Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

Live from Democratic National Convention

Aired July 29, 2004 - 17:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, this just in to CNN, excerpts of John Kerry's upcoming acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention. That's coming up. You'll hear it, this hour.
Also happening now, al Qaeda crackdown, a major terrorist suspect with a bounty on his head now in custody.

Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Kerry's big night. He's had the big buildup.

SEN JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We must and we will elect him the next president of the United States.

BLITZER: Now, can the nominee sell himself to the American people?

Kerry's war.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You do what you have to do to win the war, live up to the standards of your country hopefully.

BLITZER: He earned a chest full of metals, but does his record tell the whole story?

The acceptance speech.

SEN. BARRY GOLDWATER (R-AZ), 1964 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice.

BLITZER: Why a good one doesn't always help.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is a special edition of WOLF BLITZER REPORTS, live from the Democratic National Convention in Boston.

BLITZER: It's all up to John Kerry right now. Democrats gathered here have given him the nomination and a big push. Can he make his case to the rest of the country? John Kerry spent time today getting the feel of the FleetCenter here in Boston and getting ready for what may be the most important speech he'll ever make.

John Edwards met today with delegates, telling them not to ease up when they go back home. He'll make it official, accepting his nomination for vice president.

SEN. JACK REED (D), RHODE ISLAND: When our National Guard men and women are not called away from their families...

BLITZER: Right now, speaking on the podium, Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island. He is addressing this convention. He's getting the folks -- trying to get the folks excited. The big speakers, of course, coming up later tonight.

For the day leading up to Kerry's big night we'll be going live to CNN's Frank Buckley. He is outside the Park Plaza Hotel. Standing by live on the convention floor, correspondent Joe Johns, he'll walk us through the route Kerry will take as he makes his way to podium.

But we begin with CNN's Candy Crowley at the podium with details just in on John Kerry's speech -- Candy.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Wolf. One of the things that we do know is that tonight what the Kerry campaign wants to do is show their man to the biggest audience he's had thus far as presidential material. In addition to that, they want to show that he is strong on defense, every bit as tough as George Bush will be.

To that end, we have a couple excerpts that the campaign has given us. The first, John Kerry will say: "As president. I will ask hard questions and demand hard evidence, I will immediately reform the intelligence system so policy is guided by facts and facts are never distorted by politics. And as president, I will bring back this nation's time-honored tradition, the United States of America never goes to war because we want to, we only go to war because we have to." A very familiar phrase to those of you who covered John Kerry.

And finally, he will say this about being strong on defense: "I defended this country as a young man, and I will defend it as president. Let there be no mistake, I will never hesitate to use force when it is required. Any attack will be met with a swift and certain response. I will never give any nation or international institution a veto over our national security. And I will build a stronger American military."

Very much in response to a lot of the criticisms they've been getting from the Bush campaign, particularly the idea of turning over U.S. security to an international body. Of course, the Bush campaign has tried to paint John Kerry as an internationalist who would ask permission before doing anything. This clearly an attempt to push back at that -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Candy Crowley on the podium here at the Democratic Convention. Candy, thank you very much.

A walk-through and a bike ride were part of John Kerry's day as he gets ready for this huge night for him. Let's turn now to CNN's Frank Buckley. He's outside the Park Plaza Hotel here in Boston -- Frank.

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, John Kerry spent the day with family members, also practicing his speech, and as you said, relaxing. Late this afternoon he went on a bike ride near his Beacon Hill home. He didn't make any comments, well, he made one comment, how are you doing? But that was about it.

The only other public event for John Kerry was earlier today when he went on that technical walk-through at the FleetCenter. That took about 10 or 12 minutes. He joked with journalists. At one point he said: "Members of the fourth estate, I have called you here to tell you that your reign is over."

So Wolf, apparently we are finished. That's obviously not what's going to be in his speech tonight. We just heard from Candy about some of the comments that are coming up in his speech later tonight -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Frank Buckley reporting about what John Kerry has been doing and planning on doing. Thanks very much, Frank, for that.

From what we're hearing, John Kerry is planning something a little bit dramatic as far as his entrance is concerned into the FleetCenter tonight. CNN's Joe Johns is here with details of that.

What can we expect, Joe?

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, it's always interesting talking about plans, because as you know, plans change, but right now CNN is told the plan is for John Kerry to make his dramatic grand entrance right down this aisle, passing first to his left the state of Missouri, a key battleground state.

Of course we're told by polls it's tied right now, 48-48. Missouri has picked the president accurately in every presidential election since 1956. That, of course, was Dwight Eisenhower.

Then he'll pass to his right the state of Pennsylvania, another very critical battleground state, 21 electoral votes that went to Gore in 200, and also Minnesota to his left. He'll come up here to the stage, of course, and walk over to the podium and be greeted by his crew mates and also the former senator of Georgia, Max Cleland, who will do the introduction.

Wolf, back to you.

BLITZER: Joe Johns, it looks like he has got a dramatic entrance, indeed. It reminds me a little bit of when a president walks into the Joint Session of Congress for a State of the Union Address, for example, walking through a lot of friendly faces as he makes his way to the podium. Joe, thanks very much.

Our Senior analyst, Jeff Greenfield, has been talking to some insiders here in Boston. Give us a little flavor of what you're hearing, Jeff.

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST: Well, everybody knows, Wolf, that the theme of this convention is strength, and there's no question we've already seen in these things, that's one thing that the senator is going to be trying to convey.

But there's another word that a couple of them have been using, civility. I think they want Kerry to be seen as a guy enough at ease with himself and his own competence and confidence to maybe add a grace note or two.

I'm hearing that there's a possibility the name of Ronald Reagan might show up in his acceptance speech. Possibly, although this is a conclusion that I've reached from what they've hinted, maybe even something about the president's good intentions, or he meant well, but he just didn't have enough to do it, as opposed to kind of slamming the man on character. That's one thing that I've picked up.

