7/30/2004 08:09:35 AM|||Nathan Moore|||

John Kerry's speech was interesting last night.  I wasn't sure what to expect, and was somewhat surprised, both in the content and in the nervous delivery.  I've never seen a politician speak over his applause lines like Kerry did last night.  It was almost disrespectful to his audience, and certainly was evident to those of us watching at home. 

The Democrats have attempted to move to the right on issues of national security. How well this new packaging is bought by the American electorate will become more evident in the coming days.  The problem is, John Kerry's career in the Senate can always be used to rightfully belittle any claims he makes on being tough when it comes to America's defense.  His dovish record is sterling, and is consistent with the stance he took upon coming back from Vietnam, before the recent onset of waffling fever for which there appears to be little chance of recovery.  It is only when political expediency demands it that he toughens up his rhetoric.  Unfortunately, the only way to see if he means what he says is to elect him president, which is a sociological experiment I'd rather not undertake.  I don't have my tax shelters set up and haven't gotten around to getting a work permit in the Caymans yet.

And he did a half-Mondale.  He did promise to raise taxes, though he said it through the more modern Democratic moniker of "roll back the tax cuts".  His caveat, that he only intends to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans, is rather subjective.  What he means is this - once he gets in office, and sees how utterly hopeless the federal budget is, the only prudent thing to do is roll back everyone's tax cuts.  The only reason I say this is that we've seen it before, in 1992, where Clinton did a conceptually similar thing, running on tax breaks for the middle class, then reneging when the opportunity to fulfill the promise arose.

 

|||109119405520725362|||The Speech