John Kerry Speaks at the Massachusetts Democratic Convention
LOWELL- I want to thank Bobby Kennedy for that introduction, and for coming
here today with his family. I admire his work on the environment and
his years of standing up and holding powerful interests accountable.
Bobby has been one of our greatest crusaders for common sense, and I
know everyone here respects his work and is grateful for his remarkable
commitment to a life of public advocacy.
Only two days ago we remembered the fortieth anniversary of the loss of Robert Kennedy. None of us will ever forget where we were when we heard the news from the Ambassador Hotel. I was on a ship returning to California from my first tour of duty in Vietnam and arrived in port the next day when Robert Kennedy passed away. His loss, like his life, changed all of us forever.
The fact is, all of Robert Kennedy’s children, each in their own way, have followed in his footsteps—and their father would be proud of each of them.
Martha Coakley, thank you for putting my name in nomination. You are doing a spectacular job as an Attorney General who doesn’t just enforce the law—but fights to make Massachusetts fair for the people who play by the rules. I'm honored you nominated me.
And it is very special to be joined today by the newest member of our delegation, Niki Tsongas. As you know, I followed Paul into the United States Senate. He was a friend and a mentor, and it is an honor to ask for your nomination here, in the Tsongas Arena.
I also want to thank Governor Deval Patrick for his leadership and his friendship. And I want to thank John Walsh, the Chairman of our Party, for the important work he is doing to strengthen the Democratic cause.
44 years ago, I was a college kid watching TV and waiting for Ted Kennedy to arrive from Washington to the state convention to accept your nomination for his first reelection to the Senate.
His plane crashed. One passenger was killed and Ted had a broken back.
But not only did he recover—he turned adversity into opportunity. He used his convalescence to study and meet with experts and lay the foundation for the most productive Senate career in history.
Today, as we meet here, Ted is fighting a personal battle – this time for life itself -- and we join together – every one of us—with all the power of prayer and positive thinking to say: Ted Kennedy—we love you and we can’t wait for you to be back in the battle, back in the Senate fighting for the causes that, as you said, “keep our party young.”
I want to thank all of you for the privilege of serving as Ted’s Senate colleague for 24 years. As the great Tip O’Neill reminded us personally, many times – “Never forget to ask.” Well I’m here with humility to ask you for your support and to share with you why I want to go back to the Senate and finish the fights we’ve begun.
We have so much unfinished business and like every one of you here, I am frustrated to the core and angry that time is being squandered—people are being hurt—issues are being avoided—and soldiers and citizens are dying in the wrong war, in the wrong place, at the wrong time. I want to return to the Senate, change the direction of our country, and end this war.
I have more energy—I feel more focused—I’m more ready for the fight than ever before because I didn’t get into public life just to play defense and help stop extremists from doing bad things—I got in to make good things happen and pass the affirmative agenda of the Democratic Party and I believe we’re on the brink of getting that done.
When you sent me to the Senate in 1985, there were 57 of us Democrats —then sadly we started downwards— we lost our friend Paul Wellstone – we saw Max Cleland defeated by the Republican smear machine – we saw Tom Daschle pay the price of leadership. We were down to 43 – and there was talk of a Republican filibuster proof majority. But last year we started to climb back. And now we’re at 51— at least on a good day!
With your help—this year I'm convinced we’re going to win maybe 7 seats in the Senate -- more seats in the House -- and when we win the Presidency—and we will—we’re going to finally have won the first moment of progressive legislating since Lyndon Johnson was President.
I’m proud of the fights I’ve led in the Senate. When colleagues said don’t make us walk the plank on the war in Iraq, I joined with Russ Feingold -- pushed back -- and demanded a vote on the floor in the summer of 2006 to set a date for withdrawal. We received only 11 other votes that day but we set a marker and pointed the way. Only four months later, the closing argument of the Democratic Party that helped provide the new Democratic mandate was the very position I set out on the floor and a few months after that we received a majority vote in the Congress—53 Senators voting to bring our troops home.
George Bush vetoed it -- so let me make it clear: I want to go back to the Senate with a President who will sign it into law – end this war -- and bring our heroes home.
When George Bush nominated Sam Alito for the Supreme Court, Ted Kennedy and I joined together to lead that filibuster. Again we received only 10 other votes, but we did the right thing and today colleagues actually come up and say they wish they had joined us. I want to return to the Senate to put the right people on the Court and protect civil rights, women’s rights, gay rights, and a woman’s right to choose.
And as we face our responsibility to protect rights, as the father of two daughters, one of who is a delegate today, the husband of a strong, independent woman, and the friend of women in our party who through the years have led the way-- let me make something clear.
