Kerry's Speech

[reeds]

Y'all can say what you want, but Kerry NAILED that speech tonight...it was simply AWESOME...

[MavKikiNYC]

4 on a scale of 10.

Better than I thought he'd do.

[reeds]

“Saying there are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq doesn’t make it so,” Kerry said. “Saying we can fight a war on the cheap doesn’t make it so. And proclaiming ‘mission accomplished’ certainly doesn’t make it so.”

"Kerry urged Americans to recall the Clinton years, when “we balanced the budget, we paid down the debt, we created 23 million new jobs, we lifted millions out of poverty and we lifted the standard of living for the middle class.”

[reeds]

4 on a scale of 10.

4?? Please..even the blind right can see that was at least a 7

[mavsman55]

...and Dennis Kucinich completely evened out any positive impact that Kerry may have had. No questions asked.

[reeds]

I admit Dennis wasnt too good, but that is long forgotten

[Chiwas]

Key points of Kerry's speech

Thursday, July 29, 2004 Posted: 11:14 PM EDT (0314 GMT)

BOSTON, Massachusetts (CNN) -- In his acceptance speech Thursday night to the Democratic National Convention, Sen. John Kerry talked about what he would do if elected president. Here are the highlights.

Presidential goals
"Make America stronger and respected in the world."
"Restore trust and credibility to the White House."

War in Iraq
Bring in more allies to share burden.

Foreign policy
"Never hesitate to use force when it is required."
Meet any attack "with a swift and certain response."
"Never give any nation or international institution a veto over our national security."
Lead global effort against nuclear proliferation.

Military policy
Add 40,000 active duty troops.
Double special forces to conduct anti-terrorist operations.
End "backdoor draft of National Guard and reservists."
Go to war only "because we have to."
Never fight "a war without a plan to win the peace."

National security
Immediately implement 9/11 commission recommendations.
Inspect container ships coming into ports.
Better protect nuclear and chemical plants.

Economic plan
New incentives to "revitalize manufacturing."
Invest in technology and innovation to create "good-paying jobs."
Close tax loopholes that "reward companies for shipping our jobs overseas."
Reward companies that "create and keep good-paying jobs" at home.
"Fair playing field" for American workers to compete in global economy.

Tax policies
"I will not privatize Social Security. I will not cut benefits."
Cut the deficit in half in four years by ending "tax giveaways that are nothing more than corporate welfare."
Cut taxes for middle class.
Reduce tax burden on small businesses.
Roll back tax cuts for individuals making more than $200,000 a year.
Make government "pay as you go."

Education
Demand accountability from parents, teachers and schools.
Reduce class size.
Create tax credit to families for every year of college.

Health care
Health care "a right for all Americans."
Make system more efficient to save families up to $1,000 a year on premiums.
Ensure that system allows patients to pick their own doctors.
Allow patients and doctors to make decisions, not insurance companies.
Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices for seniors.
Allow Americans to buy less expensive drugs from countries like Canada.

Energy policy
Invest in new technologies and alternative fuels.
Invest in cars of the future.

Campaign goals
Take the high road.
"Be optimists, not just opponents."
"Build unity in the American family, not angry division."
"Make this election a contest of big ideas, not small-minded attacks."

[FishForLunch]

“Saying there are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq doesn’t make it so,” Kerry said. “Saying we can fight a war on the cheap doesn’t make it so. And proclaiming ‘mission accomplished’ certainly doesn’t make it so.”

So why did he vote for the Iraq war resolution, I guess he was mislead too, or was it politically favorable at that time to vote for it regardless what he really thought. Such a wuss should never be the Commander in chief.

If we cannot fight the war on the cheap why did he vote against funding it?

Yes the mission of getting rid of Saddam was accomplished. I guess only the he can stabilze a country that went through a war in 6 months.


Why did he not say anything about calling his fellow veterans war criminals. Why did he re-record the ambush scenes with a 8mm Camera in Vietnam? What a phony.

He did not say anything when his surrogates called Bush Hitler, dumb as a door knob, liar, war criminal. Now he wants Bush to only focus on positives and not bring up the past like his 18 year voting record.

[diroffers]

He put on a great show - Michael Moore would be proud. I love all of the idealistic promises... every four years, I get caught up in the dream of political promises of a better America. If candidates could actually deliver on what they promise, the world would be a better place indeed. Everyone goes into that office with the best intentions and then realizes there are forces beyond their control that affect the ability to carry out... promises. To get to the truth about Kerry, you have to look at his voting record, look at his life, think about how he treated those who served their country in Vietnam. Anyone can make promises, but with me, actions speak louder than words.

[diroffers]

a response to "Presidential goals:"

"Make America stronger and respected in the world." -
We are the last Superpower. People around the world seem to respect that, or else they wouldn't be asking for our help all the time.

"Restore trust and credibility to the White House." -
...because getting serviced by your interns is the most respectable way for a president to act...

War in Iraq - Bring in more allies to share burden. -
Were ARE the U.N. We fund it, we supply the troops. Everyone else gets to tell us what to do. Our real allies are already there.

