Centerfield

Barney Frank speaking on Gay/Lesbian issues:

--When Ralph Nader says there is no difference between the two parties, he trivializes our lives

Thus far the drumbeat for war(s) forever and past, is wearing me out. Not much to choose between cheneybush and kerryed except the latter want to invite our friends to war. They've been there, done that, watched their land lose a bit more than two tall buildings and a few more than 3000, and they don't care for the grim reaper cowboy so will politely decline until we replace our secretary of war with someone who smirks a little less and sneers not at all. What a waste.

"Thus far the drumbeat for war(s) forever and past, is wearing me out. Not much to choose between cheneybush and kerryed except the latter want to invite our friends to war. They've been there, done that, watched their land lose a bit more than two tall buildings and a few more than 3000, and they don't care for the grim reaper cowboy so will politely decline until we replace our secretary of war with someone who smirks a little less and sneers not at all. What a waste. "

Oh, I get it. Since the Europeans have had real wars and lost lots more people, we shouldn't be upset about someone flying into our skyscrapers. I actually thought that was a problem, but I guess I'm wrong--it really wasn't anything to worry about and, of course, the Europeans have superior wisdom since they've had real wars and had lots more people killed. Let's see, I guess we have 30 or 40 more million to have killed before we have anything to be concerned about and , then, let's not get upset. These are just oppressed peoples who need a little understanding. Gee, thanks for enlightening me.

Vanessa Kerry is attractive.

She has her father's long face.

John Kerry sure looks like a President.

Yes, he does. And this week, for the first time, I feel more like "Kerry is our man" instead of "anyone but Bush." Let's do this.

I never heard that anecdote about biking into East Berlin. Effective. He loves his country.

One slight slip--Kerry promised to use special ops for "terrorist operations" before correcting it to "anti-terrorist operations" But overall, I think he's relaxed, speaking in a nice, modulated tone, and giving the impression he can be Commander-in-Chief.

Here is the text of Kerry's speech if you want to follow along.

http://www.drudgereport.com/dnc85.htm

Kerry's is a good speech. i wonder if he can bring small business on his side, focussing on Republican big government-big business favoritism.

"I know what we have to do in Iraq. We need a President who has the credibility to bring our allies to our side and share the burden, reduce the cost to American taxpayers, and reduce the risk to American soldiers. That's the right way to get the job done and bring our troops home."

So if Kerry is elected, NATO will takeover in Iraq and we can send most of the troops home? This type of wishful thinking is not what I want to hear.

No, Bush and company see that Iraq is a disaster for everyone, especially them. That's why the Saudis and the other Arabs and Muslim states are rushing to position themselves to take the U.S. place. After all, they are the ones who have everything to lose, and they are the ones who need us there.

Good call on the last song too... A Beautiful Day... counters the "pessimist" accusations and hey, it's a great song.

Nice dig with the comment about the Saudi royals. All in all it was damn good, I thought. He actually electrified the crowd, at least that's the way it felt watching on TV. I like him.

One thing I noticed is that he spoke relatively fast, that is, at a normal pace rather than the slow, deliberate pace of a Ted Kennedy. I thought it was effective. He didn't shout, as many do into the mike. Perhaps it's because he did a sound check earlier today, and knew he could speak at a normal level and be heard.

It was a positive, confident speech. Even where it was critical of the Bush Administration, it did so by stating things positively, like "an Attorney General who respects the constitution" leaving only the implication that that is currently not the case.

Kerry and Edwards look like winners to me.

I was worried. I was afraid that this week would be more or less successful and then Kerry's speech would go sideways. I'm glad it didn't.

I was concerned that he wouldn't talk about policy at all, and even though he was more general about foreign policy, I think he threw down the gauntlet on a ton of domestic issues.

Good speech that included a lot of wishful thinking and unrealistic policy proposals. Are we to believe that John Kerry is truly going to cut the deficit in half if he is proposing to spend more money on just about everything? I heard little about policy reform and only that programs are under funded, which is a loser message outside of the base of the Democratic Party.

His stuff on Iraq was better than he has done in the past, but I think the belief that our allies will simply jump to support us in Iraq after Kerry is elected is a fallacy. Furthermore, I don't see what Kerry has done or said that gives this statement any credibility, especially since he is pretty much supporting the same ideas that Bush has already endorsed, proposed, and in part implemented. Is he really arguing that the world is against us because of the mere presence of Bush, and not our Iraqi regime change policy which he in the past stronly supported?

His one liner on not privatizing Social Security was depressing and may come back to haunt him as many Americans may be looking for more reform oriented proposals on a government program they no longer have faith in. He said nothing that was too shocking or visionary, and pretty much surrounded your typical liberal Democrat policy proposals with a lot of fluff about his biography. There is nothing in this speech other than maybe a little of the Vietnam stuff that will change the minds of any undecided voters.

I liked what he said on stem cell research and science, and also his comments on foreign oil dependence.

Before this convention this election was a referendum on the current administration. Enough people need to hate Bush for Kerry to win because Kerry himself is really not giving anyone outside of the liberal Democratic base a reason to vote for him. After two mediocre speeches by Kerry and Edwards this election is still about Bush, and I think the anger movement is subsiding amongst the voters who will actually make a difference. With a whole month without Kerry advertisements on the air coming up, followed by the Repbulican Convention, I think the incumbent has the advantage. The ball is in George W. Bush's court.

Two more thoughts...

