John Edwards Addresses DNC Meeting

(APPLAUSE)

And half a world away -- today, half a world away, a 5-year-old boy will lay in a refugee camp with his 2-year-old sister on top of him, his arms wrapped around, holding his sister close. They both watched their parents killed and he knows that he has to keep her close. He knows that tomorrow and the next day and the next day he will carry his sister every single place he goes because she's all the family he has left.

It doesn't have to be that way. It doesn't have to be that way.

(APPLAUSE)

We're here today because today somewhere in America a father will come home from working the second shift. He'll go in to see his precious little girl, give her a kiss good-night, which is what he always does, and he'll feel the fever on her forehead.

EDWARDS: And he'll pick her up, although he's bone tired. He'll pick her up, put her in the car, drive to the local emergency room, and sit in the emergency room and beg for the health care that his daughter needs.

It doesn't have to be that way. It doesn't have to be that way.

(APPLAUSE)

That's why we're here, because today everywhere in America people need us to stand up for them, people need us to stand up for what's right.

And so I ask you now, will you stand up for that man in the emergency room who's holding his 8-year-old daughter? Will you stand up for him? Will you stand up with him?

(APPLAUSE)

Will you stand up with that young boy half a world away holding his 2-year-old sister on his chest?