This campaign for President has been historic in many ways. Hillary Clinton has helped change America through her ideas and her example. She is an extraordinary public servant whose principles and presence will have a profound impact on our party and country. All of us thank her for the remarkable contribution she has made, with confidence that there is much more yet to come.
But as historic as this campaign has been, sadly it has also reminded us that sexism and racism are not yet defeated in America. The Democratic Party cannot be silent about these affronts to our values-- and I am determined to fight to end these insults which have no place in our Party or our democracy.
I also want to go back to the Senate and continue to stand up against those who assault our Constitution—I want to protect our privacy, end their illegal eavesdropping and once and for all end the era of policies that condones torture and do nothing about genocide.
I want to end the era of arrogance and lies that brought us Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, and Iraq itself.
Frankly, nothing motivates me more than the unfairness which this Administration and Republicans in Congress have legislated and administrated into our economy. The American workplace has been tilted against the American worker and we can't soon enough need to end this era of Halliburton excess, Exxon greed, and Enron corruption!
And I’ll tell you where to start. I held the Senate’s first hearing on a pension abuse that hurts thousands of people in Massachusetts by deducting their pension from their Social Security check -- and that’s why we need to pay people the money that belongs to them and end the Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination provisions!
Every day millions in our country get up and go to work for a good salary—they have a pension—health care—a safe workplace -- and too many forget that the only reason they have these benefits is organized labor -- that somewhere, sometime, someone from labor marched on a picket line, fought, bled, and some even died to win those rights for them.
Few things are worse than what this Administration and the Republican Congress have done to our friends in organized labor. Step by step—George Bush and his rubberstamp Republicans have assaulted the rights of union members. It's insulting, it's greedy and it's unacceptable. I want to go back to the Senate and continue to stand up for a prevailing wage—for Project Labor Agreements—against scab labor - and against phony classification of independent contractors. I want to be there fighting to give workers back their right to organize and bargain and strike – and we're going to pass the Employee Free Choice Act!
I want to go back to the Senate because I've had enough of politicians who say education is the key, but make educators beg for resources. Never once in seven and a half years has this Administration fully funded K-12 education – it’s long past time we ended the practice of teachers forced to dip into their own pockets just to put reading materials in front of their students! We need to grow the middle class – not shrink it and abuse it with unfair tax shelters and off shore havens for the favored few. We're going to end lopsided trickle-down tax cuts for the powerful that leave everyone else feeling trickled on! It's pretty simple folks -- millionaires don’t need a tax cut more than 46 million Americans need health care coverage.
And when it comes to health care, I've been proud to be on the cutting edge with my colleague Ted. I introduced the first children’s health care bill back in 1996—which became S-CHIP. And the first bill I introduced in 2005, after the Presidential campaign, was legislation to give health care to every child in America. In 2004, when I ran for President, I offered the nation a plan to ensure all Americans. I still believe the Democratic Party must stand for health care for all Americans—or we don’t stand for anything at all. And I can’t wait to finish the great unfinished business of half a century and see a Democratic President sign into law the bill that will make health care for all a right and not a privilege. And that President will hand that pen to health care’s greatest champion, Senator Ted Kennedy.
I’m asking you to send me back to the Senate to keep fighting to protect our environment, to end global warming, and invent our way to energy independence-- so America runs on American ingenuity and not Saudi oil. When we win in November we will have government that worries about the next generation’s world, not the next quarter’s bloated profits for big oil.
And I want to go back to the Senate to continue to remind Rush Limbaugh and all his right wing followers that patriotism doesn’t belongs to a political party, patriotism belongs to those who love their country by telling the truth and protecting the Constitution. Patriotism belongs to those who keep faith with the men and women who’ve worn the uniform of our country.
You don't support the troops if you force their families to take up a collection to buy body armor for a son or daughter in uniform; you don’t support the troops if you deny veterans health care. You support the troops by doing what it took a Democratic Senate to do: and I’m proud I led the fight to fund the vet centers to treat PTSD, and make sure that for a generation of veterans returning home with eye injuries, their government will guarantee they get treated.
You support the troops by doing what it took a Democratic President named Harry Truman to begin and a Democratic Senate two weeks ago to finish: when you bring the troops home, you don’t just send them your thanks, you send them to college on the GI Bill.
Just yesterday, I spoke to Kevin Duffy, a firefighter from Taunton, who just lost his son Shane in Iraq. There are no words to erase that pain but today all of us here say thank you to the families and young Americans serving our country in Iraq, Afghanistan and around the world.
