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This is from a rough and tumble LA veteran and I think a cop for 18 years or so:
John Kerry strode onto the stage at Woldenberg Park, alongside the Mississippi River in New Orleans with La. Senator Mary Landrieu to thunderous applause Friday. Cheers of Ker-ry,
Ker-ry, Ker-ry welcomed him to the Crescent City.
He promised "I will not risk the life of one American boy for foreign oil. What we need to do to protect this country from terrorism is to regain our relationship with other countries around the world to gain the intelligence we need to intervene before it comes here."
The crowd roared approval time after time as he continued, saying that Tyco Inc. spent $72,000 for a mail box in Jamaica and "took $400 million dollars offshore with them".
"I'll close those loopholes for the Benedict Arnold corporations that take American jobs away."
He spoke about how the Peace Corps had no more participants today than it did the year John F. Kennedy created it. He said he would change that and help young Americans who wanted to volunteer for the Peace Corps or domestic assistant service, to juveniles without mentors, or seniors without assistance, so they could have the government "pay for four full years of college".
He promised to help states along the Gulf Coast find ways to preserve and restore wetlands and return oil refining and exploration to domestic workers.
"I will fight to keep jobs in America. Bill Clinton created 20 million jobs over eight years and George Bush was lost almost three million of those jobs. If this trend keeps up, we will lose all those jobs that Bill Clinton created," Kerry said.
Kerry added that while "we are the richest country in the world, we are the only industrialized nation without health care for our people". "I will change that. I will provide health care for all Americans by rolling back the tax cuts to the rich. If you make $200,000 or more you'll lose the Bush tax cut, if you make less, but more than $50,000 you'll keep it. And, if you make less than $50,000 you shouldn't have to pay income tax," he added.
Kerry said we would remove John Ashcroft as Attorney General and when the cheers subsided, he paused, then said, "But today we are going to pray that he can recovered from that impacting of his gall bladder and get well." The crowd went silent as he spoke of the illness and then clapped respectfully responding to Kerry's call for prayer.
"But I want to return to what made this country great. This afternoon I'm going to the World War II Museum down the street to be reminded of what the ‘Greatest Generation' did.
And, I want to remind you of the Vietnam generation and that they fought for civil rights and for equal rights for women"...he had to pause until the roaring crowd calmed down...
"I want to continue what FDR, Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson and John Kennedy did for civil rights and bring this country together, not amend the constitution to tear us apart."
He joked that he had no problem picking his advance team for the trip.
"I had no problem finding staff that wanted to come down here during Mardi Gras, and I told them I wouldn't ask what they did to get their beads," Kerry laughed. "I'd been wanting to get down here and eat some crawfish too."
When the senator asked the crowd if they knew the answer to George Bush's failed polices someone in the crowd yelled "You". Kerry smiled having to lower the microphone to laugh. The crowd also yelled "debate, debate" and screamed their approval when Kerry asked if they wanted to send President Bush back to Texas. "What do we tell President Bush when he wants to talk about military service and national security?"
"Bring it on," was the loud response.
After his speech the senator took about a half hour to autograph signs, books, T-shirts and tickets to the rally.
As he signed my copy of A Call to Service he noticed my 196th Light Infantry Brigade cap with "Vietnam Veteran" on it. He reached to shake my hand and I gave him a soul-shake the way we did in Vietnam and said, "Welcome Home". His blue eyes gleamed and he asked me where we were. I told him the Central Highlands and he said "Yeah it was tough up there too".
I was able to get on the rope-line, first row from the stage because of the adept work of The Kerry Crescent team that had emailed a registration form for VIP tickets.
His appeal to the crowd was on the level of a movie star. Two young women to my right were gushing afterward that he had shook their hand or touched their arm. My 23-year-old step-daughter, who is awaiting acceptance into the Peace Corps told him she was having trouble getting in and he responded that hundreds of young people are having the same problem because the Bush Administration is not funding the corps properly and was making excuses to potential volunteers. Kerry told her he would change that when he is elected president.
"He touched my arm," she said on the way home.
People, this guy is the Real Deal. He is legitimate, knows what he's talking about and does so completely off-hand, never getting knocked off pace by cheers, jokes or questions. He is healthy and vital and his speech reminded me a bit of Jack Kennedy, without the Boston brogue.
New Orleans was wild for him and you could tell he was totally at easy because of it.
Ambassador Lindy Boggs, N.O. Mayor Ray Nagin, Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu, Congressman William Jefferson, La. Treasurer John Kennedy, the La. Speaker of the House and most of the N.O. city council attended. Lt. Gov. Landrieu said U.S. Senator John Breaux and Gov. Kathleen Blanco (both have endorsed Kerry) sent their respects. Black ministerial alliance leaders from the city were alongside the stage in support, with numerous Sheet Metal Union members, Fire Fighters Association members and the state and district Democratic Party leaders.
It was an old-time, down-home Democratic rally, which opened with members of the Grace King "Fighting Irish" High School band and a Cajun Zydeco band playing prior to Kerry's appearance. Soft drinks an jambalaya were served.
A member of his advance team told me was going to rally in Jackson, Miss. tomorrow, but didn't have the details as I was leaving.
If you get a chance to meet the man, do.....you'll know you've made the right choice.
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