BLITZER: What are you hearing about the length of this speech because this is a sensitive subject?

GREENFIELD: It is indeed. John Kerry has been known to go on at some length, that Democratic Unity Dinner, I think that you remember back in May, he went on what seemed interminably. They're saying between 50 and 55 minutes, which if you add in applause lines and music that they always put in to make it more dramatic, that's on the outer edge but not unprecedented.

But you're absolutely right. John Kerry could use a sense that he was at least concise and did not go on at some great length.

BLITZER: Are they confident that he has got the speech down precisely the way they want it?

GREENFIELD: You know, I don't know. I mean, there was one report that some people were worried that he hadn't practiced enough. But it's important to say this, most acceptance speeches work, at least temporarily. You're going to be talking about that later. He certainly not going to say, as Walter Mondale did, I'm going to raise your taxes. He's not going to say, as Barry Goldwater did, "extremism in the defense of liberty is not vice." And he's not going to have the problem that Carter in '80 or Bush in '92 did of having a divided party.

So I think it's very hard to see how he won't do well. The question is whether they're going to come out of this convention with people going, wow, that's a better and more impressive person than I thought.

BLITZER: Jeff Greenfield will be with us all night, watching and listening...

GREENFIELD: OK.

BLITZER: ... and assessing. Thanks very much, Jeff. Very much sticking with tradition, President Bush Has been out of the spot light during this Democratic Convention. He's now on his way back to the White House after spending most of the week at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.

Administration sources tell CNN the president could reveal as early as tomorrow steps he'll immediately take in response to the 9/11 Commission report. Not following tradition necessarily, the vice president, Dick Cheney, he is taking today off, but for most of the week he has been on the stump attacking the Democratic ticket and promoting his own.

A major al Qaeda operative is captured. We'll have a live report from Pakistan on this developing story.

Plus this...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. AL SHARPTON (D), FMR. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Mr. President, in all due respect, Mr. President, read my lips. Our vote is not for sale.

BLITZER: Fiery words aimed directly at the president of the United States. Do the Democrats have the African-American vote wrapped up? The Reverend Jesse Jackson, he joins me live here at the convention.

Combat experience, an inside look at how John Kerry's Vietnam service helped shape his life.

Also ahead...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALTER MONDALE (D), 1984 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Mr. Reagan will raise taxes, and so will I. He won't tell you. I just did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The art of the acceptance speech. Sometimes candor doesn't necessarily help. We'll walk down memory lane. Much more coverage coming up for the Democratic Convention.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Much more coverage coming up but we're following other important news as well, including this story just in.

Pakistan reporting the capture of a high-level al Qaeda figure wanted in connection with the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in East Africa.

CNN's Ash-Har Quraishi joining us Pakistani capital, Islamabad. Tell us what you know, Ash-Har. ASH-HAR QURAISHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, Pakistani officials confirming to us tonight, that they have arrested Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani. He's somebody listed by the FBI as one of the most wanted terrorists. Now, Ghailani was picked up in weekend raids that were conducted in central Pakistan early on Sunday. Over a dozen suspects were picked up in those raids.

Over the last few days they have been working on identifying these people. One of them they say is one of the most wanted listed by the FBI, this Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani. Now, this operation lasted more than 12 hours they say. A shoot out ensued and then the security forces were able to go in and arrest these people. Now, we understand from officials that the interrogations are continuing here in Pakistan by security forces. At some point we expect however, that Ghailani will be handed over to the United States -- Wolf.

Ash-Har Quraishi reporting for us on this late breaking story. Thanks Ash-Har very much.

Lets get back to the convention. Now, this gathering seems a bit tame, it's because organizer have tried to limit Bush bashing.

The former presidential candidate Al Sharpton may not necessarily have received the memo before his fiery speech last night. He focused in on the president's recent appeal to African-American voters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHARPTON, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I suggest to you tonight that if George Bush had selected the court in '54, Clarence Thomas would have never gotten to law school. Mr. President, the reason we are fighting so hard, the reason we took Florida so seriously, is our right to vote wasn't gained because of our age. Our vote was soaked in the blood of good martyrs, soaked in the blood of good man (UNINTELLIGIBLE) soaked in the blood of four little girls in Birmingham. This vote is sacred to us. This vote can't be bargained away. This vote can't be given away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So did Al Sharpton go too far?

The civil rights activist, Jesse Jackson, also himself a former presidential candidate, joining us for his assessment.

Did he go too far last night?

JESSE JACKSON, RAINBOW COALITION: A, it was inspiring. B, I don't know what understanding he and Senator Kerry may have had. Al had a prime time slot and he turned on the audience. So I do not know what his time allocation was.

BLITZER: You spoke an hour before he did. You were limited to a certain amount of time, you stuck to it, you had a script that you stuck too. JACKSON: Well, we have a different relationship with the campaign. I think Al's point was we were at the Urban League Convention on last Friday. for three years, President Bush has not met one time with organized labor, or NAACP or (UNINTELLIGIBLE) or Congressional Black Caucus. Neither he nor Mr. Ashcroft, they've had a closed-door policy.

So how does he in fact speak to us and not with us and seek to humiliate us by saying you're voting Democratic because you're being taken for granted. We vote Democratic, because we define what our interests are. If Mr. Bush, on one day puts a picture of Dr. King in the White House, and on the same day says he's against Affirmative Action, that's deception. If one day he lays a wreath Dr. King's grave site, next day puts Pickering on the court, that's deception.

BLITZER: But does the president have a point when he says that the Democratic Party, the establishment of the Democratic Party tends to take the African-American community for granted?

JACKSON: No. They tend to take the working class and poor white folks for granted. They give, basically many poor working class white people (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- the Republican Party, they will give them a flag argument and the prayer clause, right to prayer in a school, a lot of non-budget items, then give the rich Republicans tax cuts and offshore shifts without paying taxes and (UNINTELLIGIBLE). So I think the working-class white people if they would vote their interests, and not their fears, you would have a new alignment. I mean, blacks vote for a party whose labor relations focus on affirmative action, raising workers' wages, in a real sense fighting for a more perfect union.

