Bush Speech part 2: the aftermath

Continuing the Thursday night stream-of-consciousness diary. This was watching the Kerry-Edwards speech in Springfield, OH right after the RNC ended:

10:49pm – John Edwards is speaking in Springfield, Ohio. He’s a much better speaker than George Pataki. Yet, he still makes me feel like I need to bathe just for watching & listening.

10:53pm – John Kerry takes the stage. How stupid is this so-called intellectual and his campaign manager? No one is covering this except for MSNBC. That includes CNN, Fox News, PBS, and all of the major networks. Why would you make this speech right now when you’re competing against Bush’s speech? Why not wait 24 hours?

11:00pm – I can’t let this go. Kerry had the temerity to say the Bush is the first President since Herbert Hoover who had lost jobs. What??? Gerald Ford?? Jimmy Carter?? Give me a break. The 70s were crappy on employment no matter what party you were from. Saying that no one since the 30s had “lost jobs” on their watch is so untrue that Kerry should be handcuffed now and led away. You know, here’s another thing. Kerry is wearing a wonderful suit coat and a reeeallly expensive shirt. He actually believes that by not wearing a tie no one will notice. Edwards is at least wearing a shirt & coat that look like he could be “one of us.” Kerry just doesn’t get it at any level. The Democrats have likely lost a very winnable election.

11:09pm – MSNBC has broken away. CNN has picked Kerry up. Back on MSNBC, Chris Matthews, who is no conservative, is giving up on the Democrats. “Democrats no longer have the numbers, and the Republicans are better at organizing and business.”

11:32pm – Ron Silver: “Bush gave a speech of moral clarity, which is what drives people mad. But we look back at the great speeches of our presidents and they’re all full of moral clarity.” Ahh….no shock here, “Convention Historian Doug Brinkley” is a friend of John Kerry’s who wrote a book about him. Doug Brinkley is telling us that this is Kerry's opening salvo of the campaign, and that historically this is where John Kerry shines: the last 60 days. The same sentiment is echoed by Terry McAuliffe, DNC chairman. No collusion there. What’s funny is that Ron Reagan, Jr (a definite liberal) just has this defeated look on his face while he’s interviewing these 2 guys.

11:40pm – Jeanine Garofolo has the best response: “The RNC videos and their platform don’t speak to me. I have no proof of this, but I feel like he’s lying to me.” Ron Silver has a good response to her: “You might not like the man, but if you read the 9/11 Commission report, he did not lie to you. He might have been misinformed, but he didn’t fabricate information.”

12:11am – Ron Silver and Ron Reagan, Jr are debating. My conservative friends think Ron Silver is a ridiculous left-winger. I’m beginning to think that Ron Silver and I are kindred souls. Joe Trippi has really undergone a makeover. He used to look exactly like the guy who would run Howard Dean’s campaign: unkempt, bad diet, no sleep. He now looks like every corporate executive. He’s done better than his former boss.

FRIDAY Sept 3rd
2 new pieces of information: Time shows the Prez now leading 52%-41% among likely voters. So much for the dead heat, at least for a brief period of time. And how's this for bad news: the latest unemployment stats show an increase in jobs of 144,000 in August, and that unemployment is down to 5.4%, it's lowest since October 2001. Kerry actually tried to spin that today by quibbling over the 6,000 difference (the original estimate was 150,000). So, let me get this straight: the Democrats have now abandoned the war criticisms, at least temporarily, and have picked this day to switch to focusing on domestic agenda.

Any candidate that clueless does not deserve to lead the country. Maybe the Dems will put up someone in 2008 that I can actually respect and vote for. I'm not holding my breath.