(2004-07-30) Kerry Acceptance

I thought John Kerry's acceptance speech started out pretty well. But then he reminded me that he's a democrat. As president, I will not privatize Social Security. I will not cut benefits... What does it mean in America today when Dave Mc Cune, a steel worker that I met in Canton, Ohio, saw his job sent overseas and the equipment in his factory was literally unbolted, crated up, and shipped thousands of miles away along with that job? Uh, didn't George W Bush get yelled at for Steel Industry Protectionism (with good reason)?

The 9/11 Commission (World Trade Center, Dealing With Terrorism) has given us a path to follow, endorsed by Democrats, Republicans and the 9/11 families. As president, I will not evade or equivocate, I will immediately implement all the recommendations of that commission. I'd rather hear "They made 100 recommendations, here are the 60 I agree with and will have implemented immediately."

(I was watching on CNN, and when the speech was over, some convention manager's mike was bleeding into the CNN audio: We need more balloons... where are the fucking balloons? I wonder if he got fired today. See David Weinberger thread comments, apparently it was Don Mischer. Or here for more.)

Update Aug02: James Howard Kunstler was not thrilled. Kerry shows no awareness of what this country is up against. The party that produced him has become a kindergarten of whiners, lost in a bawl of childish peeving. It has no recognition of its opponent's real errors and misfeasances, because the Democrats are so intolerant of independent thought that they've allowed the Republicans to do their thinking for them for twenty years. He gives his own platform.