BLITZER: What Americans clearly saw this week, they watched your speech, which was live here on CNN at the Democratic Convention, they saw Al Sharpton's speech. They also saw a new rising star Barack Obama. His tone, delivery, it's markedly different.

What do you make of his style?

JACKSON: Well, I'm very impressed with Barack Obama, but you see President Clinton came out of one bag, so to speak. President Carter was much harder on Bush, saying he was right wing extremist. Gore, came out with a slightly different direction. You had many speeches with different approaches to the same subject matter. What I'm impressed with the Barack development in our party, as said (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in '44 my father couldn't vote, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) without honor in the military, '54 the Supreme Court decision, '64 (UNINTELLIGIBLE), '84 I was speaking in San Francisco, and '04, you see the evolution, as Barack Obama, and there's Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. and Harold Ford, and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Kilpatrick (ph), you see a growth.

BLITZER: Is it the fact that you are, after all a preacher. Your a reverend, Al Sharpton is a reverend. You son Congressman Jessie Jackson Jr. not, right? Barack Obama, a lawyer. Is it just the fact that you come from different backgrounds or is it generational thing? JACKSON: Speakers -- it's not generational. Speakers have different approaches. You listen to McAtee (ph) speak. He comes of a different (UNINTELLIGIBLE) than John Sweeney. The language is the same. I mean, the language vary, and the styles -- but the substance is the same. In effect, whether it was Al Sharpton or Jimmy Carter, or Bill Clinton, they were saying, there was a side of history that states' right side. That states right side, is basically anti-labor, anti-equality, anti-civil rights, and we belong on another side of history. I think that in the main, we see a broadening of the base, we see many Democrats who are to the left of the party. We're choosing to join forces...

BLITZER: This party is united right now.

JACKSON: It's united and it's expanding. Now, there may be significant protests when the campaign is over, but as for now it's a kind of disciplining closing of ranks, and I think it's a good thing. I think it's smart.

BLITZER: United by George W. Bush.

JACKSON: In part by that. But also because Kerry represents an alternative. I just hope that one of (UNINTELLIGIBLE) can appreciate the value of realigning with us to, in fact, change the course.

BLITZER: All right. Jesse Jackson, thanks very much for joining us.

JACKSON: Thank you.

BLITZER: Appreciate it.

Tonight, John Kerry will give his much-awaited acceptance speech, and there are lessons he can learn from the past.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE H.W. BUSH, FRM. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And I'll say to them: read my lips. No new taxes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Coming up, how a catchy phrase can become a catch 22.

Plus this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS, (D-NC) VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you have any questions about what he's made of, just spend three minutes with the men who serving him...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Kerry's war experience: Details on the time he spent in Vietnam. And how combat has affected his life. Plus, you've seen John Kerry the man, John Kerry the sailor, now images from the Senator's childhood. A sneak peek at the home movies his campaign will play tonight. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EDWARDS: When your parents call and tell you their medicine's going through the roof, they can't keep up, you tell them -- hope is on the way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Last night, John Edwards addressed the Democratic National Convention here in Boston. Tonight John Kerry speaks.

An acceptance speech is a chance for a presidential candidate to reintroduce himself to the nation and to set a tone for the general election campaign. But looking at acceptance speeches by past presidential nominees suggests that even a well-received speech is no guarantee of success.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): When public speaking scholars were asked to list the 100 greatest American speeches of the 20th Century, only three nomination acceptance speeches made the cut: William Jennings Bryant accepting the 1900 Democratic nomination, Adlai Stevenson excepting the 1952 Democratic nomination, and Barry Goldwater, accepting the 1964 Republican nomination.

Yet despite their oratorical achievements, all three of those speakers lost the subsequent elections. Bryant lost to McKinley, Stevenson to Dwight Eisenhower, and Goldwater to Lyndon Johnson. Goldwater's speech may may even have cost him some votes with its best-remembered lines.

GOLDWATER: I want to remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. Let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.

BLITZER: That declaration drew a lot of applause from Goldwater's conservative supporters, but Democrats cited it to argue that Goldwater was outside the political mainstream. When Walter Mondale accepted the Democratic nomination in 1984, he probably expected to gain points for candor with these lines.

MONDALE: Let's tell the truth. That must be done, it must be done. Mr. Reagan will raise taxes, and so will I. He won't tell you. I just did.

BLITZER: Republicans gleefully used that disclosure to help paint Mondale as a tax and spend liberal, and Mondale lost too. Four years later, George H.W. Bush tried to use the tax issue to his advantage. GEORGE H.W. BUSH: My opponent won't rule out raising taxes, but I will and the Congress will push me to raise taxes, and I'll say no, and they'll push and I'll say no, and they'll push again and I'll say to them: read my lips, no new taxes.

BLITZER: That memorable pledge helped put the elder Bush into the White House, but later he went ahead and raised taxes anyway. And the pledge came back to haunt him. He failed to win a second term.

Sometimes the problem isn't so much what you say, as when you say it. In his 1972 acceptance speech, Democrat George McGovern used the theme Come Home, America. The problem was that most of America already had come home and had gone to bed.

A battle over the party platform had delayed McGovern's speech under the middle of the night and his remaining TV audience was largely confined to political junkies and insomniacs.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And you better believe the Kerry speechwriters, the Kerry strategists, they've studied all of these previous acceptance speeches trying to learn from mistakes of the past.

John Kerry, and the horrors of war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KERRY: It's not something I talk about. It's not something I want to talk about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: But he did write about it in great detail. We'll take a look inside his journals.

Also, details of a fresh attack on coalition forces in Iraq.

