What the candidate really thinks

1. “If I want to knock a story off the front page, I just change my hairstyle.”

Clinton exercises her wit in a subtle rebuke against the media’s focus on appearance when it comes to women in politics.

2. “It did take a Clinton to clean up after the first Bush, and I think it might take another one to clean up after the second Bush.”

After George W. Bush notably declared that he would finish the job that his father started, his administration plunged the U.S. into a war that has left the Middle East in turmoil.

3. “I think that you can disagree with people and debate over their positions with issues without engaging in the politics of personal destruction.”

Negative campaigning has had a long tradition in U.S. politics. Clinton herself launched an unsettling and fear inducing anti-McCain ad in 2008.

4. “The worst thing that can happen in a democracy – as well as in an individual’s life – is to become cynical about the future and lose hope.”

Although voter turnout is down to around 58% from its peak level in 1876, when 81.8% of the population voted, these turnout has remained steady in the mid 50s over the last few decades, indicated cynicism hasn’t completely eclipsed the democratic process.

5. “The difference between a politician and a statesman is that a politician thinks about the next election while the statesman thinks about the next generation.”

Clinton muses on the purpose of political power.

6. “I have a million ideas. The country can’t afford them all.”

In the balancing act between increasing taxes and expanding social services, Clinton is clearly pulling for the side of expanding social welfare benefits.

7. “We’re always going to argue about abortion. It’s a hard choice and it’s controversial, and that’s why I’m pro-choice, because I want people to make their own choices.”

About half of American women will have an unintended pregnancy, and nearly 3 in 10 will have an abortion, by age 45.

8. “Our democracy has been around far longer than European democracy.”

Clinton made this statement amidst audible groans in front of 500 people at the European Parliament. While European democracy traces its roots back to ancient Greece, it is possible she meant in terms of the modern Republic state.

9. “There are rich people everywhere, and yet they don’t contribute to the growth of their countries.”

Clinton responding to the the increasing discontent with the accumulation of wealth in the hands of the elite, that remains in hidden bank accounts without re-circulating in the economy.