So, I liked Kerry’s speech last night, which means that the TV media will probably find some major quirk or characteristic in it and declare it to be a bad thing and harp on it over and over again until it becomes a major meme and the undecided TV-watching public that can’t think for itself accepts the meme as fact. See, I thought Al Gore made a terrific case for himself in the first 2000 presidential debate, which taught me that I am far from a reliable barometer of public opinion.

Kerry was the most animated I’d ever seen him, which I loved. And he devoted a huge chunk of his speech to national security, and led with that topic, both of which were big plusses. I was surprised that he denounced the current administration as much as he did. I was especially surprised that he mentioned Dick Cheney by name; I guess he was milking the fact that public opinion is largely against Cheney these days. But I worry that some out there will emphasize the most confrontational parts of his speech and use them to make the whole thing sound negative.

A really important read, by the way, is this profile of Kerry, particularly of his views on foreign policy, in last week’s New Yorker.