John Kerry's Acceptance Speech

Off Topic Politics & World Issues
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Friends,

I am a supporter of George W. Bush. I’ve become more partisan as the years have gone on. The more I learn, the more Republican I become.

That being said, I watched the major speeches during the DNC. I was interested to see if a cogent plan was going to be presented by the Democrats. I do not believe that one party should be allowed to “run wild” without effective alternatives.

What I saw from John Kerry, has stunned me into near silence. I’ve watched all the major conventions and debates in the last 25+ years. I’ve seen tremendous speeches: Reagan, Clinton, Elizabeth Dole. I’ve seen average speeches. I’ve seen boring speeches.

The speech that John Kerry gave was the worst nomination speech I have ever heard. I just cannot reconcile myself to the fact that this guy has been in public service for over 20 years.

The speech was the worst delivered I have ever heard. It was rushed and had no flow.

The speech itself was as stunning in what it said as it was for what it left out. I actually heard a candidate advocate tax increases. He spent exactly one minute describing his 19 year Senate career. ONE MINTUE!!! Did his life go from age 23-24 to 60 with nothing in between?

I watched the Democrats cheering him. I couldn’t help reflect that 85-90% of the delegates opposed (and still oppose) the war in Iraq. As the central issue of the campaign, how does a Democrat look at John Kerry (who voted to authorize the war and states we will stay in Iraq) and think, “Hey, he’s the man?”

Then there was the list of programs he advocates. We all know he can’t pay for them. NOT A SINGLE PROGRAM CUT? Is repealing the tax cuts going to pay for all of that?

Again, I’m at a loss to understand anyone who tries to trumpet the merits of John Kerry’s candidacy. For the clowns who say, “Anyone but Bush” I say, “Be careful what you wish for.” You asked for anyone, you appear to have gotten no-one.

JeffR

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Fantastic post there Jeff… And very good insight.

John Kerrys’ speech reminded me of watching an informercial on a new piece of exercise equipment that is going to do everything for you. They show pics of bodies all buffed. And they say oh this machine will do it all. You will be looking like me in no time. If you buy this machine. And they go on and on praising this machine. And then one is so convinced that this is the machine that will do it all for them. And they buy it, and when it is sent to them, they find out, it doesn’t do everything that it says it would…

For his speech he promised oh so much…He touched on every single issue. Never though really gave any hard core plans as to HOW I plan to do this…How I plan to do that. It was like I will be the one… I will do it all. Put on the Superman outfit. And will do absolutely everything I said I would do.
Promises, promises Mr Kerry. That is all it is. You told the people exactly what they wanted to hear. Especially about the economy. Lets bring back the days of Clinton. The Roaring 20’s, in the 1990’s. Once again we will let the good times roll. In other words, go back to spending more for domestic. Taking care of America. Lets fix our house first. And not worry as much as what is happening overseas. And if any problems do occur? Why we will do the negoitating end. Go to the UN the EU.
ANd will follow and say all that. Have love, peace, happiness, not War. Bring back the days of appesement, America’s isolationsim. A Neville Chameberlain all over again. Not a Churchill.

He is also dodging the Vietnam issue. What he did after the War. And why he did what he did. Also how he served only 4 months in Vietnam, and got all those medals, just in four months. And making his duty sound like it lasted the entire length of the War. Reminds me of many of the Union Civil War generals, who gave theselves medals, or the Medal of Freedom. And if you go to these Vietnam Vets websites is you can see this is going to be a powderkeg. For you read how angry these Vets are. And when you see all John Kerry did to stop this War, while mnay of the troops were still fighting over there, you can see how angry they are of him. Just wait till this huge Vietnam rally in Sept. Against Kerry. Then we will see how strong his Veterean support really will be.

There was also no substance to the speech at all. Its like Sean Hannity said over and over this is the “reinvention convention.” And will say anything, do anything just so you can get your votes. Even if it goes against what you stand for or believe. Or to show hey I am no liberal those Republcans are making me to be. And in the back of your mind, you say to yourself…How you ever going to fund all of this? Especially when you said about not raising taxes. In other words, you said so so so many Whats, but you did not and cannot tell the American people How… Or this is my blueprint. Just like with our workouts for the week. And the log we keep each time we workout. For example, I will increase our Armed Forces 40.000 troops. Mr Kerry HOW you going to do this? Well ahhh, I can’t tell you right now. But I do plan to do it.

And reaching out to the right. We will tone down our rhetoric, our comments about George Bush… What we said in the past… Well Mr. Kerry. Howard Dean, Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy, Al Gore, were not themselves. Only one that was becasue he did not get the letter was Al Sharpton.

I will end with this: In the play the Phantom of the Opera there is a song…
that goes like this: “Masquerade, paper face son parade. Masquerade, hide your face so the world will never find you.”
Or we have three different Mr Kerry’s sititng on the gane show What’s My lIne… Will the real Mr. Kerry please stand up? Wonder which one it will be?

Joe

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Although he voted against Stealth technology he certainly has turned out to be a “stealth candidate” on the issues.

They got no bounce from the convention.

More Balloons!

