"Kerry wasn’t on fire last night, he was fire last night."

[ProSense]

Best speech at the convention

28 Aug 2008 08:59 am

Let me concur with Andrew and Josh. This was simply an incredible speech. I don't know how people get up there and show zero passion. John Kerry brought it. I felt so bad for how he went down. But it looked like he pulled from all of that pain and just offered up an incredible speech. I caught it on NPR while driving toward the Pepsi Center. Funny thing is, had I been watching the networks, I would have missed it. Anyway, see for yourself.

John Kerry delivered an illuminating speech as well last night! “I have known and been friends with John McCain for almost 22 years. But every day now I learn something new about candidate McCain. To those who still believe in the myth of a maverick instead of the reality of a politician, I say, let's compare Senator McCain to candidate McCain.” Kerry’s dialogue was as intelligent and as precise a description of John McCain that we’ve seen thus far! Thanks John Kerry!

link

John Kerry and What Might Have Been

...And I don't mean 2004. I mean this convention.

Schweitzer was attention-grabbing. The Clintons were pitch perfect. Bill in particular made a stirring case for Obama. But, like Eve, I thought John Kerry came closest to what Democrats needed to achieve, which was to define John McCain. Only Kerry highlighted the miles-wide gulf between the 2002-era McCain and the McCain who's running for president. Better yet, Kerry framed the idea in remarkably pithy and memorable terms.

Reporting for Duty

Where was this guy at the 2004 convention? Bill Clinton's speech rightfully grabbed attention, but John Kerry's appearance--interrupted by a commercial break on CNN--was the best stab the Democrats have taken towards establishing something they've desperately needed: A master narrative for understanding John McCain. Kerry repeatedly contrasted Senator McCain with Candidate McCain, pushing the flip-flopping sellout meme that Jon was asking for. He also did a nice gibe along the lines of "talk about being against it before you were for it." Which you could also say about Kerry and the concept of convention-hall attack rhetoric.

-Michael Schaffer

Kerry On Fire

27 Aug 2008 09:50 pm

Was I hallucinating or was that not a stirring, passionate, acerbic and moving speech? Kerry expressed the rage so many of us feel when contemplating not just the failures of the last eight years but the chutzpah, contempt and arrogance that have accompanied them. And he went after McCain's betrayal of the very virtues he still lays claim to.

This convention has turned. The roll-call vote, the Clinton speech and now Kerry have ramped this up. Game on.

...Kerry wasn’t on fire last night, he was fire last night.

link

Edited to add:

Rachel Maddow praises John Kerry's speech

[Overseas]

1. Since for profit TV didn't cover Kerry, I'm glad to see these articles giving coverage. //nt

[wisteria]

27. To think these pressitutes hold the cards when it comes to public manipulation and perception

is beyond what should be acceptable in this country. We should not allow them to decide for us what is important and what is not. I believe those who watched these talking heads last night - if given a choice- would have wanted to hear the speech from our last presidential nominee- Senator Kerry. How ignorant and disrespectful much of the media have proven themselves to be.

[Demi_Babe]

2. he did a fabulous job last night

[rockymountaindem]

3. I'm pissed off

Everybody wants to be Kerry's best friend now, but where were they in 2004 when we really needed them? People keep saying that the John Kerry of today is more fiery, impassioned, etc. than the '04 John Kerry, but that's simply not the case. If people had been watching the real John Kerry instead of going along with the media-generated image that misrepresented his stances and his personality, nobody would be surprised now.

I couldn't help but be sad last night, honestly, watching Clinton, Biden, and Kerry. Can you imagine how much better things would be if people like that had been in charge over the past eight years? The past four? Man... that's a lot to think about.

[politicasista]

4. Amen

:applause:

[sandnsea]

6. And the candidate isn't supposed to be the firebrand

If he had done nothing but attack Bush, then all the pundits and Democratic "party elders" would be saying he lost because he was too angry and didn't have a positive message. I don't know anybody who thinks like these people. Maybe there's an east/west divide too, I don't know.

[karynnj]

28. NJ is pretty east - and I agree with you 100%

[Beregond2]

7. There is plenty of blame to go around

for Kerry's "defeat" in 04, but the fact remains that when he did speak back then, he was plodding, pedantic and passionless. You can't blame that on the media. He chose not to go on the attack then, largely due to bad advice, and it was a huge mistake. Yesterday, he was brilliant.

