Kennedy Bashes Bush

Addressing Democrats in his hometown of Boston, liberal icon Ted Kennedy blasted President Bush for embarking on a "misguided war" in Iraq, and said John Kerry offered the "hope of real victory against terrorism and true security at home."

On the second night of the Democratic National Convention, Kennedy told delegates packed into the FleetCenter that more than 900 soldiers have been killed and nearly 6,000 wounded in Iraq.

"The administration has alienated long-time allies. Instead of making America more secure, they have made us less so. They have made it harder to win the real war on terrorism, the war against al Qaeda. None of this had to happen," Kennedy said.

The 72-year-old Kennedy, patriarch of the country's most enduring political dynasty, lauded Kerry, his fellow Massachusetts senator and the soon-to-be Democratic presidential nominee.

"I have known John Kerry for three decades. I have known him as a soldier, as a peacemaker, as a prosecutor, as a senator, and as a friend. And in every role he has shown his strengths. He was the right man for every tough task and he is the right leader for this time in history."

Kennedy called Kerry "a war hero who understands that America's strength comes from many sources – especially the power of our ideas. He knows that a true leader inspires hope and vanquishes fear."

Later Tuesday, Kerry's outspoken wife Teresa Heinz Kerry takes the convention stage to offer the nation a more personal and family view of her husband.

Tapped to deliver the keynote address is a rising star in the Democratic Party: Barack Obama, the Illinois Senate candidate who is heavily favored to become only the fifth black senator in history.

Despite the Kerry campaign's admonition to convention speakers not to risk alienating undecided voters with red-meat attacks on the president, Kennedy unleashed a series of flame-throwing verbal assaults on Mr. Bush.

Kennedy likened Mr. Bush to a "monarch named George who inherited the crown" and said that under his leadership, the United States has alienated longtime allies, made the country less secure and bred fear — of unemployment, of bigotry, of pollution — among its citizens.

"So much of the progress we once achieved has been turned back. So much of the good will America once enjoyed in the world has been lost. But we are a hopeful nation, and our values and our optimism are still burning bright."

Invoking the memory of Democratic icon Franklin D. Roosevelt, Kennedy told the crowd: "The only thing we have to fear is four more years of George W. Bush."

In an interview with CBS News Anchor Dan Rather, Heinz Kerry said she wanted Americans to know that her husband "is a man who believes in public service and he is also passionate about justice and fairness and he's an optimist."

She also refused to back down for telling a reporter to "shove it" earlier this week, displaying the same unapologetic bluntness that Vice President Dick Cheney showed when he uttered a vulgarity to a Democratic senator last month

"You know, I defended my rights," Heinz Kerry said. "I defended my freedom and personally I defended my integrity, and I think any American would do that. And I would certainly applaud them for doing that and find them very weak if they didn't."

Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran, surrounded himself with military veterans at a campaign stop Tuesday in the Navy town of Norfolk, Va., as he made his way north to Boston. He's scheduled to arrive at the convention Wednesday.

Keeping national security at the front of the presidential campaign, Kerry called for extending the life of the Sept. 11 commission past its scheduled end date of Aug. 26 to help ensure that its recommendations are enacted as soon as possible. "The stakes are too high," he said.

Kerry's running mate, Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, arrived in Boston on Tuesday with his wife Elizabeth after visiting the grave of their son Wade in their hometown of Raleigh, N.C. Edwards will accept the Democratic vice-presidential nomination tomorrow night.

Pre-convention polls show Kerry tied or slightly ahead of President Bush, although the same surveys show the president with a clear advantage over his challenger in handling the war on terror.

The first national political convention since Sept. 11, 2001, was influenced by the terror attacks in ways both big and small. In a ceremony of remembrance, the hall went nearly dark but for small flashlights held aloft as the strains of "Amazing Grace" floated across the arena from the violin of a 16-year-old musician. Outside, armed officers stood guard along a seven-foot-tall metal security fence that ringed the convention complex.

The president, meanwhile, stayed out of the public eye at his Texas ranch.