Did Anyone See Kerry's Speech Last Night?

[Displaced Flames fan]

I'm looking for solid opinions. If you are incapable of viewing these issues in an unbiased manner, please do not reply.

My question is this...

Did Kerry lay out any kind of solid platform? Did he talk at all about what he wants to do if he becomes Presdient? Or was it more focussing on the past and what he would have done differently or the old Bush is bad, I'm not Bush so a vote for me is good logic?

So far there has been very little of substance coming from the Kerry campaign. I didn't get to see the speech so hopefully some folks who watched and can actually be objective on the subject can answer the questions above....although I have to say, I'll be shocked if it wasn't more of the same.

[transplant99]

Well I watched the first 30 minutes then had to break away from it.

I thought he was very good actually, and his theme was clear.

"America can do better....we can do better".

he didn't actually "detail" what he would do differently, just that he would do things differently.

He clearly is going to go after George Bush on the deficit that has been run up....and so he should.

I am not sure how he intends to show how the US people were "mislead" into war....when its clear that even he used the same intelligence info to vote in the Senate to go into Iraq that Bush is now getting blasted for.

He sure comes across as a "politician" tho....i guess they all do at this level. This could be an interesting race and may very well come down to the running mates. Edwards is dynamite, and may be that little nudge the Dems need to re-take the White House.

[Cowperson]

The transcript:

http://edition.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/07...ript/index.html

I watched much of it, but not all. He acknowledged "we are a nation at war" and called the election the most important "of our lifetime." Not just any election, but the most important in 50 years. Is he right about that? Perhaps he is. He talked of a government that would spend what it could afford, rather than deficit spend as Bush has. He sold the Clinton economic record - the prosperity of the 1990's - and said it will return under Democrats. And he wove his military record into the fabric of his speech from top to bottom because he probably knows if he can defeat Bush on security, then he's probably won. Manufacturing jobs going to China and India is a growing hot button topic in the USA.

I think he also defended his flip-flopping by saying the Bush team are narrow thinkers, that once they're in the glue they can't adjust or even change their minds.


If you believe image is more important than substance, he probably needed better TV makeup because he looked like he was sweating a bit (or a sheen on his face) and seemed to lick his lips a lot. :P I switched to a few different stations just to see if the sweaty look just happened to be one camera. It wasn't. Does image matter?

Cowperson

[Lanny_MacDonald]

Well Dis, I was actually very impressed with what he had to say. I think it was one of the best polictical speaches I've heard from an American politician. Very well balanced and a real world look at America and what troubles it. I think that he singled out some of the major issues, and pointed to some solid solutions (no serious details). He pointed to strengthening the military, through an addition of 40,000 full time troops, developing better support systems (kind of a flip flop from Kerry, but a flip flop based on the changes in the world which make it reasonable) and creation of more special forces units. Now this is smart because this is the way to win the war on terror as well as maintain the security of the nation. It's also a great job creation ploy and has great technology spin off potential for the high tech industries. He also mentioned that he was going to support health care and social services (again, no definition of plans for the most part), but did say that he would not hold back Americans from crossing the border to get their drugs in Canada (good for Canada too).

The thing that impressed me the most was his admission that the United States has p*sses away all the goodwill they had built up around the world and were now in a situation of needing to build that goodwill up. He said that he would involve the world community in Iraq, and on the war on terror, and be more active in getting "the world" involved and not going it alone. The line that stuckout the best, IMO, was when he was talking about the military and he said (and I paraphrase), "The United States will not go to war because it wants to, it will only go to war because it has to." I think that Kerry displayed a really good grasp on where the United States is in the world, in the world opinion, and where it really needs to improve its image. From that alone I think he would have earned my vote. I'm not a fan of the Democrats in any shape or form, but I think Kerry/Edwards is really in touch with things, while Bush/??? is in a world of their own, and taking the United States in a very dangerous direction.

[Bingo]

I give the Democrats credit though ... they're moving towards the center. I wouldn't call them a conservative party at this point but they are moving center.

Increase military
Tax Cuts
Fiscal responsibility

All very conservative ideas that Kerry walked out last night.

If he means it I'm happy, it will make me care less about who wins that election ... but we've seen this "feint center / move left" act in Canada from Chretian. Time will tell.

Side Note: And this is really unfair ... I can't stand the man's voice. He sounds like he's 70 years old if you close your eyes

[Cowperson]

An analysis if anyone is interested:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5479243/

Cowperson

[Lanny_MacDonald]

Originally posted by Cowperson@Jul 30 2004, 01:57 PM

If you believe image is more important than substance, he probably needed better TV makeup because he looked like he was sweating a bit (or a sheen on his face) and seemed to lick his lips a lot. :P I switched to a few different stations just to see if the sweaty look just happened to be one camera. It wasn't. Does image matter?