[ProSense]

8. Nonsense,

get the facts.

Kerry Stands By Bush Criticism
White House Hopeful Defends Wartime Criticism Of President

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa, April 7, 2003

<...>

The Massachusetts senator has come under a withering attack from Republicans for suggesting that the United States, like Iraq, needs a regime change. Traveling through Iowa, Kerry rejected what he called "phony arguments" from the GOP that political candidates should mute their criticism of the commander in chief.

link

The notion that Kerry is "plodding, pedantic and passionless" when he has delievered some of the most passionate speeches of our time---from his NYU speech against the war to his Dissent speech and others after the 2004 election---is ridiculous. A speaker like John Kerry isn't made overnight.

The media gave a lot more coverage to the noise and distortions (alerts, lies, etc.).

Kerry did what needed to be done, but he needed more surrogates who could offer a passionate defense on his behalf to leverage his message.

[politicasista]

9. Thank you

The revisionist history is getting tiresome.

[redqueen]

14. But the meme was that he was boring and passionless...

gee... what could have convinced so many people to believe something that just wasn't true?

[ProSense]

17. Not sure,

buying into media spin?

No doubt that Kerry learned a few lessons from the 2004 media ambush, but as a speaker, he hasn't changed.

[LittleClarkie]

18. It is a tad more fun when he's pissed off though

I love it when he's pissed.

He didn't get enough support from fellow Dems. That's another lesson he learned if he ever needed to. He's supporting Obama the way others should have supported him.

[Beregond2]

22. Look, I was a big Kerry supporter.

I'm just going on what I saw. Maybe he WAS passionate and eloquent on occasion. Every time I saw him, he was a human sleeping pill, just like Gore. And no, Gore hasn't gotten any better. Despite what the critics said, "An Inconvenient Truth" was the most boring year I ever spent in a theatre. And I LOVE Al Gore.

The fact that something becomes a media cliche doesn't mean there is no truth to it.

[ProSense]

31. All good.

It's 2008, and it's Obama's time.

[blm]

30. He attacked plenty from 2002-2004 but was heavily censored and edited.

His counterattacks on swifts and Bush WERE tougher than any other Dem candidate ever against a president. The corpmedia decided YOU shouldn't see it and refused to broadcast those speeches.

[grasswire]

10. be prepared to be sad over Gore, too...

...I'm sure the memory of that tragedy will rip off some old scabs tonight, too. Tears, tears, tears for what might have been.

[politicasista]

11. I am preparing for that too n/t

[unblock]

5. geez, if he was fire, what was kucinich?

kerry did give a great speech, but kucinich was positively nuclear by comparison.

[redqueen]

15. Yeah... but he's the guy even Dems love to mock. (nt)

[karynnj]

32. Kerry's speech is far beyond Kuchinich's

he gave the Democrats a theme that can be used to rip the current version of McCain from the 2000 version loved by the pundits, independents and even some Democrats - including liberals who didn't really know his policies. In defense of Obama, he excellently countered two Republican themes - that Obama is too inexperienced and that he is an elitist.

Beyond that partisan contribution, Kerry hit really important big picture themes. His call that dissent can be patriotic echoes the fore fathers of this country from MA. He also reclaimed the flag as a symbol of the country - it is ours as well as theirs. As a baby boomer, I remember a long time where my peers and I were alienated from the flag and most other symbols of patriotism. That hurt the Democrats for decades. Here, Kerry re-iterated his love of country and the Democrats love of country. This is important and Kerry is someone who does it well - given his life of public service. His no torture comment was as stark and unequivocal as you can get - just as he has phrased it for years.

This is why the NYT said it was the best non-acceptance speech at a Democratic convention in two decades. http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/28/kerry-hits-it-home/?hp

[ProSense]

12. "He began to give a speech so good it was astounding—so good it was absurd."

When John Kerry took the stage after Clinton, long, long experience suggested that he was going to slip into the gray line of senators—Reid, Reed, Rockefeller, Bayh—who had been trying that evening, generally unsuccessfully, to establish Obama's foreign-policy bona fides. But as I peeked out at Kerry from between my fingers, something unexpected happened. He began to give a speech so good it was astounding—so good it was absurd.

