I watched Kerry and Edwards last night and there is something to be said for joy, positivity and truth. Just watching them together gave me a good feeling as opposed to the Republican hatred and fear mongering.

I liked Kerry's speech. I'm glad he's going to get tougher, as long as he doesn't get muddy and dirty. You can't out-Republican the Republicans. They do negativity and hate pretty well and it is hard to improve on what they do. I think Kerry and Edwards need to do what they are comfortable with which is offering a positive and truthful vision to America. Kerry and Edwards have to win their way and not Bush's way.

When the St Louis Rams won the Super Bowl, everyone got into the "extreme offense wins Super Bowls" and everyone wanted to do it that way. And then the Ravens won, suddenly it was cool to have the adequate quaterback with a immovable defense. And then New England won, then it was cool to have no stars just a team, blah, blah. The key thing is that each of these teams won their way, playing to their strengths. And when the Bills win this year, it would be because the Bills are being themselves. I digress. Point is that Kerry and Edwards do not need to go into the gutter, they need to play their game their way.

I do think that Kerry needs to embrace himself a little more. Embrace the French thing, embrace the war protests, embrace the full senate record, the more he runs from these, the more of an opening he gives. Kerry speaks French, that is a good thing. Wouldn't we swell with pride watching our President regain respect and status in the world as he converses with world leaders in different langauges? Wouldn't we love to have a president who is an intellectual heavy weight and widely respect for his opinion qua opinion and not simply because he is the American president?

What if Kerry did an ad with clips and reports of Bush saying he made no mistakes, while we have a meter with the number of dead or injured rising and then it culminates in Bush admitting he made a mistake and then we cut to Kerry's 1971 testimony, "how do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"? I think that would rock.

This country and the world cannot take four more years of Bush-Chenney, we need change and we need it now.