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Impeach George Bush
Kerry Stops the Hemorrhaging
It's as if while we weren't looking John Kerry stepped into the phone booth as Clark Kent and emerged as Superman. Yes, at least for one day anyway, Kerry, master of convoluted context, numbingly nuanced non-answers, and perpetually polysyllabic pentameters, has, voila! turned into a smash-and-slash, take-no-prisoners stump speaker.
Source: Digby et al, 2004-06-17
Candidate: Democratic Party
A startled political press took note of the transformation in its coverage today. The Washington Post's Lois Romano described Kerry's speech to 800 union members gathered in Atlantic City as "passionate" and "populist."
Romano cited this portion of Kerry's remarks: "I'm running for president to put America back to work...I'm running for president because health care is not a benefit just for the wealthy or the elected or the connected...I'm running for president because I know that we could be a hell of a lot stronger in the world if we were to secure our freedom..."
Both the Boston Globe's Glen Johnson and the New York Times' Robin Toner sat upright for another part of Kerry's sizzling New Jersey speech:
"Our tax code has gone from 14 pages to 17,000 pages. Any of you get your own page? Enron's got its own page. Exxon's got its own page. Looks to me like Halliburton's got its own chapter."
A sense of timing is a very important thing in life. I'm thinking Kerry's got one.
Also from the Globe article :
John F. Kerry said yesterday he would appoint a prominent, independent public figure such as John McCain or Bob Dole to investigate allegations of torture by US soldiers during the war on terror, abuse that he suggested was an outgrowth of the Bush administration's liberal interpretation of the Geneva Conventions.
The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, speaking with reporters for the first time in two weeks, said such an investigation is needed to assure the world that the United States remains committed to human rights and to protect its future prisoners of war from similar abuse.
"Torture is not acceptable. Period," Kerry said after his campaign charter touched down in Covington, Ky., so he could attend a fund-raiser across the Ohio River in Cincinnati.
"I think the president is underestimating the full impact of what has happened in the world to our reputation because of that prison scandal. The president himself gave a speech in which he said, 'Oh, it's just a few people.' But now, already, we've seen it's not just a few people, and there are serious questions about how high it goes," Kerry added. "I believe that it's vital for us to prove to the world that this is really not going to be swept under the rug; . . . we're going to prove to the world we're willing to show that we will hold people accountable."
Kerry suggested that the inquiry could be led by McCain, the Republican senator from Arizona and former prisoner of war, or Dole, another veteran and former Republican senator. He also mentioned Senator John Warner, Republican of Virginia, and former senators George J. Mitchell of Maine and Warren B. Rudman of New Hampshire as possible picks.
Kerry noted that the administration "took themselves outside of even the prisoner abuse law that was passed," which raises "very, very serious questions about the messages that went out to leadership within the military, and especially -- ultimately -- to the rank and file." Around the world, Kerry said, "our moral authority has been tarnished as a consequence of what's happened."
Steve Schmidt, a spokesman for President Bush's reelection committee, said the criticism, as well as comments Kerry made about the economy earlier in the day, reflected the "misery and pessimism" of the Democratic campaign. ''It's another example of John Kerry exploiting the war on terror and the prisoner abuse situation for political gain."
From the NY Times piece:
He ended his day at a rain-soaked outdoor rally in Columbus, which drew a large crowd of supporters as well as a scattering of abortion protesters, and some Bush supporters. The Republicans blasted the theme song from "Flipper'' for part of his speech to accuse him of flip-flopping on issues. As dusk fell, Mr. Kerry delivered his paean to the middle class, and the crowd held in a driving rain, cheering as he invoked the legacies of Presidents Clinton and Roosevelt.
The flipper thing is just sad. Kerry's talking about the president of the United States ordering torture and they're playing games.
I'm expecting to see Kerry start to ramp up the energy going into the convention where he will be introduced to the people who are only peripherally paying attention. If it's a good convention and Kerry hits the ground running, Bush may not be able to stop him. Like I said, a sense of timing is incredibly important. It's looking as if Kerry is a long distance runner with the instinct to know when to hang back and when to pull away from the pack.
One can only hope.
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