Americans Show They Are Willing For Change, And Kerry Just Stepped Up

[DrFunkenstein]

Polls are good for showing long term trends, and not necessarily immediate. Just because Kerry is up now, I don't think it means much.

What is more significant is that polls have shown that Bush's support is soft - like Dean's in Iowa - and has consistently been growing softer. They are willing to look elsewhere if there is an appealing alternative.

At this convention, John Kerry stepped up when it counted - like he always does - and has given the American people that alternative. It wasn't a "wow" performance like Obama's, but it showed that he had a real spark and tremendous credibility. In short, he made good on all the expectations Democrats put upon him as someone who could take down Bush.

Kerry is known for conserving his energy during the early part of the race. This makes for a particularly excellent strategy in 2004, when war-weariness could easily transfer into campaign-weariness after a long, dragged out fight. Kerry comes on strong in the final stretch and, while he will certainly go toe-to-toe with Bush in the interim, expect Kerry to save his best stuff for the debates and beyond.

I admit I had a bit of jitters before the convention, just as I had a bit of jitters going into Iowa, but I am now absolutely convinced that Kerry is an utterly capable campaigner who somehow gets the media to underestimate him every time. He played them for suckers during the convention the same way Ali told everyone he was "gonna dance" with Foreman. Don't be surprised if the rope-a-dope comes out yet again before it's all over.

[Cha]

1. Kerry's was a "wow performance" for me! I think each

one who spoke at the convention brought all their unique points in their own way. All of the major speakers at the Dem Convention were simply Brilliant. And whoever choreographed it was a genius.

I'm glad Kerry is saving his best for last because it must gonna be a Humdinger. And since the bushites will be in full war regalia..we will need all the heavy artillery to make it over the finish line.

[Frances]

2. I thought the speeches were so good

that I watched them all again on CSPAN today. I couldn't begin to say which one was best because there were so many great ones.

I want to see Laura and the Bush twins top what Kerry's wife and daughters did.

And since we Southerners value beauty contests so much, I would like to enter Cate against the Bush twins.

[patdem]

4. I agree, I listened again today and kept wondering...bush* how you going

to counter this?? It is a wonderful thing to be a Democrat today! :hug:

[Cha]

5. Cate is Beautiful and so are the Kerry Girls..Vanessa and

Alexandra. I had never seen any of these People before and was so impressed! Articulate and Eloquent..unbeatable combination..like Kerry and Edwards..STrenghth and Wisdom~

[tedoll78]

3. God, I was so nervous about Kerry's speech..

I'd seen him speak numerous times, and he'd never really hit me like some other speakers have. It was ingenious of him to set the expectations low..

[DrFunkenstein]

6. The Same Happened In Iowa

They knew that their internal polling was strong and that Dean's support was much softer than the polls suggested. They knew they had a strong chance at pulling a close second (which itself would be a sign of life) and possibly even come ahead.

When Kerry came in way ahead, the campaign was surprised, but not nearly as much as the media, who had written Kerry off as a distant third at best, soon to drop out after further humiliation in New Hampshire.

Of course, the Kerry campaign had been keeping their cards close to their chest and gave every indication that they really believed they'd pull a "strong third." The media bought it hook, line & sinker because they can't stand Kerry's nuanced, policy-heavy type of politics - it's bad for TV, because they have to stop being newscasters and be, you know, journalists and all.

However, their own surprise became the story and since the media are so narcissistic and navel-gazing, they ran with it.

Since then, the media have been bombarding us with how bad a speaker Kerry is on the trail. Since no one really pays attention, the public took their word for it. However, when it came to the campaign Superbowl, Kerry put it into overdrive, once again surprising a media that had written him off as hopelessly wooden.

Ps - If you don't believe Kerry is pulling the media by the nose, think about how his silence on the VP issue played right into the 24-hour news mentality of idiotic speculation. They don't want to report, they want to speculate, and Kerry kept himself in the news during a period that was necessarily a campaign lull.

