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Politics : The Donkey's Inn -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mephisto who wrote (8841)	7/27/2004 4:36:31 PM
From: Mephisto	Respond to of 15516

[Jimmy Carter's Speech] Following are the remarks made by President Jimmy Carter at the Democratic National Convention in Boston on Monday night, as recorded by the Federal News Service, Inc.: Thank you very much. My name is Jimmy Carter, and I am not running for president. But here's what I will be doing -- everything I can to put John Kerry in the White House with John Edwards right there beside him. Twenty-eight years ago, I was running for president, and I said then I want a government as good and as honest and as decent and as competent and as compassionate as are the American people. I say this again tonight, and that's exactly what we will have next January with John Kerry as president of the United States of America. As many of you may know, my first chosen career was the United States Navy where I served as a submarine officer. At that time, my shipmates and I were ready for combat and prepared to give our lives to defend our nation and its principles. At the same time, we always prayed that our readiness would preserve the peace. I served under two presidents -- Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower -- men who represented different political parties; both of whom had faced their active military responsibilities with honor. They knew the horrors of war, and later, as commanders in chief, they exercised restraint and judgment. And they had a clear sense of mission. We have a confidence -- we had a confidence that our leaders, both military and civilian, would not put our soldiers and sailors in harm's way by initiating wars of choice unless America's vital interests were in danger. We also were sure that these presidents would not mislead us when issues involved national security. Today -- today our Democratic Party is led by another former naval officer, one who volunteered for military service. He showed up when assigned to duty -- (cheers, applause) -- and he served with honor and distinction. He also knows the horrors of war and the responsibilities of leadership. And I am confident that next January he would restore the judgment and maturity to our government that nowadays is sorely lacking. I am proud -- I am proud to call Lieutenant John Kerry my shipmate, and I'm ready to follow him to victory in November. As you all know, our country faces many challenges at home involving energy, taxation, the environment, education and health. To meet these challenges, we need new leaders in Washington whose policies are shaped by working American families instead of the super- rich and their armies of lobbyists in Washington. But the biggest reason to make John Kerry president is even more important. It is to safeguard the security of our nation. Today our dominant international challenge is to restore the greatness of America -- (cheers, applause) -- based on -- based on telling the truth, a commitment to peace, and respect for civil liberties at home and basic human rights around the world. Truth is the foundation of our global leadership, but our credibility has been shattered, and we are left increasingly isolated and vulnerable in a hostile world. Without truth, without trust, America cannot flourish. Trust is at the very heart of our democracy, the sacred covenant between a president and the people. When that trust is violated, the bonds that hold our republic together begin to weaken. After 9/11, America stood proud, wounded but determined and united. A cowardly attack on innocent civilians brought us an unprecedented level of cooperation and understanding around the world. But in just 34 months we have watched with deep concern as all this good will has been squandered by a virtually unbroken series of mistakes and miscalculations. Unilateral acts and demands have isolated the United States from the very nations we need to join us in combatting terrorism. Let us not forget that the Soviets lost the Cold War because the American people combined the exercise of power with the adherence to basic principles based on sustained bipartisan support. We understood the positive link between the defense of our own freedom and the promotion of human rights. But recent policies have cost our nation its reputation as the world's most admired champion of freedom and justice. What a difference these few months of extremism have made. The United States has alienated its allies, dismayed its friends, and inadvertently gratified its enemies by proclaiming a confused and disturbing strategy of preemptive war. With our allies disunited, the world resenting us, and the Middle East ablaze, we need John Kerry to restore life to the global war against terrorism. In the meantime, the Middle East peace process has come to a screeching halt. From the first time since Israel became a nation, all former presidents, Democratic and Republican, have attempted to secure a comprehensive peace for Israel with hope and justice for the Palestinians. The achievements of Camp David a quarter century ago and the more recent progress made by President Bill Clinton are now in peril. Instead, violence has gripped the Holy Land, with the region increasingly swept by anti-American passions. This must change. Elsewhere, North Korea's nuclear menace, a threat far more real and immediate than any posed by Saddam Hussein, has been allowed to advance unheeded, with potentially ominous consequences for peace and stability in Northeast Asia. These are some of the prices our government has paid with this radical departure from basic American principles and values that are espoused by John Kerry. In repudiating -- in repudiating extremism, we need to recommit ourselves to a few common-sense principles that should transcend partisan differences. First, we cannot enhance our own security if we place in jeopardy what is most precious to us; namely, the centrality of human rights in our daily lives and in global affairs. Second, we cannot maintain our historic self-confidence as a people if we generate public panic. Third, we cannot do our duty as citizens and patriots if we pursue an agenda that polarizes and divides our country. Next, we cannot be true to ourselves if we mistreat others. And finally, in the world at large we cannot lead if our leaders mislead. You can't be a war president one day and claim to be a peace president the next -- (cheers, applause) -- depending on the latest political polls. When our national security requires military action, John Kerry has already proven, in Vietnam, that he will not hesitate to act. And as a proven defender of our national security, John Kerry will strengthen the global alliance against terrorism while avoiding unnecessary wars. Ultimately, the basic issue is whether America will provide global leadership that springs from the unity and the integrity of the American people or whether extremist doctrines, the manipulation of the truth will define America's role in the world. At stake is nothing less than our nation's soul. In a few months, I will, God willing, enter my 81st year of my life. And in many ways, the last few months have been some of the most disturbing of all. But I am not discouraged. I really am not. I do not despair for our country. I never do. I believe tonight, as I always have, that the essential decency and compassion and common sense of the American people will prevail. And so I say to you -- and so I say to you and to others around the world, whether you wish us well or ill, do not underestimate us Americans. We lack neither strength nor wisdom. There's a road that leads to a bright and hopeful future. What America needs is leadership. Our job -- our job, my fellow Americans, is to ensure that the leaders of this great country will be John Kerry and John Edwards. Thank you, and God bless America. smirkingchimp.com July 27, 2004

To: Mephisto who wrote (8841)	7/27/2004 7:59:33 PM
From: Mephisto	Respond to of 15516

Clinton Assails Bush as Democrats Open Convention The New York Times July 27, 2004 THE OVERVIEW By ADAM NAGOURNEY BOSTON, July 26 - Former President Bill Clinton opened the Democratic National Convention on Monday with a systematic challenge to President Bush's leadership, using humor and a piercing attack to argue that Mr. Bush had unraveled a prosperous and well-respected nation that Mr. Clinton left him four years ago. For nearly 30 minutes, Mr. Clinton held command over an arena packed with Democratic delegates, prompting laughter, cheers and finally roars of approval with a speech that attacked the wisdom of Mr. Bush's tax cuts, how he had managed the war in Iraq, and his attempt to portray John Kerry as a weak leader who would not protect the nation against terrorism. He said Mr. Bush's policies had lost him respect abroad, and produced an economy imperiled by tax cuts that had forced ruinous cuts in spending on education, health care and spending on police. "We tried it their way for 12 years, we tried it our way for eight, and then we tried it their way for four more," Mr. Clinton said, a grin breaking out across his face. "By the only test that matters - whether people were better off when we were finished than when we started - our way worked better." Drawing one of his biggest ovations of the night, Mr. Clinton mocked what he said was Mr. Bush's attempt to say that "we should be afraid of John Kerry and John Edwards because they won't stand up to the terror." "Don't you believe it.'' he said. "Strength and wisdom are not opposing values.'' Mr. Clinton's prime-time speech instantly dominated a convention that featured two ex-presidents and an almost-president. And for all of Mr. Kerry's expressed desires that the convention downplay attacks on Mr. Bush, delegates by the end of the night had in the three speeches heard a full-throated case against Mr. Bush's policies - though one often leavened by unthreatening language and expressions of respect for a sitting president. Al Gore, who archly said he had hoped to be here to accept his party's nomination for a second term, urged Democrats to remember his defeat of 2000, but focus their anger "on putting John Kerry and John Edwards in the White House." Former President Jimmy Carter, invoking his foreign policy triumph of 25 years ago, harshly attacked President Bush as he declared the "achievements of Camp David a quarter-century ago and the more recent progress made by President Bill Clinton are now in peril" because of policies of Mr. Bush that allowed the Middle East to be "swept by anti-American passions." Taken together, the speeches spanned more than a quarter-century of Democratic Party history, and offered Mr. Clinton, Mr. Gore and Mr. Carter an opportunity to contrast their records with President Bush. The prominence of their positions - on the opening night of the convention - signaled the extent to which Mr. Kerry, unlike the men who appeared here on Monday, intends to embrace the records of past Democratic presidents. All three Democrats appeared to take care not to offer what might be seen as personal attacks on Mr. Bush - no jokes, for example, about this President Bush being born with a silver spoon in his mouth. And Mr. Clinton, in particular, used self-deprecating humor in making the case against Mr. Bush, as when he referred to his own efforts to avoid service in Vietnam as he compared Mr. Kerry's war service with Mr. Bush's time in the National Guard. "During the Vietnam War, many young men, including the current president, the vice president and me, could have gone to Vietnam