Plus, up to a foot of rain overnight. We'll take you to the hardest-hit parts of Texas.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: Live from the FleetCenter in Boston, once again, Wolf Blitzer.

BLITZER: Welcome back.

Recounting the horrors of Vietnam. We'll have an inside look into John Kerry's journals.

We'll get to that. First, though, a quick check of some stories now in the news.

Kidnappers holding seven foreign truck drivers in Iraq are threatening to kill one of them, an Indian, unless their employer pulls out of Iraq.

Meanwhile, an Arab TV network reports, more hostages have been taken in Iraq, this time four Jordanians.

There's been an attack on multinational forces in Fallujah. In Iraq, U.S. Marines say someone fired a mortar or rocket at a checkpoint and they responded with artillery. There's no immediate word on casualties.

With the Summer Olympic Games just two weeks away, the International Olympics Committee is asking its Ethics Commission to look into alleged misconduct by IOC officials. The committee says it's responding to allegations in an upcoming BBC report alleging the IOC is plagued with continuing corruption in its bidding process.

The Dallas area in Texas is fighting floodwaters following up to 13 inches of rain. Cars have been swept off roads. In southern (AUDIO GAP) County, high water damaged (AUDIO GAP) 400 homes and a police station.

Keeping you informed, CNN, the most trusted name in news.

Before John Kerry's speech here tonight, delegates will see a nine-minute biography of the nominee called "A Remarkable Promise."

Here's an excerpt.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John Kerry saved my life and I'm forever grateful.

TERESA HEINZ KERRY, WIFE OF SENATOR JOHN KERRY: He really cares about fairness.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I respect him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's got a big heart.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a tough customer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John's got a very deep sense of family.

MORGAN FREEMAN, ACTOR: John Kerry was born at Fitzsimmons Military Hospital in Colorado in December of 1943. The world was at war, and the Kerry family, like millions of others, was woven into the very fabric of the war effort.

John's father, Richard, was a test pilot, flying C-47s in the Army Air Corps. His mother, Rosemary, was a community leader, who also dedicated herself to raising her children.

DIANA KERRY, JOHN KERRY'S SISTER: John was a good big brother. He was somebody who looked out for the rest of us, but also set a pace that was exciting to try and keep up with.

FREEMAN: Their family made their home in Massachusetts, and then later in Washington D.C. John's father became a diplomat overseas.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He loved languages. He enjoyed cultures and history.

My mother was 50 years a Girl Scout leader, and was incredibly proud of the pins she got for those 50 years of service. She was my den mother as a Cub Scout. And they both just gave back. And I think their example of citizenship really had a profound impact on the whole family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: That excerpt from the nine-minute biographical film that will air tonight just before John Kerry's acceptance speech.

Some of John Kerry's most vocal supporters are the men who served with him during the Vietnam War. For his part, Kerry has said little about what he experienced in combat, but he did write about it in extraordinary detail in his wartime journals.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Twenty-five-year-old John Kerry says he first encountered death in Vietnam at a makeshift Army hospital. He watched a South Vietnamese soldier slowly die on an operating table. Later, he recorded what he saw in his war journal, which he shared with Douglas Brinkley in the book "Tour of Duty."

"He was completely nude. his eyes, only half open and dazed, were searching for something. Everywhere, blood was pouring out of him. It seemed absurd, a man dying alone in his own country. I wanted to cry, but I thought that I couldn't let myself and so tears just welled up in my eyelids."

But it was Kerry's own combat experience that he says dramatically changed his life. He volunteered for duty as a commander of a swift boat, a 50-foot aluminum vessel, heavily armed, but with no protective armor. The mission, show the American flag by patrolling the rivers and canals of the vast Mekong Delta and attacking the enemy at every opportunity.

According to the commander in charge of the swift boat operations, swift boat crews had a 75 percent chance of being killed or wounded. Luck, fate, whatever you call it was with Kerry when his boat was ambushed on February 28, 1969. Brinkley's book quotes a fellow crew member who said Kerry beached his vote at the very site a Viet Con guerrilla was getting ready to fired a rocket-propelled grenade.

Grabbing an M-16 rifle, Kerry jumped off his boat, chased the V.C., and shot him dead. The Navy awarded him the Silver Star for Valor and Bravery. After another ambush, Kerry wrote about the horror of coming under fire.

"Suddenly, in a flash that is a moment of hell and blindness the read erupt and bullets walk out across the water at your boat." He writes of another mission helping to retrieve the body of a tribal mercenary killed while fighting with South Vietnamese troops: "I never want to see anything like it again. A person had been there only moments earlier and now was a horrible mess of torn flesh and broken bones."

In March of '69, Kerry was again ambushed. When talking to Brinkley for his book, Kerry recalled how a mine exploded under one of the boats and the impact threw Army Green Beret Jim Rassmann overboard. Under intense fire, Kerry turned his boat around to pick up Rassmann. Suffering a shoulder wound, Kerry ran to the bow of his boat and pulled Rassmann out of the water.

Kerry was awarded a Bronze Star for what the citation describes as his heroic action and great personal courage under fire. Years later, a group of Navy Vietnam veterans who say they represent 250 swift boat veterans, some of whom served with Kerry, called Kerry's three Purple Hearts fraudulent and challenged the accounts of heroism in the book "Tour of Duty." All this has added to their resentment of Kerry's charges some three decades ago about atrocities caused by Americans in Vietnam.

JOHN O'NEILL, SWIFT BOAT VETERANS FOR TRUTH: I think you'll find people are very angry at John Kerry. They remember his career in Vietnam as a short, controversial one, and they believe that only Hollywood could turn this guy into the war hero.

BLITZER: The crewmates that are with Kerry at the Democratic Convention support the candidate. They are who he calls his brothers in combat. To this day, their experience is not something he likes to share with others.

KERRY: It's not something I talk about. And it's not something I want to talk about.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you feel that you've dealt with it?