Four years after his generally supine performance as presidential candidate, Kerry opened up the most blistering line of attack used on McCain all week. He made it work so well that you have to wonder how all the other speakers could have missed it. Problem: Sen. John McCain is a war hero with a maverick reputation. Solution: Explain to world that "Senator McCain" has left the premises, having been replaced by "Candidate McCain," a doctrinaire, Bush-backing, flip-flopping vote-monger. Kerry drew specific and damning contrasts between Senator McCain and Candidate McCain on issue after issue, including his use of the Rovian character assassination that had once been used against him. Plus this little gem: "Talk about being for it before you were against it." Kerry, Kerry, we hardly knew ye.

But he was still getting warm. Kerry said that McCain had stood on an aircraft carrier and called for war with Baghdad three months after 9/11, but that Obama had foreseen all the calamitous fallout of such an invasion. "Well, guess what?" he said. "Mission accomplished." That may just be a tart little jab, but Kerry landed a more important punch when he pointed up to the flag and said, "This election is a chance for America to tell the merchants of fear and division: You don't decide who loves this country. You don't decide who is a patriot. You don't decide whose service counts and whose doesn't." Fueled by palpable resentment about the attacks against him in 2004, he was championing a kind of outspoken liberal patriotism not much in evidence this week, and he inspired a round of "USA" chants heard even less often. In 13 splendid minutes, the speech traced the outlines of a vastly different convention: tough-minded, flag-draped and sharp to the point of belligerency. By the time the Republicans are done vivisecting Obama next week, they may have wished they hadn't waited until day three to start using it.

link

[Iris]

13. responding so I'll remember to come back to read more later

[EFerrari]

16. If you haven't watched his speech, YOU HAVE TO. Link:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x176665

[ProSense]

19. Thanks for adding the link,

I should have put it in the OP.

[EFerrari]

21. I didn't like or know John Kerry when I worked for him.

Boy, was I wrong. And if people haven't seen this speech, they haven't seen John Kerry.

[kimmerspixelated]

20. When important, Kerry always delivers a one-two punch!

It's always great to hear him speak!

[Starry Messenger]

23. I'm so glad people are starting to see the John Kerry

we know and love. I was thinking about this while getting coffee this morning.

Being a Kerry fan feels the way fans of the band Rush must feel like sometimes. I don't like them myself, but I've had friends who do and they get all "but it's so nuanced and complex and..." when describing their music then I mentally check out.)

Anyway.

I'm not sure I had a big point here. Since it was a pre-coffee thought-process I hope it gets cut some much needed slack.

MPK

[Democrafty]

24. Hahahahaha!

My husband is a huge Rush fan, and I am a most unapologetic Kerry fangirl.

Yes. It is exactly like that.

[Starry Messenger]

25. Yes!

I hoped someone would get what I was aiming for here!

MPK

[karynnj]

26. The NYT says "the best non-acceptance speech at a conventionin 2 decades"

"But last night, Mr. Kerry earned a healthy dose of political redemption delivering possibly the best non-acceptance speech at a Democratic convention since Mario Cuomo and Jesse Jackson wowed the crowd in San Francisco more than two decades ago. Mr. Kerry demonstrated a passion and intensity that he rarely showed on the campaign trail in 2004. In doing so, he not only brought the partisan crowd in Denver to a fever pitch, but he became the first Democratic politician in recent memory to so openly and courageously defend the often maligned patriotism of his party
<snip>
"And instead of hiding behind showy displays of patriotic symbolism, Mr. Kerry offered a full-throated defense of the idea that dissent is as pure a form of patriotism as any that exists in a democratic society:
Years ago when we protested a war, people would weigh in against us saying, ‘My country right or wrong.’ Our answer? Absolutely, my country right or wrong. When right, keep it right. When wrong, make it right. Sometimes loving your country demands you must tell the truth to power.
Whether one is a Democrat or Republican, these are the types of words that need to be heard on the campaign trail. In recent years, the patriotism of Democratic candidates has been all too regularly questioned; and the very notion of dissent scoffed at by some as un-American. This is no way to have a debate about national security or, for that matter, elect a president, and John Kerry, who regularly saw his patriotism laid out for scrutiny, knows all too well the damage that such attacks can have on not only one’s political future but the national discourse.






http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/28/kerry-hits-it-home/?hp

[ProSense]

29. Wow, that's awesome.

Thanks for posting.