"No nation can preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare." - James Madison
Thursday, July 29, 2004
Convention speeches
Feel free to post your comments about Democratic convention speakers, especially Kerry, here.
5 comments:
Anonymous
said...
For the first time, I was actually inspired by Kerry. I really considered him an "I'm-Not-Bush" before now. But I really do think the idea of making America respected and admired again is a good thing. And in my mind, that's what John Kerry stands for.
Ok, so it's obvious that it's good to respected and admired. What I mean is that this speech somehow drove home to me how important it is. America was once a beacon of hope and freedom and actually fought (at least partly) to make the world safe for democracy. These days, America is feared and hated even by our nominal allies. We are seen as the another Roman or British Empire. I long for those days when we were the good guys!
Oh, and for an argument why it's not just good, but vitally important for our safety that we regain the world's respect, read this article by Fareed Zakaria: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5505947/site/newsweek/
Oh, and the "red, white, and blue" line was cheesy.
I was not very much impressed by it. I have seen this song and dance before by Bush about cutting taxes for the middle class while at the same time increasing the large behemoth that is the federal government. It's either going to be bigger naional debt or higher taxes (despite what he says about cutting taxes)
And he wants to send an extra 40,000 troops to Iraq. I wonder where those troops are going to come from, given how strecthed our forces are throughout the world(Anti-war people, are you paying any attention to this?).
Eithe way, Kerry is going to wipe the floor with Bush this coming november. I probably won't despise him as much as I despised Bush these last four years, but i'll despise him plenty.
As for the other speakers, that whole dick-suck fest for Kerry just made me puke.
Miguel - I think we have less to worry about deficit-spending wise from Kerry than you might think. Remember, he not only proposed cutting taxes for the middle class but raising them on the wealthiest 2%. Since they account for over 90% of the income tax revenue, he'll probably be able to get away with moderate government spending increases and still keep a balanced budget if things go his way.
I wonder about the 40,000 troops too, but I remember he was saying he wouldn't add them in Iraq. That'll help with recruitment a little bit, though not much. (In fact, he came out today saying that he would definitely not commit more troops to Iraq.)
My thoughts - like you, Ben (assuming that's who the anonymous post was), Kerry actually impressed me with his speech. Whenever I've seen him, he's always been engaging, but he took his speaking ability to new heights. I would have liked more policy vision and less old war stories though. About the only thing he sufficiently explained was the tax plan. I hope he clarifies these things before November.
Obama, of course, was great. His speech outlined pretty much what Democrats should have been saying since 1980: that Democratic ideals are ones all Americans can relate to and get behind. And Sharpton was fun to watch - there's still no one that can rant like him. Edwards was, well, Edwards. The rest, especially Dean and Kennedy, were particularly unengaging. (And I remember when Dean was engaging... sigh.)
One thing's for sure - in a public speaking battle, Kerry and Edwards mop the floor with the relatively incompetent Bush and Cheney.
Or, perhaps more importantly than public speaking ability, Kerry could more literally mop the floor with Bush in the presidential-height contest, which has only been wrong once (with respect to the popular vote, at least)!
5 comments:
For the first time, I was actually inspired by Kerry. I really considered him an "I'm-Not-Bush" before now. But I really do think the idea of making America respected and admired again is a good thing. And in my mind, that's what John Kerry stands for.
Ok, so it's obvious that it's good to respected and admired. What I mean is that this speech somehow drove home to me how important it is. America was once a beacon of hope and freedom and actually fought (at least partly) to make the world safe for democracy. These days, America is feared and hated even by our nominal allies. We are seen as the another Roman or British Empire. I long for those days when we were the good guys!
Oh, and for an argument why it's not just good, but vitally important for our safety that we regain the world's respect, read this article by Fareed Zakaria: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5505947/site/newsweek/
Oh, and the "red, white, and blue" line was cheesy.
I was not very much impressed by it. I have seen this song and dance before by Bush about cutting taxes for the middle class while at the same time increasing the large behemoth that is the federal government. It's either going to be bigger naional debt or higher taxes (despite what he says about cutting taxes)
And he wants to send an extra 40,000 troops to Iraq. I wonder where those troops are going to come from, given how strecthed our forces are throughout the world(Anti-war people, are you paying any attention to this?).
Eithe way, Kerry is going to wipe the floor with Bush this coming november. I probably won't despise him as much as I despised Bush these last four years, but i'll despise him plenty.
As for the other speakers, that whole dick-suck fest for Kerry just made me puke.
- miguel
Miguel - I think we have less to worry about deficit-spending wise from Kerry than you might think. Remember, he not only proposed cutting taxes for the middle class but raising them on the wealthiest 2%. Since they account for over 90% of the income tax revenue, he'll probably be able to get away with moderate government spending increases and still keep a balanced budget if things go his way.
I wonder about the 40,000 troops too, but I remember he was saying he wouldn't add them in Iraq. That'll help with recruitment a little bit, though not much. (In fact, he came out today saying that he would definitely not commit more troops to Iraq.)
"Dick-suck fest"... that makes me laugh.
My thoughts - like you, Ben (assuming that's who the anonymous post was), Kerry actually impressed me with his speech. Whenever I've seen him, he's always been engaging, but he took his speaking ability to new heights. I would have liked more policy vision and less old war stories though. About the only thing he sufficiently explained was the tax plan. I hope he clarifies these things before November.
Obama, of course, was great. His speech outlined pretty much what Democrats should have been saying since 1980: that Democratic ideals are ones all Americans can relate to and get behind. And Sharpton was fun to watch - there's still no one that can rant like him. Edwards was, well, Edwards. The rest, especially Dean and Kennedy, were particularly unengaging. (And I remember when Dean was engaging... sigh.)
One thing's for sure - in a public speaking battle, Kerry and Edwards mop the floor with the relatively incompetent Bush and Cheney.
Or, perhaps more importantly than public speaking ability, Kerry could more literally mop the floor with Bush in the presidential-height contest, which has only been wrong once (with respect to the popular vote, at least)!
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/116hhfif.asp
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