[tedoll78]

7. Oh yeah..

I saw right through the VP speculation game he played. He played it like a fiddle.. hehe.. and for good reason, since that was probably THE main reason for any campaign coverage he got for the past few months. Didn't recent studies show that Bush got 4 times as much air time as Kerry did on newscasts?

(btw.. I'm so pleased to see him wearing that yellow bracelet!)

[sandnsea]

10. A new angle

When Kerry talked about running a war on the cheap, I couldn't figure out where that came from. Did you see Franks has a new book coming out? Talks about Garner walking the halls with hat in hand, couldn't get the kind of money he knew they'd need for the reconstruction. I think Kerry knows about this book and is planning to make huge hay with it. And maybe that's when I think he'll tackle the $87 billion. Ya' think?

It's been a beautiful week, I've been in tears half the time. Hope. And not just to turn back Bush's policies, but to pick up where we left off in the 60's and get this country believing again.

[DrFunkenstein]

8. If You Don't Believe Me, Check Out The Focus Groups...

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1803&e=6&u=/washpost/a28807_2004jul30

Among eight Lancaster voters who watched the speech at a student center at Franklin & Marshall College, Kerry began with no outright supporters -- only a widespread disaffection with Bush that made them hungry for an alternative. None said they felt they knew "who Kerry is as a person," as Ronnie Burgess, 36, a travel counselor for AAA, put it. And they all said they had been affected by seeing numerous Bush campaign ads portraying Kerry as a flip-flopper.

But Kerry seemed to reach them almost as soon as he took the podium. They laughed at his joke of having been "born in the west wing" of a Denver area hospital. The voters seemed not to lose interest throughout the 55-minute speech, watching Kerry's body language as well as his face. Burgess said she could tell Kerry loves his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry. Paolilli said she was impressed that he hugged his former crewmen.

Paolilli also said Kerry made her feel that she had a role to play as a citizen. "He seemed to be saying we all have to make this happen. Give me a shovel. I want to dig," she said. "With Bush, it's like he's going to take care of it and we're supposed to go about our business."

Sure, he was stiff -- they struggled not to laugh when Kerry, like Dudley Do-Right in a dark suit, saluted the convention and said he was "reporting for duty." But they agreed that he came across as sincerely stiff. The surprise, they said, was Kerry's energy.

"He is not supposed to be full of energy," said Greg Maurer, 37, an intellectual-property lawyer and a Catholic Republican from a military family. "He was energizing me. I felt like I need to go out and do something for the country."

[Justice]

9. "Give me a shovel. I want to dig"

"He was energizing me. I felt like I need to go out and do something for the country."

What beautiful reactions!

On Edit - I also think a HUGE HUGE part of the media's reaction is that they have heard these candidates before, and certain bits and pieces of their speeches are repeated again and again. The media is frankly bored, you can almost hear it -- they want to say blah blah blah, blah. Same old, same old. That is why Barak Obama's speech was so well received by the media - it was new material, new phrasing.

That is why CSPAN is so important, because you can just listen to the speeches, without hearing the bored reporter.

We complain about teachers in the classroom who are going thru the motions because they've lost their zeal to teach, about designers and artists whose work has lost its fresh appeal and the media complains about politicans because they have heard it before. But we also need to complain about media who have become jaded and uninterested in the political process - they should get new people to chair the booth at the convention so they react for the first time.

[bklyncowgirl]

11. I agree, so far the Kerry campeign's been brilliant

Here's another Kerry bait and switch.

Remember the flak over Kerry's military records? The Bush campeign made a big fuss over how they hadn't released all the documents intimating that there was something to hide.

The next day the documents were posted with a rather modest link on Kerry's website. People went charging in digging for dirt and found exemplary service ratings and the full text of his commendations for the bronze star and silver star.

Whoops, never mind.