My fellow Democrats, I got into public life because I wanted to get things done for the public good. I was inspired by President Kennedy and Bobby’s father.
I am honored to be part of a congressional delegation led by Ted Kennedy who picked up the fallen standard – and who with Ed Markey leads a team that fights like a family to achieve our progressive agenda.
I love this fight – and I love this state – and I love the values that together we’re fighting to put into our public policy.
I know the spirit of our citizens and I know the passion we have for the great public cause of our times. I’ve criss-crossed this state hundreds of times – and always I am inspired to action by your stories.
I am motivated by the passion of Angela Sanfilipo -- the head of the Fisherman’s Wives Association – who fights for our fishermen every day -- and I’m proud that when our fishing families were hurting this year, Ted Kennedy, John Tierney, and I helped secure $13 million dollars in disaster assistance.
I am touched by the doctors at Children’s Hospital in Boston who work day and night to save kids from diseases that ten years ago were deadly – and it is their cause I commit myself to when I fight to restore a government that believes again in science. It is for them I work to end the ban on funding for stem cell research that can unlock the cures of the future.
I am moved by the incredible work of Dorothy Stoneman who fights to save teenagers from jail, from drugs, from dropping out – and gives them a chance to learn to build housing, build communities, and build their own lives in a program called Youthbuild. And for all those graduates who have thanked me for being their champion in Washington, I am proud to be called the Senator from Youthbuild.
And too many times, I have been moved to tears by the families at funerals in Arlington National Cemetery and here in Massachusetts whose sons and daughters have given their lives in Iraq – and every day I carry the obligation to represent the mothers and fathers who have said to me: “end this war so no more families have to feel the loss we’ve suffered.” It is for them that I fight because one of the lessons I learned in a war is that brave patriots should never die on the altar of stubborn pride, because of the incompetence and self-deception of mere politicians.
It is because of people like them, and each of you, that I want to finish the fight for Massachusetts, and that is why I am asking you to send me back to the United States Senate.
Because I still remember that when some said we had to run away from who we are, the lion of the Senate Ted Kennedy roared back that “What is right for us as Democrats is also the right way for Democrats to win.”
And because I still remember that when I had come home from war to a country divided and I was fighting to end the war in Vietnam, some would weigh in against us saying: “My country right or wrong.” Our response was simple: “Yes, my country right or wrong. When right, keep it right and when wrong, make it right.”
So today, my fellow Democrats, here in Lowell and across America, we know what is right, we know the right way to win, and I ask for your trust and confidence to go back to the Senate and help make our country right again.
Thank you.
Only two days ago we remembered the fortieth anniversary of the loss of Robert Kennedy. None of us will ever forget where we were when we heard the news from the Ambassador Hotel. I was on a ship returning to California from my first tour of duty in Vietnam and arrived in port the next day when Robert Kennedy passed away. His loss, like his life, changed all of us forever.
The fact is, all of Robert Kennedy’s children, each in their own way, have followed in his footsteps—and their father would be proud of each of them.
Martha Coakley, thank you for putting my name in nomination. You are doing a spectacular job as an Attorney General who doesn’t just enforce the law—but fights to make Massachusetts fair for the people who play by the rules. I'm honored you nominated me.
And it is very special to be joined today by the newest member of our delegation, Niki Tsongas. As you know, I followed Paul into the United States Senate. He was a friend and a mentor, and it is an honor to ask for your nomination here, in the Tsongas Arena.
I also want to thank Governor Deval Patrick for his leadership and his friendship. And I want to thank John Walsh, the Chairman of our Party, for the important work he is doing to strengthen the Democratic cause.
44 years ago, I was a college kid watching TV and waiting for Ted Kennedy to arrive from Washington to the state convention to accept your nomination for his first reelection to the Senate.
His plane crashed. One passenger was killed and Ted had a broken back.
But not only did he recover—he turned adversity into opportunity. He used his convalescence to study and meet with experts and lay the foundation for the most productive Senate career in history.
Today, as we meet here, Ted is fighting a personal battle – this time for life itself -- and we join together – every one of us—with all the power of prayer and positive thinking to say: Ted Kennedy—we love you and we can’t wait for you to be back in the battle, back in the Senate fighting for the causes that, as you said, “keep our party young.”
I want to thank all of you for the privilege of serving as Ted’s Senate colleague for 24 years. As the great Tip O’Neill reminded us personally, many times – “Never forget to ask.” Well I’m here with humility to ask you for your support and to share with you why I want to go back to the Senate and finish the fights we’ve begun.
We have so much unfinished business and like every one of you here, I am frustrated to the core and angry that time is being squandered—people are being hurt—issues are being avoided—and soldiers and citizens are dying in the wrong war, in the wrong place, at the wrong time. I want to return to the Senate, change the direction of our country, and end this war.