Foreign policy
"Never hesitate to use force when it is required." - for example, when Osama sends his men to attack the USS Cole...
Meet any attack "with a swift and certain response." - for example, after the first two World Trade Center attacks...
"Never give any nation or international institution a veto over our national security." - Isn't that what we're doing now?
Lead global effort against nuclear proliferation. - According to Soviet, British, and even some Clinton-era intelligence, that's what Bush thought he was doing.

Military policy
Add 40,000 active duty troops. - Done.
Double special forces to conduct anti-terrorist operations. - Done.
Go to war only "because we have to." - Done.
Never fight "a war without a plan to win the peace." - Done.
End "backdoor draft of National Guard and reservists." - Yes, they should not be forced to serve their country. What were they thinking, making that oath??? They should all follow Kerry's example, turn around, and bite the hand that feeds them.

National security
Immediately implement 9/11 commission recommendations. - yes, because it's so easy to quicky implement any number of new procedures without any difficulties at all
Inspect container ships coming into ports. - it's being done in a reasonable manner.
Better protect nuclear and chemical plants. - security has been significantly increased and efforts are underway for continuous improvement. After all, new procedures take TIME to fully implement.

Economic plan
New incentives to "revitalize manufacturing." - factories will come up right next to the Heinz plants... all the ones overseas...
Invest in technology and innovation to create "good-paying jobs." - aka, make Bill Gates part of the White House Cabinet. Funding actually has been increased for technology and innovation, especially for the much-neglected space program. Does anyone even realize how much technology there is, even in our own homes, that exists because of experiments in space???
Close tax loopholes that "reward companies for shipping our jobs overseas." - I agree. President Clinton should have never opened up that door. I got a bigger one for you: change the tax code that essentially encourages companies to buy gas-guzzling SUVs, like the one Kerry's "family" owns. The environment is important, too. Why can't the DNC hear me???
Reward companies that "create and keep good-paying jobs" at home. - I agree (see above).
"Fair playing field" for American workers to compete in global economy. - perhaps it is more fair now than ever before, but don't think that I enjoy going back to college to change fields in my 30s.

Tax policies
"I will not privatize Social Security. I will not cut benefits." - he needs to do his homework. In fact, everybody really needs to take about 12 hours of college-level finance and then tell me what they think we should do.
Cut the deficit in half in four years by ending "tax giveaways that are nothing more than corporate welfare." - because the only welfare this country should have is for those who refuse to work or get an education. Anyway, I'm confused - do we want to encourage companies to keep jobs in the US, or push them out by making it too expensive to operate here?
Cut taxes for middle class. - actually, the middle class is to whom he refers when he speaks of all those rich folks getting tax breaks. I've done enough tax returns to know who really benefits. I put my refund out into the economy, didn't you?
Reduce tax burden on small businesses. - A lot of small businesses are incorporated (see above)...
Roll back tax cuts for individuals making more than $200,000 a year. - Let's make it fair for everyone - we should all pay a 50% tax rate. Some individuals, like doctors, may make that much, but their annual malpractice insurance can be even more than that thanks to attorneys like John Edward. With an aging and growing senior population, our real impending crisis in America is the already-beginning healthcare SHORTAGE.
Make government "pay as you go." - Forgive me while I laugh out loud. Is that the best he can come up with? It would almost be worth electing him just to see him try.

Education
Demand accountability from parents, teachers and schools. - which is what Conservatives have been continuously criticized for doing...
Reduce class size. - maybe with population control. Politicians have been working on improving education for decades. Only some REAL and significant changes are going to make a difference there, trust me.
Create tax credit to families for every year of college. - Wouldn't this be another benift to the "wealthy?" There are federal as well as some state tax credits already in existence, although Texas obviously does not have any since they do not have income taxes. A credit for every year of college? So if I take my time, live off of grants and non-restrictive scholarships, you're going to reward me over the person who works hard to get out in four years or less? See, promises can sound pretty, but EVERYTHING has its downside.

Health care
Health care "a right for all Americans." - and we all have the right to get a job or get and welfare and have healthcare.
Make system more efficient to save families up to $1,000 a year on premiums. - So many times, so many politicians... they've all wanted to fix the system, yet the payments have never really gone down in all the years of my existence...
Ensure that system allows patients to pick their own doctors. - patients can always choose their own doctors, even if it's off a list. That's how they keep insurance prices down - by having pre-negotiated biling rates with the physicians in their networks. Perhaps it is the doctors who should be willing to accept any insurance, not the other way around.
Allow patients and doctors to make decisions, not insurance companies. - unfortunately, we must all live by rules. Fortunatlely, we do have a choice to make our own decisions even though we may have to foot the bill.
An additional note: Sure, I hate the system, but if it's the price to pay for the best healthcare in the world, I'll take it. Sorry, but most socialized countries cannot offer what the US can due to the competitive environment that exists here. The only way Kerry's health care options are possible is if the government takes over. While we're at it, maybe they'll go back to controlling the airlines and phone companies, too. After all, we were all better off in those days. Can anyone remember how much it used to cost to fly before the government stepped out?
Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices for seniors. - any ruin the annual trip to Mexico? And this, coming from the man who doesn't want insurance companies to negotiate lower rates. Seriously, though, the new plans are trying to implement lower prices. The cost of medicine has to do with recovery of R&D expenses, which means that lowering the prices will prevent new ones from being discovered and some existing ones from being produced. It's a nice idea, but a better solution would be federal subsidization for seniors (or, if you must, "welfare").
Allow Americans to buy less expensive drugs from countries like Canada. - Does anyone know of one instance where that law's been enforced? I know of people all over the country who buy from there all the time.