KERRY: Sure. War is war. And, you know, if you go to war, you do what you have to do to win the war, live up to the standards of your country hopefully and to survive. And I did that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Kerry's Vietnam service also a major factor for some delegates here at the convention.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WAYNE BURTON, NEW HAMPSHIRE DELEGATE: I made a commitment to him, because, in a way, it's like making a commitment to myself in the promise that I made when I was in Vietnam.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: We'll hear more from this Kerry supporter and fellow veteran. Plus, Senator Barbara Boxer on John Kerry's big night. We'll get to all of that. First, though, a quick look at some other news making headlines around the world.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Secretary of State Colin Powell met with Iraq's interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi, in Saudi Arabia. Allawi embraced a Saudi proposal to send Muslim troops to Iraq to help restore order.

Global appeal. The United Nations will seek international aid for Bangladesh, where monsoon floods are blamed for more than 450 deaths. Rising waters also are bringing devastation to India, Pakistan and Nepal.

Storm watch. Japan is bracing for a typhoon this weekend. This storm's 80-mile-an-hour winds could hit Japan's south islands Saturday or Sunday.

Still burning. The battle against multiple wildfires continues in Spain and Portugal. Thousands of acres of forest have been destroyed.

And that's our look around the world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: This week, Jeff Greenfield has been looking beyond the big names here at the Democratic Convention to introduce us to some of the rank-and-file delegates. He concludes his series with a college president who has something in common with John Kerry. Besides being a new Englander, he's a Vietnam veteran.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BURTON: How you doing? Good to see you.

GREENFIELD (voice-over): For North Shore Community College president Wayne Burton...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've got so many hats you wear.

BURTON: I know. I know. Sometimes, they get confusing.

GREENFIELD: The eight-hour workday is a distant memory.

BURTON: This is an extremely important election.

GREENFIELD: At 7:30 a.m., Burton is moderating a breakfast for the North Shore Chamber of Commerce in nearby Lynn, Massachusetts; 9:00 a.m., he's checking in on Virginia Barton (ph) to see how her community minority cultural center is doing.

At 10:00 a.m., he's at the Capital Diner (ph) in Lynn. BURTON: I'm back.

GREENFIELD: For a very special delivery.

BURTON: I don't think there's any doubles in there.

GREENFIELD: Eggs for his friend Julio (ph), who's working the grill.

BURTON: These yolks came from very healthy, happy Democratic chickens.

What's your name?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Iri Yenmen (ph).

GREENFIELD: Next up, meeting students at Operation Bootstrap, an adult education program in Lynn.

BURTON: You have to realize how important the step you're taking right now is.

I was a captain. I was a company commander.

GREENFIELD: For 60-year-old Wayne Burton, the first step toward public service began in 1968 on the other side of the world in Vietnam.

BURTON: The first night I spent trying to crawl into a helmet as incoming rocket mortars rained down on us. I realized what it was like to feel disempowered. And I think, for the first time in my life, I really understood being empowered. And it changed a lot of things for me. I promised myself that if I got out of there alive, that I would participate in the political process that caused me to get there in the first place, that I would be a participant.

GREENFIELD: Burton and John Kerry served in Vietnam at the same time, but they never met until 1987. Now Burton is doing all he can to help his fellow veteran.

BURTON: I made a commitment to him, because, in a way, it's like making a commitment to myself in the promise that I made when I was in Vietnam.

GREENFIELD: He was there for Kerry making calls for vets during the Iowa caucuses. He was behind him on stage as Kerry won his first primary in New Hampshire.

BURTON: We're going to go after everybody now.

GREENFIELD: Now he's working with Veterans For Kerry.

BURTON: OK, ladies.

GREENFIELD: And remember those eggs back at the diner? BURTON: There's a certain sense of solidarity after a long day of politics and academics to come back and the chickens are just out here doing what they always do. And I know the world is all right.

GREENFIELD: Jeff Greenfield, CNN, Boston.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And joining us now here on the platform is Wayne Burton.

Mr. Burton, thanks very much for joining us.

BURTON: Good to be here.

BLITZER: What do you make of those Vietnam veterans who are critical of John Kerry and saying his heroic acts in Vietnam are simply overblown?

BURTON: I'd like you to picture this Fleet auditorium full of hidden snipers, and you send somebody in to walk around and draw their fire. Think about that. That's what John Kerry's mission was, to drive around the rivers and draw fire and when they did, to take action. That is very dangerous work.

BLITZER: Other veterans are upset, when he came back, he threw his ribbons away into that crowd. They're angry with some of the comments he made about the behavior of U.S. troops during the Vietnam War.

BURTON: John Kerry was a 27-year-old person -- I was the same age -- who led a national movement to stop the war. He did some dramatic things to do it. And one of them was to throw ribbons over the wall.

Secondly, I was in an area where free-firing zones were used continually. We fired what was called harassment interdiction fire.

We were landing artillery on civilians. We didn't know where it actually was going. When John talks about that, that's what he's referring to. He didn't say every G.I. in Vietnam committed atrocities. But the way we ran the war was basically against some of the rules of war.

BLITZER: Wayne Burton, thanks very much for joining us.

BURTON: Thank you very much. Good to be here.

BLITZER: And it's going to be the most important speech of his political career, at least so far, the expectations clearly very high. What exactly does Senator Kerry need to do tonight? I'll speak live with Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer of California. She will join me here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back.

For more on John Kerry's big night, we're joined now by Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer of California.

Senator, thanks very much for joining us.

SEN. BARBARA BOXER (D), CALIFORNIA: Thanks for having me.

BLITZER: Why do you think, according to our most recent polls, more Americans think President Bush is better equipped to deal with the war on terror and national security than John Kerry?

BOXER: Well, it's one of the reasons this speech tonight is so important. John Kerry is going to let the people know why he is the right one for these times, and I certainly believe that he is.