I have more energy—I feel more focused—I’m more ready for the fight than ever before because I didn’t get into public life just to play defense and help stop extremists from doing bad things—I got in to make good things happen and pass the affirmative agenda of the Democratic Party and I believe we’re on the brink of getting that done.
When you sent me to the Senate in 1985, there were 57 of us Democrats —then sadly we started downwards— we lost our friend Paul Wellstone – we saw Max Cleland defeated by the Republican smear machine – we saw Tom Daschle pay the price of leadership. We were down to 43 – and there was talk of a Republican filibuster proof majority. But last year we started to climb back. And now we’re at 51— at least on a good day!
With your help—this year I'm convinced we’re going to win maybe 7 seats in the Senate -- more seats in the House -- and when we win the Presidency—and we will—we’re going to finally have won the first moment of progressive legislating since Lyndon Johnson was President.
I’m proud of the fights I’ve led in the Senate. When colleagues said don’t make us walk the plank on the war in Iraq, I joined with Russ Feingold -- pushed back -- and demanded a vote on the floor in the summer of 2006 to set a date for withdrawal. We received only 11 other votes that day but we set a marker and pointed the way. Only four months later, the closing argument of the Democratic Party that helped provide the new Democratic mandate was the very position I set out on the floor and a few months after that we received a majority vote in the Congress—53 Senators voting to bring our troops home.
George Bush vetoed it -- so let me make it clear: I want to go back to the Senate with a President who will sign it into law – end this war -- and bring our heroes home.
When George Bush nominated Sam Alito for the Supreme Court, Ted Kennedy and I joined together to lead that filibuster. Again we received only 10 other votes, but we did the right thing and today colleagues actually come up and say they wish they had joined us. I want to return to the Senate to put the right people on the Court and protect civil rights, women’s rights, gay rights, and a woman’s right to choose.
And as we face our responsibility to protect rights, as the father of two daughters, one of who is a delegate today, the husband of a strong, independent woman, and the friend of women in our party who through the years have led the way-- let me make something clear.
This campaign for President has been historic in many ways. Hillary Clinton has helped change America through her ideas and her example. She is an extraordinary public servant whose principles and presence will have a profound impact on our party and country. All of us thank her for the remarkable contribution she has made, with confidence that there is much more yet to come.
But as historic as this campaign has been, sadly it has also reminded us that sexism and racism are not yet defeated in America. The Democratic Party cannot be silent about these affronts to our values-- and I am determined to fight to end these insults which have no place in our Party or our democracy.
I also want to go back to the Senate and continue to stand up against those who assault our Constitution—I want to protect our privacy, end their illegal eavesdropping and once and for all end the era of policies that condones torture and do nothing about genocide.
I want to end the era of arrogance and lies that brought us Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, and Iraq itself.
Frankly, nothing motivates me more than the unfairness which this Administration and Republicans in Congress have legislated and administrated into our economy. The American workplace has been tilted against the American worker and we can't soon enough need to end this era of Halliburton excess, Exxon greed, and Enron corruption!
And I’ll tell you where to start. I held the Senate’s first hearing on a pension abuse that hurts thousands of people in Massachusetts by deducting their pension from their Social Security check -- and that’s why we need to pay people the money that belongs to them and end the Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination provisions!
Every day millions in our country get up and go to work for a good salary—they have a pension—health care—a safe workplace -- and too many forget that the only reason they have these benefits is organized labor -- that somewhere, sometime, someone from labor marched on a picket line, fought, bled, and some even died to win those rights for them.
Few things are worse than what this Administration and the Republican Congress have done to our friends in organized labor. Step by step—George Bush and his rubberstamp Republicans have assaulted the rights of union members. It's insulting, it's greedy and it's unacceptable. I want to go back to the Senate and continue to stand up for a prevailing wage—for Project Labor Agreements—against scab labor - and against phony classification of independent contractors. I want to be there fighting to give workers back their right to organize and bargain and strike – and we're going to pass the Employee Free Choice Act!
I want to go back to the Senate because I've had enough of politicians who say education is the key, but make educators beg for resources. Never once in seven and a half years has this Administration fully funded K-12 education – it’s long past time we ended the practice of teachers forced to dip into their own pockets just to put reading materials in front of their students! We need to grow the middle class – not shrink it and abuse it with unfair tax shelters and off shore havens for the favored few. We're going to end lopsided trickle-down tax cuts for the powerful that leave everyone else feeling trickled on! It's pretty simple folks -- millionaires don’t need a tax cut more than 46 million Americans need health care coverage.