Energy policy
Invest in new technologies and alternative fuels. - sounds familiar... someone presidential has mentioned that a number of times on the radio, perhaps even from a State of the Union speech... investments are occurring as we speak...
Invest in cars of the future. - because his 20 cars aren't enough??? The future is now, the technology is here. What kind of car did you choose to buy?

Campaign goals
Take the high road. - cliché
"Be optimists, not just opponents." - and the pot called the kettle black...
"Build unity in the American family, not angry division." - this coming from a party who imbeds into its platform and has emphasized since the 1960s how there is more than one America. How about promising to quit tearing America apart, to over-emphasizing our differences, to quit making certain groups feel that they are somehow disadvantaged, to quit making eople hate those who have it better - everyone should WANT to be better instead.
"Make this election a contest of big ideas, not small-minded attacks." - So let's forget about probing into Bushs' military records, his financial records, analyzing and criticizing every thing he has done in his entire life. There are no small attacks at the DNC. Only really big ones.

[diroffers]

I remember after 9/11/01, I wanted the people responsible to get caught. I remember that I never wanted this country to be a place where you have to be afraid to go to work or to live your life or to have children. We cried out and the president promised to fight ALL terror so that we could feel safe again. The war is being fought over there instead of here. People are dying, yes - it's horrible and ugly. They are decapitating Americans, blowing them up, hanging their corpses from bridges. If they couldn't do it over there, they would do it here. Terrorists came here to blow us up, to make corpses fly through the air as we watched in horror. There are suicide bombers out there killing even their own people and you cannot tell me that's not terrorism. They asked for their Jiyad and we decided to stop sitting around to wait for the next attack.

We already knew what Saddam had manufactured in the past and that he used the weapons on his own people. He was not complying with a peace treaty and the UN seemed unwilling to press the issue. Did you read the accounts of the weapons inspectors - how they were mistreated, secretive behavior, assisinations of Iraqi scientists, destruction of documents, the heavy restrictions placed on the inspectors?

If Saddam could get his hands on nuclear weapons, who do you think he would choose to use them on? I didn't want to take that gamble (like we did with 9/11). Clinton could have nabbed Osama years ago and knew he was behind several attacks against Americans (even on US soil - twice). I'm sure now Bill's wishing he didn't pass his chance to go after Bin Laden, but he didn't know 9/11 would happen.

Mission accomplished? Al-Queda was successfully driven out of Afghanistan. Iraq's Ba'athist government was toppled within 3 weeks. Bush never implied that ALL of his goals had been accomplished. Think about how we reverently commemorate D-Day as a great accomplishment in world history, but there were more than 50% casualties that day and the invasion had only begun - nevertheless, you cannot take anything away from the victory that was had that day - we landed in German-occupied Europe and drove back the Germans - mission accomplished. The war, however, was not nearly over.

Just something to think about - we still have troops in Germany, Japan, and Korea - and those wars have long been over. Bombing and running would be nice if it really were an option, but the best threat to terrorism is democracy, which is what we're trying to build out there. Think about how well communisim held up to democracy.

There were more than 18 months between the time that our country was attacked and Iraq was invaded. While we were busy courting the UN, there was more than enough time to get any WMDs out, and now they are popping up on the European black market. Funny how the media seems to ignore that, how they ignore the fact that WMDs have been repeatedly discovered in Iraq, but just not to the extent that we expected.

Moving on... did you know that economists have various models and scales that show how things work in the short-run and in the long-run? One thing that can boost the economy is government spending - it's how we got out of the Great Depression. Perhaps you don't remember the 70s, when things were pretty bad. It was the increased government spending that sparked the recovery of the 80s, and the extra capital available to companies led to a technological boom in the 90s - everyone was happy. Clinton didn't make it happen. If you study the models from the past 100 years, then a good economist would know that when things are good, government must spend less.

A significant portion - a great majority - of government income is from taxes on corporations. When business is good, taxes are paid, new jobs are created, and income goes up. Bill Clinton was in the right place at the right time and he had people in his Cabinet who were wise enough about economics to advise him to cut spending. Remember, more people working means more money in the economy and more money for the government. Once one cog in the wheel begins to weaken, it all comes crashing down, and Uncle Sam can no longer pay its bills. It's really easy to stay on a budget when you have money coming in.

Many of us got greedy during the internet explosion and may not have been wise with our investments. Mistake one. A fundamental theory in economics is that there are limited resources, yet we have unlimited wants. Unlimited wants caused people to rack up debt even though times were good because we took for granted we could pay them off - mistake two. The internet boom went bust plus there were corporate scandals, and the lines in the models shifted. Can a president be blamed? No. It's just how the ball bounces. I don't think Clinton can take credit for making the economy great nor should Bush take credit for record home ownership. No one is to blame for the jobs that were created and then lost - things have a way of leveling off after a time of prosperity and a decline is inevitable.

