Reverend Sharpton's Great American Speech
I've been watching the Democratic National
Convention this week and have been quite amazed by what I've seen. It's really
like no Democratic Convention I've ever seen. There's a
sense of
urgency at this DNC that I can't recall ever
seeing in the past. I've been saying since 2000 that this country is now in
serious trouble, and it looks like the Democrats have finally realized this too.
There have been a lot of great speeches so far at the DNC, here are some of what
I consider the highlights....
Monday night, Jimmy Carter, Al Gore, and Bill Clinton explained exactly why the Democrats
and the Republicans are not the same, and why the Republican philosophy just
plain doesn't work. David Alston, who served with John Kerry in
Vietnam explains why Kerry is qualified to be President and will make an
excellent Commander-in-Chief.
Tuesday night, Barack Obama, a young up-and-coming state senator from Illinois, gave a great speech that should serve to remind us all what America is all about. Howard Dean reiterated the importance of reclaiming America from the current right-wing administration. Senator Ted Kennedy just flat out ripped Bush a new one. Ron Reagan emphasized the benefits of stem cell research and the dangers of turning this medical science into a political issue. Teresa Heinz Kerry spoke about what it means to be an American around the world, and how her husband as President will help restore U.S. international status and respect that has been lost during the last four years.
On Wednesday night, Dennis Kucinich gave a rousing speech that focused on the laborers who are the backbone of the U.S. economy. John Edwards' speech also focused on labor and the middle-class, but I was surprised at just how restrained his speech was compared to past speeches I've heard from him. I believe he was holding back so as not to steal John Kerry's thunder on Thursday evening.
On Thursday, the final night of the convention, veterans who served with John Kerry in Vietnam showed up to show their support for the candidate. The highlight among them was Jim Rassman, who served on Kerry's swift boat, and owes his life to Kerry's bravery in action. Ex-presidential candidate, General Wesley Clark voiced his support for Kerry, as did Max Cleland, another decorated Vietnam veteran who the Republicans slandered and tried to paint as "unpatriotic" in an election a few years ago. The finale of the evening was supposed to be Senator John Kerry's acceptance speech. I, like many Democrats, didn't have high hopes for Kerry's speech, having been none-too-impressed with his oratory in the campaign up until this point. I was pleasantly surprised, however, when Kerry did indeed deliver a grand finale with a strong and stirring speech outlining why he will make a fine president.
But while Senator Kerry's speech was one of many of the fine speeches at the Democratic National Convention, the highlight of the entire week for me, the speech that actually brought tears to my eyes, was Reverend Al Sharpton's on Wednesday evening. In his speech, Reverend Sharpton speaks directly to George Bush, answering Bush's recent rhetorical question about why ethnic votes should go to Democrats instead of Republicans. After all, Bush reasoned in one of his recent campaign speeches, the Republican Party is the party of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. Reverend Sharpton answered Bush in this way:
Reverend Sharpton's speech wasn't without controversy. His speech was supposed to be six minutes in length, and it was to be pre-submitted in the days prior to the beginning of the convention. In the days after he submitted the original version however, he changed the speech dramatically, and it ended up taking 23 minutes instead of the originally allotted six. That's why the transcript of the speech at www.dems2004.org (link above), does not match what's on the video. If you want to read a transcript of Reverend Sharpton's final speech, you can find it on CNN's web site.
Despite the consternation and rescheduling conflicts his unannounced change caused the convention organizers, I'm really glad that Sharpton did it. It was the best speech of the entire convention, and I believe it will go down in history as a great American speech. It also exemplifies another moment when the mainstream media just didn't get it. Fox "News," showed only a few minutes of the speech before they pulled away to begin criticizing it. MSNBC also cut the speech short, and then when one of their reporters interviewed Sharpton after the speech, he made profound comments like, "You sure were riffing up there; whatever it was all about." It's like Michael Moore says, (and I'm paraphrasing here): if you're relying on a single news source to provide your view of the world, you're going to miss a lot! Mainstream media in America today is absolutely embarrassing. The fact that they couldn't recognize a historic speech when it happened, and gave Reverend Sharpton such short shrift during and afterwards, is proof that they have their priorities all wrong. But don't take my word for it. If you haven't seen/heard Reverend Sharpton's speech, go watch or listen to it now!
