Environment Crops Up in Kerry’s Acceptance Speech
John Kerry’s well-received speech at the Democratic National Convention last night saw the often-solemn senator rolling through impassioned lines quickly — some pundits said too quickly — and forcefully. Among those lines were several gems for the green-minded in the audience. The first substantive issue he mentioned was the “passion for the environment” he got from his mother. Then there was a pointed jab at Dick Cheney, a VP who “conduct[s] secret meetings with polluters to rewrite our environmental laws.” In the meat of his speech, Kerry touted energy independence, saying, “We value an America that controls its own destiny because it’s finally and forever independent of Mideast oil,” and he called for the nation to depend on “ingenuity and innovation, not the Saudi royal family.” He also touched on an energy plan that would encourage “new technologies and alternative fuels.”