Ah, the Herald raves about Sen. Kerry's 8/27/08 speech

[TayTay]

Yeah, the Boston Herald. Yeah, honest, that Boston Herald, you know, the one in Boston. Yeah, that one. Really!

John Kerry is back on duty
http://bostonherald.com/news/opinion/editorials/view.bg?articleid=1115611">By Boston Herald editorial staff
Thursday, August 28, 2008

Four years ago at this gathering Sen. John Kerry famously “reported for duty” as his party’s presidential nominee. In 2008 he has had to concede that role to Barack Obama, who used that same convention stage in Boston to launch his own national political career. But if this Navy man will indulge us an Army metaphor we would note that, on the national stage, Kerry remains the loyal soldier.

It seems the passage of time has done for our junior senator what it has been harder for Hillary Clinton to do. Only the pettiest of pundits could argue her speech on Tuesday night and her show of unity yesterday was anything less than a full-throated endorsement of Obama. But frustration and disappointment remain palpable in Clinton circles while Kerry, since his early endorsement, has flown hither and yon to promote Obama’s own fitness for duty.

It was a role he took up again on the convention stage last night, a night focused on security.

“When we choose a commander-in-chief this November we are electing judgment and character, not years in the Senate or years on this earth,” Kerry said. “Time and again, Barack Obama has seen farther, thought harder and listened better - and time and again, Barack Obama has been proven right.”

And while dishing up the red meat Kerry also managed to poke a little fun at himself, citing, for example, John McCain’s change of heart on the Bush tax cuts.

“Talk about being for it before you’re against it,” he said.

No, John Kerry is not above lamenting what “coulda been.” In a meeting at the Herald this summer he was quick to point out that it was his health care plan on which Obama and Clinton modeled theirs, that his views on Iraq were “proven right” by the Maliki government’s call for a withdrawal timetable.

But at the same time he insisted he is not “wistful.” Those watching last night would be hard-pressed to doubt him.

Okay, I get one time to say this, but, geez, I told you guys: the good Senator would speak, it would be great and things would work out. You gotta have a little faith sometimes. I was, ah if you don't me me saying so, right, as it were.

[MBS]

1. this is a much better account than the Globe's. . .

which was, at best, a pedestrian by-the-numbers description of the speech, completely missing its heart and deeper significance. I never thought I'd say this, but, thank you, Boston Herald!

[beachmom]

2. The Herald officially as a right leaning publication is against Kerry.

But it has become exceedingly clear to me, that they secretly like him. They will run the gossip stuff, the right wing columnists, et al. But then they also run when he does good, when the Globe usually ignores him.

So I have no illusions about the Herald and what their mission is. But their softer side comes out once in a while.

[JI7]

3. i hope the mass media gave him better coverage

than what he got from the msm(at least tv).

he really did do well. and probably did the best in laying out why one should vote for Obama over McCain regardless of party or anything else.

[beachmom]

5. If NPR is an indication, not so good. I heard their report, and they said

Bill Clinton spoke and then was followed by Joe Biden. So they erased him.

This is part of the problem with some liberal friends I have. They don't like "biased media", and just watch an hour of news a day (like BBC, the News Hour, or NPR). And it is next to impossible to convince them that a) biased media INFLUENCES their high brow news reports they watch so they can be all snooty against left/right media/blogs but it shapes what they hear, and b) those shows are not as good as everyone thinks causing you to miss important things. Like John Kerry kick ass speech last night!

[beachmom]

4. Hey I never doubted you, Tay. But I must say, last week I figured

he was going to give an insightful foreign policy type speech. Then after Tuesday, I thought: damn, he needs to skewer McCain, as nobody had done that yet in a sustained blatant way. I am so glad that is the way he went!

So in a sense, the speech was a surprise to me. But I figured things would work out no matter what.

He was, however, snubbed by the networks. So what some people worried about did actually come to pass.

[Noisy Democrat]

6. CNN doesn't even have the video online

At least MSNBC posted the video on their website after they blacked him out of the broadcast. CNN didn't even post the video.

ETA: CNN doesn't even have JK on its list of "other scheduled speakers" for yesterday. Did the DNC not list JK's name on the schedule that it gave to the networks?

[TayTay]

8. Sigh! What do you remember of the 04 Convention?

I remember that I liked Bill Clinton's speech praising Sen. Kerry with his, "Send me," line. I remember the Rev. Al Sharpton's speech. I remember Sen. Kerry's speech. That's it.

A Convention speech has a shelf life of about 5 days for everyone who isn't the nominee of the Party that year. That is how it has always been and how it will be. The other speakers will not be remembered, it is not "their" convention, after all.

Sen. Kerry did fine. He may not have broken into the pre-written narrative that this Convention was a psychic (or psycho) drama - slash - epic battle between the star-crossed machinations of the crumbling Clinton Machine and the awe-inspiring, speechifying abilities of the new young god from Illinois. So be it. Did you really think anything would break through that din?

What Sen. Kerry did was help to put out an argument that can be used effectively against John McCain. He did one hell of a job of showing where McCain is vulnerable and how he can be attacked. This speech will have "tails" and echoes throughout the rest of the year. It was a tour de force of political logic and ability. Ah, the Senator done good.

I also remember the surrogates for Sen. Kerry in '04 who spoke in appearances after the Convention. Gen. Clark did an outstanding job in that regard as did many others. They did great work and helped to nearly seal the deal for Kerry in '04. I think Sen. Kerry will be one of those helping to seal the deal this time for Obama and for the Dem Party. And that is a damn fine place to be. From where I'm sitting, it all looks damned fine.

The job of the Convention is not to electrify the pundits, it's to electrify the Democrats. Sen. Kerry's speech helped do that. The fact that this speech is being passed around the political web like some sort of must-have candy is amazing. It's gone viral, my dear, and it will have an effect.

