My impression is John F*ckin' sucked. The speech was too long, it lacked a theme and he never told us how his Administration would be different from that of President Bush. It was long on generalities, dwelled on anecdotes, short on humor, and sound me-too Republican. Apparently Kerry wants to frame the election as contest between a real Republican and a Republican Lite. Which means he will lose. The simple rule is if people are given a choice between the genuine article and the pretend one, they will choose the genuine one every time. Its human nature. What I'm most struck by is that Kerry is a liberal and could not find it in himself to tell a national audience, "I'm a liberal and proud of it." He did not once mention either the "L" word or the "P" word for that matter this evening. And he wants the election to be about big ideas. Yeah, he'll win over people by thinking if he pretends to be a Republican, their hearts will melt for him. What I think killed this speech is its utter lack of honest, heartfelt sincerity. It was all about telling the American people what he thinks they wanted to hear. And that my friends, is his downfall: Kerry will NEVER be a leader.
I did not watch it all but I did think from what I saw this guy would make a fair Republican as long as he is supervised...I think President Bush should welcome Kerry's new found toughness and promise to find a nice job for him in his next administration.....he could work under Cheney or something
Let me help you with some of this. Other than celebrating the military, which he won't use, unless in extremis, and spending more in the military, and leaving the national guard back home to cut lawns, Kerry did not sound like a Republican - not even a moderate Republican. I have an ear for moderate Republicanism. I know that melody quite well, both in major and minor key.
He would have done better admitting he was a liberal, and justifying that. But he can't be sincere, because he has no "core values" (other than self-promotion). Everything is tangled up inside him, like a big string ball of inconsistent positions. That's why he dared to say he would balance the bidget while promising the biggest expansion of middle class entitlements since FDR.
BINGO.
If you are something that you can't be proud of as you are running for high(est!) office, people are going to avoid your insincerity like the plague. [I think his dying mother, bless her soul, was trying to TELL him something here...]
He has the most liberal voting record of ANY senator, yet cannot be proud of it. He will madden his weenie progressive base and disgust the average uninvolved moderate with his lack of a core.