“Six years ago, I helped put together the 30th anniversary issue of the student alt-weekly paper I edited, which gave me the opportunity to familiarize myself with our archives. It was a bit startling to see that the coverage of John Kerry’s ultimately failed 1972 campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives already depicted Kerry’s ultimate goal as the White House. … Last night, Kerry gave a mix of the speech liberals wished he’d given in 2004 with the speech liberals wished the other convention speakers had given earlier in the week. With the Denver festivities dominated by the need to ‘humanize’ Michelle Obama, to introduce a vice-presidential nominee who’d been announced just over the weekend, and to devote two major slots to Bill and Hillary Clinton ritually passing the baton to Barack Obama, the base was thirsting for some red meat.” (08/28/08)