[beachmom]

9. Just a teeny tiny addition to '04 speakers long remembered after the convention. Ahem.

The current nominee for President maybe?

What I remember about '04 was Kerry's speech and Obama's. Clinton's was good in saying hey I was a drafter dodger, and so were you George! Oh, and Kerry's family. That meant a lot, and really endeared me to him. The Obamas have done that this time around as well.

[TayTay]

11. hahahahahha! Ya got me!

That was such a colossal given that I forgot to mention it. No Barack at the '04 speech, no Barack in 08.

LOL, Ya got me on that one!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

LOL and :patriot:

[MarjorieG]

15. Thanks, always, for your perspective. Conventions are for us to become enthused and work hard.

That the MSM so missed our convention, with Chuck Todd even pointing to the RW points may use-only-is discouraging. They thought they had to bring too many talking heads to fill time, when fewer interspersed with speeches would have been more engaging and informative.

Now they'll have learned their lessons to present the RNC in full attack mode.

[karynnj]

19. You don't remember Alexandra's and Vanessa's speeches??

I loved them - especially Alexandra's hamster story. If there was anything that humanized Kerry it was the story of him jumping in to save a hamster - or more likely to save those girls the pain of it dying.

I do agree that Kerry's lines and arguments are what was important and I suspect that they will be repeated by other Democrats -maybe altered may be not. What was clear was that Michelle Obama looked incredibly happy with the speech and Biden took the time to thank him. That's the most that could be expected. Also, among internet activists, he got a huge amount of praise. It is actually impressive that a 13 to 14 minute speech did this much. (The cable near black out actually seemed to surprise some on the blogs - and that helps get them to realize that the deck was stacked in 2004.)

[YvonneCa]

7. Yes, you were right. I get through by...

...remembering to trust Senator Kerry's judgment and decisions. That's what I did about this...and everything surrounding this election...trust. Our Democrats are smart. They've been through this stuff before. They know what to do, and what the country needs.

I have to say...on this particular morning...I have never been prouder of ALL my Democrats. Especially Senator (My President ;) ) Kerry. In 2004, when I said we needed every Democratic leader to stand up and loudly say the truth, I envisioned the setting on the steps of the Capitol. I was wrong about the setting. But the rest of my wish has come true. Yesterday's show of unity and speaking truth to power reduced me to tears, multiple times. I could see the same was happening to others in the audience (like Michelle Obama, for instance).

We, the people, NEED leaders. We, the people, NEED our country back. We, the people, saw yesterday that we DO have good and strong, patriotic leaders willing to speak for us.

Thank you to Senator Kerry, President Clinton and Senator Hillary Clinton. Thank you to Barack Obama and Joe Biden and all the other Democrats who are standing up and speaking out. And thank you to the Democrats we will hear from today, including Al Gore and Howard Dean.

I can hardly wait for today's events! :patriot:

[ProSense]

10. Awesome. So is

this.


This, not so much.

[ProSense]

12. Posted

here

[ProSense]

13. Another

here.

[TayTay]

14. Ah, you gotta read this comment

I know it's snarky, but, dammit, :rofl: From the Washington Monthly, comment section on http://www2.washingtonmonthly.com/mt/mt-comments.cgi?entry_id=14441">Kevin Drum's column.

This new John Kerry is something else. My wife and I were listening on NPR and I was certain that it was somebody else, I guessed Byron Dorgan. Then we turned on the TV and it was as if it were Clark Kent who ran for President in 04, but this guy was Superman.

Posted by: Capt Kirk on August 28, 2008 at 10:40 AM | PERMALINK

[ProSense]

16. That's hilarious.

FYI: Steven Benen of The Carpetbagger moved to Washington Monthly and is doing the post with Hilzoy.

Kevin Drum is at the MoJo blog.

[TayTay]

18. okay, you're right

I'm going back to finding pictures.

Oy! Text is not my forte today, is it?

LOL!

[ProSense]

23. LOL! n/t

[MBS]

17. I also agreed with this comment (BTW, lots of positive comments there!!)

I got the sense last night that Kerry was taking care of some unfinished business. Like Gore, I don't think Kerry "got over it." He's been keeping his powder dry for the next opportunity to take a lethal shot. . . .

Posted by: petorado on August 28, 2008 at 10:26 AM |

[beachmom]

20. Joe Klein called it in 2004!!

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101040802-672573,00.html

My guess is that Kerry's near death process works like this: He starts a campaign trying to do the right thing, but successful politics requires all sorts of creative roguery. His sense of civic propriety limits his ability to act ruthlessly (firing his campaign manager, for example) or flamboyantly (giving an entertaining, personal, red-meat stump speech). Kerry's sense of policy propriety renders his attempts at political expediency—the promises and compromises necessary to woo constituencies—tortured and unconvincing. He writhes about, descends into rhetorical abstractions, spends too much time thinking about what he is doing wrong and comes across as distanced, distracted, aloof. A perfect phony. And then Kerry's primordial sense of survival on the battlefield, honed and burnished in Vietnam, kicks in, and he does what he must to win: he acts like a real politician. From a distance, the process seems like a comic-book-hero transformation. Kerry enters the phone booth sipping French wine and emerges with a knife in his teeth, ready for battle.

[MBS]

24. I still remember that last sentence from 2004

"enters the phone booth sipping French wine and emerges with a knife in his teeth, ready for battle". . oh, yeah. That's JK. I just love the image.

[karynnj]

21. That's an amazing comment

Both the superman analogy and Byron Dorgan (!)

[Democrafty]

22. Can't say I necessarily agree,

but that comment is absolutely priceless! Hahahaha!