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balderdash111 · 07-30-2004, 07:19 AM

Let me start by saying I plan to vote for Kerry, unless he suddenly proclaims his life-long admiration for the social policies of Adolf Hitler or something.

That said, I was very disappointed by the speech.

A whole lot of discussion of unity, etc. and except for a few specific points (tax cuts, messing with the constitution, health care and many jabs about being truthful and full of integrity), not very clear on how he's offering something different from the Republicans.

Let's look at the intelligence issue, for example. Both sides are now saying they want to revamp the intelligence apparatus based on the 9/11 report. No big difference there, but Kerry made a big point about how he plans to do that in his speech.

He also made a big point about being careful when going to war, drawing an implied (and I think accurate) contrast with the current administration. But don't you think the current admin will be more careful too? Can you imagine the fall-out if they did the same thing (say, to Iran or North Korea) AGAIN?

I was also unimpressed by the delivery. He was sweating a good deal (enough to get through the make-up and shine under the lights anyway), and he had this weird habit of sort of shifting from one side to the other (insert Republican ad hominem attack here) as he talked. Sort of like he was doing a little march in place at times. It was a little unsettling.

On Monday night, when Bill Clinton was walking out to HUGE applause , someone on CNN blurted out "and this is why he's on Monday." Don't know if it was meant for air (I didn't think so at the time) but it was a good point - Clinton is SO much better at this than Kerry is, that had they been the same night, Kerry would have looked terrible.

Kerry's just not that good at the Big Speech thing. (Bush the First had the problem with the Vision thing, Clinton had the Blowjob thing, and Bush the Second had the Iraq thing).

Again, I'm going to vote for him, barring a disaster, but I really was disappointed with the performance.

Oh, and to try to answer jcook's question, I think he plans to increase revenues a couple of ways - roll back the tax cuts, eliminate or reduce so-called "corporate welfare" and other tax loopholes (he mentioned outsourcing tax benefits, but I don't know what they are, exactly) and, implicitly, raise taxes on those who make over $200k a year.

*edit*

And by the way, I have to agree with those who said they didn't think the crowd was loving the speech. Sure they applauded on the various points, but there weren't the kind of wild cheers you sometimes see at these things.

That said, is Bush going to do any better? I really doubt it.

07-30-2004, 07:19 AM	#19 (permalink)
balderdash111 Psycho	Let me start by saying I plan to vote for Kerry, unless he suddenly proclaims his life-long admiration for the social policies of Adolf Hitler or something. That said, I was very disappointed by the speech. A whole lot of discussion of unity, etc. and except for a few specific points (tax cuts, messing with the constitution, health care and many jabs about being truthful and full of integrity), not very clear on how he's offering something different from the Republicans. Let's look at the intelligence issue, for example. Both sides are now saying they want to revamp the intelligence apparatus based on the 9/11 report. No big difference there, but Kerry made a big point about how he plans to do that in his speech. He also made a big point about being careful when going to war, drawing an implied (and I think accurate) contrast with the current administration. But don't you think the current admin will be more careful too? Can you imagine the fall-out if they did the same thing (say, to Iran or North Korea) AGAIN? I was also unimpressed by the delivery. He was sweating a good deal (enough to get through the make-up and shine under the lights anyway), and he had this weird habit of sort of shifting from one side to the other (insert Republican ad hominem attack here) as he talked. Sort of like he was doing a little march in place at times. It was a little unsettling. On Monday night, when Bill Clinton was walking out to HUGE applause , someone on CNN blurted out "and this is why he's on Monday." Don't know if it was meant for air (I didn't think so at the time) but it was a good point - Clinton is SO much better at this than Kerry is, that had they been the same night, Kerry would have looked terrible. Kerry's just not that good at the Big Speech thing. (Bush the First had the problem with the Vision thing, Clinton had the Blowjob thing, and Bush the Second had the Iraq thing). Again, I'm going to vote for him, barring a disaster, but I really was disappointed with the performance. Oh, and to try to answer jcook's question, I think he plans to increase revenues a couple of ways - roll back the tax cuts, eliminate or reduce so-called "corporate welfare" and other tax loopholes (he mentioned outsourcing tax benefits, but I don't know what they are, exactly) and, implicitly, raise taxes on those who make over $200k a year. edit And by the way, I have to agree with those who said they didn't think the crowd was loving the speech. Sure they applauded on the various points, but there weren't the kind of wild cheers you sometimes see at these things. That said, is Bush going to do any better? I really doubt it. Last edited by balderdash111; 07-30-2004 at 07:24 AM..