Clement's speech resembled a standard Tennessee stump speech, with a strong evangelical, sermon-like tone. He derided the Republican Party as the "party of privilege and pillage," referred to Vice President Richard Nixon as the "vice hatchet man," and accused President Eisenhower of staring down the "green fairways of indifference" (a reference to Eisenhower's love of golf). He stated that Democrats would not "crucify the American farmer on a Republican cross of gold," recalling the Cross of Gold speech delivered by William Jennings Bryan at the party's 1896 convention. Clement's speech is often remembered for his repeated use of the phrase, "How long, America, O how long?"