He's the one who volunteered to go to Vietnam. He knows what war is, when others refused.

BLITZER: But just because he volunteered to go to Vietnam doesn't mean you're going to be strong on national security. Bill Clinton never served in the military.

BOXER: Well, you never let me finish my point.

BLITZER: Go ahead.

BOXER: But then he volunteered and he actually went, and he saw war, and he led troops, and he was brave and courageous. And he understands what it takes to win battles. He understands the cost of battles.

And I don't think you can underestimate that experience that he has had, and, also, his years of experience on the Foreign Relations Committee, understanding what it takes to build coalitions, Wolf. We are bearing the brunt of this war, this horrible war. And we need someone who can build those alliances.

BLITZER: Senator, we've been asking viewers to e-mail us their comments. Let me read one of them. We asked them a question yesterday, What does Senator Kerry have to do on the issue of the economy to win the presidential election?

Mel wrote us this: "Senator Kerry needs to present a comprehensive plan to protect American jobs and repair our national economy. He needs to commit to utilizing every avenue possible, including tax incentives and rigorous tariffs, to rebuild and strengthen manufacturing and agricultural production and reduce the dangerous control that powerful global corporations now possess."

Do you think Mel is right?

BOXER: Mel makes a lot of important points. And if you listen tonight, you'll hear John Kerry talk about the pain of people watching their jobs being shipped overseas, in some cases, even having to train their replacement. And he gets that. And it's a big part of his approach. He also does believe in using tax incentives to help keep the jobs here and also to help people pay for college tuition. And all these things are going to make us stronger.

BLITZER: Is he no longer a free trader?

BOXER: You would have to ask John. I think he's a fair trader.

I think we're all a fair trader. We want to go with countries that have the labor standards and environmental standards we have. But we don't want to open the door to people who, for example, practice child labor and really underpay people, because it's very hard for us to compete. It's not fair to our workers, who deserve better.

BLITZER: All right, Senator Boxer, you just spoke up there. Now you spoke here. Thanks very much for joining us.

BOXER: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: Barbara Boxer of California.

What does Senator John Kerry have to do on the issue of values to win the presidential election? That's our question for tomorrow. You can submit your thoughts, your suggestions. Just go to my Web site, CNN.com/Wolf, click on the link that says tell us what you think. We'll read one of your opinions tomorrow.

The excitement is building ahead of Senator John Kerry's acceptance speech. It all happens here in just a few hours.

And our special live coverage will continue when we return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: The delegates here truly come from all walks of life.

A prime example, Art Alexakis. He's a delegate from Oregon, but you might know him better as the singer for the alternative band Everclear. He visited us earlier here today, along with his guitar.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ART ALEXAKIS, EVERCLEAR: I recorded a cover of Woody Guthrie's song "This Land Is Your Land," which we all sang in school. And it's become kind of a classic, kind of an anthem. But I started paying attention to the words again. And the words are pretty apropos for now. So, it makes a great punk rock song.

(singing): As I was walking that ribbon of highway, I saw above me that endless skyway. I saw below me that golden valley. Yes, this land was made for you and me. This land is your land, this land is my land, from California to the New York Island, from the redwood forest, to the Gulf Stream waters. Yes, this land was made for you and me. Yes, this land was made for you and me. (END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired July 29, 2004 - 17:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, this just in to CNN, excerpts of John Kerry's upcoming acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention. That's coming up. You'll hear it, this hour.
Also happening now, al Qaeda crackdown, a major terrorist suspect with a bounty on his head now in custody.

Stand by for hard news on WOLF BLITZER REPORTS.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Kerry's big night. He's had the big buildup.

SEN JOHN EDWARDS (D-NC), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We must and we will elect him the next president of the United States.

BLITZER: Now, can the nominee sell himself to the American people?

Kerry's war.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You do what you have to do to win the war, live up to the standards of your country hopefully.

BLITZER: He earned a chest full of metals, but does his record tell the whole story?

The acceptance speech.

SEN. BARRY GOLDWATER (R-AZ), 1964 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice.

BLITZER: Why a good one doesn't always help.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is a special edition of WOLF BLITZER REPORTS, live from the Democratic National Convention in Boston.

BLITZER: It's all up to John Kerry right now. Democrats gathered here have given him the nomination and a big push. Can he make his case to the rest of the country? John Kerry spent time today getting the feel of the FleetCenter here in Boston and getting ready for what may be the most important speech he'll ever make.

John Edwards met today with delegates, telling them not to ease up when they go back home. He'll make it official, accepting his nomination for vice president.

SEN. JACK REED (D), RHODE ISLAND: When our National Guard men and women are not called away from their families...

BLITZER: Right now, speaking on the podium, Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island. He is addressing this convention. He's getting the folks -- trying to get the folks excited. The big speakers, of course, coming up later tonight.

For the day leading up to Kerry's big night we'll be going live to CNN's Frank Buckley. He is outside the Park Plaza Hotel. Standing by live on the convention floor, correspondent Joe Johns, he'll walk us through the route Kerry will take as he makes his way to podium.

But we begin with CNN's Candy Crowley at the podium with details just in on John Kerry's speech -- Candy.

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SR. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Wolf. One of the things that we do know is that tonight what the Kerry campaign wants to do is show their man to the biggest audience he's had thus far as presidential material. In addition to that, they want to show that he is strong on defense, every bit as tough as George Bush will be.

To that end, we have a couple excerpts that the campaign has given us. The first, John Kerry will say: "As president. I will ask hard questions and demand hard evidence, I will immediately reform the intelligence system so policy is guided by facts and facts are never distorted by politics. And as president, I will bring back this nation's time-honored tradition, the United States of America never goes to war because we want to, we only go to war because we have to." A very familiar phrase to those of you who covered John Kerry.