Cowperson

I laughed at that too. I watched it in high definition and he was sweatin' pretty good. I thought he should have had a drink of water to wet the whistle and get rid of that cottonmouth. I thought he still came off really well, and I think he came off VERY presidental. He displayed something that Bush is going to have a tough time competing with, and that was wisdom. Kerry impressed me. He was not the cardboard cut out I expected.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally posted by Bingo@Jul 30 2004, 02:05 PM
I give the Democrats credit though ... they're moving towards the center. I wouldn't call them a conservative party at this point but they are moving center.

Increase military
Tax Cuts
Fiscal responsibility

All very conservative ideas that Kerry walked out last night.

If he means it I'm happy, it will make me care less about who wins that election ... but we've seen this "feint center / move left" act in Canada from Chretian. Time will tell.

Side Note: And this is really unfair ... I can't stand the man's voice. He sounds like he's 70 years old if you close your eyes

When you look at the political spectrum in most countries, the Democratic party would be considered centrist to most.

The thing about tax cuts is not a surprise. The difference is who gets the tax cuts and what it is used for. Kerry did talk about expanding the military a little, but spent way more time talking about health care and domestic spending.

Fiscal responsibility is also a cliche. Everyone wants fiscal responsibility. You'll never hear a centrist or leftist say they don't want fiscal responsibity. It's how they acheive fiscal responsibity that differs.

[sbailey924]

I thought the speech was pretty good. My favorite line was when Kerry quoted Lincoln saying "We shouldn't be praying that God is on our side, we should be praying that we are on God's side."

I wasn't expecting any definitive platform to be laid out. Conventions usually build off of the energy and try to attract people to the politicians moreso than the policies. As September and October near, that's when the actual detailed platform will start making its way into the mainstream.

[Bingo]

Originally posted by FlamesAddiction+Jul 30 2004, 08:25 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (FlamesAddiction @ Jul 30 2004, 08:25 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-Bingo@Jul 30 2004, 02:05 PM
I give the Democrats credit though ... they're moving towards the center. I wouldn't call them a conservative party at this point but they are moving center.

Increase military
Tax Cuts
Fiscal responsibility

All very conservative ideas that Kerry walked out last night.

If he means it I'm happy, it will make me care less about who wins that election ... but we've seen this "feint center / move left" act in Canada from Chretian. Time will tell.

Side Note: And this is really unfair ... I can't stand the man's voice. He sounds like he's 70 years old if you close your eyes

When you look at the political spectrum in most countries, the Democratic party would be considered centrist to most.

The thing about tax cuts is not a surprise. The difference is who gets the tax cuts and what it is used for. Kerry did talk about expanding the military a little, but spent way more time talking about health care and domestic spending.

Fiscal responsibility is also a cliche. Everyone wants fiscal responsibility. You'll never hear a centrist or leftist say they don't want fiscal responsibity. It's how they acheive fiscal responsibity that differs. [/b][/quote]
Hey don't get me wrong ... Bush's defecits aren't exactly fiscally responsible and still have me scratching my head.

Fine to cut taxes, but you had better cut some spending to go along with it.

Kerry also worked religion into the mix, a very conservative platform theme in past races - clearly the speech was designed more to scoop the central vote that is undecided and less to do with stroking the voters he already has in the loop.

My thoughts anyway ... a real pitch for the undecided by moving his party to the center in look. Deceitful? Likely ... but no different than most politicians at election time.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Did he lay out most of his platform? No, he didn't
Was it a great speach though? You bet.

Sure he said what the Bush administration did wrong and what he would correct, but how is that any different from anyone wanting to knock off the guy in charge?

I was pretty impressed overall, and this is coming from someone who isn't a huge John Kerry fan. He could have been alot more "anybody but Bush" but he really wasn't at all, nothing more then the usual I am better then the guy running it now stuff.

I was impressed.

[Cowperson]

It will be interesting to see what bump he gets in the polls. Obviously its been all Democrats in the news lately so you would expect him to rise . . . . but the turn of the Republicans is coming.

One analyst on CNN last night said an early poll via ABC, before the speech, had Kerry getting "a five or six point bump" but I've seen no evidence of such a poll on the ABC site.

Meanwhile, Democrats seem a lot happier about John Kerry than they were with Al Gore. A story:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,127494,00.html

Cowperson

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally posted by Lanny_MacDonald@Jul 30 2004, 02:12 PM
I thought he still came off really well, and I think he came off VERY presidental. He displayed something that Bush is going to have a tough time competing with, and that was wisdom.