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[quote]hedo wrote:
Although he voted against Stealth technology he certainly has turned out to be a “stealth candidate” on the issues.

They got no bounce from the convention.

More Balloons![/quote]

They got 4%, when they were expecting up to 15%. Ha! That was the worst speech I’d ever seen. It’s a good thing the Boston Fleet Center sleeps 20,000. Folks, I don’t think this is going to be as close as everyone is anticipating. I think Bush is going to win this one easily in the end. I watched Bush’s speech in Canton, OH, and it was much better than Kerry’s acceptance speech.

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Jeff,

Kerry’s speech did what it had to do! If he talked about his liberal voting record during his many years in the Senate he would have dropped in the polls instantly.

As the campaign moves on and the republicans enlighten the voting public to Kerry’s voting record his chances of winning will look about as real as John Edwards smile!

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I’m curious; who in this thread is Christian?

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Guys, you can pat yourselves on the backs and agree with each other about the trash you can find on the 'net concerning Kerry, but that hasn’t got much to do with reality.

I can’t believe the lack of quality in what I am reading here…

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Vroom,

Great post!!!

I wanted to repeat it verbatim. Here we go!!!

"Guys, you can pat yourselves on the backs and agree with each other about the trash you can find on the 'net concerning Kerry, but that hasn’t got much to do with reality.

I can’t believe the lack of quality in what I am reading here…"

Thanks, man. I guess his record and his horrendous speech delivery skills don’t really matter after all.

Upon further reflection, I’ve decided that instead of Bush, I now favor no-one.

JeffR

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[quote]JeffR wrote:

The speech was the worst delivered I have ever heard. It was rushed and had no flow.[/quote]

Ok, every time Bush is on tv or the radio giving a speech it sounds like he’s reading it for the first time and hasn’t got a clue as to its content. Can you say “mis-pronun-ciation”? Spare me this BS on Kerry’s delivery. If that’s not calling the kettle black, I don’t know what is.

Bush is the first president in history to give tax cuts in a time of war. That’s great. Let all the 18 - 25 year olds make the {ultimate} sacrifices while everyone else gets a break… especially the top 5%. Our taxes pay for everything, including this war. How about we all be a little more willing to make some sacrifices of our own? I don’t want to see less of my paycheck, but some things are just that important. And let’s not forget the record deficits we’re facing…

While many people might oppose the Iraq war (like me), that doesn’t mean we all want them to up-and-leave right now. We need to dig ourselves out of this mess Bush got us into and finish the job. And that’s going to take time and money.

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Tyler23
You are one smart dude!

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[quote]Elkhntr1 wrote:
Tyler23
You are one smart dude![/quote]

Opinion alone, doesn’t make someone smart. I almost completely disagree with Tyler23, but my opinion doesn’t make me smarter than him, now does it.

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I didn’t think the Kerry production was all that bad…his daughters are HOT!!..they should have left off with them…

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If Reagen was “the great communicator” Bush is “the weakest communicator.” However, that does not change the fact that Kerry is the most boring man on the planet (yes he beats Al Gore). And he has the most (or one of the most) liberal voting records in the Senate. As the voting public become more aware of his voting record over the next three months his chances of beating Bush in Novemeber will fade faster than John Edwards smile after the lights go down!

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Theresa – “I’ve earned the right to be
opinionated.”
John — “I earned my medals in 'Nam!”

Funny how two ‘sponges’ off another man’s wealth can use the word ‘earn’!

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You guys seem to be in the minority, general consensus seems to be that Kerry and the Democrats nailed the hell out of the convention.

As far as Chuck’s comments that most of the Democrats “hid” their true opinions and did not criticize Bush, that let me know you didn’t actually watch the convention, you’re just repeating somebody else’s spin.

Kerry did the right thing by talking about his general ideas, and not getting bogged down in policy minutiae. Most Americans don’t want to get that involved in policy discussions, they just want a “Dad” to tell them everything is being taken care of and everything is going to be all right. Getting too wrapped up in policy detail and trying to appeal to voter’s logic is one of the reasons that Gore lost. Most people aren’t following things that closely, don’t care about the details, and find that kind of talk boring, sadly.

By the way, one American who is bored by policy discussions and who has little patience for discussing the details and minutiae of legislation is our president George Bush. He is bored by the actual governance part of being president, his interest is strictly in the political process of coalition building and campaigning and that type of thing, not in actual legislation.

Thanks for asking. Returning the tax rates on the upper 2% of wealthiest Americans back to pre-Dubya levels will supposedly generate another 800 billion in revenue. That is expected to pay down the debt and fund spending.

If you’re pissed about big spending, be mad at Bush… he hasn’t vetoed ONE single spending bill, in four years as president!!! Bush’s a bigger spender than any Democratic president in modern history!

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Lumpy,

I agree that Bush has spent far to much! However, Kerry should have at least mentioned the fact that he has one of the most liberal voting records. At least warn the voters. The republicans are now going to make him look bad…really bad. Stay tuned!

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XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX SUN JULY 25, 2004 17:02:35 ET XXXXX

INTERNAL FIGHT OVER HOW MUCH BUSH BASHING AT CONVENTION

Democrat party officials are struggling to contain the amount of anti-Bush and anti-war comments to be delivered this week during the convention in Boston, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.

