The great thing about you, GUEST, is you prove that Kerry is doing exactly the right thing. You have made it clear here and elsewhere that you would not vote for him no matter what he said, because voting for a Democrat would disgust you. Therefore, he is absolutely right to completely ignore your concerns. He knows that the left fringe like you will never vote for him, that the less radical leftists will vote for him no matter what he says at the convention, and that he is therefore speaking primarily to a few people in the middle. Hence the empty talk of character and the military, which I agree is tiresome and indeed distasteful.

Before Dean's demise, I was one of those leftists who thought firing up our base with a more progressive message might get out more votes. But you have confirmed for me that the message strategy of Kerry is essentially correct; you would not have voted for any of the Democrats, so he simply couldn't get your vote no matter what he said.