Kerry's speech at Tufts tomorrow will be livestreamed

[Luftmensch067]

Website here.

Senator John Kerry at Fletcher: Lecture Streaming Live on 10/22

The Fletcher Political forum welcomes Massachusetts Senator John Kerry to The Fletcher School for an evening of “Challenges in a Changing World”, the inaugural lecture of the non-partisan student organization founded this year to promote awareness of the intersection between domestic politics and foreign policy.

October 22, 6p – 7:30p
Cohen Auditorium, Talbot Avenue
Tufts University
Medford, Mass.

The lecture and Q&A will be streamed live and will be available approximately 15 minutes prior to the event from this page. In addition, the event will be streamed live in ASEAN Auditorium in Cabot Intercultural Building, The Fletcher School at Tufts University.

Senator John Kerry is currently serving in his fourth term as the junior senator from Massachusetts. He was the Democratic nominee for President in 2004. Since his election to the Senate in 1985, Senator Kerry has led and advised on a laundry list of prominent challenges in U.S. foreign affairs, including the Iran-Contra Affair, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Iraq, and the War on Terror. A decorated veteran of the Vietnam War, the Senator is a prominent spokesman on veteran affairs. Among his committee assignments, Senator Kerry serves on the Foreign Relations Committee and is chair of the Near East South and Central Asian Affairs Subcommittee. Long before 9/11, Senator Kerry authored The New War, chronicling the rise of non-state criminal groups and the threat they pose in the 21st Century.

A complete video of the event will be available on The Fletcher School website after 10/28.

[TayTay]

1. I will live-blog what I can

from the live-stream. If you are around, join in.

[beachmom]

2. So how was the speech? Is it available to view now?

[ProSense]

3. Transcript

of prepared remarks posted here.

[TayTay]

4. Corrected transcript here:

http://www.johnkerry.com/news/entry/1940/

"And though it may seem faraway now, today’s students are tomorrow’s leaders. Twenty-five years ago in a classroom at Fletcher—in Professor Shultz’s classroom—there was my future Chief of Staff, David McKean, and John McCain’s future top foreign policy adviser, Randy Scheunemann. The class was called “The Role of Force”—though clearly David and Randy came away with very different lessons. The lesson for you is that you never know who the person in your study group at the library will become. If he’s the next David McKean—share your notes with him. If he’s the next Randy Scheunemann, try to talk some sense into him.

Four years ago, we set out to take back our country. Now, we have a chance to finally complete that journey. This is our chance to fulfill the promise of America for this generation and beyond, to reclaim our future, to remake our destiny.

This is our chance to have a leader who can raise hopes and inspire trust—not raise fears and demand blind faith; who will finally marshal all our resources—military, diplomatic, economic, and yes, moral.

History gives us moments. We can’t afford to let them pass. This is a rare opportunity to fundamentally change the direction of this country. This is a chance to make America and the world a better place. This is a moment to shatter boundaries and make history that our grandchildren will be proud of. We need to seize this opportunity, this chance, this moment, to make Barack Obama President of the United States. Thank you. "

[TayTay]

5. Brief Interlude 1: Kristoff column today

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/23/opinion/23kristof.html?ref=opinion

Ah, someone else said this exact thing. In January and in a lot of times since then.

http://www.johnkerry.com/blog/entry/can_you_really_do_this_can_you_really_elect_barack_obama_president/

[TayTay]

6. Press: Tufts Daily

One article that covered the speech: http://www.tuftsdaily.com/blog/thehill?page155=BlogPosting&article155=19.391413#comment391413

One article that was a small interview with the Senator after the speech: http://www.tuftsdaily.com/kerry_obama_has_better_foreign_policy_judgment

[TayTay]

7. Post up at BlueMassGroup

Very fair and interesting take

Covered at BlueMassGroup: http://www.bluemassgroup.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=13649

[beachmom]

8. I found this post, too, with more details on the Q & A:

http://alexwhalen.typepad.com/media_and_politics_fall08/2008/10/john-kerry-chal.html

First question is a person who is questioning Kerry's stance on marriage equality. It's intense.

Kerry says he supports marriage equality in an equality of rights. He believes that marriage is between a man and a woman, due to his upbringing. However, rights given by the state "must be equal".

Next question is on the funding of renewable energy.

Kerry talks about how 17 billion of that "poorly-labeled" bailout bill goes to renewable energy initiatives. Tax credits to companies who work to create new sources of energy.

"Burning fossil fuels is killing us in lots of ways."

This will be the biggest game changer in history - new sources of energy. He says the industry will be "the size of three Googles".

Kerry declares that there "is good and there is evil in this world," when discussing finding common interests between the three religions descended from Abraham. He concedes that there are people who you cannot negotiate with.

Kerry attacks cable television and talk shows, but wants to say it in a way that he isn't on every talk show tonight or get "YouTube'd to death."

A lot of people vote lowest common denominator because they don't have good information. The referee of information should be the media.

An unfortunate precedent: New York Times v. Sullivan
You have to show what's in someone's head, but we need a standard of due diligence about accuracy of information. We're in junk journalism in many places in the country. They don't need to report truth due to market forces and it "poisons the discourse of our nation". The ratings and advertising are the problem.

Interesting question:
"I came for a foreign policy talk, not an Obama rally." Question about dealing with Iran.
Kerry: You're courageous to stand up and ask the question... It's not an Obama rally... I'm running for re-election, too, and I didn't talk about that... I think this (Obama's run for President) is vital for our foreign policy.

Girl: Barack Obama has said on many occasions that he's in favor of sitting down and talking with our enemies.
Kerry: I did it in Syria.
Girl: How successful was that?
Kerry: Let me tell ya.

Kerry and this girl sparred, but he remained true-to-form, calm, and collected. She was sassy and argumentative as hell.

Quotes JFK: "Never negotiate out of fear, but never fear to negotiate." No one takes away from us the right to say, "no", in a negotiation.

The girl walked off with a face that said, "I just got stiffed by a politician." It was priceless.

Last question was on the cost of a good college education. It seems to be a touchy subject, to Kerry offers very little on the subject, despite the entire auditorium's applause to the question itself.

[ProSense]

9. Found

a clip of one of Kerry's response in the Q%A. Posted here