I give him a B. He didn't sell me, but he didn't scare away too many swing voters. His base is excited but they want to believe, they drank the "I can beat Bush" Kool-Aid but did they really like the martial flair?
Brother Andrew Sullivan is a little tougher than me, and I cannot argue him up "Some of it was so pompous and self-congratulatory I almost gagged."
Me too. Andrew makes an interesting and less subjective point:
This was also, it seems to me, a very liberal speech. Domestically, there was no problem the government couldn't help solve. There was support for protectionism, and for penalizing the drug companies. Government-funded research into stem cells was described as revolutionary. But private drug research that has cured millions and saved my own life must be throttled to placate constituencies like the AARP. There was no mention of welfare reform in his past; no mention of education reform; and no firm commitment to seeing the war through in Afghanistan and Iraq. This is obviously what worried me the most. His goal in Iraq is to bring the troops home.
--And another thing -- Does anybody think Bob Dole could have got away with half the grandstanding (sorry if that's too harsh a word) of his military service? Riza and I were mock drinking a shot every time we heard "Vietnam." We'd be in the hospital if we had played for real.
Senator Dole’s heroism was a part of his biography, but he would have been severely criticized to highlight his service half as much as Senator Kerry did last night.
Posted by jk at July 30, 2004 09:56 AM