John Kerry will get the nomination-- far more than even money on that. What's wrong with these speeches? Here's some excerpts from recent speeches:
To California Democratic Party Convention
"And with each passing day, with each new failure of our economy and our diplomacy, it becomes clear: that if that is the test, then book the U-Haul. George Bush is moving out. We're going to have new leadership in the White House. I say to you, just because the Supreme Court made the wrong choice for President, doesn't mean we have to live with it for six more years.
Just look at George Bush's record.
On his watch, an economy that was growing at record rates in the 1990s now has the weakest level of growth and business investment in half a century. Consumer confidence is at a 10 year low. The stock market has plunged more than 30 percent.
We have gone from gaining millions of new jobs every year to losing two and a half million jobs in two years. Those aren't just statistics; they're neighbors and friends, parents and children, who are hurting and who must not be left without help or hope.
We have gone from progress on health care to higher costs and more families uninsured.
We have gone from the biggest surpluses to the biggest deficits in our national history.
We have gone from crime rates falling to crime rates rising once again.
And we have gone from having the friendship and support of the world after September 11th to seeing our power and our foreign policy become an object of protest and scorn on every continent. A nation with the strongest military on earth should not have - and can no longer afford - the weakest diplomacy in our history.
Let me put it plainly. On just about every issue, President Bush has moved America backwards or in the wrong direction: The budget busted, the economy down, the stock market down, unemployment up, the uninsured up, crime rates up, and an America increasingly isolated in the world.
I'm running for President because I believe it's time to turn this country around. ..
I pledge this to you: When I'm President, we will safeguard California's precious shoreline from danger and development.
The damage this Administration would do to the environment is equaled or surpassed by the damage they have already done to the economy. In the past two years, California has lost more than 82,000 jobs; unemployment statewide has soared by 36 percent; and in 2001, the average family's income actually dropped by $5,000.
But instead of working to create new jobs and turn the economy around, George Bush offers the same answer he always give -- more tax breaks for the well-heeled and the well-connected. Under his new plan, the top one percent of income earners here would receive a $36,000 tax break while taxes for another 7 million Californians would be cut by $100 or less. These days that barely pays for a week's worth of gas.
And what price do those 7 million Californians end up paying for their hundred bucks? They get an economy stuck in a rut and an Administration that says it can't afford to help states make ends meet. In just about every state in the country that means deficits that are walloping the poor and the disabled, children and seniors, immigrants and veterans and all those who need help the most. For all too many, it will mean the safety net disappears and the doors to a better life get slammed shut.
In the end, George Bush's unfair and unaffordable tax cut means higher taxes on California families. It means higher college tuition bills, longer waits in traffic, less access to health care, larger class sizes and fewer high-quality teachers for their children.
And to all those people, George Bush offers his compassion. Well, you know what they say about that and a nickel. Claims of compassion are nothing without a commitment of resources. "
To Building Trades meeting: "Because as we know, the real strength of our nation does not come out of the muzzle of a gun, the belly of a B-52, the accuracy of a cruise missile, awesome as they may be. The real strength of our country comes from the hopes we nurture and future we shape. And America looks to you to do what you've done for a century to build that future, to build a future we can be proud of.
That means addressing America's infrastructure deficit -- new schools, new hospitals, new roads and bridges for the 21st century.
That means doing much more to turn swords into plowshares and helmets into hardhats.
That means protecting the prevailing wage. It means strengthening not weakening the right to organize. It means strengthening not weakening the Apprentice Training programs that teach young Americans a skill for life. America isn't hurting because we need more cheap labor, we're hurting because we need more highly skilled construction workers who can build the great projects of the future. And we have to train them and give them the opportunity to succeed.
The Republican leadership has a different idea. They're trying to lower the prevailing wage, eliminate overtime pay for millions and get rid of the 40 hour work week.
And now they're holding up construction bills in Congress because they don't want to include worker protections. We're not going to let them fool the American people. They're not trimming the fat. They're cutting Davis-Bacon and we're not going to let them.
As your President has said, "the building trades put the movement in the labor movement." You are moving America forward by protecting workers, by promoting justice, by raising up schools, hospitals, and homes. You build the American Dream with your bare hands.
Together, let's build an America that is safer, stronger, and more secure. I will work with you side by side everyday until the job is done. Let's make it happen."