And when it comes to health care, I've been proud to be on the cutting edge with my colleague Ted. I introduced the first children’s health care bill back in 1996—which became S-CHIP. And the first bill I introduced in 2005, after the Presidential campaign, was legislation to give health care to every child in America. In 2004, when I ran for President, I offered the nation a plan to ensure all Americans. I still believe the Democratic Party must stand for health care for all Americans—or we don’t stand for anything at all. And I can’t wait to finish the great unfinished business of half a century and see a Democratic President sign into law the bill that will make health care for all a right and not a privilege. And that President will hand that pen to health care’s greatest champion, Senator Ted Kennedy.
I’m asking you to send me back to the Senate to keep fighting to protect our environment, to end global warming, and invent our way to energy independence-- so America runs on American ingenuity and not Saudi oil. When we win in November we will have government that worries about the next generation’s world, not the next quarter’s bloated profits for big oil.
And I want to go back to the Senate to continue to remind Rush Limbaugh and all his right wing followers that patriotism doesn’t belongs to a political party, patriotism belongs to those who love their country by telling the truth and protecting the Constitution. Patriotism belongs to those who keep faith with the men and women who’ve worn the uniform of our country.
You don't support the troops if you force their families to take up a collection to buy body armor for a son or daughter in uniform; you don’t support the troops if you deny veterans health care. You support the troops by doing what it took a Democratic Senate to do: and I’m proud I led the fight to fund the vet centers to treat PTSD, and make sure that for a generation of veterans returning home with eye injuries, their government will guarantee they get treated.
You support the troops by doing what it took a Democratic President named Harry Truman to begin and a Democratic Senate two weeks ago to finish: when you bring the troops home, you don’t just send them your thanks, you send them to college on the GI Bill.
Just yesterday, I spoke to Kevin Duffy, a firefighter from Taunton, who just lost his son Shane in Iraq. There are no words to erase that pain but today all of us here say thank you to the families and young Americans serving our country in Iraq, Afghanistan and around the world.
My fellow Democrats, I got into public life because I wanted to get things done for the public good. I was inspired by President Kennedy and Bobby’s father.
I am honored to be part of a congressional delegation led by Ted Kennedy who picked up the fallen standard – and who with Ed Markey leads a team that fights like a family to achieve our progressive agenda.
I love this fight – and I love this state – and I love the values that together we’re fighting to put into our public policy.
I know the spirit of our citizens and I know the passion we have for the great public cause of our times. I’ve criss-crossed this state hundreds of times – and always I am inspired to action by your stories.
I am motivated by the passion of Angela Sanfilipo -- the head of the Fisherman’s Wives Association – who fights for our fishermen every day -- and I’m proud that when our fishing families were hurting this year, Ted Kennedy, John Tierney, and I helped secure $13 million dollars in disaster assistance.
I am touched by the doctors at Children’s Hospital in Boston who work day and night to save kids from diseases that ten years ago were deadly – and it is their cause I commit myself to when I fight to restore a government that believes again in science. It is for them I work to end the ban on funding for stem cell research that can unlock the cures of the future.
I am moved by the incredible work of Dorothy Stoneman who fights to save teenagers from jail, from drugs, from dropping out – and gives them a chance to learn to build housing, build communities, and build their own lives in a program called Youthbuild. And for all those graduates who have thanked me for being their champion in Washington, I am proud to be called the Senator from Youthbuild.
And too many times, I have been moved to tears by the families at funerals in Arlington National Cemetery and here in Massachusetts whose sons and daughters have given their lives in Iraq – and every day I carry the obligation to represent the mothers and fathers who have said to me: “end this war so no more families have to feel the loss we’ve suffered.” It is for them that I fight because one of the lessons I learned in a war is that brave patriots should never die on the altar of stubborn pride, because of the incompetence and self-deception of mere politicians.
It is because of people like them, and each of you, that I want to finish the fight for Massachusetts, and that is why I am asking you to send me back to the United States Senate.
Because I still remember that when some said we had to run away from who we are, the lion of the Senate Ted Kennedy roared back that “What is right for us as Democrats is also the right way for Democrats to win.”
And because I still remember that when I had come home from war to a country divided and I was fighting to end the war in Vietnam, some would weigh in against us saying: “My country right or wrong.” Our response was simple: “Yes, my country right or wrong. When right, keep it right and when wrong, make it right.”
So today, my fellow Democrats, here in Lowell and across America, we know what is right, we know the right way to win, and I ask for your trust and confidence to go back to the Senate and help make our country right again.
Thank you.