How does the "funding the war on the cheap" line work when he voted against war funding... after he was for it? And did anyone think that maybe the vet pandering was a little over the top?

Long on promises, short on substance, heavy on bashing and flag-waving. No mention of the platform.

Bush sucks. I'm not Bush! Not gonna talk about abortion or gun control or gay marriage tonight! Gonna cut your taxes and boost your entitlements, all while balancing the budget and increasing troop strength. See that flag? Wrapping myself in that flag! Gonna eat the rich....and by the way, did I mention I served in Vietnam?

Substance--zip. No surprise, didn't expect any. Humor--poor. Bashing--moderately heavy, but expected, almost required. Delivery--quite good for Kerry, who is not known for his delivery. B+ for delivery. Overall C+. Not a stem-winder, not a limp balloon.

Still waiting to see details for those promises. But not holding my breath. Good effort for Shrum, though, as he tries to break his streak.

First, I give a lot of credit to the people running the DNC. They kept a pretty positive message for the most part, stayed cohesive and "on message", and gave a good moderate message. I think they planned the Kerry enterance well, including really good speeches by Kerry's daughters that made people appreciate Kerry beyond his political persona. The military thing went a little over the top, but I think it sent a good image of strength on national security.

The first part of Kerry's speech was good and optimistic and drew a picture of himself that I found positive and uplifting. I think his message of being strong on defense came out loud and clear.

Others will surely disagree, but I think he made a huge mistake questioning Bush's integrity and I think that may derail some of the swing vote. In general, I think the "bush lied" meme sounds good to his base but sounds bad to many of the swing voters who supported Bush since 9/11 and are now re-considering their position.

I think the charge that Bush "mishandled Iraq" or "rushed us to war" or "intelligence failures" may wear well, but I don't think that many people outside his solid base think they've been "misled" or that Bush is "dishonest or lacks integrity". This push to demonize Bush, along with rabid followers like moveon.org and michael moore, can create serious blow back for Kerry. It's a risky strategy, and given how well the convention was going, I think it was really the wrong thing to say.

Finally, what's up with the overnight shift in message from "Hope is on the way" to "Help is on the way"? It's not going to change any votes, but was this a mistake when the printers made today's signs or did the word "Hope" poll badly?

They wanted the "hope" thing to subconsciously reinforce the good-vibe Clinton nostalgia meme. Works much better for fresh-faced charismatic Edwards than it ever can for Kerry. And after 48 hours it's stale, so it's gone.

"I'm from the government, and I'm here to help you!"

Expect a LOT of the Iraq Bush-bash for the next month as the 527's spend up in swing states to cover for the Kerry campaign's hoarding of their fed funds until after the GOP convention. The Kerry campaign will mostly save its dimes for the run-up in October. Yeah, they're not supposed to coordinate expenditures (wanna buy this watch? howza bout a bridge?) but that's the smart way to do it--let the 527's carry the can for several weeks with the full bash negatives, then "disown" them and play the high road with the candidate-specific targeted ads in the stretch. (Any bets?)

"How does the "funding the war on the cheap" line work when he voted against war funding... after he was for it?"

Matthew - Do you see any relevance at all in the fact that the yes vote for that funding was before Bush flat refused to pay for the spending with anything beyond borrowing, and the no vote was after?

"Funding the war on the cheap" is quite literally a reference to spending money one doesn't have to spend. The $87 billion could have been paid for. But, it wasn't because Bush flat refused to do so. That's the point Kerry was making.

I thought Alexandra Kerry was the more attractive of the two. I also thought her speech was much better.

The childhood story of her dad jumping in the water to save the hamster and then giving it CPR seems to me to dovetail very succinctly with the Lieutenant Kerry who risked everything in Vietnam to save the Special Forces guy who had been blown into the river.

Both stories reveal a man who is not only willing but also very capable of reacting with a cool head in a time of crisis where seconds count.

I think John Kerry was radiant when he came out this evening. I was a little nervous at first becuase OUR nation depended somewhat on this speech. But my fears were quickly cast aside as soon as he gave his opening sentence. "Reporting for Duty" I knew it would be a home run! I loved it!

I'm not impressed. To me its a mix of pablum, false promises plus paranoid desparation. I hate conventions, especially when Hollywood decides its a second Aspen.
I'll just vote in November.

Question: How will y'all handle it if Bush wins a second term - legitimately? Y'all act as if Bush is a lame duck already and that is a careless mentality.

People assume that Kerry will be hurt by going negative. In fact, the reason that campaigns go negative is that it is effective. People respond much more to attacks than they do to positives, especially when the positives come across as phony promises. Unless he gets out of hand, I don't think its unreasonable to question Bush's integrity--one of the issues in the campaign is the argument that Bush misled the country about the war. I don't see undecideds saying, "oh my god, he questioned the president's integrity, I'm not voting for him." Bush is certainly going to be negative. As long as he doesn't go to far, I think Kerry has to attack Bush. I think people are tending to confuse civility with not saying anything negative about the other candidate. I think Bush's integrity is a legitimate issue in this campaign and I don't think people are as squeamish about negativity as people here assume (even though they say they don't like it.)

No Kevin, I don't see the relevance at all. To say you should roll back hundreds of billions of dollars of tax cuts to pay for $87 Million in war funding is the most ridiculous thing I ever heard. Kerry voted against the funding, and was only one of twelve Democrats to do so, becaue he was running for President and losing in the primaries to Howard Dean. Is his message really that spending is more important than supporting troops? Come on!?!?!?