Ever since March many BigLeftOutside readers have been submitting drafts for John Kerry's Democratic National Convention acceptance speech to be given the night of July 29th at 8 p.m. Eastern Time.
Some of the submissions are brilliant. Others not so much. But all of the drafts that I've accepted for publication are heartfelt and quite a few reflect a lot of hard work, thought, and talent, by the speechwriters.
Some are dated back to March, April, May, June... (There has been a backlog to queue up for publication here and I have finally done that today)... and thus must be read in the context of the hour when they were written. But even those have relevant passages for today.
Anyway, read them, and if inspired write your own...
I'm establishing a deadline of 8 p.m. Thursday July 22nd - one week before the big speech - for all submissions. I will then pick one or two of the ones that I think Kerry and his speechwriters should read prior to finalizing the acceptance speech and send them to Kerry and 300 of his closest aides, friends, and family members... some of whom will have already read all your entries here.
You can read the draft speech submissions here. You can use the same link to add your own draft.
A technical note: part of the delay in getting previous submissions posted is that when the speechwriters first do a draft on the word processor and then paste it in the BigLeftOutside comments box, this can cause some technical glitches that I have to then go in and clean up. So please be patient with any delays in getting your speech submissions published.
Now with his Vice Presidential nominee chosen, the big next decision on Kerry's plate is what to say to the nation and the world on July 29th, when more than ever before will be listening to John Kerry. His campaign could rise or fall based on that speech. And in an authentic democracy, we are all speechwriters! And who knows? That night we might just find he borrows a line or two, or an argument, from one or more of these submissions... Democracy in action, BigLeftOutside style!