and didn't,'' Mr. Clinton said. "John Kerry came from a privileged background. He could have avoided going, too. But instead he said, 'Send me.' " "When they sent those Swift boats up the river in Vietnam, and they told them their job was to draw hostile fire, to wave the American flag and bait the enemy to come out and fight, John Kerry said, 'Send me,' " he continued. By this point, the crowd had picked up the refrain and was shouting "Send me" along with Mr. Clinton. Mr. Clinton's appearance on Monday did not include the dramatics of his speech to the Democratic convention in 2000, when he strode on stage after a long theatrical walk through the tunnels of the Staples Center in Los Angeles. It was also less problematic; Mr. Gore had until the last moment been unsure whether he wanted Mr. Clinton there, and that speech started 25 minutes late, went long and was criticized by even some Democrats as showy. But an unusually disciplined Mr. Clinton, notwithstanding that he worked on his address until the very last minute, spoke for less than 30 minutes , finishing precisely at 11:01, just one minute past the schedule. Again and again, Mr. Clinton said that he had no doubt that Mr. Bush genuinely believed in what he was trying to do, before proceeding to describe Mr. Bush's policies as bad for the nation. To dramatize his attack on Mr. Bush's economic policies, Mr. Clinton talked about how he, as a wealthy ex-president, was benefiting from tax cuts that, Mr. Clinton argued, had produced ruinous cuts in spending on education, health care and crime prevention. Mr. Clinton was introduced by his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, after an emotional tribute by the convention to the Sept. 11 attacks, an issue that Democrats had complained Republicans had used inappropriately for political purposes. Mrs. Clinton, in her speech, which drew almost as hardy a reception as her husband, talked about her own visit to ground zero on the day after the attack as senator from New York. "I visited ground zero the day after we were attacked, and I felt like I was standing at the gates of hell," she said. At the same time, Mrs. Clinton was unstinting in her praise of Mr. Kerry and his running mate, Senator John Edwards, presumably aware that many Democrats have suggested that Mrs. Clinton's own potential ambitions of running for president might make her less than anxious for a Democratic victory this year. Mr. Gore framed his own speech against Mr. Bush in terms of the disputed election of 2000. "I sincerely ask those watching at home tonight who supported President Bush four years ago: did you really get what you expected from the candidate you voted for?" Mr. Gore said, in a speech that mixed easy humor with poignant anger about his defeat. "Is our country more united today? Or more divided?'' he said in a speech that lasted a scant 13 minutes. "Has the promise of compassionate conservatism been fulfilled? Or do those words now ring hollow? For that matter, are the economic policies really conservative at all? "For example, did you expect the largest deficits in history?" To roaring applause, he said: "To those of you who felt disappointed or angry with the outcome in 2000, I want you to remember all of those feelings. But then I want you to do with them what I have done: focus them fully and completely on putting John Kerry and John Edwards in the White House." And Mr. Carter said: "Recent policies have cost our nation its reputation as the world's most admired champion of freedom and justice. The United States has alienated its allies, dismayed its friends, and inadvertently gratified its enemies by proclaiming a confused and disturbing strategy of 'pre-emptive' war." The speeches came in a seven-hour opening session of the 44th Democratic National Convention here in Boston, a long procession of short speeches broken up by intermissions during which delegates danced to rock and old disco blaring from speakers around a sleek, high-tech stage of television screens, mock mahogany and mock marble. For all the concentration of Democrats on the opening of the convention, the presidential campaign itself was chugging along in states and television stations far away from this city that Mr. Kerry calls home, a reminder of the diminishing importance of these nominating events. Mr. Kerry, after a brief trip here on Sunday night to watch the Red Sox beat the New York Yankees, went back to Florida to continue his slow-moving swing across the nation that his aides said was intended to draw as much attention as anything that happens here. Vice President Dick Cheney, breaking from a tradition under which one party steps aside during the other party's nominating convention, campaigned through Washington State. Mr. Bush's campaign announced, in the midst of the convention, that the president would take a bus trip through Ohio next Saturday. And Mr. Kerry was spending heavily on television advertisements that served to, in effect, reinforce the message that was being presented here, taking advantage of a fund-raising success that allowed him to do something that most of his recent opponents could not. Mr. Carter offered a particularly harsh attack on Mr. Bush, notwithstanding what Democrats had said was their intention to minimize the attacks on the president here. He invoked questions about Mr. Bush's service in the National Guard during the Vietnam War. Mr. Carter, a former Naval officer, noted that he had served under two presidents, Truman and Eisenhower, "both of whom faced their active military responsibilities with honor." "We had confidence that our leaders, military and civilian, would not put our soldiers and sailors in harm's way by initiating 'wars of choice' unless America's vital interests were endangered," he said. "We also were sure that these presidents would not mislead us when it came to issues involving our nation's security. Today, our Democratic Party is led by another former naval officer - one who volunteered for military service. He showed up when assigned to duty, and he served with honor and distinction." The speakers chosen by Mr. Kerry's campaign to open his nominating convention were, in part, the obligatory tribute of a party to its history and leaders. And - with Mr. Clinton and Mr. Gore in particular - it was designed, on this first night, to stir up enthusiasm among the most partisan Democrats, in the unlikely event that they needed any stirring. "I'm going to be candid with you - I had hoped to be back here this week under different circumstances, running for re-election," Mr. Gore said. "But you know the old saying: You win some, you lose some. And then there's that little-known third category." Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company nytimes.com

To: Mephisto who wrote (8841)	7/29/2004 12:34:54 PM
From: Mephisto	Respond to of 15516

Edwards Builds Case for 'Politics of Hope' July 29, 2004 THE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION latimes.com The nominee for vice president uses familiar themes to praise Kerry, who arrives in town on a boat with some of his Vietnam crewmates. By Mark Z. Barabak, Times Staff Writer BOSTON - Sen. John Edwards summoned his courtroom skills Wednesday night to try to convince Americans that Sen. John F. Kerry could keep the country safe while spreading opportunity to its farthest reaches. Edwards extolled the Democratic presidential nominee, his running mate, with a speech that concluded a day of lavish personal tributes and economic policy prescriptions - virtually all aimed at the swing voters both parties consider key to the election. Standing before a sea of more than 4,000 delegates at the Democratic National Convention, Edwards used the talents honed as one of North Carolina's most successful litigators - with a jab of his finger here, a sweep of his arms there - to make his case to a nationwide jury of millions. Delegates later installed Kerry as the party standard-bearer with the traditional roll call of states - and not by accident was the nomination formalized by Ohio, expected to be a key state in the general election. Kerry arrived Wednesday morning in his fortified hometown after a six-day journey through half a dozen competitive states. Beneath a gray sky, he pulled into Charlestown Navy Yard - home to the Old Ironsides battleship and just a cannonball's flight from the FleetCenter convention hall - aboard a cruise vessel dressed up in red, white and blue. A clutch of Kerry's former Vietnam crewmates were on hand, and he fell into their bearhugs. "We are taking this fight to the country, and we are going to win back our democracy and our future," Kerry told a rally of supporters. As did Kerry, Edwards played on the nominee's Vietnam experience as he made the case that the senator from Massachusetts planned to continue in his own prime time speech tonight. Edwards recounted Kerry's valor during the Vietnam War, describing how the young Navy lieutenant turned his boat into enemy fire to save a fallen comrade. "Decisive. Strong. Is this not what we need in a commander in chief?" he asked. Edwards, a senator from North Carolina, sought to turn back the relentless GOP attacks on Kerry by casting the fall election as not just a battle of ideas, but also as a struggle between divisiveness and unity. "This is where you come in. Between now and November, you - the American people - you can reject this tired, old, hateful, negative politics of the past. And instead you can embrace the politics of hope, the politics of what's possible," Edwards said. He resurrected the central theme of his own presidential bid, a nation cleaved by race and class, suggesting a Kerry administration could end the divide. "The truth is, we still live in a country where there are two different Americas," Edwards said. "One for people who have lived the American dream and don't have to worry, and another for most Americans, everybody else, who struggle to make ends meet every single day. "It doesn't have to be that way," Edwards said in a refrain he repeated several times. "We can build one America." He also spoke of race and civil rights - issues rarely mentioned at a convention scripted almost entirely for the benefit of middle-of-the-road and independent voters. "I have heard some discussions and debates about where and in front of what audiences we would talk about race, equality and civil rights. Well, I have an answer to that question: everywhere," Edwards said, drawing one of the evening's longest and loudest ovations. "This is not an African American issue, not a Latino issue, not an Asian American issue. This is an American issue." He promised tax breaks under a Kerry administration for companies that kept jobs at home, and investment in new technologies to expand employment opportunities. He proposed tax breaks for individuals to help pay for healthcare and college tuition. He called for boosting the minimum wage, "finishing the job on welfare reform" and ensuring that no working American goes hungry or lives in poverty. "Not in our America," he said three times, drawing a steadily stronger ovation. New programs, he said, would be financed by rolling back the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and repealing tax breaks for companies "that outsource your jobs." Inside the convention hall, Democrats broadened their attack on Bush. After two days of criticizing his foreign policy, speakers turned to a wide-ranging assault on the president's economic policies, saying the flight of jobs overseas and soaring costs of healthcare, college tuition and gasoline were creating an unprecedented squeeze on the middle class. "Americans are working harder and more productively than ever before," said Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, whose prime-time speaking slot reflected her state's political significance. "And yet now we face the serious prospect that for the first time in our history, our children will fare worse than their parents." She cited Kerry's promise to create 10 million jobs in four years and to cut the cost of healthcare. "With a tenacious president, we can give the citizens what they desperately need," she said. "Good jobs. Good jobs. Good jobs." Throughout the day and well into the night, one speaker after another referred to Sept. 11 and criticized Bush's response, working to undermine what has long been one of his strongest political suits. Sen. Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont accused the president of squandering the international goodwill that followed the terrorist attacks, blaming the administration's "go-it-alone" policies. "They've alienated our allies," Leahy said. "They've undermined our national security with a misguided rush to invade Iraq." Sen. Bob Graham of Florida, who briefly competed in the party's primaries, cited the recent recommendations of the 9/11 commission. "Most of these are obvious," he said. "Sadly, over 1,000 days after Sept. 11, none of them are in place. The ideas are there. It's the leadership that's missing." However, all of that was before the national TV networks - in effect the eyes and ears of the nation - tuned in to the final portion of the proceedings. Allotted some of those precious minutes, Edwards sought to present a blend of optimism and toughness, compassion and greater specificity than any other convention speaker. He was once Kerry's most tenacious rival - the last to drop out of a Democratic primary field that had numbered 10 contestants. The two differed over a handful of issues - most notably trade, with Edwards calling for greater restrictions - but their cross words were few and never very harsh. The North Carolina senator, who surrendered his seat to seek the White House, spent several months after the primaries laboring on Kerry's behalf and building on his own reputation for charisma. Once he was picked, Edwards fell easily into the subordinate role expected of a running mate, as shown Wednesday night by his testimonial on Kerry. Roughly half his remarks Wednesday were a slightly retooled version of his own presidential campaign speech, including the reference to a composite mother seated at her kitchen table, fretting over how to pay the bills and feed her children - while her husband is in Iraq. "She thinks she is alone … we want her to know we hear her. And it's time to bring opportunity and an equal chance to her door." While making his pitch for Kerry, Edwards also answered several of the attacks he had faced from Republicans since joining the Democratic ticket this month. Edwards defended his work as a trial attorney who won huge damage awards in medical malpractice cases. Critics have portrayed him as an ambulance-chasing symbol of litigation run amok. But the senator cast himself as a champion of the proverbial little guy. "I have spent my life fighting for the kind of people I grew up with," said Edwards, who recounted his youth in a small Southern mill town. "For two decades, I stood with families and children against big HMOs and big insurance companies." Republicans have also criticized Edwards for his lack of foreign policy experience, suggesting he and Kerry are both ill-suited for the dangerous world after Sept. 11. Edwards cited his service on the Senate Intelligence Committee and joined the criticism of Bush for failing to act more quickly on the report of the 9/11 commission, now a major issue in the presidential campaign. "I can tell you that when we're in office, it won't take us three years to get the reforms in our intelligence that are necessary to keep the American people safe," he said. "We will do whatever it takes, for as long as it takes, to make sure that never happens again in our America." Narrowing his eyes and turning to the cameras, he declared: "John and I will have one clear, unmistakable message for Al Qaeda and the rest of these terrorists. You cannot run. You cannot hide. We will destroy you." Kerry will wrap up the convention tonight with his much anticipated acceptance speech - perhaps his best chance to make his case directly to the American people without the hurly-burly of campaign competition, or the filter of media coverage. Times staff writers Nick Anderson, Michael Finnegan, James Gerstenzang, Matea Gold, Maria L. La Ganga and Robert Schiff contributed to this report.

To: Mephisto who wrote (8841)	7/29/2004 5:56:14 PM
From: Mephisto	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15516

Senator John Edwards's Remarks to the Democratic National Convention July 27, 2004 The following is the text of Senator John Edwards's remarks to the Democratic National Convention, as recorded by The New York Times. JOHN EDWARDS. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Now you know why Elizabeth is so amazing, right? I am such a lucky man to have the love of my life at my side. Both of us have been blessed with four extraordinary children: Wade, Cate, who you heard from, Emma Claire and Jack. We are having such an extraordinary time, myself and my entire family at this convention. And by the way, how great was Teresa Heinz Kerry last night? My father and mother, Wallace and Bobbie Edwards, are also here tonight. You taught me the values that I carry in my heart: faith, family, responsibility, opportunity for everybody. You taught me that there's dignity and honor in a hard day's work. You taught me to always look out for our neighbors, to never look down on anybody, and treat everybody with respect. Those are the values that John Kerry and I believe in. And nothing makes me prouder than standing with him in this campaign. I am so humbled to be your candidate for vice president of the United States. I want to talk about our next president. For those who want to know what kind of leader he'll be, I want to take you back about thirty years. When John Kerry graduated from college, he volunteered for military service, volunteered to go to Vietnam, volunteered to captain a swift boat, one of the most dangerous duties in Vietnam that you could have. As a result he was wounded, honored for his valor. If you have any question about what he's made of, just spend three minutes with the men who served with him then and who stand with him now. They saw up close what he's made of. They saw him reach into the river and pull one of his men to safety and save his life. They saw him in the heat of battle make a decisions in a split second to turn his boat around, drive it through an enemy position, and chase down the enemy to save his crew. Decisive. Strong. Is this not what we need in a commander in chief? You know, we hear a lot of talk about values. Where I come from, you don't judge somebody's values based upon how they use that word in a political ad. You judge their values based upon what they've spent their life doing. So when a man volunteers to serve his country, a man volunteers and puts his life on the line for others that's a man who represents real American values. This is a man who is prepared to keep the American people safe, to make America stronger at home and more respected in the world. John is a man who knows the difference between right and wrong. He wants to serve you, your cause is his cause. And that is why we must and we will elect him the next president of the United States. You know, for the last few months, John has been traveling around the country talking about his positive, optimistic vision for America, talking about his plan to move this country in the right direction. But what have we seen? Relentless negative attacks against John. So in the weeks ahead, we know what's coming don't we? More negative attacks. Aren't you sick of it? They are doing all they can to take the campaign for the highest office in the land down the lowest possible road. But this is where you come in. Between now and November, you, the American people, you can reject this tired, old, hateful, negative politics of the past. And instead you can embrace the politics of hope, the politics of what's possible because this is America, where everything is possible. I am here tonight for a very simple reason, because I love my country. And I have every reason to love my country. I have grown up in the bright light of America. I grew up in a small town in rural North Carolina, a place called Robbins. My father, he worked in a mill all his life. And I still remember vividly the men and women who worked in that mill with him. I can see them. Some of them had lint in their hair. Some of them had grease on their faces. They worked hard. And they tried to put a little money away so that their kids and their grandkids could have a better life. The truth is they are just like the auto workers, the office workers, the teachers, and the shop keepers on Main Streets all across this cuontry. My mother had a number of jobs. She worked at the post office so she and my father could have health care. She owned her own small business, she refinished furniture to help pay for my education. I have had such incredible opportunities in my life.I was blessed to be the first person in my family to be able to go to college. I worked my way through, and I had opportunities beyond my wildest dreams. . And the heart of this campaign, your campaign, our campaign, is to make sure all Americans have exactly the same kind of opportunities that I had, no matter where you live, no matter who your family is, no matter what the color of your skin. This is the America we believe in. I have spent my life fighting for the kind of people that I grew up with. For two decades, I stood with kids and families against big HMOs and big insurance companies. When I got to the Senate I fought those same fights against the Washington lobbyists and for causes like the Patients' Bill of Rights. I stand here tonight ready to work with you and John to make America stronger. And we have much work to do. Because the truth is, we still live in a country where there are two different Americas: one for all those people who have lived the American Dream and don't have to worry, and another for most Americans, everybody else, who struggle to make ends meet every single day. It doesn't have to be that way. We can build one America. We can build one America where we no longer have two healthcare systems. One for families who get the best healthcare money can buy and then one for everybody else, rationed out by insurance companies, drug companies, and HMOs. Millions of Americans who don't have any health insurance at all. It doesn't have to be that way. We have a plan that will offer all Americans the same health care that your Senator has. We can give you tax breaks to help you pay for your health care. And when we're in office, we will sign a real Patients' Bill of Rights into law so that you can make your own health care decisions. We shouldn't have two public school systems in this country: one for the most affluent communities, and one for everybody else. None of us believe that the quality of a child's education should be controlled by where they live or the affluence of the community they live in. It doesn't have to be that way. We can build one school system that works for all our kids, gives them a chance to do what they're capable of doing. Our plan will reform our schools and raise standards. We can give our schools the resources that they need. We can provide