Speaking Advice to Kerry for the Week

[BlueNomad]

Well. I have watched the debate twice now and continue to check my guy out on the stump. Technically this should Be his week and his debate.....

1. Kerry needs to move away from the "people like you" to I will fight for you; "we will fight for you." One line is inadvertently haughty. It sets you above the crowd--no matter how well meaning--the other asserts what it needs to assert--that regardless of where you are and where I am I will fight for YOU.

2. The trial lawyer issue. One reason the Gallup polls came back favorable this summer on Edwards' trial experience is because of his work helping the "little guy" against greedy corporate mongers. That can evaporate if Edwards does not remember to hit on the whole fighting for the little guy issue. When people scream about the doctors, tell the stories like the swimming pool case (run in the Washington Post) where a little girl had her intestines eviscerated by the drainage tube's faulty cover. The company had at least 10 complaints/cases and simply failed to pay the pittance to fix them.

Talk more about their "plan" for a case review panel to reduce frivolous lawsuits. Mention how frivolous cases are less than 1% of the total cost of rising medical costs.

3. Jobs. From Kerry, I am not hearing enough about how so many new jobs are low wage no insurance service jobs. Geezus. Just say $7.00 an hour jobs are replacing 20.00 an hour jobs. And keep repeating it. I want to hear that on a minimum wage job a family earns $11,0000 a year and George Bush has not supported raising the minimum wage-- not I got a "plan", "plan", "plan."

Furthermore, when is someone going to say--the average family got their BUSH tax rebate and it was what? $200 or 400 (insert figure whatever the average was-) Did that cover your extra cost of gas? NO! Did that cover the huge jump in your food bill? NO! Did it cover your medical insurance premiums that have jumped to nearly 10,000.00? NO! Who are we kidding about these tax cuts?

Also fact check has corrected the Kerry thing on job loss. So frigging add PRIVATE SECTOR JOBS if you are going to keep using that loss figure or say hundreds of thousands of jobs. Make a decision.

4. Orwellian....on the environment...I like "Orwellian" but does the trucker from Ohio get that. Hit the environment on the destruction of air and water --lead and asthma for us folks in the cities--deterioration of camp and fishing grounds for the rural and suburban sports men and women...

5. Kerry needs to know when to stop explaining. That second debate comment on the military handles the war; the president handles the peace was brilliant, beautiful. He should have just stopped right there. BANG. Same on abortion. I am a Catholic, pro choice too and thought he was sensitive and on the money when he began saying it was not right to legislate his morality onto someone else's. That's the ticket baby...but then he persisted in rambling. You don't need to keep going and going because if a person is rabidly anti-abortion---nothing--nothing you say it going to make them vote for you.

Now I will get off my soapbox and go back to my coffee.

[shraby]

1. Concerning the jobs subject,

he also could point out that many of the jobs that have been created are government jobs, and some are jobs to fill in for the national guard that have been sent to Iraq.

[Blue_Roses]

2. I agree and the abortion

comments are right on. You're right--abortion is not a topic to get "caught" up on. This is such a baited question and it's one of those trick questions because there is no answer that is the right answer if you are pro-choice trying to make your case to the pro-lifers. It's a dead end.

[BillZBubb]

3. Very good points.

Kerry needs to be concerned about some of his statements that do leave an elitist mark. I cringed when he said only three people in the audience would be impacted by his tax proposal-Bush*, Gibson, and himself. That sounded presumptuous and snooty to me.

Same on your point about "people like you". That's condescending.

Also, "Orwellian" was a great reference, but he should have added a sentence to explain it. "In the Orwellian world, "war is peace", "ignorance is strenth". In the Bush* world, a "Clear skies initiative" is a free pass to polluters.

I've already posted my disappointment on Kerry's abortion and stem cell responses. You are right on the money.

Bear in mind that even with all these criticisms, Kerry still bested Bush*. It just wasn't the blowout it could have been.

[BlueNomad]

4. completely..

agree with you on this. I thought Kerry won that debate by at least 10 points. But then again I don't like to see a sitting President practically assault a news moderator in the middle of a debate...