Monday, May 17, 2004

Kerry LIVE Report

Just got back from the Kerry rally, and I'm happy to say it was well worth the trouble. We waited in line for over 2 hours. Security was pretty tight, but I guess that's a reality in the New W. Order. The biggest surprise to me was how many people were there. Granted this is Portland, but there were probably more people outside of the rally than there were inside. I'm not a good judge of crowds, but there were several thousand people in Pioneer Courthouse Square and the surrounding streets.

Dean was there, but he was a lot more toned down than I was hoping, but it was still cool to see him. Jim Rassmann, the former Green Beret and Oregonian that Kerry saved in Vietnam also spoke. It was pretty amazing to hear his story, how all the other boats went right by him, swimming to avoid bullets, and Kerry pulls back under enemy fire and saves his life.

Kerry's speech was great, albeit a standard stump speech. He hit all the key points, Iraq, economy, health-care, etc.. All this talk about Kerry not defining himself is total bullshit. Just because he doesn't have a detailed plan to fix every one of Bush's fuck ups, doesn't mean he's not defining himself. A return to responsible leadership was the message I got tonight.

Kerry's lack of media exposure has been the biggest problem, and that is mainly due to the fact the news is dominated with Bush's colossal failures. After seeing him tonight I'm not gonna worry too much. It is still only May and once the campaign really kicks in, Kerry will get his message across with no problem. And I'm sure the current "grownups" in charge will come through with a few more fuck ups that the American people aren't going to be able to ignore.

...Oh yeah, and he waved at my 4 month old son.