John Kerry coming up on Hardball at 7PM on Battle for the White House!

[flpoljunkie]

John Kerry on Hardball with Chris Matthews at Harvard University tonight!

Kerry will be appearing on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews on Monday, Oct. 20. Hardball airs at 7pm ET, 6 CT, 5 MT and 4 PT on MSNBC

[Meshuga]

1. Can the make-up people put more blush...

on Kerry's face? Man! :-)

[sandnsea]

2. Outstanding!

He was great tonight. A nice mix of policy and personality. Yogi Berra is his favorite philosopher, that was priceless! "'I came to a fork in the road and I took it' How much better can you get?"

[NewYorkerfromMass]

3. The GD thread sounds like he kicked major ass tonight

I have never watched 'tweety' so I have no idea what he's like.
Did he handle the Iraq war question convincingly?

[sandnsea]

4. Except for those who want to play stupid

Yes he support force if it was necessary to disarm Saddam. No, he did not support the war the way Bush went about it. You do not go to war unless you have to. I would think it became crystal clear when Chris asked "Would you still be engaging in diplomacy, even now" and Kerry said "Yes, why not? It's cool in the spring, it's cool in the fall." In addition, Chris showed a replay of Kerry at the Citadel where he said the Iraq situation has to be managed to 'maximize' the potential for success. (Something like that) Explaining that everything he has been saying about this war, he's been saying all along, and that we could use that 'maximium' support and diplomacy right now. He just did very well and answered so many questions with so much more authority and knowledge than any other candidate. And he had some funny one-liners as well. It was really a good interview. He even got Matthews on one. Chris was trying to get him on the anti-war sentiment and had the anti-war people applaud. Kerry turned right around and asked "How many people think a Kerry Presidency would be terrific?" and got his own applause and then they went to commercial. It was great.

Watch the repeat if you can, or get the transcript tomorrow.

[gasperc]

5. Kerry's been my guy for awhile, watching Clark close

I just missed a chance to meet Kerry Friday. He was supposed to come to the Arab American conference but the vote kept most of them in DC. Clark got laryngitis so I missed him too.

:kick:

[sandnsea]

6. How disappointing

Didn't he speak by satellite or something though? Were you at the whole convention? He said something I wanted to ask about, but I have to jog my memory here.

I'm sold on Kerry, but if he just doesn't 'take' for some bizarre reason, I'm also looking at Clark, Edwards or Gephardt. They'd be great Presidents too, I'm just not sure they could beat Bush as soundly as Kerry could.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

7. Kerry has to stop giving 90 minute speeches on the campaign trail

I swear that's what I read he did the other day in NH.
That's the only reason he's not taking- he's densely intelligent and it can come off as intimidating and out of touch if he goes into overly long explanations. He needs to keep his answers brief and direct.

Thanks for the highlights from Hardball. Sounds like he was well prepared for the format. Not that he's ever not 'ready for anything'!

[gasperc]

11. Yeah, you have a point

I was listening close to him during his first 10-15mins, then lost interest the next 5-10 before he got me interested again. He can be cerebral which can be a problem on the trail, we need need that in the white house not on the trail. Clinton was good at that.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

14. We need more 'drive by intelligence'

as it were. I think 10 to 15 minutes is PLENTY of time to highlight key points and demonstrate depth of knowledge on a subject.
Kerry is much better at answering questions and perhaps he needs to do more of this.

Dukakis, a similarly cerebral candidate, did the best in the Q and A format, and he campaigned in this way exclusively the final 2 weeks in '88 when it was obvious he was going to lose unless he did something drastic. It helped him close down the gap a bit, but obviously way too late as the negative impressions of him were set by then.

If people get to see Kerry more in this format he will pick up lots of undecideds who simply don't know enough about him. A friend of mine who was distant to Kerry warmed up greatly over the Labor Day weekend after seeing him on MtP. He said- "Wow, he really is good (knows his shit) and would make a good president." He was especially impressed by his handling of the ever-predatory Russert.

The bottom line here is Kerry can both inspire confidence when he displays his intellect, and also intimidate and turn away.

[gasperc]

10. yeah I saw him via satellite, and Kuchinich

and a good friend of Clark gave his speech for him, but it just wasn't the same

[sandnsea]

12. True

But you got to see Joe!!!

I remember the statement now, that's where he talked about that kooky General. Did he say anything more than this isn't 'some sort of battle for the Christian religion'? And did he say anything about the wall? Or anything one way or the other on the ME that gave you a clear impression that he wouldn't just trudge down the same old path?

[JI7]

13. zogby said kerry did great at arab am conf

zogby said kerry probably did the best in reaching out and touching others with his speech.

[DrFunkenstein]

8. Kerry Kicked Ass Last Time At Citadel

He was definitely rocking with the troops.

[curse10]

9. It was awesome!

I sat right behind Kerry, but three levels up :-) I had a good view of the top of his head.

Before the show began he had a reception for some of the local college kids and he gave a mini-speech beforehand and asked some questions. Told us to give him tough questions, he wasn't afraid to answer anything. :-)