incentives to put our best teachers in the subjects and the places where we need them the most. And we can ensure that three million children have a safe place when they leave school in the afternoon. We can do together, you and I. John Kerry and I believe that we shouldn't have two different economies in this country: one for people who are set for life, they know their kids and their grandkids are going to be just fine, and then one for most Americans, people who live paycheck to paycheck. You don't need me to explain this to you, do you? You know exactly what I'm talking about Can't save any money, can you? Takes every dime you make just to pay your bills. And you know what happens if something goes wrong, if you have a child that gets sick, a financial problem, a layoff in the family, you go right off the cliff. And when that happens, what's the first thing that goes? Your dreams. It doesn't have to be that way. We can strengthen and lift up your families. Your agenda is our agenda. So let me give you some specifics. First, we can create good paying jobs in this country again. We're going to get rid of tax cuts for companies who are outsourcing your jobs. And instead, we're going to give tax breaks to American companies that are keeping jobs right here in America. And we will invest in the jobs of the future, in the technologies and innovation to ensure that America stays ahead of the competition. And we're going to do this because John and I understand understand that a job is about more than a paycheck. It's about dignity and self-respect. Hard work should be valued in this country. So we're going to reward work, not just wealth. We don't want people to just get by; we want people to get ahead. So let me give you some specifics about what we're going to do.. First, we're going to help you pay for your health care by having a tax break and health care reform that can save you up to a thousand dollars on your premiums.. We're going to help you cover the rising costs of child care with a tax credit up to $1,000 so that your kids have a place to go when you're at work that they're safe and well taken care of. If your child wants to be the first in your family to go to college, we're going to give you a tax break on up to $4,000 in tuition. And everybody listening here and at home is thinking one thing right now. O.K., how are we going to pay for it, right? Well, let me tell you how we're going to pay for it. And I want to be very clear about this. We are going to keep and protect the tax cuts for 98 percent of Americans, 98 percent. We're going to roll back the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. We're going to close corporate loopholes. We're going to cut government contractors and wasteful spending. We can move this country forward without passing the burden to our children and our grandchildren. We can also do something about 35 million Americans who live in poverty every day. And here's why we shouldn't just talk about but do something about the millions of Americans who live in poverty. Because it is wrong. And we have a moral responsibility to lift those families up. I mean the very idea that in a country of our wealth and our prosperity, we have children going to bed hungry. We have children who don't have the clothes to keep them warm. We have millions of Americans who work full-time every day to support their families, working for minimum wage and still live in poverty. It's wrong. These are men and women who are living up to their bargain. They're working hard, they're supporting their families. Their families are doing their part; it's time we did our part. And that's what we're going to do, that's what we're going to do when John is in the White House. Because we're going to raise the minimum wage. We're going to finish the job on welfare reform. And we're going to bring good paying jobs to the places where we need them the most. . And by doing all those things we're going to say no forever to any American working full-time and living in poverty. Not in our America, not in our America. Not in our America. Not in our America. And let me talk - let me talk about - let me talk about - let me talk about about why we need to build one America. Because I, like many of you, I saw up close what having two Americas - what having two Americas can do to our country. From the time I was very young, I saw the ugly face of segregation and discrimination. I saw young African-American kids being sent upstairs in movie theaters. I saw white only signs on restaurant doors and luncheon counters. I feel such an enormous personal responsibility when it comes to issues of race and equality and civil rights. And I've heard some discussions- I've heard some discussions and debates around America about where, and in front of what audiences we ought to talk about race and equality and civil rights. I have an answer to that question. Everywhere. Everywhere. Everywhere. This is not an African-American issue, this is not a Latino issue, this is not an Asian-American issue, this is an American issue. It is about who we are, what our values are and what kind of country we live in. The truth is - the truth is is that what John and I want - what we all want - is for our children and our grandchildren to be the first generations that grow up in an America that's no longer divided by race. We must build one America. We must be one America, strong and united for another very important reason - because we are at war. None of us will ever forget where we were on September the 11th. We all share the same terrible images: the Towers falling in New York, the Pentagon in flames, smoldering field in Pennsylvania. We share the profound sadness for the nearly 3,000 lives that were lost. As a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I know that we have to do more to fight the war on terrorism and keep the American people safe. And we can do that. We're approaching the third anniversary of Sept. 11, and one thing I can tell you: when we're in office, it won't take three years to get the reforms in our intelligence that are necessary to keep the American people safe. We will do whatever it takes, as long as it takes, to make sure this never happens again in our America. And when John is president, we will listen to the wisdom of the Sept. 11 Commission. We will lead strong alliances. We will safeguard and secure our weapons of mass destruction. We will strengthen our homeland security, protect our ports, protect our chemical plants, and support our firefighters, police officers, EMT's. We will always - we will always use our military might to keep the American people safe. And we - John and I -we will have one clear unmistakable message for Al Qaida and these terrorists: You cannot run. You cannot hide. We will destroy you. John understands personally about fighting in a war. And he knows what our brave men and women are going through right now in another war - the war in Iraq. The human cost and the extraordinary heroism of this war, it surrounds us. It surrounds us in our cities and our towns. And we'll win this war because of the strength and courage of our own people. Some of our friends and neighbors, they saw their last images in Baghdad. Some took their last steps outside of Fallujah. Some buttoned their uniform for the final time before they went out and saved their unit. Men and women who used to take care of themselves, they now count on others to see them through the day. They need their mother to tie their shoe. Their husband to brush their hair. Their wife's arm to help them across the room. The stars and stripes wave for them. The word hero was made for them. They are the best and the bravest. And they will never be left behind. You- you - you understand that. And they deserve a president who understands - understands it on the most personal level what they've gone through, what they've given and what they've given up for their country. To us, the real test of patriotism is how we treat the men and women who have put their lives on the lines to protect our values. And let me tell you, the 26 million veterans in this country will not have to wonder, when they're in office - when we're in office, whether they'll have health care next week or next year. We will take care of them because they have taken care of us. But today, our great United States military is stretched thin. We've got more than 140,000 are in Iraq, almost 20,000 in Afghanistan. I visited the men and women there and we're praying as they try to give that country hope. Like all of those brave men and women, John put his life on the line for our country. He knows that when authority is given to a president, much is expected in return. That's why we will strengthen and modernize our military. We will double our Special Forces. We will invest in the new equipment and technologies so that our military remains the best equipped and the best prepared in the world. This will make our military stronger. It'll make it sure that can defeat any enemy in this new world. But we can't do this alone. We have got to restore our respect in the world to bring our allies to us and with us. It is how we won the cold war. It is how we won two world wars. And it is how we will build a stable Iraq. With a new president who strengthens and leads our alliances, we can get NATO to help secure Iraq. We can ensure that Iraq's neighbors like Syria and Iran, don't stand in the way of a democratic Iraq. We can help Iraq's economy by getting other countries to forgive their enormous debt and participate in the reconstruction. We can do this for the Iraqi people and we can do it for our own soldiers. And we will get this done right. A new president will bring the world to our side, and with it a stable Iraq, a real chance for freedom and peace in the Middle East, including a safe and secure Israel. And John and I will bring the world together - John and I will bring the world together to face the most dangerous threat we have: the possibility of terrorists getting their hands on a chemical, biological or nuclear weapon. With our credibility restored, we can work with other nations to secure stockpiles of the world's most dangerous weapons and safeguard this extraordinarily dangerous material. We can finish the job and secure the loose nukes in Russia. We can close the loophole in the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty that allows rogue nations access to the tools they need to develop these weapons. That's how we can address the new threats we face. That's how we can keep you safe. And that's how we can restore America's respect around the world. And together, we will ensure that the image of America, the image all of us love, America this great shining light, this beacon of freedom, democracy and human rights that the world looks up to, is always lit. And the truth is - the truth is that every child, every family in America will be safer and more secure if they grow up in a world where America is once again looked up to and respected. That is the world we can create together. Tonight - tonight, as we celebrate in this hall, somewhere in America, a mother sits at her kitchen table. She can't sleep becauseshe's worried. She can't pay her bills. She's working hard trying to pay her rent, trying to feed her kids but she just can't catch up. Didn't used to be that way in her house. Her husband was called up in the Guard. Now he's been in Iraq for over a year. They thought hewas going to come home last month, but now he's got to stay longer. She thinks she's alone. But tonight in this hall and in your homes, you know what? She's got a lot of friends. We want