I just saw John Kerry's acceptance speech for the first time today, finding a link for it on the George W. Bush campaign website. Some rambling thoughts:
Regarding tax cuts: Rather contradictory to promise tax relief to small businesses and also rescind the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans since there is a large overlap between these two groups. I'd like to see him explain how a waitress at the Americana Diner is helped out by her employer having to pay higher taxes, and thus unable to give her a raise. And for that matter, not having any money to create a new job. If you want to create new jobs in America, Senator Kerry, then you've got to let the money that pays for those jobs stay in the economy - not go to Washington. I heard his line about not raising taxes on the middle class. Clinton said the same thing, and I saw the townhall where he told a young woman why he was raising her taxes "I didn't know..." Yeah, right. He knew, he just said what he had to say to win the election. He waffled, and so will Kerry, for the same reason.
Regarding unity and division: I can't believe people associate divisiveness with the Republicans, given how the Democrats love to divide the country with techniques like class warfare and pandering to every special interest group, not to mention the harm caused by Al Gore's legal shenanigans. John Kerry doesn't want to mess with the Constitution. Fine, but he also says he's against same-sex marriage, but doesn't articulate any plan for doing anything about it except leaving it up to the states. He's going to fiddle away on this issue while judges decide the issue, and likely against the majority of the people. The truth is that he's for it, or willing to accept it, and won't say so.
And a brief digression on the subject of same-sex marriage:
It's really inconsistent the way organizations like the Unitarian Universalist Association boast about how they respect the democratic process, and then file briefs in court in support of same-sex marriage. They justify it by saying that it's a civil right, but to them every liberal desire is a civil right; Abortion, same-sex marriage, freedom from religion, health care for everybody. By framing everything they want as a civil right they define the conservative point of view out of consideration. Their definition of democratic dialogue is whether to raise spending on the welfare state by 20%, 25%, or more.
About terrorism and defending the country:
Attacking President Bush for misleading the nation sounds good to a lot of people, but the case hasn't been proven that Iraq wasn't a threat to us or our allies. I'm not happy with all the details of the war in Iraq, but I'm glad Saddam Hussein is no longer in power, and a lot of Iraqis are glad he's gone too. I don't think changing leadership in the middle of this thing is a good idea, especially for someone who voted against supporting out troops, while also saying we needed to keep them over there.
He said America wouldn't go to war unless it had to (as opposed to wanted to), but this is just a feel-good soundbite. There will always be some opposed to any war, even if our national sovereignty is at stake. I don't believe Kerry is one of them, though I wonder what his criteria for retaliation would be. How many Americans would have to die first? And the thought of France having a veto over our foreign policy just rankles me. President Bush is right - America must diligently protect itself, even if it has to do so alone.
That's all I have to say about the speech. I've got other thoughts about this race, but they'll be discussed later, if at all. In the meantime, note that I've added several campaign-related links at the left.