Regards, Ivan
Posted on 07/31/2004 7:40:39 AM PDT by MadIvan
IF GEORGE Bush did not bend his strict 10 o’clock bedtime during the Iraq war, he was not going to make an exception for John Kerry.
So the US president was sound asleep when his election rival addressed the nation on Thursday night, his spokesman said.
But as yesterday morning came and Americans began to digest Mr Kerry’s acceptance speech over their breakfasts, Mr Bush set out on a whistle-stop tour of key states to steal back some of the fire the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate had stoked up at the party convention in Boston.
Casting his rival as a man of few achievements and offering a bare-bones preview of his second-term agenda, Mr Bush told the party faithful in Springfield, Missouri: "We’re turning the corner and we’re not turning back.
"When it comes to choosing a president, results matter," said Mr Bush, who spent a week in self-imposed silence at his Texas ranch during the Democratic convention, which he summed up as a collection of "clever speeches" and "big promises".
"My opponent has good intentions, but intentions don’t always translate into results. After 19 years in the United States Senate, my opponent has had thousands of votes but very few signature achievements."
Mr Kerry plunged into the general election and embarked yesterday on a coast-to-coast campaign swing through 21 states aimed at convincing millions of undecided voters that he will stand up for ordinary Americans.
"Ninety-seven days, let’s make it happen," Mr Kerry told supporters at an early-morning rally at Boston harbour.
Mr Kerry and his running mate, John Edwards, left Boston with the actor Ben Affleck to start a two-week, 3,500-mile campaign on buses emblazoned with the words, "Believe in America".
As the convention delegates gradually left Boston, the headlines for Mr Kerry looked good. The red, white and blue balloons had taken a while to drop, but otherwise the four-day speechmaking festival seemed to have gone well. Even Mr Bush’s official spokesman conceded Mr Kerry’s speech had been "well crafted".
Those who had expected the oratorically challenged Mr Kerry to flop were disappointed. He made his entrance through the crowd, not from the stage, his 6ft 4in frame towering above even some of the delegates with tall hats, adding to the drama.
With Bruce Springsteen’s No Surrender blaring and stars and stripes everywhere, Mr Kerry spent so long revelling in the applause that it began to look as if he did not want his speech to start. Then it did - with a salute.
"I’m John Kerry and I’m reporting for duty," he said, providing the picture that adorned millions of newspaper front pages yesterday. The martial overtones are now the essence of the Kerry campaign.
He then surprised his critics by delivering a speech that was, for most of its 45 minutes, lively and even humorous as he tip-toed along his carefully crafted position of supporting the Iraq war, while criticising its implementation.
"I will be a commander-in-chief who will never mislead us into war," he said, in a clear jibe at Mr Bush. "Saying there are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq does not make it so.
"As president, I will ask the hard questions and demand hard evidence," he said, an allusion to the widespread feeling that Mr Bush failed to ask hard questions of the intelligence on Saddam’s weapons.
"I will bring back this nation’s time-honoured 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."
With Boston dismantling the £27 million security network, which saw thousands of peaceful protests and only one arrest, the teams of both Mr Bush and Mr Kerry will concentrate their efforts on swing states.
This weekend, both chose Michigan and Ohio, so tightly fought that a few hundred voters could overturn the result. But the same is true for a dozen states, most larger than Britain.
For both teams, the dogfight has just begun.
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
"Dork" works for me Ivan!
Thanks greatly, MI!
I have a theory that everything is larger than Britain.
Which only highlights your poor knowledge of geography.
Regards, Ivan
Absolutely right.
No point in 'talking the talk', if you can't 'walk the walk'. :-)
No, really. Most doorknobs are bigger than Britain.
HA, I just love the idea that the President slept peacefully through Kerry's speech as if it was of no consequence whatsoever.
Thanks for the ping.
Now you're making a case for giving you stronger medication.
Regards, Ivan
The President was merely getting a jump start on the soporific effects of Kerry's speech anyway. ;)
Regards, Ivan
Aaaaaand - they're off !
Most medications are bigger than Britain.
I was wrong. Perhaps you're taking too many pills. Remember, just because they look like candy means you shouldn't pop them like candy.
Regards, Ivan
Good grief! So they could immediately blow their breakfast?
Here's some more information WE could hit the Left with as well!!!!
My Gloves are OFF now!!!!
Below:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1182225/posts
O great - J. ForbesKerry and his merry band of brothers are off looting the countryside and our two champions are hors de combat, engaged in a private feud over whose thing is smaller.
M&M's are bigger than Britain.
Britain is this wee little tiny land with wee little tiny people living on it. They get into wee little tiny cars and get pulled over for speeding just a wee little bit by wee little policemen.
My thing is bigger than Britain.
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