago i really didn't think much of bobby kennedy because i didn't know much about him. all i had was the mainstream media narrative that was effectively telling me horrible discouraging things. then a friend who is here today pulled me aside and said, nicole, please, do me a favor. just listen to an interview with bobby kennedy just wants.

so, i did. i did. then i listened to another one, and another one, and i recognized the person i was seeing in these interviews was the opposite of the media slander of his character. i saw a person of intelligence, of compassion, and of reason. i saw a fellow lawyer who committed himself to finding the truth and fighting for the environment and people. i discovered a person who speaks out on issues that even though they are critically important to human health and welfare are consistently ignored by our government. for the first time in a long time i felt hope for our democracy again. we can do this. [applause] it is possible. one of those issues also happens to be a passion of mine and

focus of my philanthropic work. chronic disease. i got into it through my own journey of reproductive health followed by a steep learning curve caring for my daughter who has an autism diagnosis. in that journey i discovered that women's fertility is in precipitous decline around the world. we are facing a crisis in reproductive health that is embedded in a larger epidemic of chronic disease. because it has been so personal for me and my daughter, i got deep into the research and consulted some of the best scientists and doctors. let me tell you what i found. there are three main causes. one is a toxic substances in our environment, like andrew can disrupting chemicals in our food, water, and soil.

like the pesticide residues, the micro plastics, the psa's, the food additives, the forever chemicals that have contaminated nearly every human cell. it makes you angry to hear this. it makes me angry to say this because we shouldn't be here right now. second is electromagnetic pollution. you don't hear politicians talking much about that either, but it is something we need to look at. as bobby says, we need to investigate every possible cause of chronic disease epidemic that is devouring our nation from the inside. third, i'm sorry to say, is our medication. pharmaceutical medicine has its place, but no single safety study can assess the cumulative impact of one prescription on top of another prescription and one-shot on top of another shot on top of another shot

throughout the course of childhood. we just don't do that study right now and we ought to. we can and we will. conditions like autism used to be one in 10,000. now here in the state of california it is one in 22. one in 22 children affected. allergies, obesity, anxiety, depression, our children are not well. our people are not well. our country will not be well for very much longer if we don't heed this desperate call for attention. i have spoken to our government agencies. trust me, i've tried. i've spoken to senators.

i've spoken to governors. they all know something is wrong, but none of them take any action. there is only one candidate i have met for president who takes the chronic disease epidemic seriously. it is robert f. kennedy, jr. and i will be his ally in making our nation healthy again. yes. it is not about a new pill or "finding the cure." we know the cure is cleaning up our environment and providing the basic public goods that are the foundation for public health and healing. it is about a shift in our priorities. it is about compassion. chronic disease, addiction, depression, poverty. this is where americans are hurting the most. it is time for politicians to listen. [applause]

so, here is how the kennedy-shanahan ticket will end the epidemic. while bobby is focusing on the capture of our agencies, i will assemble the best technologists and scientists in the world and we will use the latest in ai and computation to examine the health records databases of our nation and those other nations who are also on a quest to solve chronic disease. we will find the answers. we will find the answers. to our most pressing health concerns within weeks, not decades. we can if we have access to those databases. it is time to move out of the dark ages of medicine. we can solve the mysteries

guarded by corporate influence. we can move from band-aid solutions and we can end this chronic disease epidemic once and for all. i believe it. [applause] you know, my son is most american moms and dads know the truth of the matter and it is long overdue that the duty of care owed to the american family is actually given. we can find the answers conclusively. i have a background in tech. i tend to think in terms of data. in my tech days, i developed ai-powered software to automate affordable legal services. well, guess what. the cdc and research

institutions have the data we need. we can apply technology to figure out environmental factors. we can figure out what is making us sick. we just have to ask the right questions, do the right research, and apply the right tools. we have to rid science of the corporate bias that contaminates it today. then we put this thing into reverse. so, actually the first issue that i applied my tech background to what criminal justice. it was across the bay in san francisco where the district attorney's office needed help examining thousands of police records not to contain evidence of racial bias, wrongful arrest, and patterns of prejudice. i put together a team of computer scientists to develop a computational method to collate

these records and design a method for analysis. what i really learned through this was the sorry state of criminal justice in our country. it isn't just about policing. it is about the school to prison pipeline. it is about a broken and dismally functioning infrastructure. it is about recidivism that we have not taken the right approach to. how do we make our systems a system of rehabilitation and not punishment? these questions don't have easy answers. i know this is hard. very hard, but they are the right questions to be asked. there is only one candidate asking them, and it is bobby kennedy. [applause] i am going to mention one more issue close to my heart.