And finally, he will say this about being strong on defense: "I defended this country as a young man, and I will defend it as president. Let there be no mistake, I will never hesitate to use force when it is required. Any attack will be met with a swift and certain response. I will never give any nation or international institution a veto over our national security. And I will build a stronger American military."

Very much in response to a lot of the criticisms they've been getting from the Bush campaign, particularly the idea of turning over U.S. security to an international body. Of course, the Bush campaign has tried to paint John Kerry as an internationalist who would ask permission before doing anything. This clearly an attempt to push back at that -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Candy Crowley on the podium here at the Democratic Convention. Candy, thank you very much.

A walk-through and a bike ride were part of John Kerry's day as he gets ready for this huge night for him. Let's turn now to CNN's Frank Buckley. He's outside the Park Plaza Hotel here in Boston -- Frank.

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, John Kerry spent the day with family members, also practicing his speech, and as you said, relaxing. Late this afternoon he went on a bike ride near his Beacon Hill home. He didn't make any comments, well, he made one comment, how are you doing? But that was about it.

The only other public event for John Kerry was earlier today when he went on that technical walk-through at the FleetCenter. That took about 10 or 12 minutes. He joked with journalists. At one point he said: "Members of the fourth estate, I have called you here to tell you that your reign is over."

So Wolf, apparently we are finished. That's obviously not what's going to be in his speech tonight. We just heard from Candy about some of the comments that are coming up in his speech later tonight -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Frank Buckley reporting about what John Kerry has been doing and planning on doing. Thanks very much, Frank, for that.

From what we're hearing, John Kerry is planning something a little bit dramatic as far as his entrance is concerned into the FleetCenter tonight. CNN's Joe Johns is here with details of that.

What can we expect, Joe?

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, it's always interesting talking about plans, because as you know, plans change, but right now CNN is told the plan is for John Kerry to make his dramatic grand entrance right down this aisle, passing first to his left the state of Missouri, a key battleground state.

Of course we're told by polls it's tied right now, 48-48. Missouri has picked the president accurately in every presidential election since 1956. That, of course, was Dwight Eisenhower.

Then he'll pass to his right the state of Pennsylvania, another very critical battleground state, 21 electoral votes that went to Gore in 200, and also Minnesota to his left. He'll come up here to the stage, of course, and walk over to the podium and be greeted by his crew mates and also the former senator of Georgia, Max Cleland, who will do the introduction.

Wolf, back to you.

BLITZER: Joe Johns, it looks like he has got a dramatic entrance, indeed. It reminds me a little bit of when a president walks into the Joint Session of Congress for a State of the Union Address, for example, walking through a lot of friendly faces as he makes his way to the podium. Joe, thanks very much.

Our Senior analyst, Jeff Greenfield, has been talking to some insiders here in Boston. Give us a little flavor of what you're hearing, Jeff.

JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN SR. ANALYST: Well, everybody knows, Wolf, that the theme of this convention is strength, and there's no question we've already seen in these things, that's one thing that the senator is going to be trying to convey.

But there's another word that a couple of them have been using, civility. I think they want Kerry to be seen as a guy enough at ease with himself and his own competence and confidence to maybe add a grace note or two.

I'm hearing that there's a possibility the name of Ronald Reagan might show up in his acceptance speech. Possibly, although this is a conclusion that I've reached from what they've hinted, maybe even something about the president's good intentions, or he meant well, but he just didn't have enough to do it, as opposed to kind of slamming the man on character. That's one thing that I've picked up.

BLITZER: What are you hearing about the length of this speech because this is a sensitive subject?

GREENFIELD: It is indeed. John Kerry has been known to go on at some length, that Democratic Unity Dinner, I think that you remember back in May, he went on what seemed interminably. They're saying between 50 and 55 minutes, which if you add in applause lines and music that they always put in to make it more dramatic, that's on the outer edge but not unprecedented.

But you're absolutely right. John Kerry could use a sense that he was at least concise and did not go on at some great length.

BLITZER: Are they confident that he has got the speech down precisely the way they want it?

GREENFIELD: You know, I don't know. I mean, there was one report that some people were worried that he hadn't practiced enough. But it's important to say this, most acceptance speeches work, at least temporarily. You're going to be talking about that later. He certainly not going to say, as Walter Mondale did, I'm going to raise your taxes. He's not going to say, as Barry Goldwater did, "extremism in the defense of liberty is not vice." And he's not going to have the problem that Carter in '80 or Bush in '92 did of having a divided party.

So I think it's very hard to see how he won't do well. The question is whether they're going to come out of this convention with people going, wow, that's a better and more impressive person than I thought.

BLITZER: Jeff Greenfield will be with us all night, watching and listening...

GREENFIELD: OK.

BLITZER: ... and assessing. Thanks very much, Jeff. Very much sticking with tradition, President Bush Has been out of the spot light during this Democratic Convention. He's now on his way back to the White House after spending most of the week at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.

Administration sources tell CNN the president could reveal as early as tomorrow steps he'll immediately take in response to the 9/11 Commission report. Not following tradition necessarily, the vice president, Dick Cheney, he is taking today off, but for most of the week he has been on the stump attacking the Democratic ticket and promoting his own.

A major al Qaeda operative is captured. We'll have a live report from Pakistan on this developing story.

Plus this...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. AL SHARPTON (D), FMR. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Mr. President, in all due respect, Mr. President, read my lips. Our vote is not for sale.

BLITZER: Fiery words aimed directly at the president of the United States. Do the Democrats have the African-American vote wrapped up? The Reverend Jesse Jackson, he joins me live here at the convention.

Combat experience, an inside look at how John Kerry's Vietnam service helped shape his life.

Also ahead...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALTER MONDALE (D), 1984 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Mr. Reagan will raise taxes, and so will I. He won't tell you. I just did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The art of the acceptance speech. Sometimes candor doesn't necessarily help. We'll walk down memory lane. Much more coverage coming up for the Democratic Convention.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Much more coverage coming up but we're following other important news as well, including this story just in.