DNC chair Terry McAuliffe has expressed concern that nonstop Bush bashing from the podium could quickly spiral out of control and backfire.

DNC staffers have also been told to be on the lookout for “unreasonable” Bush bashing signs held by delegates on the convention floor which could be highlighted on television.

“We are not Michael Moore,” McAuliffe has told his top staffers, according to a well-placed source. “Let’s tell the voters what we stand for, not only what we stand against.”

McAuliffe has reportedly given orders to senior staff that hard-core Bush bashing should be saved for other forums and surrogates.

“Of course there will be a fair amount of pointing out the president’s record,” a top party source explained from Boston.

Top Kerry strategist Bob Shrum is also warning not to turn the convention into a default Hate Bush rally.

But the temptation to rip Bush without mercy is proving to be too much for many of the speakers.

Kerry operatives are editing convention speeches, sources say, with only Al Gore and Ted Kennedy believed to be off-limits.

[The move is reminiscent of Nixon at the 1968 convention in Miami, when the campaign edited out anti-war liberal Republicans.]

Joe

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Of course the republicans are going to try to make Kerry look bad, really bad. Because that is the only way they know how to do business. Even members of their own party, John McCain.
The funny thing about all of you Bush supporters is that you follow Bush blindly. You listen to the rhetoric and spout it back without actually listening to what you are saying. I heard every argument posted here on Fox News and MSNBC after the convention. It nothing new. The best was when one republican analyst said teh bush criticism wasnt fair, after the smear ads they acted on. . .John Kerry doesnt show up to vite but then shows up to vote down teh Lacy Peterson bill." John Kerry wants to kill Americas youth is what the message effectively said. Look further and realize that he voted down the bill because it effectively gave credence to teh life after conception issue and gave the religous nutsacks a precedent to make abortion illegal.

What policy has bush enacted that helps you more than it helps him and his elite base? Name ONE. Ecomonically, Bush has even surpassed his father’s deficit record, whle maintaining tax cuts for his friends.
Sure I got my $250 check in the mail. I also saw our deficit skyrocket. That is poor business management. He talked us into recession at teh beginning of his term. KNOWING that our economy was slowing down partly because he badmouthed it to death, he cut our source of income. That sounds like liberal spending to me.

Down here in Florida, there was an issue about the everglades. Sugar was dumping shit tons of waste here, and going against their legal obligation to clean it up. . . Bush’s response “I havent looked at the issue, but I am going to side with the sugar cane industry”. Holy fuck. there is someone with the PUBLIC insterest in mind?
A report came out a couple months ago, from a committee made up of university professors, scientist, and Nobel Lauriates, criticizing the president for taking their advisory reports, based in science, and CHANGING the text to fit his political agenda. No paraphrasing, but actually changing the wording of the document and findings. And then quoting it. A flipflopper, I can deal with. I change my mind often. But outright plagarism and lying, and then using it against the cause of the people that conducted the study.

It was widely known that his mother had never seen the inside of a grocery store. This person has you in mind? In 2000, he was embarrassing the Republican party because of his inability to answer the questions of the upcoming debates, so he spent months of coaching so he didnt look like the hayseed retard that causes us to cringe everytime he opens his mouth. Keep in mind he lost the election to AL GORE. He couldnt energize a remote controller with 2 AA batteries.
This argument is useless, because I think the side are so polarized that they dont want to look at the other side. But I for one am embarrassed that he represents me in the world. That the people I met in europe dont trust me because of who my president is. Because gets that terets look on his face whenever he tried to speak without being rehearsed. That so many of you, who truly arent represented by him, will gargle his shit and fight tooth and nail for his side.

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al gore didnt win any election
we have already ripped to shreads yours bulslhit science claims in previous threads
I’ll tell you what GW has done for me, he showed up on the doorstep of my mothers office, in the wreckage of a huge terrorist attack and, speaking from his heart said, “well I can hear you, and the people that knocked down these buildings will soon hear us.”

And he has delivered.

So those of you who live in someplace with no threat of terrorist attacks, no chance of it every happening to you, can live happily in your little liberal cocoon, sheltered from reality by Mother Jones, and the New Republic, but there are plenty of people, myself included, who arent going to sit here and say to the terrorist world “thank you sir may I have another”

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[quote]jodgey wrote:
The funny thing about all of you Bush supporters is that you follow Bush blindly.[/quote]

Wrong. I support Bush because he gets shit done. I may not like what he does, but it’s better than doing nothing.

That’s hardly blind loyalty. If he stops working, fuck it, kick him out. Put someone who will work in the White House.

The President’s job really has very little to do with the American people down in the trenches. They’re supposed to be represented in Congress, not the White House. There’s a big line between “people” and “powers”, and the president deals with powers – not people. He deals with people only as representatives of powers.

If you’re upset about how your government represents you, contact your congressmen. You have three of them. It’s THEIR job, not the President’s, to look out for your interests – at least insofar as they represent the interests of your district or state. They only deal with powers, too; but they deal with a lot fewer of them, so you have more leverage.