Have you heard that Kerry wants to significantly raise the minimum wage? This would be great in the short-run, providing a nice boost, but will be an economic disaster within years, resulting in inflation, loss of jobs, and more - now is not the right time. Perhaps a small increase, but we are already looking at companies leaving this country or outsourcing because it's too expensive to operate here. Making it more expensive is only going to hurt us all. I had to work hard to pull myself out of the lower income bracket. I've gone back to college to keep from going there again.

Let it be known that whenver I criticize a politician on either side of the fence, I try to do it within the context of his words and actions. You should see the letters I've sent to the president and my representatives. I try to learn as much as I can and make an informed decision (my abilitiy to write so much should attest to that). People don't have to agree with my opinions, but they should strive to formulate them utilizing as much information as possible. John Kerry has some great ideas, and might be the perfect man if our country were in a different situation. I personally believe that having him in office next year would cause more bad than good because of the status quo. Besides, I'm sure that Hillary will take over in 2008 and show us all how the country really should be run - a woman's way. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

[jacktruth]

It was a good speech, and well delivered. He showed why they nominated him. I was impressed.

In fact, I may even vote for him.




AHHHH!! haaaa HAAAAA haaaa HAAAAA haaaa!!!!!!!!!!

[Drbio]

I think a 4 was pretty generous. All he said was the same cliche' filled crap that we knew he was going to say. There was nothing surprising about it, even though he stated the day before that everyone would be surprised by his speech.

Total checklist speech written by a junior speech-writer.

[reeds]

"So why did he vote for the Iraq war resolution, I guess he was mislead too, or was it politically favorable at that time to vote for it regardless what he really thought. Such a wuss should never be the Commander in chief."

He himself admited to that..its no secret. If a man is misled, can he then change his mind?? He is Man enough to change his mind- unlike bush the door knob. Had Bush changed his mind- we could have saved 1000 lives along with Billions of dollars..not that you would care about any of that...as long as Bush kept his word- that is all that matters...

[reeds]

" think a 4 was pretty generous. All he said was the same cliche' filled crap that we knew he was going to say. There was nothing surprising about it, even though he stated the day before that everyone would be surprised by his speech.

Total checklist speech written by a junior speech-writer. "


Dribio- that is a typical reply by a die-hard republican. When Bush delivers his speech, you will say it was the greatest thing since sliced bread, and you will know damn well it wasnt...its typical Kerry hating- what this room is great at...The country is very lucky Texas isnt any bigger- period

[Drbio]

Apparently, many liberal media outlets agree. CNN is commenting right now (go turn it on, but ask mommy first reeds) how "cookie-cutter" and "predictable" the speech was. One CNN (the dude on the left in the blue) commentator stated that although the speech covered many topics, that Kerry didn't deliver it well and that it was clear he didn't have passion for the content. That's pretty damning from a uberliberal media outlet like CNN. kerry's speech was ok content wise, but it clearly was not his. It was junior staff writer quality and poorly sold by the man. It's pretty typical liberal rose colored glasses wearing you are performing here reeds. Kerrys speech was grossly predictable. He promised a bang and delivered a thud.

It is exactly what everyone expected him to do. I just want to hear the guy say one thing that anyone can believe is an original thought.

[Drbio]

BTW, if this country had more Texas it would be a better place.

[Mavdog]

here are some editorial comments on the speech from papers that neo-cons can't call "liberal". no panning here...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dallas Morning News:
Kerry's Moment: Strong speech launches Democratic ticket
All in all, it was an impressive performance and one that should serve Mr. Kerry well in his quest for the White House.

Chicago Tribune
So perhaps Kerry was the beneficiary of low expectations when he gave a safe, occasionally inspired, acceptance speech Thursday night at the Democratic National Convention.

Houston Chronicle
If Sen. John F. Kerry did not have to give the speech of his life Thursday night, he did have to offer an appealing alternative to President Bush. A thin majority of Americans might prefer "Anybody but Bush," but that is not the name of the Democratic presidential nominee.
Whatever shortcomings Kerry's well-crafted speech might have had, it contained no shortage of promises.

[Dooby]

I thought it was a little hurried. I thought he talked over the applause lines and changed his voice to place emphasis on the wrong lines. I think his problem last night was there was a major rewrite or a continuous rewrite during the convention. That is hard to do and is only learned with experience. That and I felt the speach was a little generic. I don't think anyone left with any one line resonating in their minds. But then I don't remember a damn thing about Bush's 2000 speach. I give it a solid B, but I am tempted to take points off for the "Reporting for duty" bit.

I watched it on ABC. Apparently on the cable news networks they showed the introductory video, which I heard was great. I thought Cleland was great. One thing some critics say is that Kerry is a better resume than a candidate; he does better when others speak for him. There may be some truth to that.

[mavsman55]

The country is very lucky Texas isnt any bigger- period

Wrong forum, pal.

[jacktruth]

I had forgotten about this, but did you all notice how bad he was sweating?

[Drbio]

When one has a weakness exposed he sweats. Kerrys weakness is confidence. Well...that and the inability to construct an original thought.

[mavsman]

Originally posted by: diroffers

War in Iraq - Bring in more allies to share burden. -
Were ARE the U.N. We fund it, we supply the troops. Everyone else gets to tell us what to do. Our real allies are already there.

