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Joe Biden Calls on Americans to Unite in Democratic Presidential Nomination
Acceptance Speech

Ken Bredemeier

   Joe Biden, after nearly a half-century on the American political scene,
   Thursday night accepted the Democratic nomination to seek the U.S
   presidency in the November 3 election, telling Americans it was time to
   oust Republican President Donald Trump after one term in the White
   House.

   "United we can, and will, overcome this season of darkness in America,"
   Biden declared as the United States faces the unrelenting coronavirus
   pandemic and millions of workers have lost their jobs. "We will choose
   hope over fear, facts over fiction, fairness over privilege."

   In a nearly half-hour speech, Biden contended that Trump "takes no
   responsibility" for the spread of the infectious disease and "refuses
   to lead."

   "After all this time," Biden said, "this president still doesn't have a
   plan" to fight the pandemic. "He failed to protect America. And, my
   fellow Americans, that is unforgivable."

   Political conventions

   Biden's speech, from an event center in his hometown of Wilmington,
   Delaware, came on the fourth and final night of the virtual Democratic
   National Convention, a collection of taped and live presentations
   extolling Biden and assailing Trump's presidency.

   Trump and Republicans will have a rejoinder at their virtual four-day
   national convention starting Monday. But Trump, in a visit Thursday to
   Old Forge, Pennsylvania, near Biden's boyhood home of Scranton,
   forecast the coming Republican attacks.

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