this has to do with climate. my interest in health and solving climate issues has led me to the realm of agriculture. i realize that a nation's health comes down to its soil and the people who work it. healthy soil is the foundation of healthy food, it is the foundation of a healthy ecosystem, and it is our answer to the climate crisis. [applause] it is the foundation of healthy economy. but what politician besides bobby kennedy do you ever hear talking about soil? none. we have some common ground people here. thank you for coming out. i have talked to congresspeople and senators but all i've gotten

our vague promises that never amount to real change. republicans and democrats alike have fallen under the sway of big agrochemical companies and food conglomerates. they might invoke the ideal of the family farm but they have betrayed it again and again. i am entering myself -- i am not a politician until just now, but i'm entering myself to do this work and a highlight this need because i have met some of most innovative american farmers. their method to rebuild soil, sequester carbon, recharge aquifers to revitalize the economy. [applause] you know what? we do not have to force anyone to do anything or to imitate them. all we have to do is change their our system of regulation and subsidy to support those

methods. we can no longer support extractive corporate agriculture. hope you understand what has brought me into politics and at this moment i am leaving the democratic party. [applause] i want to say two things about that. first, even though i am leaving the party, i believe i am taking the best ideals and impulses with me. [applause] the democratic party is supposed to be the party of compassion. it is supposed to be the party

of diplomacy and science. it is supposed to be the party of civil liberties and free speech and most important a the party of the middle class and the american dream. while i know many democrats still abide by those values i want to point out that i do believe they have lost their way in their leadership. i worry for the party's overwhelming interest in elitism, celebrity, and winning at all costs. i believe they do it even if that means turning a blind eye on the issues they all know to be true. i know this because i have been in those circles for the last eight years and i've grown increasingly tired of it. [applause]

it was not until i met bobby and the people supporting him i felt any hope in the outcome of this election. as i re-examine my democratic party assumptions, i have seen conservative voters with new eyes, too. i've met farmers and hunters who are some of the most staunch conservationists i have ever met. who understand ecosystems better than most. i have met mothers protecting their children who are searching every possible avenue for their help. the republican party, like the democratic, is letting them down because the actions of the party are diverting from the values who support individual freedom. [applause] in fact, the very failure of

both parties to do their job to protect their founding values has contributed to the decline of this country in my lifetime. maybe that is why i see so many republicans disillusioned with their party as i become disillusioned with mine. if you are one of those disillusioned republicans i welcome you to join me, a disillusioned democrat come in this movement to unify and heal america. [applause] this independent movement comes at a time of extreme division in america that threatens to tear this country apart. let's fix it. it is time for a realignment. it is time to focus on our unifying values rather than our divisions. if there is anyone listening who

never considered an independent ticket, i want to extend the same invitation to you that my friend did to me last year. please listen to bobby kennedy in his own words. take a look at his vision for america. it is a vision that i share, too , as i spent the next seven months of my life getting him on each and every ballot in this country. [applause] we are going to do at. we are going to do it. the vision we share is a vision of national healing. it is in america that leads the world not through force of arms but through the power of example. it is america that wages peace

through diplomacy and in america that had become the biggest industrialized country on earth and turned it around. we will turn it around. it is an america where everyone who works hard can afford a decent life. it is an america where people of all races receive fair and equal treatment under the law. it is an america whose freedoms are the envy of the world. it is an america where the honest and transparent government institutions. can you imagine a country whose government does not lie to you? [applause] people talk about my age. it is true. i will be the youngest vice

president in american history. [applause] let me tell you why so many of us young people have turned away from politics. it is because we lost hope that change would ever from inside the system. which party wins with promises of hope or change or to drain the swamp, things proceed as usual, declining bit by bit each passing year. that is the reason. the other reason is we cannot stand the phoniness anymore. we cannot stand the lies. we cannot stand the inauthenticity. that is why bobby kennedy leads in all of the polls among young

people. we are hearing our voice in his. [applause] i come to you today as a former democrat, i come to you as a woman not quite 40. i come to you as someone who has experienced sickness and health and poverty and wealth. finally i come to you as a mother. [applause] most of the philanthropists i work with are women, other mothers. initially i was a mother who is here -- initially it was a mother who is here today who reached out to inspire support in this campaign. i never in a million years thought i would be up here running for vice president. [applause]

no. what i am doing is joining the millions of mothers who support this candidacy. [applause] they are republicans and democrats and independents. they read the labels at the supermarket to keep their kids healthy. they watch in anguish when their children suffer from chronic disease. they cry silently as their teenagers deal with depression, anxiety, and addiction. they do their best to hold it together and they do because they are strong.

as a mother myself who knows the first 10 challenges of raising a child with special needs, i promised you to make this world a little less crazy. i will work with bobby kennedy to make america once again a country of peace, country of compassion, a country that is prosperous and free. this will not happen overnight but i have seen miracles that the human spirit can accomplish and have seen this resilience, and i have seen capacity to heal. what is possible for the human being is also possible for our nation. please, join me and robert f kennedy, jr. in the healing of america.

we've got this. we are going to do this. [applause] ♪

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