her to know that we hear her. It is time to bring opportunity and an equal chance to her door. We're here to make America stronger at home so that she can get ahead. And we're here to make America respected in the world again so that we can bring him home and American soldiers don't have to fight this war in Iraq or this war on terrorism alone. So when you return home some night, you might pass a mother on her way to work the late-shift. You tell her: Hope is on the way. When your brother calls - when your brother calls and says that he's spending his entire life at the office and he still can't get ahead, you tell him: Hope is on the way. When your parents call and tell you their medicine's going through the roof, they can't keep up, you tell them: Hope is on the way. And when your neighbor calls you and says her daughter's worked hard and she wants to go to college, you tell her: Hope is on the way. And when your son or daughter who's serving this country heroically in Iraq calls, you tell them: Hope is on the way. When you wake up and you're sitting at the kitchen table with your kids and you're talking about the great possibilities in America, your kids should know that John and I believe to our core that tomorrow can be better than today. Like all of us, I've learned a lot of lessons in my life. Two of the most important are that first, there will always be heartache and struggle. We can't make it go away. But the second is that people of good and strong will can make a difference. One's a sad lesson; the other's inspiring. We are Americans and we choose to be inspired. We choose hope over despair; possibilities over problems, optimism over cynicism. We choose to do what's right even when those around us say, "You can't do that." We choose to be inspired because we know that we can do better because this is America where everything is still possible. What we believe - what John Kerry and I believe - is that we should never look down on anybody, we ought to lift people up. We don't believe in tearing people apart. We believe in bringing them together. What we believe - what I believe - is that the family you're born into and the color of your skin in our America should never control your destiny. Join us in this cause. Let's make America stronger at home and more respected in the world. Let's ensure that once again, in our one America - our one America - tomorrow will always be better than today. Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company nytimes.com

To: Mephisto who wrote (8841)	7/30/2004 1:08:11 PM
From: Mephisto	Respond to of 15516

Invoking His Past, Kerry Vows to Command 'a Nation at War' The New York Times July 30, 2004 THE OVERVIEW By ADAM NAGOURNEY BOSTON, July 29 - John Forbes Kerry accepted the Democratic presidential nomination on Thursday night, pledging to "restore trust and credibility to the White House" as he accused President Bush of misleading the nation into war and pursuing policies that he described as a threat to the economy, the Constitution and the nation's standing in the world. Mr. Kerry, speaking in a convention hall that was packed shoulder-to-shoulder with delegates and other Democrats two and a half hours before he strode in, promised to take charge of "a nation at war.'' He invoked his service in Vietnam 35 years ago as he vowed to protect Americans from terrorism in the 21st century. "I defended this country as a young man and I will defend it as president," Mr. Kerry said. "Let there be no mistake: I will never hesitate to use force when it is required. Any attack will be met with a swift and a certain response." But more than reinforcing his own credentials as a wartime president, Mr. Kerry used this speech on Thursday - to what was certainly the largest audience the four-term senator from Massachusetts has ever faced - to offer a blistering critique of Mr. Bush's 42 months in office, going so far as to echo one of the signature attacks Mr. Bush used against Bill Clinton when he ran in 2000 by challenging Mr. Bush's honesty. "We have it in our power to change the world, but only if we're true to our ideals - and that starts by telling the truth to the American people," Mr. Kerry said, speaking rapidly over repeated cheers from his audience. "As president, that is my first pledge to you tonight. As president, I will restore trust and credibility to the White House. "I will be a commander in chief who will never mislead us into war. I will have a vice president who will not conduct secret meetings with polluters to rewrite our environmental laws. I will have a secretary of defense who will listen to the advice of the military leaders. And I will appoint an attorney general who upholds the Constitution of the United States." For anyone watching the proceedings on this last night of the 44th Democratic convention, there could be little doubt about the urgent and complicated tasks Mr. Kerry faced as he walked into the FleetCenter: to convince the nation's voters that he could match Mr. Bush's credentials as a wartime president, that he was tough enough to use force when needed and that they should turn out a president in the middle of the war. In fact, the entire speech was built around the idea that Mr. Kerry is a more trustworthy custodian of American security than the president he wants to replace. In striking contrast to Democratic acceptance speeches going back a generation, Mr. Kerry's was from start to finish heavily weighted toward foreign affairs and national security, underlining the urgency Mr. Kerry sees in trying to compete with Mr. Bush on that terrain as the men fight a political campaign against the backdrop of a war in Iraq and the threat of another terrorist attack. Mr. Kerry saluted his audience when he walked in, and took in a hall fluttering with Kerry placards affixed with American flags, as Democrats sought with this convention to appropriate what is typically Republican imagery. And the gauzy introductions leading up to his arrival - folksy and personal tributes from his two daughters, a Hollywood biographic video, war stories from one of his buddies from Vietnam - signaled another goal of his convention: to provide a softer view of a politician whose own friends describe him as cool and distant. As Mr. Kerry came here to accept his party's nomination, he confronted polls that showed him and Mr. Bush locked in a tie, but with signs that Americans, while unhappy with Mr. Bush, were not prepared to turn the White House over to a man that Mr. Bush has sought to diminish as liberal and unprincipled. The speech brought an end to one of the most peaceful and united Democratic conventions in 50 years and ushered in what will be an extraordinarily busy month of politicking before the Republican National Convention in New York. Mr. Kerry heads out of Boston on Friday for a two-week cross-country bus trip. Mr. Bush, not wasting a moment, is heading out on his own trip to the Midwest on Friday; aides said he would use the trip to unveil proposals to help the nation adjust to the economic strains of this new century. Mr. Kerry strode into the convention hall just past 10 p.m., to the Bruce Springsteen song "No Surrender," coming not from backstage but across the teeming convention hall itself, slapping hands with delegates before bounding up onstage on steps that had been built overnight.. "I'm John Kerry and I'm reporting for duty!" Mr. Kerry said with a crisp salute. He spoke for 45 minutes, at an unusually quick pace, often talking over the applause. By the end, he was perspiring, but the senator - not known as one of his party's most accomplished speakers - seemed relaxed and invigorated by the often ecstatic reaction of delegates. Mr. Bush's campaign chairman, Marc Racicot, issued a statement saying that Mr. Kerry had failed to offer ''an explanation of his inconsistencies and contradictions on the central front in the war on terror. "John Kerry missed an opportunity to help the American people understand his vote for the war in Iraq based on the same intelligence that the president viewed,'' he said. Mr. Kerry, who said on the eve of the convention that he did not want the weeklong gathering to dissolve into a forum of attacks on Mr. Bush, barely mentioned Mr. Bush by name. Yet with every sentence, he sought to set out differences between the men on critical issues, and pre-empt attacks on him by the White House, and he tried to use the opportunity provided by having the first convention to set the framework for the campaign. In the process, Mr. Kerry borrowed the words of Vice President Dick Cheney; Ron Reagan, son of the late president; and even Mr. Bush himself. "I want to address these next words directly to President George W. Bush: In the weeks ahead, let's be optimists, not just opponents," Mr. Kerry said. "Let's build unity in the American family, not angry division.'' He added: "The high road may be harder, but it leads to a better place. And that's why Republicans and Democrats must make this election a contest of big ideas, not small-minded attacks.'' Mr. Kerry borrowed from Mr. Reagan's eulogy at his father's funeral in confronting what he suggested was Mr. Bush's attempt to draw differences between the senator and the president on values and religion. "In this campaign, we welcome people of faith: America is not us and them," he said. "I think of what Ron Reagan said of his father a few weeks ago, and I want to say this to you tonight: I don't wear my religion on my sleeve. "But faith has given me values and hope to live by, from Vietnam to this day, from Sunday to Sunday,'' he said. "I don't want to claim that God is on our side.'' He even invoked one of Mr. Cheney's favorite lines from the 2000 campaign in drawing a contrast with Mr. Bush. "America can do better: So tonight we say, help is on the way," he said. Mr. Kerry surrounded himself on stage with symbols of military might and reminders of his own service in war. There was grainy videotape showing him, gun in hand, on the fields of Vietnam. The nation met 14 crewmates - members of his "band of brothers" - who accompanied him as he commanded Swift boats down the bullet-ridden Mekong Delta, and they heard Mr. Kerry argue that he could fight terrorism better than Mr. Bush. Gen. Wesley K. Clark implored his audience to embrace Mr. Kerry. "America," he said, "hear this soldier.'' And Mr. Kerry said that he could do a better job fighting terrorism than Mr. Bush. "We need a strong military and we need to lead strong alliances,'' Mr. Kerry said, when it came time for him to speak. "And then, with confidence and determination, we will be able to tell the terrorists: 'You will lose and we will win.' The future doesn't belong to fear; it belongs to freedom." While foreign policy dominated much of Mr. Kerry's address, it was far from his only theme of the speech, and reflected the calculation of Mr. Kerry's advisers that he needed to at least neutralize the issue of terrorism in order to move the election debate to issues that might play better for the Democrats. Mr. Kerry presented himself as a the candidate of "the middle class who deserve a champion, and those struggling to join it.'' Even as he took pains to say he had an optimistic view of the future - again, responding to Mr. Bush's effort to portray him as dour and pessimistic - he spoke of a nation that was suffering because of Mr. Bush's policies. "We are a nation at war - a global war on terror against an enemy unlike any we have ever known before,'' he said. "And here at home, wages are falling, health care costs are rising, and our great middle class is shrinking. People are working weekends; they're working two jobs, three