Kerry's closing statement

[ewagner]

for Wednesday night......this is what he should include.

....summarize positions in 1:15 or less.......

.....................then...............

As we close the last of these important events, Senator Edwards and I humbly ask you for your vote on Novmber 2nd. We realize that your vote is the most important thing an American can give a candidate, and, if you chose to entrust us with your vote, we will wear it like a badge of honor. We will work every day to justify your trust in us and we will work day and night to keep America strong, to keep America safe and bring justice and properity to all Americans. We, as the framers of our constitution did, pledge our heart, soul and sacred honor to the service of our country. Thank you and God Bless America.

What would you suggest?

[Lefta Dissenter]

1. WOW, ewag!

I'm voting for YOU! :toast:

[ewagner]

3. ...blush...

I used to write speeches a lot.

It has become sort of a hobby.

:hi:

[Lefta Dissenter]

4. You mean

as King of Ashland, you didn't have a team of speechwriters at your disposal? :D

[ewagner]

12. Nope.....didn't have one of those

I used to write speeches for my boss when I was a legislative aide and also for a campaign I was managing at the ripe old age of 20.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

2. Differentiate from Bush in stark terms

Kerry's basically been hammering at restoring trust and credibility to the White House.
I see no reason to depart from that message other than to say it in another more memorable way.

[txindy]

5. I think what you've got there is excellent

I cannot WAIT for this next debate. If ever there was a time for Senator Kerry to just let loose in the debate, this is it. Since I cannot even imagine him ever having a Junior-type meltdown, I see absolutely no danger in this. Put everything out on the table. It'll be his last major impression on the public. God knows the MSM will go back to its bare-minimum coverage of the Kerry campaign, so this is his best chance for the public to really see John Kerry and not a media portrayal of him.

I'd like to see him touch on the recent newspaper articles concerning the probability of a draft returning under * and reiterating his promise that he would never have a draft in his own administration. Yes, he's said it before, but more people need to hear it and then hear it, again.

[sonicx]

6. contact info...

http://www.johnkerry.com/contact/

send it as a friendly sugggestion. :hi:

[martinpecial1]

7. I'd love to hear him say something like this

(First a gracious start, then the hammer) First of all, I'd like to thank Mr. Bush for helping the country through 9/11. For that, we owe him our gratitude. But the traits that served him well then have gotten us into a mess now. 9/11 was a black-and-white tragedy. But most issues in this world are more complicated, and this president is ill-suited to handling them. How can he ever correct a mistake when he can't even admit to having made one? Now his main hope is to convince you that as bad as things are now, it would be worse if we made a change. Well, to borrow a phrase from Franklin Roosevelt, the only thing he has is fear itself. Twenty four years ago, Ronald Reagan asked a question in his presidential debate: Are you better off now than you were four years ago? I want to ask that question but in a different way: Some of you are better off than four years ago, particularly the wealthy. But I want to make this about more than the individual. Is this country better off than four years ago? Is the economy? Is our standing in the world? Are we revered as a beacon of hope around the globe, respected for our ideals and not just our military? I ask you to join me in changing our country and changing the world.

[newyawker99]

14. Hi martinpecial1!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[MockSwede]

15. Submit

Great wording. I suggest you submit this pronto to K/E main office by best means possible. We're not meddling - just offering our best words and ideas to the advisors of the candidate!

[ZombieNixon]

8. You're really John Kerry in disguise, aren't you?

In that case, sir, I approve of your closing statement!
:-)

[martinpecial1]

10. I wish

I could have written it better, but I believe he can thank Bush and then pivot to why his day is past while invoking FDR and Reagan can be persuasive.

[EndElectoral]

9. Style - It needs to appear "less scripted" - heartfelt, encompassing real

people's struggles and dilemmas -- not dry facts.

He has got to be as connected as he was in the Senate 1971 speech -- not canned dry stump speech rhetoric.....

He's got to talk about Situations - Clinton was a master of this.

How would the President's daughter deal with god forbid a rape situation and a preganancy?

How would a family deal with an illness caused by mercury poisoning i our fish?

How does a middle-aged manufacturing worker deal with supporting a family when his job has been outsourced? It's more than about the money, it's about the sense of pride, about the dream, and real moral choices we have to make.

How does a young woman who married a national guard member deal with the long deployments and the struggles of not only worrying about her spouse but the struggle of getting by?

How does an aging grandparent deal with his granddaughter on his lap deal with knowing that she is going to have pay the deficits his generation ran up?

How does the child left behind deal with his rage when he is told oh, I's sorry, you'll have to wait another decade before we can fund the program completely? You're not important enough.

How do famileis deal with the stuggles fo getting by, and the constant living in fear, while the mastermind of terrorism remains uncaptured?

How do truckers deal with sprialing costs of gas which threatens their livlihood?

how do seniors get the drugs they need at aoffrdable prices?

how ....

Well, you get the idea...

He must appear human in his closing speech..and it can't look canned!!!!

[ewagner]

11. You may be right

I was trying to do a number of things here......

first, a cardinal rule of politics is ASK for the vote....

Second, make a clear statement of trust...e.g. you can trust me and you can't trust dubya.

Third...I used the term "sacred honor" deliberately to allude to the military aspect of Kerry's experience.

Fourth, I wanted Kerry to make a personal commitment to the voters...a compact...a bond.

Fifth..."work every day" to draw the distinction: Kerry works, Dubya vacations.

I also felt that the piece would have to possess just enough formality to make if presidential as opposed to the "aw shucks" crap that dubya pulls.

But.......I'm a sucker for imagery and get carried away.

Thanks for your comments.

[cheshire]

13. Great could use spell check before you send to Kerry camp. I like the

humility and the reminder of the framers.

[kentuck]

16. ewagner is an excellent writer....

we've known that a long time. :)

[WI_DEM]

17. Ok, I'll try one

In approximately three weeks you will go to the polls, will stand there in the polling place and make your decision, it might be well if you would ask yourself are you better off than you were four years ago? Is it easier for you to go and buy things in the stores than it was four years ago? Is theer more or less unemployment in the country than there was four years ago? Is America as respected throughout the world as it was? Do you feel that our security is safe, that we're as strong as we were four years ago?

If that sounds familiar to some of you it may be that you recall Ronald Reagan asking these very same questions in 1980. Those questions are as pertinent today as they were then--perhaps more so. After 9/11 we were united as never before. The world was behind us in our efforts to bring the murderers of 3000 people to justice. Today, things are very different. What happened in just three years? This president made the fateful decision to invade Iraq. He did this without a coalition or a plan to win the peace. This has divided the world and divided the American people. In 2000, we had a candidate who won the popular vote but was denied the white house because he didn't win the electoral vote. The candidate who did become president promised to be, "A united, not a divider"--and after that election we needed that. But he has governed very differently and squandered the great opportunity that the tragedy of 9/11 provided us.

We need a new start--a new plan and new ideas. The president has proven time and again that he is inflexible and what he promises is more of the same. Can we afford four more years of this? Can we afford four more years of going it alone? can we afford four more years of outsourcing jobs? four more years of declining incomes? four more years of people losing their health insurance? four more years of mounting debt for our children?

Mr. Bush has called me a "typical Massachusetts politician" well, let me quote another typical Massachusetts politician--John F. Kennedy when I say "let's get our country moving again" in the right direction. I'm going to challenge our citizens the same way John Kennedy did, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." If all of us give a little, we cannot fail.

Thank you and God Bless America.