Rockin’ the House at the JJ Dinner - UPDATED
Road Report from Ted Chiodo:
25 Days Left and John Kerry just rocked the house at tonight’s Jefferson Jackson dinner in Manchester New Hampshire.
It was a crisp fall New Hampshire night and John Kerry’s words were equally crisp, precise and to the point. The Armory Ball Room (as Joliet Jake and Elwood, the Blues Brothers, would say a “real barn”) was filled to the brim with excited and fired up Democrats. These are the same brave men and women who stood up, fought back and turned the state blue in 2004. Tonight was a blast and it was a real honor to be part of this effort to make sure the Granite State stays blue in 2006. Let me give you a full account of tonight’s speech because it was quite a sight to behold.
John Kerry and Teresa Heinz Kerry arrived at the Radisson in Manchester around 4:30 PM. By that time I’d already said hello to some of the nicest, well informed and hard working members of this online community. Marvin Nicholson gave me a ring and informed me that he had run into a Johnkerry.com blogger in the unusually trendy Radisson lobby.
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I immediately put down my Sony pod casting owners manual (wonderful reading by the way) and rode the elevator down (with LeBron James, no less, in town for a Cavaliers Exhibition Game, I wished him luck with the game and asked if he was voting, he said yes - yes, it is a weird and wild world that I inhabit) to meet Terri and Ann who had assembled some of the local and not so local Johnkerry.com community members to attend the speech. Well, we got to chatting about 06 and Johnkerry.com and before you know it Terri and Ann had to find their seats before the JJ began without them. Before I go any further I want to say to all the Johnkerry.com community members that I met tonight (Terri, Cathie, Kirsten, Ann and forgive me if I forgot anyone) that your kind words mean a lot to me. Your hard work and intelligence are the life blood of this community. In simpler terms - you rock.
So I said my good byes to Terri and Ann, and I headed out to the Armory room to check my perch on the press riser (the place where all the MSM media guys set up their cameras and hang out). The room, which looks like a super sized high school basketball court, was brimming with excitement as the New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair started off the festivities with the pledge of allegiance.
After the pledge, fired up Democrats Carol Shea-Porter, Paul Hodes and Gov John Lynch took the floor and put the decision before the audience.
This year we face a choice. Do we want to send this Congress back to DC or have we had enough of it? Have we had enough of the Republican internet sock puppetry against Paul Hodes, have we had enough of the Ken Mehlman-connected phone jamming? Have we had enough of this war?
Well let me tell it to you straight. That crowd in that hall on that night had had enough of this Republican Congress. The stage was well set for John Kerry, who was introduced to a standing ovation from the people who helped make him the Democratic nominee in 04. Love and hope were tangible as the crowd rose to their feet in appreciation.
John Kerry waved, took a breath and began what was a hell of a speech. Sharp, clear, hitting back decisively at the fear-and-loathing administration that divides rather than unites and preys on fears instead of inspiring the better angels of our nature. We’ll have the text and video later today. Take a look…
Mahalo!
UPDATE: The full transcript of JK’s speech is now available here.
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The New Hampshire speeches came across well on teevee out here in the hinterlands, that’s for sure—plenty of that good ol’ fire-in-the-belly stuff that we need to motivate Joe and Jane Voter this year. I’m glad the video replays of last night are available on tightly-targeted sites like this, but we should also try to flog & promo them on YouTube, over at crooksandliars, etc. so as to reach the broadest possible audience with this powerful material.
keep up the good work mr. senator,
Otter
I agree!
YouTube would be ideale. Hopefully more and more people will get to see it.
The interent has the power to literally win an election. We should make extreme use of it.
I can’t wait to see it again and post it/send it to all my friends. Let’s get the word out!
Great job, John!
The globe has a very decent review of the event,:
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/10/14/in_nh_kerry_throws_down_gauntlet/
I agree with Otter on all counts. The energy of the speech translated VERY well on TV land—by the end, it felt the whole room was exploding with enthusiasm. It was also nice to see the personal interactions after the speech.
I also think it’s important that snippets of the speech find its way on You Tube. Then perhaps some of the A list blogs might consider featuring it as a rallying cry to win in ‘06.
Wonderful to see a pic of our representatives for the larger JK bloggerworld! There are indeed a lot of us who were there in spirit, and we thank those of you who were able to come in person.
Great account!
I have been given a link where I can watch the speech
so will do that.
Then it’s off to phone banking (short-term) and to join
another peace group (long-term).
