A wonderful evening

About 100 people turned out in Irvine's Democratic headquarters on Friday night to watch John Kerry explain his domestic plans and reiterate his incisive criticisms of Bush's foreign policy. Last week over 300 they were anxious, but in a good way. Tonight, they were loose and confident. What a difference a few days can make.

They also got to see more of the same from Bush. Same tired and lame defenses of the Iraq invasion. Same phrases, working hard, run but can't hide, wrong war wrong time, as if they were conjunctions to his infrequent thoughts.

My thoughts? I think that Bush struck back more often, but at times seemed out of control.

In the walking and talking style, he got kinda uncorked after being told by moderator Charlie Gibson a second or third time (the firm warning) that they were moving on (Bush had had his reply already), but Bush cut him off (they were talking over each other for about five seconds) and then kept talking. This is Charles "Good
Morning America" Gibson. I could not believe my eyes. So this is the bullheaded young man who wanted to go "mano a mano" with his dad.

You can run an ideological presidency, but you can't run an ideological election. Particularly if the ideology and ideologues have led you, and the nation, down the garden path. And Bush simply doesn't understand when slightly over half the country doesn't see things his way. Facts never seem to change his thinking, or his "values" as he likes to call it.

"When a drug comes in from Canada, I want to make sure it cures you and doesn't kill you."

"I guess you'd say I'm a good steward of the land."

"He's got a record. He's been there (in the Senate) for 20 years. You can run, but you can't hide."

Articulate lie, un-credible opinion, non sequitur. Take your pick. (You can run, but you can't hide?? He says that a second time when it makes even less sense.) The crowd laughed, jaws dropped, and people went home happy and charged for the final stretch. Thanks George, for reinforcing our low opinion of you.

When voters ask you a question, they're saying "Convince me." A pro-life woman asked a question about embryonic stem cells, another about federal funding for abortion, and Kerry said in both cases, first, I respect your belief, or I respect the faith
behind that question. I am a Catholic. But I don't put my faith over the laws (i.e., Roe v. Wade) And if it's lawful we shouldn't bar people an important
choice just because they're poor. I thought that was a great answer. A long one, but now he's so on message and more concise that the long ones sound okay
too. In contrast, Bush was asked, what could be changed about the Patriot Act, given the violations of civil liberties. And he completely rejected the premise of the voter, which is unheard of. Later, a woman asked him to name three mistakes that he made as president, and he all but said he didn't make any mistakes, except he implied in some appointments (I'm assuming people who later had a falling out with him).
The woman wasn't an opponent, just a questioner. And then it hit me, everyone who questions him becomes his enemy. At the very least, the GOP's spectacular success at limiting ordinary voter access to Bush has backfired, created a hothouse flower that has wilted under the white light of the electorate.

Hidden in most news reports and in the above summary were some interesting moves about Kerry's domestic agenda - his health care plan, his pledge not to raise
taxes on incomes under $200,000. As well as the lack of principle behind Bush's "values" - even on his own terms. Take the ethics of stem-cell research. Bush opposes using embryos on moral grounds, but supports existing lines that were developed from embryos. What's his response? Well, they already died! That's a justification, but it's not a moral one. And it's also consistent with using
embryos that doctors will destroy in the future. Am I right about that? What do you think?

In other news: in their zeal to cover the Nick Clooney-Geoff Davis campaign for Congress, the Los Angeles Times and Houston Chronicle mistakenly referred to Fourth District incumbent Ken Lucas as Kentucky's lone Democratic representative. That assertion might surprise Democrat Ben Chandler, who in February won a special election to the Sixth District. Now I know that there are 435 members of Congress, but it's not too much to ask the LA Times to fact-check Kentucky's delegation. Especially as Chandler was running for the only open seat in February.