You really believe what you are writing there? Go here and have a look at how much the US are funding the U.N.

[dude1394]

Mavsman...what exactly are you trying to tell me here? It looks like how much the US OWES the UN, not how much of the un's funding comes from the us???

[reeds]

"When one has a weakness exposed he sweats. Kerrys weakness is confidence. Well...that and the inability to construct an original thought. "


Bullcrap. The man has 3 purple hearts, a silver and bronze star....lets talk about weakness shall we???hahaha..no need to even give details..u all know already

[FishForLunch]

Chasing an unharmed VietCong and shooting him down get you a silver star? Getting treated with a band Aid get you a purple heart? So Lt Kerry served 4 months in Vietnam, well Bush has 4 years experience being Commander in Chief.

[MavKikiNYC]

All Things to All People
By DAVID BROOKS

Published: July 31, 2004


BOSTON — There were so many military men at the Democratic convention I almost expected John Kerry to mount the stage in full body armor and recite the war speech from "Henry V." As it is, he called for bulking up the military, doubling the size of the Special Forces and crushing the terrorists. He hit Bush from the right, and when he got around to bashing the Saudis, I thought I'd wandered into a big meeting of The Weekly Standard editorial board.

Not only that, Kerry's speech followed an all-hawk medley. Gen. John Shalikashvili called for appreciably increasing the size of the Army. Joe Lieberman called for muscular and idealistic internationalism. Joe Biden said we must "win the death struggle between freedom and radical fundamentalism." Gen. Wesley Clark said we're in "a life or death struggle" against terrorists seeking nuclear weapons.

John Edwards gave a speech that eschewed talk about Halliburton, W.M.D., misleading the country into war - the entire liberal catechism. Instead he talked about defeating "every enemy in this new world" and confronting Syria and Iran so they don't interfere with the emergence of a democratic Iraq. {Kikitorial Note: Kerry/Edwards perceives a threat from Iran? I heard, on good information on a chat message board, that Iran wasn't a threat.}

Around the arena I spotted some of the people most often talked about as senior officials in a Kerry administration: Richard Holbrooke, Biden, Rand Beers and Dick Gephardt. On the international economy side: Roger Altman, Steve Rattner, John Spratt. On Thursday night I saw Mr. Sober and Serious himself, Robert Rubin, sitting next to Teresa. These are tough centrists from the Washington-Wall Street axis who would be heroes in any crisis.

And so I dared to dream. Maybe the Democratic Party is going to recapture the security policy credibility it had during the Truman and Kennedy years. Maybe this display of McCainiac muscular moderation is not just a costume drama, but the real deal. Maybe hope is really on the way!

I should never have gone back and read the speech again. I should never have gone back on Friday morning, in the unforgiving light of day, and re-examined the words Kerry had so forcefully uttered the night before.

What an incoherent disaster. When you actually read for content, you see that the speech skirts almost every tough issue and comes out on both sides of every major concern. The Iraq section is shamefully evasive. He can't even bring himself to use the word "democratic" or to contemplate any future for Iraq, democratic or otherwise. He can't bring himself to say whether the war was a mistake or to lay out even the most meager plan for moving forward. For every gesture in the direction of greater defense spending, there are opposing hints about reducing our commitments and bringing the troops home.

He proves in the speech that he can pronounce the word "alliances," and alliances are important, but alliances for what? You can't base an entire foreign policy on process.

Then I remembered that, of course, the Great Co-opter has to try gauzily to please everyone. He has to play to the 86 percent of the delegates (to the Democratic National Convention) who say the U.S. should have stayed out of Iraq, as well as the Clintonite foreign policy elites who supported the war. He has to play to the Sharptons as well as the Liebermans.

And it all brings back the memories of Kerry the senator. For though convention viewers may not be aware of it, Kerry has actually had a career since his four months in Vietnam - mostly in the Senate. It's not true that Kerry is a flaming lefty (he's a genuine budget hawk and he voted for welfare reform), but he was wrong about just about every major foreign policy judgment of the last two decades. He voted against the first gulf war, against many major weapons systems. He fought to reduce the defense budget. He opposed the deployment of intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Europe in the early 1980's. He supported the nuclear freeze. His decision to authorize war in Iraq but vote against financing the occupation is the least intellectually coherent position of all possible alternatives.

So now I'm disillusioned. What the Democratic Party is going through is not yet a genuine muscular centrist revival. As a friend joked, from the voters of Iowa to the delegates in Boston, there's been a vast left-wing conspiracy to present a candidate who looks like a muscular moderate, but they picked someone who is not in his heart of hearts a muscular moderate, or anything else.

[reeds]

"Chasing an unharmed VietCong and shooting him down get you a silver star? Getting treated with a band Aid get you a purple heart? So Lt Kerry served 4 months in Vietnam, well Bush has 4 years experience being Commander in Chief. "


Very true, and he has failed miserbly

[MavKikiNYC]

Originally posted by: reeds
"Chasing an unharmed VietCong and shooting him down get you a silver star? Getting treated with a band Aid get you a purple heart? So Lt Kerry served 4 months in Vietnam, well Bush has 4 years experience being Commander in Chief. "


Very true, and he has failed miserbly

Your stupidest comment to date.

