Senator Kerry spent a long day on the Senate floor yesterday, one made even longer by early morning and late afternoon live interviews with MSNBC hosts Joe Scarborough (“Morning Joe”) and Chris Matthews (“Hardball”). Video clips of both interviews are available at http://kerry.senate.gov/newsroom/media.cfm.

In both appearances, he stressed the need for Senators from both parties to come together on a common plan to bring the Iraq war to a close. In particular, he challenged Republicans to act with the courage of their private convictions and cast their public votes for setting deadlines to redeploy our troops and turn the responsibility for Iraq’s security over to the Iraqis themselves.

As he said in response to Chris Matthews’ question about what it will take to gather the 60 Senate votes needed to bring a legislative end to the Iraq war,

They need to put their votes where their private words are and where their real concerns are. ... The bottom line is a lot of my colleagues have had conversations with Republican colleagues in which they are extraordinarily clear about their disenchantment with the policy. They think it‘s wrong. They know it needs to change. But there‘s still that political link. And I think our job is to put the lives of these young kids on the floor of the Senate in these next days, and the strategic interests of our country, which clearly are not being served by the current policy.

<!-more-> In his earlier interview with a visibly-impressed Joe Scarborough, JK reminded viewers of what matters most in terms of ending the Iraq war and building a responsible foreign policy in the Middle East:

You don’t sacrifice American soldiers’ lives for pride or politics. That’s the bottom line. And I think we have the the opportunity to take that position in the Senate now, and I hope we’ll find a responsible center. ... [It’s about] what a lot of people are feeling, which is a very deep frustration to build a truly bipartisan policy that strengthens the country, represents our interests in the region more effectively, and serves our larger strategic interests with respect to the Middle East peace process and security for the region.”

Senator Kerry’s long day yesterday was supposed to include a floor speech in which he could articulate these points for the other Senators present and for the permanent Congressional record. The actions of those who are attempting to block attempts to achieve the kind of responsible bipartisan policy that he referred to in both interviews forced the schedules to change repeatedly, but he delivered an even stronger version of the speech on the floor of the Senate this afternoon.

As-delivered transcripts of JK’s latest floor speech on Iraq will be available in the morning, and we’ll be sure to present them for you here. But in the meanwhile, here are some key excerpts from the as-prepared-for-delivery version of his remarks to the Senate today:

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Today the President made a partial report on Iraq. While it is true there has been some tactical military success—no amount of spinning the military component can obscure the bottom line reality in Iraq today: That reality is clear: there has been no meaningful political progress, and in the long run, that is the only progress that counts. Unless and until Iraqis begin to resolve their fundamental political differences, any security gains will be temporary at best. Welcome, but temporary. Moving the goalposts, dressing up the failure to meet strict benchmarks as “progress” — these are rationalizations for failure, not plans for success.

Meanwhile, another report tells us that while we’ve been bogged down and distracted in Iraq, Al Qaeda has found safe haven in Pakistan and rebuilt its organization. Today, top intelligence officials tell us that Al Qaeda is better positioned to strike the West than they’ve been at any time since 9-11. And where’s our focus? On Iraq. Our continued presence in Iraq isn’t just a distraction from the fight against terrorists — it’s also Al Qaeda’s best fundraising and recruiting tool. We don’t have to wait until September to know that we need a new policy.

Two days ago, I heard some colleagues come to the floor and question why we’re having this debate now when the White House is going to report on his escalation in September.

These questions from the other side of the aisle astonish me. Why now? Why this debate now? Why do we have to, as Sen. McCain asked, “keep taking up the Iraq issue?”

The answer is simple — and compelling: Because American soldiers are dying now. Because the escalation is a failure, now — and we know it. Because when a policy isn’t working, you don’t wait for some artificial timeline to fix it. You fix it now.

Mr. President, the same voices who have come to the floor for years condemning artificial deadlines now want to wait for more Americans to die and more Iraqis to kill each other until the artificial deadline of September, so President Bush can deliver his report even though we know exactly what it will say. The report will reflect the evidence we see in Iraq every day: violence up in some places, down in others, a civil war raging on, squabbling Iraqi politicians and sectarian forces refusing to compromise, and most importantly — no real political progress in spite of the supposed ‘breathing room’ the escalation provided.

Presidents and politicians may have the luxury of worrying about losing face or legacy, but it’s time for the Senate to think about young Americans and innocent civilians who are losing their lives now for a policy that is failing now.

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We are seeing a war prolonged and prosecuted not for a winning strategy but for a refusal to accept reality. What is that reality? No number of American troops can solve the political differences between Iraqis.

So each member really has to ask themselves, what is our responsibility to our soldiers and to the country? I think it’s to get the policy right — now.

The only question is whether we’re going to change the policy. The only question is whether we’re going to stop this Administration from adding to thousands of mistakes, mistakes compounded, mistakes mounted one upon the other – or whether we’re just going to say we’d like to, say we have a responsibility to act, and then do nothing.

It’s actually that simple. If you know this policy is broken now, don’t wait until September — fix it now.

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We must work together to find a new bipartisan majority of conscience, a pragmatic and patriotic commitment to work across party lines to right a failed policy in Iraq and leave in place a sustainable strategy. And I’m pleased to see that many here in the Senate have finally come together and demonstrated the will to do so. I urge my Republican colleagues to join Senators Hagel and Smith in demonstrating the moral courage to stand as Americans first, not members of either party, behind our shared national interest.

While some insist on viewing this through the prism of victory or defeat over an enemy in battle, that simply isn’t the reality of Iraq today. This is a chaotic society, a failed state. The real question is: how do we work together to craft a strategy that is sustainable militarily, politically, financially, and diplomatically? That will hold Iraq together and protect American interests?

There are areas of broad bipartisan agreement available for those willing to do the hard work of building consensus. First, most of us would like to see some residual troop presence even after redeployment next spring. All of us are concerned that our redeployment from Iraq must not happen in a manner that draws us back into the conflict at a later date — and we ought to be working together now to lay the groundwork for not just the next few months but several years down the road in Iraq.

There is also broad agreement that we must refocus our mission on what ought to be our core objective: fighting terrorists. Instead, we’re creating more than we kill every day that we stay in Iraq. Refocusing the mission means that American troops should be hunting and killing Al Qaeda, not being killed on patrol through the streets of Baghdad. It means training Iraqis to patrol Iraqi streets. We must refocus our mission on preventing this war from spreading into a regional conflict and deterring foreign intervention, not — as some in this body have suggested — starting that regional conflict ourselves with military strikes into Iran.

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I’ve suggested what I hope will be the outlines of a new pragmatic consensus that leaves us on stronger footing to fight terrorists in Iraq and elsewhere and to emerge from this war as strong, as secure, and as well-respected in the world as we can be.

All that remains now is hard work — standing for our principles, hammering out compromise, and forcing this President and this Administration to finally face the core reality that have long been clear to many of us: diplomatically, militarily, strategically, morally — we need a new strategy in Iraq.

I urge my colleagues to seize this opportunity to work together to craft a better policy in Iraq — now, and not in September. That is what this moment calls for, and we cannot let it pass without taking immediate action to make things right.