Three good parts of the Kerry speech (too bad he's so rich and stiff)

I liked these lines:

1. The reference to corporate welfare.

2. We should break our dependence on the Saudi royal family.

3. Roll back the tax cuts on the wealthiest 2% (those earning more than $200,000).

If he hadn't explicitly made the case to bring back the top marginal income tax rate to 39.6%, then we'd be stuck.

But man! That guy seems like the Millionaire on Gilligan's Island. So stiff. It seemed like he was the rich uncle trying to play with his kids -- smiling at the concept but not really enjoying the experience. He just doesn't like chanting along with crowds, does he? Remember Clinton? "Give me that power, George Bush. If you won't use it to help people, then give it to me." and you just *wanted* him to get that power. You sure didn't get that sense with John Kerry. "Reporting for duty" was a good tagline, because giving that speech did seem like a duty that he didn't particularly relish. I'm glad he was dabbing off the sweat on his forehead.

Anyway, some great lines. Help is on the way is good. "Stronger at home, respected around the world" seems empty to me. Who cares if we're respected around the world? That seems like we care too much about what other countries think about us. Not so macho. Maybe it polls well with the swing voters in the swing states. Well, I'm quite sure it would poll well with them; otherwise, it wouldn't be the motto of the convention. But it doesn't resonate with me.

What a downer that the networks didn't carry Obama's speech. You know, we should yank their licenses from the FCC. Who they hell are they to get a license -- for free -- and not even devote an *hour* of coverage of the Democratic National Convention a night! A freakin' hour! That should be a requirement of getting their license to broadcast. And maybe Senator Obama will introduce it. . . .