Great point Lanny, I was thinking along the same lines as you. Half-way through it I thought to myself.. "Now here is a guy I would want to lead me.. " I was very impressed overall. He usually comes off as a pretty stale individual, but he showed all sorts of passion and emotion tonight. Again, I was impressed.

[Bertuzzied]

That speech was very impressive. Did anyone else notice the speech was carried live on every major US network except for Fox. I guess Michael Moore was right.

[Cowperson]

The Washington Post media critic with his view of media reaction to the speech:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/natio...ns/kurtzhoward/

The New York Times reaction to the speech:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/30/politics...chekPucc9Mb77pw

Also:



"A strong speech," said Tom Brokaw. "Working himself literally into a sweat," said Dan Rather. "A good speech . . . a tough speech," said Peter Jennings.

"An extremely tough, hawkish speech," said Jeff Greenfield.

"The best speech I've ever seen John Kerry deliver by a mile," said ABC political director Mark Halperin.

Cowperson

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally posted by Bertuzzied@Jul 30 2004, 03:42 PM
Did anyone else notice the speech was carried live on every major US network except for Fox. I guess Michael Moore was right.

Did Fox carry any of it..? I am willing to bet FoxNews had the speach on. Although they did apparently cut away from Al Sharpton's speach because Chris Matthews and and that other blowhard were getting their panties in a twist... but back to the topic at hand.

[Bertuzzied]

Originally posted by MrMastodonFarm+Jul 30 2004, 03:46 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (MrMastodonFarm @ Jul 30 2004, 03:46 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-Bertuzzied@Jul 30 2004, 03:42 PM
Did anyone else notice the speech was carried live on every major US network except for Fox. I guess Michael Moore was right.

Did Fox carry any of it..? I am willing to bet FoxNews had the speach on. Although they did apparently cut away from Al Sharpton's speach because Chris Matthews and and that other blowhard were getting their panties in a twist... but back to the topic at hand. [/b][/quote]
Not one minute. But I'm in Calgary. Maybe in the states they carried it live but I don't think so.

[Cowperson]

Originally posted by Bertuzzied@Jul 30 2004, 03:42 PM
That speech was very impressive. Did anyone else notice the speech was carried live on every major US network except for Fox. I guess Michael Moore was right.

From the Howard Kurtz Washington Post column I posted above, referring to TUESDAY night.:

Finally, Roger Simon has something to say about the broadcast networks:

"I am not saying that Tuesday night at the Democratic convention was the most electrifying or informative in the history of politics.

"I am saying it was more electrifying and informative than 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,' 'Last Comic Standing,' 'Navy NCIS' and 'Trading Spouses: Meet Your New Mommy.'

"But that is what the commercial TV networks brought us instead of covering even one second of the convention.

"The networks are barely covering the convention at all. They are broadcasting just one live hour a night for three nights. Tuesday night, they broadcast nothing live at all.

"I think that is embarrassing. Especially considering the tripe they are broadcasting instead.

"How embarrassing is it? This embarrassing: According to the Boston Herald, the Arab news network, al Jazeera, 'is airing more live prime-time broadcasting' of the Democratic convention 'each night than the major commercial American networks.' Al Jazeera, according to the newspaper, is broadcasting 90 minutes of the convention each night."

Yes, but the Jazeera guys have no access to "Trading Spouses."

Later Kurtz acknowledged the networks unusually showed a full Kerry infomercial LAST NIGHT that they normally wouldn't have.

I don't know if FOX covered the speech. It would be unusual if they didn't.

Cowperson

[CrzyCanuck]

All I watched was the Fireworks at the end....Very pretty!

[La Flames Fan]

Fox News carried the speech. I thought it was a great speech. He pinpointed certain things, healthcare (which I say he's right on, I mean how can you be the most powerful country but not provide health care for those who either can't afford it or a system similar to Canada's). He mentioned doubling special forces, which is a very good idea. I loved his line about God. I thought that was very good. His idea to give tax breaks to the middle class and roll back the tax cuts for those making over $200,000 a year was another point. And it was said in almost the same manner as Bush Sr.

It will be interesting to see the reaction the polls and people have to this speech but it was very very good.

On a side note....Did anyone watch the CNN coverage of the speech??? They had the producer of the convention's mic on and the balloons weren't falling. He was frantically trying to the get the balloons to fall and came out with this line...."Where the **** are the balloons!?"

CNN obviously didn't have a delay on, so watch out for the FCC! Powell and his cronies will come down on CNN hard I bet.