Tuesday night, Barack Obama, a young up-and-coming state senator from Illinois, gave a great speech that should serve to remind us all what America is all about. Howard Dean reiterated the importance of reclaiming America from the current right-wing administration. Senator Ted Kennedy just flat out ripped Bush a new one. Ron Reagan emphasized the benefits of stem cell research and the dangers of turning this medical science into a political issue. Teresa Heinz Kerry spoke about what it means to be an American around the world, and how her husband as President will help restore U.S. international status and respect that has been lost during the last four years.
On Wednesday night, Dennis Kucinich gave a rousing speech that focused on the laborers who are the backbone of the U.S. economy. John Edwards' speech also focused on labor and the middle-class, but I was surprised at just how restrained his speech was compared to past speeches I've heard from him. I believe he was holding back so as not to steal John Kerry's thunder on Thursday evening.
On Thursday, the final night of the convention, veterans who served with John Kerry in Vietnam showed up to show their support for the candidate. The highlight among them was Jim Rassman, who served on Kerry's swift boat, and owes his life to Kerry's bravery in action. Ex-presidential candidate, General Wesley Clark voiced his support for Kerry, as did Max Cleland, another decorated Vietnam veteran who the Republicans slandered and tried to paint as "unpatriotic" in an election a few years ago. The finale of the evening was supposed to be Senator John Kerry's acceptance speech. I, like many Democrats, didn't have high hopes for Kerry's speech, having been none-too-impressed with his oratory in the campaign up until this point. I was pleasantly surprised, however, when Kerry did indeed deliver a grand finale with a strong and stirring speech outlining why he will make a fine president.
But while Senator Kerry's speech was one of many of the fine speeches at the Democratic National Convention, the highlight of the entire week for me, the speech that actually brought tears to my eyes, was Reverend Al Sharpton's on Wednesday evening. In his speech, Reverend Sharpton speaks directly to George Bush, answering Bush's recent rhetorical question about why ethnic votes should go to Democrats instead of Republicans. After all, Bush reasoned in one of his recent campaign speeches, the Republican Party is the party of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. Reverend Sharpton answered Bush in this way:
"You said the Republican Party was the party of Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. It is true that Mr. Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, after which there was a commitment to give 40 acres and a mule.
That's where the argument, to this day, of reparations starts. We never got the 40 acres. We went all the way to Herbert Hoover, and we never got the 40 acres.
We didn't get the mule. So we decided we'd ride this donkey as far as it would take us."
Reverend Sharpton's speech wasn't without controversy. His speech was supposed to be six minutes in length, and it was to be pre-submitted in the days prior to the beginning of the convention. In the days after he submitted the original version however, he changed the speech dramatically, and it ended up taking 23 minutes instead of the originally allotted six. That's why the transcript of the speech at www.dems2004.org (link above), does not match what's on the video. If you want to read a transcript of Reverend Sharpton's final speech, you can find it on CNN's web site.
Despite the consternation and rescheduling conflicts his unannounced change caused the convention organizers, I'm really glad that Sharpton did it. It was the best speech of the entire convention, and I believe it will go down in history as a great American speech. It also exemplifies another moment when the mainstream media just didn't get it. Fox "News," showed only a few minutes of the speech before they pulled away to begin criticizing it. MSNBC also cut the speech short, and then when one of their reporters interviewed Sharpton after the speech, he made profound comments like, "You sure were riffing up there; whatever it was all about." It's like Michael Moore says, (and I'm paraphrasing here): if you're relying on a single news source to provide your view of the world, you're going to miss a lot! Mainstream media in America today is absolutely embarrassing. The fact that they couldn't recognize a historic speech when it happened, and gave Reverend Sharpton such short shrift during and afterwards, is proof that they have their priorities all wrong. But don't take my word for it. If you haven't seen/heard Reverend Sharpton's speech, go watch or listen to it now!
Posted: Fri - July 30, 2004 at 03:04 PM
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