jobs, and they're still not getting ahead." "We can do better and we will,'' he said. "We're the optimists.'' Again and again, Mr. Kerry used his speech to try to push back on lines of attack that the White House had launched against him, such as its portrayal of him as inconsistent. "Now I know there are those who criticize me for seeing complexities - and I do - because some issues just aren't all that simple,'' he said. "Saying there are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq doesn't make it so. Saying we can fight a war on the cheap doesn't make it so. "And proclaiming mission accomplished certainly doesn't make it so." Picking up on what had been a line of attack General Clark had used when the two were competing for the nomination, Mr. Kerry challenged the White House for trying to portray criticism of the war as unpatriotic. ''Tonight, we have an important message for those who question the patriotism of Americans who offer a better direction for our country,'' he said. "Before wrapping themselves in the flag and shutting their eyes and ears to the truth, they should remember what America is really all about.'' "You see that flag up there?" he continued, adding, "I fought under that flag, as did so many of you here and all across our country. That flag flew from the gun turret right behind my head.." "That flag doesn't belong to any president," he said. "It doesn't belong to any ideology and it doesn't belong to any political party. It belongs to all the American people. " Mr. Kerry's performance drew , not surprisingly, positive reviews from an audience that was looking for him to have a good night. "I think John F. Kerry is giving the best speech he has ever given -- a true reflection of his patriotism and his life,'' said Jay C. Stoddard, 74, a delegate from Nebraska. Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company nytimes.com

To: Mephisto who wrote (8841)	7/30/2004 1:34:58 PM
From: Mephisto	Read Replies (6) \| Respond to of 15516

KERRY'S ACCEPTANCE July 29, 2004 'We Have It in Our Power to Change the World Again' Following is Senator John Kerry's speech accepting the Democratic presidential nomination last night in Boston, as recorded by The New York Times: I'm John Kerry and I'm reporting for duty. We are here tonight because we love our country. We're proud of what America is and what it can become. My fellow Americans, we're here tonight united in one purpose: to make America stronger at home and respected in the world. A great American novelist wrote that you can't go home again. He could not have imagined this evening. Tonight, I am home. Home where my public life began and those who made it possible live. Home where our nation's history was written in blood, idealism and hope. Home where my parents showed me the values of family, faith and country. Thank you. Thank you, all of you, for a welcome home I will never forget. I wish my parents could share this moment. They went to their rest in the last few years. But their example, their inspiration, their gift of open eyes, and open mind, and endless heart, and world that doesn't have an end are bigger and more lasting than any words. I was born, as some of you saw in the film, in Fitzsimmons Army Hospital in Colorado, when my dad was a pilot in World War II. Now, I'm not one to read into things, but guess which wing of the hospital the maternity ward was in? I'm not kidding. I was born in the West Wing. My mother was the rock of our family as so many mothers are. She stayed up late to help me with my homework. She sat by my bed when I was sick. She answered the questions of a child who, like all children, found the world full of wonders and mysteries. She was my den mother when I was a Cub Scout and she was so proud of her 50-year pin as a Girl Scout leader. She gave me her passion for the environment. She taught me to see trees as the cathedrals of nature. And by the power of her example, she showed me that we can and must complete the march towards full equality for all women in the United States of America. My dad did the things that a boy remembers. He gave me my first model airplane, my first baseball mitt, my first bicycle. He also taught me that we are here for something bigger than ourselves. He lived out the responsibilities and sacrifices of the greatest generation to whom we owe so much. And when I was a young man, he was in the State Department, stationed in Berlin when it and the world were divided between democracy and communism. I have unforgettable memories of being a kid mesmerized by the British, French and American troops, each of them guarding their own part of the city - and Russians standing guard on that stark line separating East from West. On one occasion, I rode my bike into Soviet East Berlin. And when I proudly told my dad, he promptly grounded me. But what I learned has stayed with me for a lifetime. I saw how different life was on different sides of the same city. I saw the fear in the eyes of people who were not free. I saw the gratitude of people towards the United States for all that we had done. I felt goose bumps as I got off a military train and I heard the Army band strike up "Stars and Stripes Forever." I learned what it meant to be America at our best. I learned the pride of our freedom. And I am determined now to restore that pride to all who look to America. Mine were "greatest generation" parents. And as I thank them, we all join together to thank a whole generation for making America strong, for winning World War II, winning the cold war, and for the great gift of service which brought America 50 years of peace and prosperity. My parents inspired me to serve. And when I was in high school, a junior, John Kennedy called my generation to service. It was the beginning of a great journey - a time to march for civil rights, for voting rights, for the environment, for women, for peace. We believed we could change the world. And you know what? We did. But we're not finished. The journey isn't complete. The march isn't over. The promise isn't perfected. Tonight, we're setting out again. And together, we're going to write the next great chapter of America's story. We have it in our power to change the world. But only if we're true to our ideals - and that starts by telling the truth to the American people. As president, that is my first pledge to you tonight. As president, I will restore trust and credibility to the White House. I ask you to judge me by my record. As a young prosecutor, I fought for victim's rights and made prosecuting violence against women a priority. When I came to the Senate, I broke with many in my own party to vote for a balanced budget because I thought it was the right thing to do. I fought to put 100,000 police officers on the streets of America. And then I reached out across the aisle with John McCain to work to find the truth about our P.O.W.'s and missing in action and to finally make peace in Vietnam. I will be a commander in chief who will never mislead us into war. I will have a vice president who will not conduct secret meetings with polluters to rewrite our environmental laws. I will have a secretary of defense who will listen to the advice of the military leaders. And I will appoint an attorney general who will uphold the Constitution of the United States. My fellow Americans, this is the most important election of our lifetime. The stakes are high. We are a nation at war - a global war on terror against an enemy unlike we've ever known before. And here at home, wages are falling, health care costs are rising and our great middle class is shrinking. People are working weekends, two jobs, three jobs - and they're still not getting ahead. We're told that outsourcing jobs is good for America. We're told that jobs that pay $9,000 less than the jobs that have been lost is the best that we can do. They say this is the best economy that we've ever had. And they say anyone who thinks otherwise is a pessimist. Well, here is our answer: There is nothing more pessimistic than saying that America can't do better. We can do better. We can do better and we will. We're the optimists. For us, this is a country of the future. We're the can-do people. And let's not forget what we did in the 1990's. We balanced the budget. We paid down the debt. We created 23 million new jobs. We lifted millions out of poverty and we lifted the standard of living for the middle class. We just need to believe in ourselves and we can do it again. So tonight, in the city where America's freedom began - only a few blocks from where the sons and daughters of liberty gave birth to our nation - here tonight, on behalf of a new birth of freedom, on behalf of the middle class who deserve a champion and those struggling to join it who deserve a fair shot, for the brave men and women in uniform who risk their lives and for their families who pray for their return, for all those who believe that our best days are ahead of us, with great faith in the American people, I accept your nomination for president of the United States. I am proud that at my side will be a running mate whose life is the story of the American dream and who's worked every day to make that dream real for all Americans,Senator John Edwards of North Carolina and his wife Elizabeth and their family. Thank you. This son of a millworker is ready to lead and next January, Americans will be proud to have a fighter for the middle class to succeed Dick Cheney as vice president of the United States. And what can I say about Teresa? She has the strongest moral compass of anyone I know. She's down to earth, nurturing, courageous, wise and smart. She speaks her mind and she speaks the truth, and I love her for that, too. And that's why America will embrace her as the next first lady of the United States. For Teresa and me, no matter what the future holds or the past has given us, nothing will ever mean as much as our children, as you could sense listening to them. We love them not just for who they are and what they've become, but for being themselves, making us laugh, holding our feet to the fire and never letting me get away with anything. Thank you, Andre, Alex, Chris, Vanessa and John. And in this journey, I am accompanied by an extraordinary band of brothers led by that American hero, a patriot called Max Cleland. Our band of brothers doesn't march because of who we are as veterans, but because of what we learned as soldiers. We fought for this nation because we loved it and we came back with the deep belief that every day is extra. We may be a little older, we may be a little grayer, but we still know how to fight for our country. And standing with us in that fight are those who shared with me the long season of the primary campaign: Carol Moseley Braun, Gen. Wesley Clark, Howard Dean, Dick Gephardt, Bob Graham, Dennis Kucinich, Joe Lieberman, Al Sharpton. To all of you, I say thank you for teaching me and testing me, but mostly, we say thank you for standing up for our country and for giving us the unity to move America forward. My fellow Americans, the world tonight is very different from the world of four years ago. But I believe the American people are more than equal to the challenge. Remember the hours after Sept. 11, when we came together as one to answer the attack against our homeland. We drew strength when our firefighters ran up stairs and risked their lives, so that others might live. When rescuers rushed into smoke and fire at the Pentagon. When the men and women of Flight 93 sacrificed themselves to save our nation's capital. When flags were hanging from front porches all across America, and strangers became friends. It was