[LRB]

Originally posted by: reeds
"Chasing an unharmed VietCong and shooting him down get you a silver star? Getting treated with a band Aid get you a purple heart? So Lt Kerry served 4 months in Vietnam, well Bush has 4 years experience being Commander in Chief. "


Very true, and he has failed miserbly

Reeds glad you agree that Kerry failed miserably. As for his Silver star that is a complete joke. I know a winner of the silver star. I knew him for almost 30 years before I even found out about it. He didn't brag. He got the Silver star in Korea, driving a ambulance. Taking critically injured soldiers to the rear to save their lives he found him self cut off by the Chinese. Rather than turn back to safety he crossed enemy lines not one but twice under heavy fire. The entire ambulance was riddled with holes and it was impossible to place your hand on the ambulance without encountering a bullet hole. Kerry's actions never came close to matching a true hero's. Unfortunately in Vietnam they often got medal happy, Kerry was the recepitant of that mentality IMO.

Now if Kerry could coherently show how he would get tough with Al Queda and the other terrorist organizations who are our enemies it might help his credibility some. However I've only heard him talk in large generalities that leave him plenty of leeway to jump on either side of the fense depending on which way the wind of public opinion is blowing. I've yet to see even an inkling of a backbone which would allow him to pursue through on a course without deviatiing at the first caprious whim of public opinion.

[MavKikiNYC]

Somehow, Ben Affleck seems like the perfect Hollywood mascot to endorse Kerry. Affleck is as flip-flopping and unsure of whether he wants to skank it up with J-Lo, as Kerry is on any of his policies.

He was complacent, arrogant and humourless. How they loved him
By Mark Steyn
(Filed: 01/08/2004)


It was interesting to see Ben Affleck emerge as the Hollywood mascot of the Democratic Convention. The week reminded me of Ben's movie Pearl Harbor: wall-to-wall evocative military imagery, a cast of thousands, superb production values, but a huge gaping hole where the star performance was supposed to be.

On TV the other night, young Mr Affleck offered a pearl of wisdom to Mr Kerry and his consultants: "You have to enervate the base," (Kikitorial note: Main Entry: [2]en·er·vate--1 : to reduce the mental or moral vigor of
2 : to lessen the vitality or strength of) the Hollywood heartthrob advised solemnly. If it's enervating the base you're after, John F Kerry would seem to be the perfect candidate. On Thursday, for his first big moment in the national spotlight, his only concession to the occasion was to speed up his delivery, in order to cram a 90-minute address into the hour of primetime the networks were prepared to give him. But otherwise it was classic Kerry: verbose, shapeless, platitudinous, complacent, ill-disciplined, arrogant, and humourless.

On the other hand, despite Ben Affleck's advice, the Boston crowd wasn't in the least bit enervated. They were deliriously happy. The Kerry campaign seems to be the political equivalent of what they call on Broadway a "snob hit": the longer it is, the more boring it is and the worse time you have at it, the more you feel it must be good for you. To his numbed, buttock-shifting listeners, the great sonorous self-regarding orotund bromidic banality of Senator Kerry and his multitude of nuances is proof of how much more serious he - and therefore they - are. This is a profoundly un-American attitude and, from the so far bounce-less post-convention polls, it doesn't seem to be resonating with "swing voters".

At one level, what's happening is very unfair. Three-quarters of Democratic voters opposed the Iraq war; 86 per cent of convention delegates opposed it. But they've wound up with a presidential ticket comprised of two Senators who both voted in favour of it. And, after being for-and-against the war for the last year according to political necessity, Kerry seems to have settled on a position of doing pretty much what Bush is doing while simultaneously spending more time on the blower to Kofi, Jacques and Gerhard. If I were a principled anti-war Democrat, I'd be furious.

But they're not. Because the real distinction is not between pro- and anti-war, but between September 11 Americans and September 10 Americans. The latter group is a coalition embracing not just the hardcore Bush haters - for whom, as the opening of Fahrenheit 9/11 makes plain, it all goes back to chads in Florida - but the larger group of voters who've been a little stressed out by the epic nature of politics these last three years and would like a quieter life. That's what John Kerry's offering them: a return to September 10.

He doesn't quite put it like that, of course. He talks about an America "strong" and "respected" and all the other poll-tested words, while the Democratic platform asserts that Republicans "do not understand that real leadership means standing by your principles and rallying others to join you".

Say what you like about Bush, but on Iraq he stood by his principles and rallied the British, Australians, Poles, Italians, etc, to join him. He also rallied Kerry and Edwards to join him. They voted for his war, as the columnist Debra Saunders of The San Francisco Chronical drolly pointed out: "Kerry and Edwards followed. Bush led."

Kerry now says that Bush "misled" him on Iraq. But, if he was that easily suckered by a renowned moron, how much more susceptible would he be to such wily operators as Chirac. They would speak French to each other, and Jacques would blow soothingly in his ear, and Kerry would look flattered, and there'd be lots of resolutions and joint declarations, and nothing would happen. We'd be fighting the war on terror through the self-admiring inertia of windbag multilateralism.

