I am just saying that there is a difference Pete. There's a decorated Navy veteran with three Purple Hearts and a silver star and there's a former member of the National Guard on the ballot. John Kerry saw combat and knows war - George Bush never served in combat neither did Vice President Cheney, Secretary Rumsfeld or Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz. If I were in the military (which I may be some day), I would not want to have leadership that had never done what I was doing and as such could not understand what I was doing as well as someone who had gone through it. (the whole genuflect thing and the Al Gore covers was pretty funny though I must say).
Now, I cannot believe that you just claimed that the Democratic Party was using blacks and minorities because we "trot" them out. Once again, hypocrisy, Pete. Did you watch the 2000 Republican National Convention? The GOP trotted out J.C. Watts, Colin Powell, Condelezza Rice, and others. Now I didn't think that that was bigotry in action; I just thought that they wanted to show diversity within their party (but if I used your wonderful, misguided logic, I would be calling Republicans bigots right now). This 2004 Democratic National Convention is 40% minority and the reason that state Senator Barack Obama was chosen to be the keynote speaker was because he has already proven his exceptional speaking abilities in his campaign for the Senate. If you talk to Illinois Democrats of all races and backgrounds, you would know that people there are so excited about voting for this man in November. He is a rising star in the party. Why shouldn't he have been the keynote speaker? Should it have been Dick Gephardt? Who would you suggest?
