Last Night's Unity Dinner

[dennis4868]

I watched Kerry's speech. It was way too long. Anyway, that is not nearly my main complaint. It seems to me that Kerry is NOT going to challenge Bush and his thugs on lying to us about WMD and Iraq's overall threat to our country, outing Valerie Plame, ignoring warnings about a 911 attack, etc...His speech last night did not mention the word Iraq or even 911. It's like Kerry is scared to attack Bush on those issues for some reason. WTF? All he will talk about is jobs and health care. That is good and all. But we have people in the WH who are criminal and people need to know this. How can Kerry ignore Bush crimes with regards to Iraq and 911? Why does he not talk about it. He wont even respond to questions about his thought about Richard Clarke's book. WTF? What in the world is going on here? Has Bush promised the Dems and Kerry something in order to shut them up about these very important issues?

[Richardo]

1. The Big Dog gave some excrutiatingly long speeches as a candidate...

...especially his acceptance speech at the 92 convention.

[gWbush is Mabus]

2. he's remaining above the fray while * digs himself deeper into an impeacha

impeachable hole

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

3. Did you not listen to the other speeches working up to his?

Clinton, Gore and Carter all touched on these topics to varying degrees and left the "high road" to Kerry. The past is very relevent but it is the future PRESIDENT's job to paint a picture of the FUTURE.

I'm not at all disappointed...Kerry doesn't need to froth at the mouth like an attack dog...he has two former presidents and one that was elected but not inaugurated to do that.

[dennis4868]

9. "Did you not listen to the other speeches working up to his?"

Sure did....but the others are not running for Prez against Bush.

[arcane1]

4. Clinton's speech was frikkin awesome

he hit them hard, and I hope JK takes note of the response it got!!!

[BonFiyah]

8. Clinton's Speech

Do you know where one can get a transcript of CLinton's speech from last night.

[arcane1]

11. not sure about transcripts, but cspan.com has the video

here

[callous taoboy]

19. Carter's too.

He tore Ralph a new one.

[truthspeaker]

5. good question!

National security is the Shrub's weakest point, and there was plenty to attack him on even before Clarke's revelations, mainly attacking Iraq for no good reason and lying about WMDs. I still don't understand why most dems are afraid to call him on it. The lies are right out in the open. Maybe Kerry was promised a cut of the oil money? Does he own any Halliburton or Bechtel stock?

[Ripley]

10. I agree. But tell me...

what was Kerry's speech about? Because about 10 minutes into it I found myself unconsciously wandering into the other room to do some laundry. He always has that affect on me. Boring to the core. He needs to really study how Clinton and Gore both gave interesting, captivating speeches last night.

[dennis4868]

13. His speech...

was so long you could see people in the audience looking around waiting for it to just end already. He went through one of his campaign stump speeches but did not mention Iraq or 911....which is my complaint!

[Jane Austin]

6. This wasn't a stump speech

It was a speech to Democrats about Democratic issues at an event which needed to cover all dem bases.

That's what a Unity Dinner is.

Those people paid $1000 or more for tickets, and they want to hear the same old short stump speech they've heard before.

They want their money's worth. :)

[Blasphemer]

7. Wrong timing....

I don't think the speech means that much in terms of how much they will address Bush's lies about the War, 9/11, etc. They just don't want the 9/11 Commission bombshells to be portrayed as a partisan attack. The thugs are already classifying the Medicare Bill Probe as partisan politics. I think they need to tread carefully while the facts about 9/11 and the Iraq war sink in with the public. Having Republican Richard Clarke out there attacking BushCo while they feebly attempt to discredit him helps to have the people understand that this is not just election year politics. Like Clinton said, they are very good at getting people not to think. The public seems to be thinking right now... no need to get in the way of that.

[Bandit]

12. Senator Kerry is going to be above the Frey.

He will accentuate the positive and let others address the negatives with the Bush* Cabal. It is the way it should be as long as he defends himself when they attack.

[Trajan]

14. Amazingly, some Democrats see ghouls in the shadows ..

THere have been a few 'disgruntled' DUers who are upset by one or another aspect of this Unity Dinner ...

I watched the whole thing: twice ...

It was extraordinary ...

Gore and Clinton SLAMMED the Bushie UP and down ...

Kerry gave his BEST speech yet, I believe ...

Did he include EVERY possible complaint and greivance in that one speech ? ... of course not ...

He is made of Presidential timber, you know, and cannot risk being viewed as 'petty' or 'vicious' ... He wants to project a 'positive message' ...

It is up to ALL of us to HAMMER the GOP and the Bushies, and let Kerry present a positive vision that can provide a window into what the next Democratic Administration will do for america when they take power ..

Attacks against Bush and the GOP, while satisfying for us and necessary for the american people, will NOT be a blueprint for a Kerry government ...

If Clinton and the other prominent Democrats attack the Bush lies from the periphery, Kerry will be able to articulate his vision of america ...

Id like to see Kerry begin to form a cabinet .... Wes Clark as Secretary of Defense ?? ... Albert Gore as Secretary of State ??? ..

Hmmmmm ... do I smell a new thread ?? ...

The Unity Dinner was wonderful ...

[dennis4868]

15. perhaps you are right....

but how can Kerry not even have an opinion on Richard Clarke's book? Bush is running for re-selection based on the false impression that he is strong on national security and there you have a respected 30 year government official saying Bush is weak on security. And Kerry passes up on attacking Bush on this issue. This would not bother me so much if Bush was not running around the country saying, "vote for me because I will keep you safe and Kerry will not."

[buff2]

20. Kerry hasn't finished Clarke's book yet.

Wait until he reads the whole book,then he will probably comment on it.

[buff2]

17. Geesus........

After reading some of these posts,I had to check and see if I was over at freek republic site. Not much democratic unity here!!! I agree with you....I found NOTHING wrong with Kerry's speech and thought the unity dinner was a huge success!!

[Sparkly]

21. I agree, it was great

I loved watching the speeches -- all of them. I trust the leaders of the party and know they're smart enough to strategize the campaign. There was no need for Kerry to say anything more or anything less than he did last night.

There's plenty of time, and things are unfolding quite nicely, imo.

[fairfaxvadem]

16. kerry's speech...

I spoke with someone this morning who was at the dinner, said that the whole evening was long and re: Kerry "he and Clinton really spoke for about the same amount of time, but by the time Kerry was on, the evening had just gone on and on so it seemed longer."

Basically, they did too much in one night.

Also, no one can top Bill Clinton in a speech. No one. We shouldn't even compare Kerry to him stylistically.

I sure hope Kerry keeps asking Bush for more debates. That would be great.

On Edit: overall the night got a 2 thumbs up, said it was just so great to see everyone together, a lot of folks are fired up.

[Catherine Vincent]

18. Not to worry my friend.

That night was about United in the Democratic party. It had nothing to do with bush and his lying azz and corrupt administration. Kerry will talk about that in time and there will be other individuals to bring it up including the ads.