Wow. I've read this part before, but I'd forgotten who had said it and never made the connection:

"...how do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Vietnam? How do ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"

This is the testimony that changed the collective mindset of this country, making it basically a requirement to say "support the troops, bring them home" along with "no war."

Stunning indeed.

Every now and then, we get a glimpse of what I keep hoping is the real Kerry -- the one who "hates" (if he was quoted correctly) that it takes so much money to win in politics, and who gave this testimony thirty years ago.

"As someone who ran for office for 3 1/2 weeks, I am aware of many of the problems involved, and in many places, you can take certain districts in New York City, the structure is such that people can't really run and represent necessarily the people. People often don't care. The apathy is so great that they believe they are being represented when in fact they are not. I think that you and I could run through a list of people in this body itself and find many who are there through the powers of the office itself as opposed to the fact they are truly representing the people. It is very easy to give the illusion of representing the people through the frank privileges which allow you to send back what you are doing here in Congress. Congressmen insert so often.

You know, they gave a speech for the Polish and they gave a speech for the Irish and they gave a speech for this, and actually handed the paper in to the clerk and the clerk submits it for the record and a copy of the record goes home and people say, 'Hey, he really is doing something for me' But he isn't."

I could vote for THAT Kerry happily, with a clear conscience, but I'm not confident (even though I'll vote for him) about the polished politician we see so often.