Kerry Takes Command
John Kerry accepted the Democratic presidential nomination Thursday, bluntly challenging President Bush's Iraq policy and vowing to be a commander in chief "who will never mislead us into war."
"Saying there are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq doesn't make it so," said the Massachusetts senator, a decorated Vietnam War veteran battling an incumbent president in the age of terrorism.
"Saying we can fight a war on the cheap doesn't make it so. And proclaiming mission accomplished certainly doesn't make it so," Kerry added in remarks to thousands of delegates packed into the FleetCenter and a nationwide television audience of uncounted millions.
Kerry, 60, took to the stage to thunderous applause form the convention floor and the strains of Bruce Springsteen's "No Surrender," the campaign's unofficial theme song.
"I'm John Kerry and I'm reporting for duty," he said, snapping off a salute before beginning his speech.
In a speech that launched the general election phase of his quest for the White House, Kerry vowed to reverse policies that send U.S. jobs overseas and promised to expand health care, improve education and "fight a smarter, more effective war" against terror.
"As president, I will restore trust and credibility to the White House," he said, a variation on Mr. Bush's 2000 campaign pledge to bring honor and dignity to the Oval Office.
Kerry's speech capped a four-day convention designed to persuade millions of undecided voters in the battleground states that he is a man tested by war and ready to take command in an era of terrorism.
"I defended this country as a young man and I will defend it as president," Kerry said.
Kerry vowed to build a stronger military at home and strong alliances overseas, saying the nation then will be able to tell terrorists: "You will lose and we will win."
"The future doesn't belong to fear; it belongs to freedom," he said.
In keeping with the military theme, Kerry was introduced by former Sen. Max Cleland of Georgia, who lost three limbs while serving in Vietnam.
Cleland called Kerry an "authentic American hero."
"John Kerry's service to his country didn't end in Vietnam," he said. "It began there."
Cleland was preceded at the podium by the men Kerry calls his band of brothers, more than a dozen Vietnam swift boat crewmates and Jim Rassmann, the man who credits Kerry with saving his life under fire.
"I've seen John Kerry in action. I know his character. I've witnessed his bravery and leadership under fire. And I know he will be a great commander-in-chief," Rassmann said.
Eager to strike out from their convention city, Kerry and vice presidential running mate John Edwards depart Friday for a 3,500-mile, coast-to-coast campaign swing through 21 states.
After spending the week at his Texas ranch, President Bush resumes campaigning this weekend with a bus tour of battleground states and a new message. "We have turned the corner, and we are not turning back,'' he says in a new stump speech, excerpts of which were obtained by The Associated Press.
Kerry began the week tied or slightly ahead of Mr. Bush in the polls, a strong position for a challenger. Whatever sort of surge in support he receives from four days of his highly choreographed convention, Republicans hope to counter next month when they meet in New York to nominate Mr. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for re-election.
In his speech, Kerry painted a portrait of a nation suffering economically after four years of Republican rule.
"Wages are falling, health care costs are rising and our great middle class is shrinking. People are working weekends; they're working two jobs, three jobs and they're still not getting ahead,'' he said.
"We can do better and we will. We're the optimists,'' he said, and added, "We value an America where the middle class is not being squeezed, but doing better."
Kerry's decision to question the president over Iraq comes at a time of dwindling support for the president on the issue. But Kerry sought to broaden his appeal well beyond Iraq as he bore in on national security issues that he has placed at the core of his candidacy.
"In these dangerous days there is a right way and a wrong way to be strong," he said.
"Strength is more than tough words," Kerry added in a slap at the president without mentioning him by name.
"I will immediately reform the intelligence system so policy is guided by facts, and facts are never distorted by politics," he said in reference to claims that the president relied on faulty intelligence in deciding to invade Iraq in 2003.
"And as president, I will bring back this nation's time-honored tradition: The United States of America never goes to war because we want to, we only go to war because we have to," Kerry said.
Kerry voted in October 2002 to give President Bush the authority to use military force to topple Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, but later voted against legislation providing $87 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan.
The speech aside, all was in readiness for the traditional, made-for-television convention-ending spectacle – the streamers, the confetti, the 100,000 red, white and blue balloons nestled in the rafters to be released on command.
A video tribute to Kerry was part of the effort to shed Kerry's image as an aloof politician, casting him as an athlete and a musician, a Yale graduate and a prosecutor, a soldier and a son, a father and a husband.
"I cried like a baby when they were born, both of them," Kerry says of his two daughters, Vanessa and Alexandra.
The video also included the first reference from the convention podium to Kerry's emergence as a prominent anti-war activist more than three decades ago after he returned home from Vietnam.
Outside the convention hall, after three days of relative calm, protesters burned a two-faced effigy depicting President Bush on one side and Kerry on the other. A demonstrator wearing a black hood was dragged from the crowd and detained by police.