Full Version: John Kerry on Meet the Press 4/19/04
John Kerry appeared on Meet the Press on Sunday. The entire hour was devoted to him.
Transcript for April 18
He made a few references to Bob Woodward's yet-to-be-released book, indicting the Bush administration with such phrases as
and
I think Kerry did reasonably well, overall. A few times, he laughed or chuckled in places where I thought it was inappropriate (mostly when Russert was referring to some of his past statements
).
Questions for debate:
Did Kerry's appearance on Meet the Press help his campaign?
Did anything new or surprising emerge from it?
Transcript for April 18
He made a few references to Bob Woodward's yet-to-be-released book, indicting the Bush administration with such phrases as
QUOTE
MR. RUSSERT: Should George Bush convene a summit at Camp David with the head of the U.N., the Germans, the French, the Russians, the British?
SEN. KERRY: I think it takes more than a summit. I think this administration has proven, frankly stunningly, ineffective in diplomacy. Just even in the announcement in the last few days, I think there were Arab leaders who were taken by surprise by this announcement. I don't think that surprise evidences the kind of groundwork of diplomacy necessary.
Now, here's what I'll do. If I'm president, I will not only personally go to the U.N., I will go to other capitals and I will have my secretary of state legitimately empowered to be able to be a full secretary of state, speaking for the administration, which we now know from Bob Woodward's book is not the case. The war within this administration over who's in charge of what and whose voice is being listened to is unlike anything I've seen in modern days.
SEN. KERRY: I think it takes more than a summit. I think this administration has proven, frankly stunningly, ineffective in diplomacy. Just even in the announcement in the last few days, I think there were Arab leaders who were taken by surprise by this announcement. I don't think that surprise evidences the kind of groundwork of diplomacy necessary.
Now, here's what I'll do. If I'm president, I will not only personally go to the U.N., I will go to other capitals and I will have my secretary of state legitimately empowered to be able to be a full secretary of state, speaking for the administration, which we now know from Bob Woodward's book is not the case. The war within this administration over who's in charge of what and whose voice is being listened to is unlike anything I've seen in modern days.
and
QUOTE
MR. RUSSERT: You do not believe the war on terror is primarily a military operation, not a law
enfor...
SEN. KERRY: No...
MR. RUSSERT: You don't.
SEN. KERRY: ...not primarily.
MR. RUSSERT: You don't.
SEN. KERRY: Not primarily.
MR. RUSSERT: You do not.
SEN. KERRY: Not primarily. Tim, Iraq had nothing to do with al-Qaeda. America really needs to stop and focus on the truth again. This administration--and we now know it from Bob Woodward's book. I mean, you can go through the series of events in August when the president was at the ranch taking the longest vacation in presidential history. During that time, the president was talking about Iraq more than he was talking about al-Qaeda. Andy Card came back and made an announcement that they didn't introduce a new product in August because that's not what you do in August. They introduced it in September. They came back and started down the Iraq road. They kept looking for a connection. George Tenet kept saying no connection. The intelligence people said no connection.
enfor...
SEN. KERRY: No...
MR. RUSSERT: You don't.
SEN. KERRY: ...not primarily.
MR. RUSSERT: You don't.
SEN. KERRY: Not primarily.
MR. RUSSERT: You do not.
SEN. KERRY: Not primarily. Tim, Iraq had nothing to do with al-Qaeda. America really needs to stop and focus on the truth again. This administration--and we now know it from Bob Woodward's book. I mean, you can go through the series of events in August when the president was at the ranch taking the longest vacation in presidential history. During that time, the president was talking about Iraq more than he was talking about al-Qaeda. Andy Card came back and made an announcement that they didn't introduce a new product in August because that's not what you do in August. They introduced it in September. They came back and started down the Iraq road. They kept looking for a connection. George Tenet kept saying no connection. The intelligence people said no connection.
I think Kerry did reasonably well, overall. A few times, he laughed or chuckled in places where I thought it was inappropriate (mostly when Russert was referring to some of his past statements
).Questions for debate:
Did Kerry's appearance on Meet the Press help his campaign?
Did anything new or surprising emerge from it?
Personally, I think it was a weak appearance. He said nothing new, nothing any of us havent heard before. When Russert talked about his trustworthiness, the polls and such, he did nothing to rebute any of it. He just kinda went back to some of the good ole' rhetoric he has been coached to say. So, in my opinion, weak.
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