Well that was fun – for the diehard Bush hater – for the rest of us normal citizens it was a damm snooze inducing bore. Tap that alarm button…… damm he’s still speechifying. Minuteman, better known as Sen. Kerry dorned for nearly an hour before they “cued the balloons,” and the Fleet Center erupted in the predictable Bush hating euphoria.
So how did Kerry do in his shinning moment? Pure vanilla, sweet but no color. Not all together surprising, that’s the nature of acceptence speeches. But something was missing. He started the speech in 1966 and jumped into some magical Democratic time machine and landed in the present. Almost totally missed [except two short paragraphs]were his 19 years of Senate work presence. Also not surprising considering his miserable work record as a Senator. Strange after stating many times how, “I will stand by my record,” except when running from it I suppose.
There were two taglines that will resonate thru the news cycle My name is John Kerry and I am reporting for duty” and “Help is on the way.” The help line tweaked my memory. 24 hours ago Edwards tagline was “Hope is on the way.” Similar but very different in meaning. Did somebody change from hope, an ambiguious term, to help a more substantive positive word. Could be coincidence, or a subtile flip-flop in tone.
As for the rest, lets go thru the main points.
We have it in our power to change the world again. But only if we’re true to our ideals – and that starts by telling the truth to the American people. That is my first pledge to you tonight. As President, I will restore trust and credibility to the White House.
I ask you to judge me by my record……:
It only took 14 paragraphs to drag out the “Bush lied” meme, and we’ll let your record speak for it self in the link above.
I will be a commander in chief who will never mislead us into war. I will have a Vice President who will not conduct secret meetings with polluters to rewrite our environmental laws. I will have a Secretary of Defense who will listen to the best advice of our military leaders. And I will appoint an Attorney General who actually upholds the Constitution of the United States.
Another “Bush lied,” and a few misdirections. What Kerry calls “secret” meetings are common policy meetings, hardly secret, and protected by executive privilige, somthing all the conspiracy theorists wanted to break thru.The implyed ignored military advice may be Gen. Shinseki who publicly stated the need for more troops in Iraq. Something I would agree with. I suspect if Ashcroft had torn up the Consitiution and thown it into the Potomic he would have been hogtied by Congress and tossed in behind it by now. It hasn’t happend, and won’t. Chalk that statement up to use of a little Joe Wilson “literary flair.”
We’re told that outsourcing jobs is good for America. We’re told that new jobs that pay $9,000 less than the jobs that have been lost is the best we can do. They say this is the best economy we’ve ever had. And they say that anyone who thinks otherwise is a pessimist. Well, here is our answer: There is nothing more pessimistic than saying America can’t do better.
Ahh the old outsourcing bugboo, this has been a Kerry staple for over a year, get off of it, it’s just bullshit, in fact the corporate taxes you blame Bush for pre-date him by decades. It also seems you believe outsourcing is bad for America, but you have allowed your campaign to use foreign nationals to volunteer and work for your election. Your either a duplicitious bastard, or such an incompetant administrator you have no clue your staff has undercut your stated policies. Or both. Not a good trait for a future president.
To be fair, here is a good business deal you made, although of fairly recent vintage. When Teresa allows her “manchild” to invest some of her condiment cash you snapped up a whole butt load of Made in America stocks to the tune of $18 million to $32 million, all under Teresa’s name. In true flip-flop fashion this purchase was preceeded by a sell off of approx, $16 million in international holdings. Afraid of appearences John?
“$9,000 less than the jobs that have been lost.” This is the flop side of a previous “flip.” This line used to read under the Bush watch America has lost 3 million jobs [then 2 mil, then 1 mil, then oops 9K less in pay], that was before the economy started to boom. In any case it’s debatable and borders on being a flatout nonsense.
Now I know there are those who criticize me for seeing complexities – and I do – because some issues just aren’t all that simple. Saying there are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq doesn’t make it so. Saying we can fight a war on the cheap doesn’t make it so. And proclaiming mission accomplished certainly doesn’t make it so.
We get pretty critical about your mysterious “foreign leaders” that support you as well.
I defended this country as a young man and I will defend it as President. Let there be no mistake: I will never hesitate to use force when it is required. Any attack will be met with a swift and certain response. I will never give any nation or international institution a veto over our national security. And I will build a stronger American military.
And the money quote is right there, “Any attack will be met with a swift and certain response.” The mantra Kerry has lived by his entire public life. Reactive, not proactive. A reactive stance explains why you have proposed adding 100,000 first responders to the ranks of firefighters and emergency medical personnel nationwide. You feel the need to suck up to their unions first of all, but the need is there as well to respond after we get hit again, “Any attack will be met with a swift and certain response.”
When faced with the Vietnam war you didn’t jump on the first plane and drop into Da Nang and say, “My name is John Kerry and I am reporting for duty.” There is every indication he attempted to defer his service for a year, to study in Paris, after completing his degree course at Yale.