the worst day we have ever seen, but it brought out the best in all of us. I am proud that after Sept. 11 all our people rallied to President Bush's call for unity to meet the danger. There were no Democrats. There were no Republicans. There were only Americans. And how we wish it had stayed that way. Now I know that there are those who criticize me for seeing complexities, and I do, because some issues just aren't all that simple. Saying there are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq doesn't make it so. Saying we can fight a war on the cheap doesn't make it so. And proclaiming mission accomplished certainly doesn't make it so. As president, I will ask the hard questions and demand hard evidence. I will immediately reform the intelligence system so policy is guided by facts, and facts are never distorted by politics. And as president, I will bring back this nation's time-honored 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. I know what kids go through when they are carrying an M-16 in a dangerous place and they can't tell friend from foe. I know what they go through when they're out on patrol at night and they don't know what's coming around the next bend. I know what it's like to write letters home telling your family that everything's all right when you're just not sure that that's true. As president, I will wage this war with the lessons I learned in war. Before you go to battle, you have to be able to look a parent in the eye and truthfully say: "I tried everything possible to avoid sending your son or daughter into harm's way. But we had no choice. We had to protect the American people, fundamental American values against a threat that was real and imminent." So lesson number one, this is the only justification for going to war. And on my first day in office, I will send a message to every man and woman in our armed forces: You will never be asked to fight a war without a plan to win the peace. I know what we have to do in Iraq. I know what we have to do in Iraq. We need a president who has the credibility to bring our allies to our side and share the burden, reduce the cost to American taxpayers, reduce the risk to American soldiers. That's the right way to get the job done and bring our troops home. Here is the reality: That won't happen until we have a president who restores America's respect and leadership so we don't have to go it alone in the world. And we need to rebuild our alliances, so we can get the terrorists before they get us. I defended this country as a young man and I will defend it as president. Let there be no mistake: I will never hesitate to use force when it is required. Any attack will be met with a swift and a certain response. I will never give any nation or any institution a veto over our national security. And I will build a stronger military. We will add 40,000 active duty troops - not in Iraq, but to strengthen American forces that are now overstretched, overextended and under pressure. We will double our special forces to conduct antiterrorist operations. And we will provide our troops with the newest weapons and technology to save their lives and win the battle. And we will end the backdoor draft of the National Guard and reservists. To all who serve in our armed forces today I say help is on the way. As president I will fight a smarter, more effective war on terror. We will deploy every tool in our arsenal - our economic as well as our military might; our principles as well as our firepower. In these dangerous days, there is a right way and a wrong way to be strong. Strength is more than tough words. After decades of experience in national security I know the reach of our power and I know the power of our ideals. We need to make America once again a beacon in the world. We need to be looked up to, not just feared. We need to lead a global effort against nuclear proliferation, to keep the most dangerous weapons in the world out of the most dangerous hands in the world. We need a strong military. And we need to lead strong alliances. And then, with confidence and determination, we will be able to tell the terrorists: You will lose and we will win. The future doesn't belong to fear; it belongs to freedom. And the front lines of this battle are not just far away, they're right here on our shores. They're at our airports and potentially in any city or town. Today our national security begins with homeland security. The 9/11 Commission 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. We shouldn't be letting 95 percent of our container ships come into our ports without ever being physically inspected. We shouldn't be leaving nuclear and chemical plants without enough protection. And we shouldn't be opening firehouses in Baghdad and shutting them in the United States of America. And tonight we have an important message for those who question the patriotism of Americans who offer a better direction for our country. Before wrapping themselves in the flag and shutting their eyes to the truth and their ears, they should remember what America is really all about. They should remember the great idea of freedom for which so many have given their lives. Our purpose now is to reclaim our democracy itself. We are here to affirm that when Americans stand up and speak their minds and say America can do better, that is not a challenge to patriotism, it is the heart and soul of patriotism. You see that flag up there. We call her Old Glory. The Stars and Stripes forever. I fought under that flag, as did so many of those people who are here tonight and all across the country. That flag flew from the gun turret right behind my head. And it was shot through and through and tattered, but it never ceased to wave in the wind. It draped the caskets of men that I served with and friends I grew up with. For us that flag is the most powerful symbol of who we are and what we believe in. Our strength. Our diversity. Our love of country. All that makes America both great and good. That flag doesn't belong to any president. It doesn't belong to any ideology. It doesn't belong to any party. It belongs to all the American people. My fellow citizens, elections are about choices. And choices are about values. In the end it's not just policies and programs that matter. The president who sits at that desk must be guided by principle. For four years we've heard a lot of talk about values. But values spoken without actions taken are just slogans. Values are not just words. Values are what we live by. They're about the causes that we champion and the people that we fight for. And it's time for those who talk about family values to start valuing families. You don't value families by kicking kids out of after-school programs and taking cops off the streets so that Enron can get another tax break. We believe in the family value of caring for our children and protecting the neighborhoods where they walk and they play. And that is the choice in this election. You don't value families by denying real prescription-drug coverage to seniors so big drug companies can get another windfall profit. We believe in the family value expressed in one of the oldest commandments: "Honor thy father and thy mother." As president, I will not privatize Social Security. I will not cut benefits. And together we will make sure that senior citizens never have to cut their pills in half because they can't afford life-saving medicine. And that is the choice in this election. You don't value families if you force them to take up a collection to buy body armor for a son or daughter in the service, if you deny veterans health care or if you tell middle-class families to wait for a tax cut so the wealthiest among us can get even more. We believe in the value of doing what's right for everyone in the American family. And that is the choice in this election. We believe that what matters most is not narrow appeals masquerading as values, but the shared values that show the true face of America. Not narrow values that divide us, but the shared values that unite us - family, faith, hard work, opportunity and responsibility for all - so that every child, every adult, every parent, every worker in America has an equal shot at living up to their God-given potential. That is the American dream and the American value. What does it mean in America today when Dave McCune, 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? What does it mean when workers I've met have had to train their foreign replacements? America can do better. And tonight we say: Help is on the way. What does it mean when Mary Ann Knowles, a woman with breast cancer that I met in New Hampshire, had to keep working day after day through her chemotherapy, no matter how sick she felt, because she was terrified of losing her family's health insurance. America can do better. And help is on the way. What does it mean when Deborah Kromins from Philadelphia, Pa., works and she saves all her life and finds out that her pension has disappeared into thin air and the executive who looted it has bailed out on a golden parachute? America can do better. And help is on the way. What does it mean when 25 percent of our children in Harlem have asthma because of air pollution? We can do better. America can do better. And help is on the way. What does it mean when people are huddled in blankets in the cold, sleeping in Lafayette Park on the doorstep of the White House itself, and the number of families living in poverty has risen by three million in the last four years? America can do better. And help is on the way. And so we come here tonight to ask: Where is the conscience of our country? I'll tell you where it is. I'll tell you where it is. It's in rural and small-town America; it's in urban neighborhoods and the suburban main streets; it's alive in the people that I've met in every single part of this land. It's bursting in the hearts of Americans who are determined to give our values and our truth back to our country. We value jobs that actually pay you more than the job that you lost. We value jobs where, when you put in a week's work, you can actually pay your bills, provide for your children, lift up the quality of your life. We value an America where the middle class is not being squeezed, but doing better. So here is our economic plan to build a stronger America: First, new incentives to revitalize manufacturing. Second, investment in technology and innovation that will create the good-paying jobs of the future. Third, close the tax loopholes that reward companies for shipping jobs overseas. Instead, we will reward companies that create and keep good paying jobs where they belong, in the good old U.S.A. We value an America that exports products, not jobs. And we believe American workers should never have to subsidize the loss of their own job. Next, we will trade and we will compete in the world. But our plan calls for a fair playing field. Because if you give the American worker a fair playing field, there's no one in the world that the American worker can't compete against. And we're going to return to fiscal responsibility because it is the foundation of our economic strength. Our plan will cut the deficit in half in four years by ending tax giveaways that are nothing more than corporate welfare. And will make government live by the rule that every family has to live by: Pay as you go. And let me tell you what we won't do. We won't raise taxes on the middle class. You've heard a lot of false charges about this in recent months. So let me say straight out what I will do as president: I will cut middle-class taxes. I will reduce the tax burden on small business. And I will