"I know you're pissed cuz all your shots even miss the back board." - Rae & Christian w/ The Pharcyde, It Ain't Nothing [buy the album]
Okay, while trying to figure out what I was going to do with my recent windfall of cash, a friend made the suggestion that I could donate some funds to Kerry/Edwards. The mere thought filled me with dread. There are a hundred things I'd rather donate money to than a political campaign this year. Then, the next day, a friend told me she was going to a moveon.org event. "There's a request for donations. I'll give if it's going to the MoveOn PAC but I don't know what I'll do if it's directly for the Kerry/Edwards campaign. I don't like Bush but I don't know about Kerry." And, you know what? I completely understood the sentiment.
I'm voting for Kerry come November but I'm not at all excited about it. I'm resigned to the fact that this is the best option I have. I'm trying, though. To that end, I jumped at the opportunity to get MoveOn's The Kerry Kit: Reasons to Believe and Tools to Win and learn why I should be all about the new JFK. Yeah, it doesn't do the trick.
The DVD features a featurette from Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry, a biographic film about Kerry and the Vietnam War. It's incredibly boring. Can't we license a little music for this puppy? The first part deals with the heroism that the swift boat ads are trying to crap all over. I don't know how you can make war action uninteresting but George Butler manages to. Then we are told about the greatness of his speech before congress and, well, I'm still bored to tears. If that is the watershed moment for us to connect with Kerry as a leader, it's not nearly enough. Besides that...it was 32 years ago. With all the things to talk about that have happened in the last 4 years, why are we talking about Vietnam?
Then we get John Kerry's speech at the Rainboy/PUSH Coalition from 2 short months ago. Reverend Jesse Jackson introduces him with less than inspired oratory. He does have a cute joke about a lo-CARB (Cheney-Ashcroft-Rumsfeld-Bush) diet with just a little bit of Rice that I smiled at and then John Kerry arrives to put us all to sleep. He starts talking about Vietnam again almost immediately but what I'm struck by is how sunken in his eyes are in his skull. Every time he looks down, his eyes disappear and are replaced with dark holes of death. He looks like a zombie and it's creeping me out. He makes mention of Danny Davis and how articulate he is (and I groan audibly wondering why we can't use other words like eloquence or outspoken or advocate or something other than marvelling at how well the man speaks. He's an elected member of the federal government, I sure as hell hope he speaks well) and then goes on forever and ever with a speech with no passion . I'm sure he's saying some very smart things but, my god, I could go into a coma listening to him tell it. I can't even finish the speech. The droning is making me violent.
So, we jump to the MoveOn.Org Ads and I'm thinking, "Here we go. The good stuff!" as I've watched much of the artistic, clever, and timely ads that they have put online. These ADs however? I'm not impressed. The first deals with Kerry vs. Bush and their Vietnam records. Take a drink every time someone mentions Vietnam. And maybe because I live in California and both candidates already know how we're going to vote as a state so I never see any national political ad campaigns but is this really what gets people? Someone imitating George Bush's voice and saying corny stuff while there's a giant "George Bush's voice being intimidated" and at the end of the ad, after Richard Clarke is quoted heavily, it says, "Richard Clarke doesn't endorse this message." Do these really change people's minds or help them decide? The "Round Table" Ad did have it's moments though.
So, now I'm left with the print materials, and these are actually damn good. They highlight the differences between the two candidates platforms. They give the 10 things Kerry wants to accomplish in his first 100 days and I agree with all of them. They also provide two powerful articles about why Kerry is a great candidate for president.
Which has me thinking that John Kerry should just never make another tv appearance because obviously there's a disconnect somewhere between the TV John Kerry and the actual John Kerry.
But, still, I'm not excited. I'm still sitting here as an "Anybody but Bush" Kerry Supporter.
So, here's the deal. I've got 6 Gmail accounts to share with friends. If you can give me a reason to be excited about John Kerry that doesn't fall in the "He's not George Bush" category, I'll gladly give you one of the accounts.
You can comment right here or you can email me. I do plan on sharing the responses in a later post, though, assuming I get any. If you don't want a gmail account but still want to play, I'd love that too.
Oh, and if you want the Kerry Kit I got, I'd be happy to pass it along. Lemme know.