For four years, we’ve heard a lot of talk about values. But values spoken without actions taken are just slogans. Values are not just words. They’re what we live by. They’re about the causes we champion and the people we fight for. And it is time for those who talk about family values to start valuing families.
You opened this pandoras box John so lets stir it around a little. Just who has been on the receiving end of your value system John? Here is a partial list.
Michael Moore of 9/11 dungmentary infamy. One of the most inflammatory, Bush hating, America hating, noxious lying bastards on the face of the planet. When given the chance to denounce his film you brushed it off. You gave him credentials for the convention and there he was proudly sitting in a Fleet Center skybox next to Jimmy “wussy” Carter for all the world to see. Values John?
Joe (“literary Flair”)Wilson. Provided the impetous behind the majority of the Bush haters ‘Bush lied” meme. Throughly discredited by both the 9/11 commission report and the British government’s Lord Butler report. At first Kerry staff didn’t comment on the affair, then claimed Wilson was an “unpaid advisor.” Even now after having been proven to be nothing more than a book hawking partisan hack, word surfaces the campaign still has connections. “July 29, 2004 — DEMOCRAT John Kerry’s campaign yesterday gave a ringing endorsement to Bush-bashing Ambassador Joe Wilson — even though a bipartisan Senate committee just found so many holes in his story that even his own wife won’t back it up.”
“[Kerryites] yesterday hailed Wilson’s “integrity” and said he’s still very much a part of the team that Kerry hopes will make him commander in chief.
Kerry foreign policy adviser Susan Rice is quoted as saying: “Joe Wilson has served for many months as an informal adviser to the Kerry campaign and continues to do so,” Bush is a liar in your eyes and you think nothing of associating yourself with someone who has created hate and division in the country. Prior to the convention he was cut loose, post convention he is “very much a part of the team.”
Values John, what about those values we keep hearing about? You may have them but when will they be put into practice?
Markos Moulitsas Zúniga Editor of left-wing blog The Daily Kos. He became extremely radioactive after an abhorant screed about four American contractors murdered, mutilated, and left to hang from a bridge in Iraq. Calling them mercenaries (but never recalling it was Clinton that began the use of contractors in Kosovo) and thus deserveing of his “screw ’em remark. During the wide-spread condemnation that followed (both from the Blogosphere and traditional media) Kerry staff pulled a link to Kos from the Kerry campaign web page to avoid the controversy. Yet where is Kos today? Front and center as a credentialed “blogger” in Boston. Why is that? Could it be because what once was disassociated from the campaign (while the spotlight was on) is now embraced (after the media moved on and the light was dimmed) due to the $400,000 in campaign cash Zúniga’s site has raised for the Democrats? Where are the “values” you speak of?
Al Sharpton. I’ll defer to Conrad on slamming Al to the turf because frankly I’m too lazy to chase down all the links. “[Al Sharpton has] incited murder against “white interlopers”; fabricated charges of rape mutilation and abduction, that he knew were false, against a prosecuting attorney; committed persistent perjury in a judicial proceeding; deliberately obstructed an investigation in order to prolong a hoax for his own aggrandizement; shared stages with and defended the outrageously anti-Semitic Khalid Abdul Muhammad; participated in publicly disclosing the name of an innocent (and unlike Tawana Brawley, real) rape victim and labelled her a “whore”; incited further violence by blacks against Jews — among other things blaming Jews to the oppression of blacks under South African apartheid — in the wake of the murder of rabbinical student Yankel Rosenbaum by a black Crown Heights mob; and set fire to his own offices (twice) to avoid producing financial disclosures to election officials.
Okay, to be perfectly fair about that last bit, I can’t actually prove that, when Sharpton’s offices caught fire immediately before the start of both his US Senate and presidential campaigns (destroying financial records each time), that it was anything other than a very fortunate coincidence for the man who once claimed, under oath, that he didn’t actually own anything at all, not even the clothes on his back but rather only had “access” to them)”.
End of Conrads rant, and a fine one it was. Here are a couple of notes of my own on the good Reverand. Rev. Sharpton consistently attacked (post 9/11) NYC mayor Giuliani and did everything in his power to sabotage NYC’s crime fighting efforts. With your approval John this dispecable waste pile was given a primetime television slot to speak before the convention, and a worldwide audience to the shame of you and the Democratic party. Again, where’s the beef values John?
Values my aching ass, you or your party wouldn’t know a value if it slapped you on your collective bare hinny’s with a tennis racket. And you have the audacity to wrap yourselves in religion with invocations and benedictions from a Greek Orthodox archbishop, a Muslim imam (who reportedly has ties to Islamic extremists), a rabbi, black preachers, a progressive Catholic priest and a few female pastors as well.
With that amount of religious coverage no matter which way you go, heaven or hell, you certainly have access to all the correct routes to take. But that is you John, cover all bases, straddle the fence, and flip-flop.
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