Depressing

[partisan]

I just watched Senator Kerry's speech at the 2004 DNC. I wish I hadn't. It has left me depressed. I think I've asked myself 25 times, "How the f--- did we lose?" I don't mean to bring up the past because that is not what Kerry or the rest of you are about. It's just a shame. Where would we be had he won? Some gems from the speech:

"What does it mean in America today when Dave McCune, a steelworker that I met in Canton, Ohio, saw his job sent overseas and the equipment in his factory was literally unbolted, crated up and shipped thousands of miles away, along with that job? What does it mean when workers I've met have had to train their foreign replacements? America can do better. And tonight we say: Help is on the way."

"Now, I know there that are those who criticize me for seeing complexities — and I do — because some issues just aren't all that simple. Saying there are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq doesn't make it so. Saying we can fight a war on the cheap doesn't make it so. And proclaiming "Mission accomplished" certainly doesn't make it so. As president, I will ask the hard questions and demand hard evidence. I will immediately reform the intelligence system, so policy is guided by facts and facts are never distorted by politics. And as president, I will bring back this nation's time-honored tradition: The United States of America never goes to war because we want to; we only go to war because we have to. That is the standard of our nation."

"I want to address these next words directly to President George W. Bush. In the weeks ahead, let's be optimists, not just opponents. Let's build unity in the American family, not angry division. Let's honor this nation's diversity. Let's respect one another. And let's never misuse for political purposes the most precious document in American history, the Constitution of the United States."

My personal favorite: "I think of what Ron Reagan said of his father a few weeks ago, and I want to say this to you tonight: I don't wear my religion on my sleeve, but faith has given me values and hope to live by, from Vietnam to this day, from Sunday to Sunday. I don't want to claim that God is on our side. As Abraham Lincoln told us, I want to pray humbly that we are on God's side."

Disregard this thread if you don't feel like hanging on the past.

[BlueIris]

1. Well, FWIW, I think that part of 2004 is worth hanging onto.

But that could just be my "Kerry-ran-a-great-campaign-SO-SHUT-IT-YOU-'PROGRESSIVE'-HACK" part of my brain talking. And at this point, I think reminiscing about the past is just a nice prelude to the future.

[karynnj]

2. Actually I think we've all gone there

with every Kerry was right moment and whenever Bush does something stupid or thoughtless or that will lead to more pain,

We remember the hope of late September and October. Reading the Kerry blog and watching the coverage, mostly on CSPAN that the blog alerted us to there was so much hope and it simply seemed so rght. (In retrospect, I think why didn't I see that it was a huge problem that what I was seeing on CSPAN and in the incredible crowd photos on the blog wasn't what I saw elsewhere.

Earlier, during the primaries, there was another epiphany. Senator Kerry was not simply an attractive candidate who was smart and could win. I recently expalined to my middle daughter why I was so committed to Kerry in 2004 and afterwards - it was the opposite of the ABB idea.

Learning more about Senator Kerry, I saw he was not just an acceptable candidate on the Democratic side - my team - but a statesman with intense integrity and characyer. My kids were small kids when Clinton was elected. I was for him once he won the nomination, because he was the Democrat. During the general election, I was happy we were winning and began to like Clinton - he was charming.

The problem is that there were so many things like -he had no core principles that I could be absolutely sure he was stand by and he clearly had some problems with how he treated people who he didn't need. (I was anti-war in the 60s, but I was disturbed by the nasty snear that I visualized when I read the letter to the ROTC guy who had helped him avoid Vietnam. I understood backing out - but not the undeserved nastiness.) I cared less about his infidelities than the fact that they were sometimes in government and because when caught he immediately cast asperions on their character or sanity.

I was political enough though that I told my kids that he was doing a great job as President and that that was what was important. This was pretty confusing to them. In retrospect, I should have been more critical. Gore offered relief from that but I had never agreed with his policies - he was too conservative and I had vague negative memories from 1988. (I like him much more now when he mostly speaks of global warming.)

In Kerry, I saw a once in a generation statesman, who was the perfect antidote to Bush - there was an honesty you could see, his policies and vision was extraordinary and the more I saw of him, it was clear he was a genuinely nice person. A president we could trust and be proud of.

It is good though to see the speech again - it was great and the commentary by everyone was that Kerry hit it out of the ballpark. Now, the CW is the convention was "too nice" and Kerry needed to attack Bush. In fact, he had to introduce himself, allow people to see that he could be President and be likable - which you can't do if you are attacking. The Edwards speech was a bit of a dissapointment - maybe because Obama was so good or the expectations were too high.

We at least need to remember the truth - this campaign played on a level playing field would have been a landslide. Consider just one little thing - in any prior year if it seemed likely that one of the candidates was wired to get answers, would it have been laughed off or ignored? In retrospect, this and the nonchalance that met the despicable purpleheart bandaids show that the media and a segment of the population saw Bush for what he was and were so bonded that they could accept that and still stay on his team. They never gave Kerry a chance.

[beachmom]

3. Thanks for the excerpts, partisan

Here's my memory of convention week:

I watched Obama, and I was so excited that I couldn't sleep that night.

I watched Kerry, and I was so excited that I couldn't sleep that night.



Anyone who thinks Kerry doesn't have vision or a gift in writing and making speeches doesn't know what the heck they're talking about. Obama's speech was a nice unity speech to soften everyone up. Kerry's was full of substance on what precisely he, as the Democratic nominee, was actually going to do. They were a wonderful tag team, and anyone who insists on rewriting history is doing precisely that.

If you really want to get depressed -- review the debates, and then ponder how ANYONE, short of a right wing ideologue, could watch those debates and come to any other conclusion than that Kerry was the most qualified and thoughtful to be president.



The troop surge is yet another example of how damned different a president Kerry would have been over Bush. Depressing indeed.

[karynnj]

4. nice summary

I would add that the entire event showcased Kerry and showed the person and leader he was. From Cleland and the African American minister who was on Kerry's swiftboat to Alexandra and Vanessa with their two very different speeches, they all were able to speak of a person they clearly loved and admired. (Who else, but Kerry, would rescue a hamster?)

[sandnsea]

5. It was in the stars dammit

The Redskins-Packers football game. The Sox winning the Series. It was all lined up. He HAD to win.

When Ohio didn't go our way, I felt like the universe had turned upside down, that the planets were misaligned. It simply made no sense.

We lost so much, from him and Teresa both. There are a few good Democrats who would do a good job in the White House, but I don't feel like there is anybody else who has the complete understanding of all that's wrong in the world and a vision and commitment to fix it. It's just a damned shame.

[partisan]

6. I'm currently in college, but

I hope every day that John will declare for President. I would be more than happy to take some time off of school and pack up from Houston and move on up to Iowa for a few months. I'm just waiting for the go ahead.