As for the home front, Kerry says: "As President, I will not evade or equivocate; I will immediately implement the recommendations of that [the 9/11] commission." Whoa, hold on there. There's a ton of recommendations, and some of us don't like the part about concentrating all US intelligence under one cabinet secretary who serves not at the President's pleasure but for a fixed term. That effectively institutionalises the groupthink resistance to alternative ideas that led to the 9/11 failures. Leadership is about hearing different viewpoints and reaching a judgment. But Kerry gives the impression that, as long as he enjoys the perks of the top job, he's happy to subcontract his judgment to others.

He moans endlessly about the "outsourcing" of American jobs but, when it comes to his own job, he's willing to outsource American foreign policy to the mushy transnational talk-shops and to outsource homeland security to some dubious intelligence tsar. There's no sense of any strategic vision, no sense that he's thought about Iran or North Korea or any of the other powder kegs about to blow. I tried to ask him about some of these matters during the New Hampshire primary and he intoned in response, "Sometimes truly courageous leadership means having the courage not to show any leadership." (I quote from memory.)

In another perilous time - 1918 - Lord Haig wrote of Lord Derby: "D is a very weak-minded fellow I am afraid and, like the feather pillow, bears the marks of the last person who has sat on him." It's subtler than that with Kerry: you don't have to sit on him; just the slightest political breeze, and his pillow billows in the appropriate direction. His default position is the conventional wisdom of the Massachusetts Left: on foreign policy, foreigners know best; on trade, the labour unions know best; on government, bureaucrats know best; on defence, graying ponytailed nuclear-freeze reflex anti-militarists know best; on the wine list, he knows best.

Sometimes these default positions have to be recalibrated to take account of various political pressures - hence his current kinky Vietnam macho nostalgia, after two decades of voting against every important weapons system for the US military. But there's no sense - other than the blurry abstract nouns he shoveled off the stage on Thursday - of what Kerry stands firm on.

Last year, I was at a Kerry campaign stop in New Hampshire chatting with two old coots in plaid. The Senator approached and stopped in front of us. The etiquette in primary season is that the candidate defers to the cranky Granite Stater's churlish indifference to status and initiates the conversation: "Hi, I'm John Kerry. Good to see ya. Cold enough for ya?" Etc. But Kerry just stood there nose to nose, staring at us with a semi-glare on his face. After an eternity, an aide stepped out from behind him and said, "The Senator needs you to move."

"Well, why couldn't he have said that?" muttered one of the old coots, as Kerry swept past us.

That's how I felt after the Convention: all week Senators Biden, Lieberman and Edwards made the case that the Democrats were credible on national security. Why couldn't Kerry have said that?

Because in the end he's running for President because he feels he ought to be President. That's his message to George W Bush: "The Senator needs you to move." And even then everyone else says it better.

[Hitman]

Originally posted by: Drbio
BTW, if this country had more Texas it would be a better place.

How does this country need more Texas, exactly?

I think we have plenty of it, to tell you the truth.

[Hitman]

Originally posted by: FishForLunch
Chasing an unharmed VietCong and shooting him down get you a silver star? Getting treated with a band Aid get you a purple heart? So Lt Kerry served 4 months in Vietnam, well Bush has 4 years experience being Commander in Chief.

And Bush has put himself in harms way how many times exactly?

[dude1394]

Sounds like he put himself in service of our country every time he went up in the F-102 fighter jet. This aerospace.web site describes what's really going on. I've cut out a few choice bits as the whole thing is quite long.

aerospace.org

We normally shy away from the world of politics, but we get variations of this kind of question regularly and feel it necessary to clarify some information. We'll do our best to avoid bringing our own political biases into this article. At the very least, we'll attempt to remain as neutral and objective as Michael Moore does in his ironically dubbed "documentary" Fahrenheit 9/11.

George W. Bush's military service began in 1968 when he enlisted in the Texas Air National Guard after graduating with a bachelor's degree in history from Yale University. The aircraft that he was ultimately trained to fly was the F-102 Delta Dagger. A number of sources have claimed that Bush sought service in the National Guard to avoid being sent to Vietnam, and that the F-102 was a safe choice because it was an obsolete aircraft that would never see any real combat. However, those perceptions turn out to be incorrect, as will be seen shortly.

It is a common misconception that the Air National Guard was a safe place for military duty during the Vietnam War. In actuality, pilots from the 147th Fighter Interceptor Group, as it was called at the time, were actually conducting combat missions in Vietnam at the very time Bush enlisted. In fact, F-102 squadrons had been stationed in South Vietnam since March 1962. It was during this time that the Kennedy administration began building up a large US military presence in the nation as a deterrent against North Vietnamese invasion.

[quote]
Even in peacetime conditions, F-102 pilots risked their lives on every flight. Only highly-qualified pilot candidates were accepted for Delta Dagger training because it was such a challenging aircraft to fly and left little room for mistakes. According to the Air Force Safety Center, the lifetime Class A accident rate for the F-102 was 13.69 mishaps per 100,000 flight hours, much higher than the average for today's combat aircraft. For example, the F-16 has an accident rate of 4.14, the S-3 is at 2.6, the F-15 at 2.47, the F-18 at 4.9, and the F-117 at 4.07. Even the AV-8B, regarded as the most dangerous aircraft in service today, has an accident rate of only 11.05 mishaps per 100,000 flight hours. The F-102 claimed the lives of many pilots, including a number stationed at Ellington during Bush's tenure. Of the 875 F-102A production models that entered service, 259 were lost in accidents that killed 70 Air Force and ANG pilots.[q/]

[MavKikiNYC]

Seasickness.

