LATER 2:  Nice tribute to his mother. An equally nice tribute to his father.

Now we’re leading into the “two Americas” with his recollection of the two Berlins. He wants to restore pride - when did we lose it?

Invoking the name of JFK - to be expected of a Democrat and a Boomer.

Oh, here we go - he’s going to “restore trust and credibility to the White House.” Dang, it’s supposed to be “restore respect”. But he just said “Vietnam!” Woot! And here’s the “I will not mislead the American people.”

Negative, negative, negative...attack, attack, attack...yadda, yadda, yadda.

He wants to bring back the 90s. Yes, let’s bring back the 90s. They were so great. Ya know what? I’m doing better now than I did in the 90s.

And he’s accepted the nomination. Let the games begin.

LATER 3: Teresa as First Lady? Nah. Let’s have Laura Bush run against Teresa Heinz Kerry - Laura’d win hands down. She oozes class.

Mentioning his primary opponents and thanking them - interesting and nice touch.

September 11 - pining for the unity in the immediate aftermath of the attacks. Hmmm…

He just said “weapons of mass destruction.”

“We only go to war because we have to.” Sure, I agree. Our interpretation of “have to” doesn’t match, I wager.

“Imminent threat” - the only ones who’ve used that phrase are the anti-war crowd. I don’t believe that anyone in the Bush administration ever said that about Iraq.

Restores respect - DRINK!
Rebuild alliances!

He’ll build a stronger military? Your voting record in the Senate doesn’t support that, Senator. Forgive me if I don’t believe you. He’s calling the National Guard and Reserves a “backdoor draft.” Not really, sir. Those people were not forced to sign up for service - they knew what they were signing up for, especially the thousands who signed up after 9/11.

Strong alliances!

Good quote: The future doesn’t belong to fear, it belongs to freedom.

(It’s hard to blog and listen at the same time. Whew!)

He’s just going to implement all recommendations of the 9/11 Commission immediately. See, I don’t think that’s a great idea - not all of the recommendations are actually good ideas when implemented by the US Government. They’re recommendations only - a wise leader would evaluate them against reality and feasibility and prudence.

The flag - Old Glory - ain’t she pretty? What’s he talking about here? I’m a little confused - who said the flag didn’t belong to everyone? Huh?

Values - he’s giving lip service to family values. Oh, and I should have added Enron to the drinking list. And prescription drugs.

He doesn’t want to privatize Social Security - OK, then I won’t get a penny of what I’ve put in when I’m old. That means I’ll never be able to retire. But hey, that’s the American way. Take from the rich and give to the poor. No?

LATER 4: “Help is on the way” = government is on the way. How? Increased taxes will be required to pay for the programs he wants to add, that if the people weren’t taxed so highly they could afford to pay for themselves. I want the government to stay out of my wallet, thankyouverymuch.

He’s promising not to raise taxes on the middle class - of course, it all depends on what he sees as middle class. And he will roll back the tax cuts for the “rich” - watch out, people - he’s coming after your money!

Healthcare - yeah, our premiums have gone up because of trial attorneys like your running mate, who go after ridiculously big money in civil litigation that causes medical malpractice insurance to rise, which causes rates to rise so that doctors can afford to be insured in order to practice medicine.

Energy plan - he wants to explore alternative energy, so lets look at windmills, nuclear, fusion. But they’re not environmentally friendly enough - so we’re stuck with oil, but you won’t let us drill on our own shores, so we’re dependent on foreign oil.

“Let’s make this election about big ideas.” You’re the one who started the negativity. You never said much positive in any of the stump speeches I heard.

Oh, he’s talking faith. Good Lincoln quote - I can agree with that.

I just noticed that he’s sweating. I’ve been listening and typing without watching the TV.

LATER 5: Not a terrible speech. It was well delivered. Of course, I disagree with about 99% of the content and he didn’t say a whole lot about anything tangible that he wants to do. In summary:

1.  His main points seem to be that he wants to get our troops out of Iraq as soon as possible. OK, I think that’s true of President Bush, although the timeline probably differs.

2.  He wants to add some governmental programs that we probably don’t really need and in the process increase our taxes (especially the RICH! who happen to pay the lion’s share of the taxes anyway, but nevermind that little detail).

Anything else that I missed?

I will say this for him. I believe him when he says that he will do what he can to keep Americans safe against terrorism. I believe him when he says he’ll use deadly force and our military if it’s required. My concern is that he’ll be a little behind the 8-ball because he’ll be trying to “restore alliances” that we shouldn’t have to have in order to protect ourselves.

Also, I think he’s probably a nice guy and truly loves America. I just don’t want him anywhere near the White House in the forseeable future.

So...up next: The Republicans in New York City. What madness lies ahead?