Running commentary...
Whoa, I was starting to feel like a bad dad for awhile there thinking I would have let the hamster just go on to hamster heaven, but then Alexandra reminded us that we exist only for the greater glory of the state. Fortunately, my children aren't being taught that. I love my country and I am thankful that I was born in America, but I do not exist merely to make America greater.
Watched the movie. Not bad, but something was missing in his career... being Lieutenant Governor for Michael Dukakis.
Honestly, who ever would have thought that being proud of Vietnam and Vietnam veterans would ever be featured at a DNC Convention? I hope those returning from Afghanistan and Iraq don't have to wait 30 years to be accepted by the rank and file of the Democratic Party.
Maybe it's just the placement of the microphones, but the crowd doesn't really seem up to snuff.
I respect Max Cleland and feel for him and the injuries he suffered in Vietnam. People who note that he was injured in an accident don't appreciate that many injuries and deaths in war do not result directly from enemy fire. Mr. Cleland deserves a lot of credit for moving forward -- it's probably more than I could have done in simliar circumstances. He's earned the right to say and do just about whatever he wants, including being a strong, wrong-headed partisan. But it is a lie for Mr. Rassman to say that he has always taken the high road.
John Kerry's starting smoother, more lively, and less monotone than usual. As they scan the crowd and I notice Leonardo DiCaprio, I am reminded of something Magic Johnson once said in the L.A. Lakers' locker room after a game as he scanned the crowd of celebrities all around him, "They want to be us and we want to be them."
Paraphrasing, "I want Europe to like us." Great, just great.
John marched for women. I know a lot of people who marched for women.
Paraphrasing, "Bush is a liar." Uh huh.
John McCain gets featured a lot, because, well, swing voters like John McCain. I look forward to John McCain reminding everyone who he supports.
Paraphrasing, "John Ashcroft does not uphold the U.S. Constitution." Puhleeze.
Not paraphrasing, "This is the most important election of our lifetime." Bullshit.
Paraphrasing, "Protectionism is on it's way." And I bet he wants to pick the winners too.
Non sequitur alert -- ...can't type fast enough...
I love it when Democrats take credit for all the things that I and 100 million other Americans did to make the economy grow in the 1990's.
He accepts.
Paraphrasing, "Son of a mill worker." Son of a mill manager, close enough.
Mother Teresa. Great.
Max is a patriot, so quit questioning his patriotism!
He's delivering a good speech very well. But the substance is lacking, IMHO.
Somehow, I think we are about to hear about "squandering goodwill."
Yep.
Facts were distorted by politics?
Bush wanted to go to war!
Bush squandered American lives.
Paraphrasing, "We will never go to war without a plan to win the peace." I.e., we will never go to war.
He will not preempt, but he will respond. The delegates may be willing to wait for the next attack. I am not.
The backdoor draft of the National Guard. Bullshit.
Hello Mr. Spielberg.
Mr. Kerry doesn't have a clue about inspecting container ships. He doesn't know what he is talking about.
And how dare Bush spend money in Iraq!
And how dare Bush question my patriotism!
Dissent is patriotism! Patriotism is dissent!
Uh, how many in the crowd wore a uniform again?
He's getting worked up about the flag, but who's he fighting?
Enron! (Halliburton!) Big Drug Companies! Bush! Cheney!
Santa Claus is coming to town...
Whoa, body armor... uh, who voted against the $87B appropriation?
Will he mention Al Qaeda? North Korea? Iran? Any details on 9/11? Drugs? AIDS? Apparently not.
Here come the Luddites. Let's keep those ineffective manufacturing jobs, no matter what it costs!
Benedict Arnold CEOs!
Hair pollution cauding asthma?
"Help is on the way!" He's no Al Sharpton, that's for sure. But I mean that in a good way.
Gosh, is the rest of the world going to like the new protectionist America?
Fiscal responsibility, hey I'm on board if you really want to end corporate welfare.
"Pay as you go!" Except for Social Security.
If you want to make $200K a year, go to hell. Well, he's got his.
Teachers need to be treated like professionals. Professionals with 3.5 months off each year.
Start Start! Admit it, you know it's coming. Even if XXX Start has been shown to be not effective.
He's sweating quite a bit now.
Lots of declarative statements about how medical care will be better, faster, cheaper -- but how?
He's going to kill the pharmaceutical industry by letting drugs in from Canada.
Health Care is a right! It's right there in the uh, in the um, in the speech.
Saudi Royal family bad. True dat. But we don't get much oil from Saudi Arabia. As Otter once said, "Don't interrupt him, he's on a roll."
He's called Bush a liar, a killer of young Americans, a thief, and an abuser of the U.S. Constitution tonight. But can't we still be friends? Oh, and don't attack me.
Bush the religious extremist.
Stronger at home, respected in the world? How about stronger in the world, respected at home instead?
It might be easier to find those miracle cures if you don't kill the drug companies.
Anybody else tired of Vietnam yet?
He tried to use several old Republican phrases, with mixed success.
And now, it's Bono time.
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John Kerry delivered a first rate speech. I strongly disagree with the content, but he did well. It's going to be a good fight.
But I think I am going to be sick of John Edwards and his thumbs up pretty soon.
He spent 20 weeks in Vietnam and 20 years in the Senate, but its hard to realize that from the speech or bio. Vietnam seems to have an undue influence on him. I wonder if Oliver Wendell Holmes bored everyone to death later in life with his much longer war service in the Civil War when "[his] heart was touched by fire."
I only caught about half of Kerry's speech. However, I was inspired by what I did see.
Inspired to put the "W'04" sticker I received in the mail on my truck.
Posted by: Jon at 12:26 PMI can't get over the "Bush as religious extremist" meme. Bush is a Methodist. Methodists aren't exactly Unitarians, but they're one of Christianity's more mellow subdivisions. I mean -- well here, I was raised Methodist. I fail to recall a whole lot of fiery end-of-the-world kill-the-unbelievers make-America-a-theocracy preaching, but I do remember that my little white gloves were hot and in Sunday school class I gave all the disciples in the coloring book purple robes. Whatever, maybe the church has changed since I was a girl, but somehow I don't think so.
Posted by: Andrea Harris at 11:03 AM