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08/10/2004:

"Kerry's big Idea? There isn't One *Desperation Shouldn't Blind us to the Faults of Bush's Challenger*"

by Simon Tisdall Common Dreams
The lack of an appreciable post-convention "bounce" in John Kerry's poll ratings is significant. The Democratic party's Boston shindig last month was supposed to present him as a strong, experienced replacement for President George Bush. But Boston's main achievement may have been to highlight the limitations and flaws of Kerry's candidacy.

The eviction of a White House incumbent is always an uphill struggle. It requires something special. Bill Clinton possessed that indefinable quality in 1992.

If Kerry lacks Bubba's bounce, it may simply be because he is not, well, very bouncy. full article

Silencing the Voice of the People
Counterpunch.org
Dissent disrupts democracies, yet without it there is no democratic discourse. That point struck home as I watched the Democratic National Convention unfold and realized that the voices of the delegates, the representatives of the common people, had been muffled by the preordained celebrants of the Kerry command. With rare exception, notably Jimmy Carter and Rev. Sharpton, no voice spoke against the appointed incumbent; no voice raised the rabble about the lies that led to slaughter; no voice questioned the silencing of the people behind the curtain of the Patriot Act; no voice damned the administration that dared to impose on Americans the impious "pre-emptive strike" policy that destroys the very concept of Democracy; no voice asked why America does nothing to respond to the silent genocide taking place in our name in Rafah and the refugee camps crammed together in Gaza; no voice lamented the incarceration of the Palestinians by the illegal wall made of hatred and racism erected by the notorious terrorist, Ariel Sharon; no voice blasted the erasure of western law by the acceptance of extra-judicial executions; no voices, not a sound. Why? full article