Greetings from Seattle!
DiAnne
Perhaps you could share that link, rather—others who missed the speech I hear are waiting patiently.
Pamela
Friend who saw it said she saw it at C-span - someone should put up a place on this site for viewing it.
Here is C-Span
http://www.c-span.org/
Road to the White House link mentions John Kerry but when I click on it I get McCain, Giuliani
I’ll ask.
DiAnne
Maybe C-Span won’t have the archived video until after Road To The White House airs tomorrow.
Word is they will have it here soon.
My friend says it is on Road to the White House, C-Span 1, and will be rebroadcast on Sunday night too. She hopes the interactions at the end won’t be cut off, including with a delightful 11-year-old boy.
She also sent this interesting first diary, from a Vet for Kerry - the speech moved him back into action. She found it references on the Democratic Underground Kerry page.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/10/13/23157/810
And here’s another JK-centric link to share, one that points to anti-reich-wing blogger and progressive talk-show maven Taylor Marsh’s website:
http://www.taylormarsh.com/archives_view.php?id=24644
(And no, I’m not going to intro it or excerpt its contents here, simply give you the link and trust you to click on it. Every now and again you just have to take some things on faith.)
and you can have faith in me because I’m always right and I never lie,
Otter
Otter - thanks for the Taylor Marsh link. She rocks!
DiAnne
I watched last night and highly recommended on the previous post that staff make sure to grab that extra footage after the speech - it’s priceless.
Anyone who missed watching last night needs to watch the speech here when it is available.
And with that I am off to gather the daily news and keep my readers in the loop on all things Kerry and otherside.
I could not agree more, I watched and I was standing and clapping with the crowd. JK was on fire and he fired me up!! This is what we need to get the vote out, passion and the message JK brought last night. Great work Sir.
JK 2008!!!! BANK ON IT!!!
Taylor has been a strong voice for Jk in the blogosphere for some time now. Her blog is great.
I’m really looking forward to a video of this speech. It was magnificent!
On another topic, this is a must-read:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/13/AR2006101301393_pf.html
Ted,
What a wonderful report! The event was terrific and it was nice bonus to meet you. You are doing a great job making this blog informative and unique. These official “on the road” updates keep us informed and also motivated to keep up the fight for Congress.
Thank you for the great job you did representing my home state in your posts. NH is a special place and more and more people are turning away from Republican ideals (excuse the oxymoron). Paul Hodes and Carol Shea-Porter are great candidates and I was happy to see the write-ups you did on each of them.
John Kerry’s speech was fiery and I think there were more than 12 standing ovations, but I’ll defer to the Globe on that. We had two visiting guests among our group who had never heard John Kerry speak in person and they were mesmerized.
It is always fun to attend a Kerry event with a first-timer and see the instant conversion. During the senator’s “Dissent” speech in Faneuil Hall last April, a doubter attended with her friend (a true Kerry supporter). She was pretty much dragged along and didn’t understand the concept of enthusiasm for a political speech: it was not her idea of entertainment. I talked to her afterward and she was enthralled. She kept saying, “I understand now. He stood up and told the truth. A politician told the truth! How rare is that!”
Thank you also for arranging for us to say hello to the senator. And it was expecially nice to get to chat with Mrs. Heinz-Kerry. She casually walked up to us and said “hello” and we were delighted! She is just about the nicest person on earth and has a wonderful personality and sense of humor.
The hard work that the Senator and Mrs. Kerry are doing for candidates in the midterm elections is an inspiration to all of us.
Ann (DD)
I’m a bit behind, but I’ve just posted a long reply to a critic of Kerry in the previous thread, which gets into many of the reasons Kerry will be an even stronger candidate in 2008.
Ted,
Thank you for the great recap, and thank you for all you do. It was a pleasure meeting you, and at such a wonderful event, too!
Senator Kerry’s speech was righteous and he was on fire. The reception he got was incredible. No less than 12 standing ovations is a definite sign that people are hearing and appreciating his message. Now on to November and a big win for Gov. Lynch, Carol Shea Porter, Paul Hodes, and all the other good Democrats running for office!
More pics from the speech on DU
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2395616
Never stop Rockin’ for us! Thanks again for all you have done for the Democratic party! :)
I was so impressed with John Kerry’s passion in insisting that healthcare, poverty and education are moral issues. “The scriptures did NOT say heal the sick if they can pay for it. It said heal the sick.” Yes!