(Thanks to Brad Ingle for pointing the following link out to me.)
The following is in reference to a speech Michael Moore gave in Cambridge, Massachusetts this past Tuesday, July 27th.
It's a speech more people should hear for various reasons, and I'm hoping Moore gets around to as many college campuses as he can between now and November to deliver the gist of it. For now - especially now, with the Dem's convention reaching the point of Kerry's formal acceptance - the one item of supreme focus in the speech, is this:
"What the Democrats should be doing, and I have heard Kerry say this, is we need to give, we need to give those who are thinking of voting for Ralph Nader, a reason to vote for John Kerry. That is the right answer."
The broad thrust of the Democratic push thusfar has been, unfortunately, the message that "Bush must go." I don't disagree with the message - it's both true and important, as he's already done so much damage and I shudder to think what he'll do with another four years, especially since he won't be campaigning again after that. Still, it's a negative message; a direction away from, not specifically toward anything.
I haven't spent time on transcripts of the convention speeches so far and have only caught sections of it, but so far the general feeling is of a lot of happy, hopeful talk that I'm afraid might not withstand the post-convention media barrage unless it's firmed up and solidified.
It certainly didn't help much when Edwards added last night how we'd "win the War in Iraq." The Democrats have to get on the same page.
The war against Iraq was wrong. It was directed at the wrong target for agendas wholly other than what we were told. We support our troops, and want both them and the people of Iraq to live long and well. We will do what is necessary to make the best of the current situation for all concerned, and as the Iraqi people have demonstrated that they are survivors, I'm confident that they will, in time, prosper once more.
However, we should never confuse the eventual outcome in Iraq with a validation for what's been done. If we do so, then once the new structures are erected on the former site of the World Trade Center towers, we may as well look at the bright, gleaming new structures and judge that the 9/11 attacks were worth it, too. After all, we got all these new things, along with a stronger defense and a renewed sense of national committment. Surely that must have been worth a few thousand lives, eh?
Right. It's absurd. We have to remember that.
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