Can He Float Your Boat?
By MAUREEN DOWD

BOSTON — So here's the race: the Skipper takes on the Sheriff.

(And, of course, the undercard in the fight: Bambi meets Godzilla.)

Talk about drowning in metaphor.

At least Teresa Heinz Kerry kept her subliminal message simple: She wore a ketchup-red suit to introduce the second senator in her life.

Her husband, as usual, went overboard. The Democratic convention, which was focus-group-dial-a- metered to death, needed a dose of dramamine. It was awash in allusions about Commander Kerry steering the ship of state - from the curved design of the metal and wood-paneled lectern, meant to evoke a ship's bridge; to the Massachusetts senator's arrival in Boston Harbor on the prow of a ferry, making like Washington crossing the Delaware; to the dramatic Vietnam Swift boat scenes in the biographical film; to Jim Rassman's iconic story of being saved when Lieutenant Kerry reached down and pulled him from the water over the bow, to the nominee's hokey salute and "reporting for duty."

Like the picture of Bill Clinton pumping J.F.K.'s hand at Boys Nation, there is a star-struck teenage Galahad picture of John Kerry with his idol on a Coast Guard yawl in Newport.

The convention center halls were adorned with more than 30 blown-up pictures of John Kerry in uniform. This signaled that the Navy lieutenant, who had requested a transfer to a Swift boat because he was inspired by J.F.K. and PT-109, is gunning for the flextime Texas National Guardsman.

"I learned a lot about these values on that gunboat patrolling the Mekong Delta with young Americans," Senator Kerry told the Democratic delegates in his acceptance speech, adding: "We were literally all in the same boat. That is the kind of America I will lead as president - an America where we are all in the same boat."

Ensign Kerry, Max Cleland exhorted the crowd, is "the next captain of our ship of state."

Bill Clinton got on board: "Since we're all in the same boat, we should choose a captain of our ship who is a brave, good man, who knows how to steer a vessel through troubled waters to the calm seas and the clear skies of our more perfect union."

John Edwards was a synchronized swimmer in the Kerry ocean of love: "In the heat of battle, they saw him decide in an instant to turn his boat around, drive it straight through an enemy position, and chase down the enemy to save his crew. Decisive. Strong. Aren't these the traits you want in a commander in chief?"

Even Alexandra Kerry echoed the aquatic heroic theme, telling of how her dad saved the family's pet hamster, Licorice, who was bubbling "down to a watery doom," after falling off a dock. He "hunched over the soggy hamster and began to administer C.P.R.," she said, denying rumors of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

The Kerry campaign even tried to spin Teresa Kerry's "shove it" in a more nautical vein, claiming that the chatelaine of the Nantucket manse had meant to say, "shove off."

Mr. Kerry had to go the skipper route since W. had already laid claim to the West, making the cocky cowboy sheriff his motif, the dusty gorge at his Crawford ranch his milieu, and the Louis L'Amour "smoke 'em out" language his argot.

It doesn't seem to matter to his fans that he often doesn't come through on his gunslinging taunts; they feel reassured simply by the "High Noon" patois.

Mr. Bush's prized possession is Saddam's old pistol. He keeps it in the study off the Oval Office as a trophy of their desert duel in the sun.

At the White House press briefing on Friday, a reporter asked Scott McClellan: "But does the president have to present himself as not quite the, you know, kind of, trigger happy, tough, shoot him from the hip cowboy, and sort of fill out that image a little more?"

Mr. McClellan replied that the president was leading in a - yup, you guessed it - "strong and decisive" way.

Given that the Kerry convention featured a skipper brave and sure, a first mate who makes others comfortable, a millionaire called "Lovey" by her spouse, two pretty young Kerry castaways and a movie star (the ubiquitously annoying Ben Affleck), I suppose we should be grateful that Camp Kerry didn't introduce the nominee with the "Gilligan's Island" theme song.

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip

[Drbio]

Originally posted by: Hitman

How does this country need more Texas, exactly?

I think we have plenty of it, to tell you the truth.

Obviously, you don't know shit from shinola. Next topic.

[dude1394]

To a great degree there is no Democratic party candidate John Kerry. There is an abstract "anti-Bush" candidate who has been compelled, in accordance with the US electoral system, to take on human form and assume a human name...

The weakness of his positive programme, his sombre mien, so unusual for an American... and finally, his unique, from the American point of view, potential first lady, create the impression that Kerry is not destined for victory at all.

Sergei Lopatnikov in Russia's Russky Kuryer

[Drbio]

That quote is priceless.

[Hitman]

Originally posted by: Drbio

Obviously, you don't know shit from shinola. Next topic.

Wow...you are a great debater, a master of rhetoric.

"Sir, would you like to explain your position?"

"Geez there Yankee, 'o-siously you 'on't know sheet from sheenola.

Next topic, ya hear?"

[MavKikiNYC]

Originally posted by: Drbio

Obviously, you don't know shit from shinola. Next topic.

The Difference Between Shit and Shinola