roll back the tax cuts for the wealthiest individuals who make over $200,000 a year, so we can invest in health care, education and job creation. Our education plan for a stronger America sets high standards and it demands accountability from parents, teachers and schools. It provides for smaller class sizes and it treats teachers like the professionals that they are. And it gives a tax credit to families for each and every year of college. When I was a prosecutor, I met young kids who were in trouble, abandoned, all of them, by adults. And as president, I am determined that we stop being a nation content to spend $50,000 a year to send a young person to prison for the rest of their life when we could invest $10,000 a year in Head Start, Early Start, Smart Start, a real start to the lives of our children. And we value health care that's affordable and accessible for all Americans. Since 2000, four million people have lost their health insurance. Millions more are struggling to afford it. You know what's happening. Your premiums, your co-payments, your deductibles have all gone through the roof. Our health care plan for a stronger America cracks down on the waste and the greed and the abuse in our health care system. And it will save families $1,000 a year on premiums. You'll get to pick your own doctor. And patients and doctors, not insurance company bureaucrats, will make medical decisions. Under our health care plan, Medicare will negotiate lower drug prices for seniors. And all Americans will be able to buy less expensive prescription drugs from countries like Canada. The story of people struggling for health care is the story of so many Americans. But you know what, it's not the story of senators and members of Congress. Because we give ourselves great health care and you get the bill. Well, I'm here to say tonight, your family's health care is just as important as any politician's in Washington, D.C. And when I am president, we will stop being the only advanced nation in the world which fails to understand that health care is not a privilege for the wealthy and the connected and the elected - it is a right for all Americans. And we will make it so. We value an America that controls its own destiny because it's finally and forever independent of Mideast oil. What does it mean for our economy and our national security when we have only 3 percent of the world's oil reserves, yet we rely on foreign countries for 53 percent of what we consume? I want an America that relies on its ingenuity and innovation, not the Saudi royal family. And our energy plan for a stronger America, our energy plan will invest in new technologies and alternative fuels and the cars of the future, so that no young American in uniform will ever be held hostage to our dependence on oil from the Middle East. I've told you about our plans for the economy, for education, for health care, for energy independence. I want you to know more about them. So now I'm going to say something that Franklin Roosevelt could never have said in his acceptance speech: Go to johnkerry.com. I want to address these next words directly to President George W. Bush. In the weeks ahead let's be optimists, not just opponents. Let's build unity in the American family, not angry division. Let's honor this nation's diversity. Let's respect one another. And let's never misuse for political purposes the most precious document in American history, the Constitution of the United States. My friends, the high road may be harder but it leads to a better place. And that's why Republicans and Democrats must make this election a contest of big ideas, not small-minded attacks. This is our time to reject the kind of politics calculated to divide race from race, region from region, group from group. Maybe some just see us divided into those red states and blue states, but I see us as one America - red, white and blue. And when I am president, the government I will lead will enlist people of talent, Republicans as well as Democrats, to find the common ground, so that no one who has something to contribute to our nation will be left on the sidelines. And let me say it plainly: In that cause, and in this campaign, we welcome people of faith. America is not us and them. I think of what Ron Reagan said of his father a few weeks ago and I want to say this to you tonight: I don't wear my religion on my sleeve. But faith has given me values and hope to live by, from Vietnam to this day, from Sunday to Sunday. I don't want to claim that God is on our side. As Abraham Lincoln told us, I want to pray humbly that we are on God's side. And whatever our faith, one belief should bind us all: The measure of our character is our willingness to give of ourselves for others and for our country. These aren't Democratic values. These aren't Republican values. They're American values. We believe in them. They're who we are. And if we honor them, if we believe in ourselves, we can build an America that is stronger at home and respected in the world. So much promise stretches before us. Americans have always reached for the impossible, looked to the next horizon and asked: What if? Two young bicycle mechanics from Dayton asked, what if this airplane could take off at Kitty Hawk? It did that and changed the world forever. A young president asked, what if we could go to the moon in 10 years? And now we're exploring the stars and the solar system themselves. A young generation of entrepreneurs asked, what if we could take all the information in a library and put it on a chip the size of a fingernail? We did that and that too changed the world. And now it's our time to ask: What if? What if we find a breakthrough to Parkinson's, diabetes, Alzheimer's and AIDS? What if we have a president who believes in science so we can unleash the wonders of discovery like stem-cell research and treat illness for millions of lives? What if we do what adults should do and make sure that all of our children are safe in the afternoons after school? What if we have a leadership that's as good as the American dream, so that bigotry and hatred never again steal the hope or future of any American? I learned a lot about these values on that gunboat patrolling the Mekong Delta with Americans, you saw them, who come from places as different as Iowa and Oregon, Arkansas, Florida, California. No one cared where we went to school. No one cared about our race or our backgrounds. We were literally all in the same boat. We looked out, one for the other. And we still do. That is the kind of America that I will lead as president, an America where we are all in the same boat. Never has there been a moment more urgent for Americans to step up and define ourselves. I will work my heart out. But my fellow citizens, the outcome is in your hands more than mine. It is time to reach for the next dream. It is time to look to the next horizon. For America, the hope is there, the sun is rising. Our best days are still to come. Thank you. Goodnight. God bless you and God bless the United States of America. Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company nytimes.com

To: Mephisto who wrote (8841)	8/2/2004 6:53:04 PM
From: Mephisto	Respond to of 15516

The way to reduce black poverty in America Henry Louis Gates Jr. NYT Monday, August 2, 2004 iht.com Hard truths Go into any inner-city neighborhood, Barack Obama said in his keynote address to the Democratic National Convention, "and folks will tell you that government alone can't teach kids to learn. They know that parents have to parent, that children can't achieve unless we raise their expectations and eradicate the slander that says a black youth with a book is acting white." In a speech filled with rousing applause lines, it was a line that many black Democratic delegates found especially galvanizing. Not just because they agreed, but because it was a home truth they'd seldom heard a politician say out loud. Why has it been so difficult for American black leaders to say such things in public, without being pilloried for "blaming the victim"? Why the huge flap over Bill Cosby's insistence that black teenagers do their homework, stay in school, master standard English and stop having babies? Any black person who frequents a barbershop or beauty parlor in the inner city knows that Cosby was only echoing sentiments widely shared in the black community. "If our people studied calculus like we studied basketball," my father, age 91, once remarked, "we'd be running MIT." When my brother and I were growing up in the 1950s, our parents convinced us that the "blackest" thing that we could be was a doctor or a lawyer. Yet in too many black neighborhoods today, academic achievement has actually come to be stigmatized. "We are worse off than we were before Brown v. Board," says Dr. James Comer, a child psychiatrist at Yale. "And a large part of the reason for this is that we have abandoned our own black traditional core values, values that sustained us through slavery and Jim Crow segregation." Making it, as Obama told me, "requires diligent effort and deferred gratification. Everybody sitting around their kitchen table knows that." "Americans suffer from anti-intellectualism, starting in the White House," Obama went on. "Our people can least afford to be anti-intellectual." Too many of our children have come to believe that it's easier to become a black professional athlete than a doctor or lawyer. Reality check: According to the 2000 census, there were more than 31,000 black physicians and surgeons, 33,000 black lawyers and 5,000 black dentists. Guess how many black athletes are playing professional basketball, football and baseball combined. About 1,400. "We talk about leaving no child behind," says Dena Wallerson, a sociologist at Connecticut College. "The reality is that we are allowing our own children to be left behind." Nearly a third of black children are born into poverty. The question is: why? Scholars like my Harvard colleague William Julius Wilson say that the causes of black poverty are both structural and behavioral. Think of structural causes as "the devil made me do it," and behavioral causes as "the devil is in me." Structural causes are faceless systemic forces, like the disappearance of jobs. Behavioral causes are self-destructive life choices and personal habits. To break the conspiracy of silence, we have to address both of these factors. It's important to talk about life chances - about the constricted set of opportunities that poverty brings. But to treat black people as if they're helpless rag dolls swept up and buffeted by vast social trends - as if they had no say in the shaping of their lives - is a supreme act of condescension. Only 50 percent of all black Americans graduate from high school; an estimated 64 percent of black teenage girls will become pregnant. Are white racists forcing black teenagers to drop out of school or to have babies? Cosby got a lot of flak for complaining about children who couldn't speak standard English. Yet it isn't a derogation of the black vernacular - a marvelously rich and inventive tongue - to point out that there's a language of the marketplace, too, and learning to speak that language has generally been a precondition for economic success, whoever you are. When we let black youth become monolingual, we've limited their imaginative and economic possibilities. These issues can be ticklish, no question, but they're badly served by silence or squeamishness. We can't talk about the choices people have without talking about the choices people make. Henry Louis Gates Jr. is chairman of the department of African and African-American Studies at Harvard.