Pakistan reporting the capture of a high-level al Qaeda figure wanted in connection with the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in East Africa.

CNN's Ash-Har Quraishi joining us Pakistani capital, Islamabad. Tell us what you know, Ash-Har. ASH-HAR QURAISHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, Pakistani officials confirming to us tonight, that they have arrested Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani. He's somebody listed by the FBI as one of the most wanted terrorists. Now, Ghailani was picked up in weekend raids that were conducted in central Pakistan early on Sunday. Over a dozen suspects were picked up in those raids.

Over the last few days they have been working on identifying these people. One of them they say is one of the most wanted listed by the FBI, this Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani. Now, this operation lasted more than 12 hours they say. A shoot out ensued and then the security forces were able to go in and arrest these people. Now, we understand from officials that the interrogations are continuing here in Pakistan by security forces. At some point we expect however, that Ghailani will be handed over to the United States -- Wolf.

Ash-Har Quraishi reporting for us on this late breaking story. Thanks Ash-Har very much.

Lets get back to the convention. Now, this gathering seems a bit tame, it's because organizer have tried to limit Bush bashing.

The former presidential candidate Al Sharpton may not necessarily have received the memo before his fiery speech last night. He focused in on the president's recent appeal to African-American voters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHARPTON, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I suggest to you tonight that if George Bush had selected the court in '54, Clarence Thomas would have never gotten to law school. Mr. President, the reason we are fighting so hard, the reason we took Florida so seriously, is our right to vote wasn't gained because of our age. Our vote was soaked in the blood of good martyrs, soaked in the blood of good man (UNINTELLIGIBLE) soaked in the blood of four little girls in Birmingham. This vote is sacred to us. This vote can't be bargained away. This vote can't be given away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So did Al Sharpton go too far?

The civil rights activist, Jesse Jackson, also himself a former presidential candidate, joining us for his assessment.

Did he go too far last night?

JESSE JACKSON, RAINBOW COALITION: A, it was inspiring. B, I don't know what understanding he and Senator Kerry may have had. Al had a prime time slot and he turned on the audience. So I do not know what his time allocation was.

BLITZER: You spoke an hour before he did. You were limited to a certain amount of time, you stuck to it, you had a script that you stuck too. JACKSON: Well, we have a different relationship with the campaign. I think Al's point was we were at the Urban League Convention on last Friday. for three years, President Bush has not met one time with organized labor, or NAACP or (UNINTELLIGIBLE) or Congressional Black Caucus. Neither he nor Mr. Ashcroft, they've had a closed-door policy.

So how does he in fact speak to us and not with us and seek to humiliate us by saying you're voting Democratic because you're being taken for granted. We vote Democratic, because we define what our interests are. If Mr. Bush, on one day puts a picture of Dr. King in the White House, and on the same day says he's against Affirmative Action, that's deception. If one day he lays a wreath Dr. King's grave site, next day puts Pickering on the court, that's deception.

BLITZER: But does the president have a point when he says that the Democratic Party, the establishment of the Democratic Party tends to take the African-American community for granted?

JACKSON: No. They tend to take the working class and poor white folks for granted. They give, basically many poor working class white people (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- the Republican Party, they will give them a flag argument and the prayer clause, right to prayer in a school, a lot of non-budget items, then give the rich Republicans tax cuts and offshore shifts without paying taxes and (UNINTELLIGIBLE). So I think the working-class white people if they would vote their interests, and not their fears, you would have a new alignment. I mean, blacks vote for a party whose labor relations focus on affirmative action, raising workers' wages, in a real sense fighting for a more perfect union.

BLITZER: What Americans clearly saw this week, they watched your speech, which was live here on CNN at the Democratic Convention, they saw Al Sharpton's speech. They also saw a new rising star Barack Obama. His tone, delivery, it's markedly different.

What do you make of his style?

JACKSON: Well, I'm very impressed with Barack Obama, but you see President Clinton came out of one bag, so to speak. President Carter was much harder on Bush, saying he was right wing extremist. Gore, came out with a slightly different direction. You had many speeches with different approaches to the same subject matter. What I'm impressed with the Barack development in our party, as said (UNINTELLIGIBLE) in '44 my father couldn't vote, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) without honor in the military, '54 the Supreme Court decision, '64 (UNINTELLIGIBLE), '84 I was speaking in San Francisco, and '04, you see the evolution, as Barack Obama, and there's Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. and Harold Ford, and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Kilpatrick (ph), you see a growth.

BLITZER: Is it the fact that you are, after all a preacher. Your a reverend, Al Sharpton is a reverend. You son Congressman Jessie Jackson Jr. not, right? Barack Obama, a lawyer. Is it just the fact that you come from different backgrounds or is it generational thing? JACKSON: Speakers -- it's not generational. Speakers have different approaches. You listen to McAtee (ph) speak. He comes of a different (UNINTELLIGIBLE) than John Sweeney. The language is the same. I mean, the language vary, and the styles -- but the substance is the same. In effect, whether it was Al Sharpton or Jimmy Carter, or Bill Clinton, they were saying, there was a side of history that states' right side. That states right side, is basically anti-labor, anti-equality, anti-civil rights, and we belong on another side of history. I think that in the main, we see a broadening of the base, we see many Democrats who are to the left of the party. We're choosing to join forces...

BLITZER: This party is united right now.

JACKSON: It's united and it's expanding. Now, there may be significant protests when the campaign is over, but as for now it's a kind of disciplining closing of ranks, and I think it's a good thing. I think it's smart.

BLITZER: United by George W. Bush.

JACKSON: In part by that. But also because Kerry represents an alternative. I just hope that one of (UNINTELLIGIBLE) can appreciate the value of realigning with us to, in fact, change the course.

BLITZER: All right. Jesse Jackson, thanks very much for joining us.

JACKSON: Thank you.

BLITZER: Appreciate it.

Tonight, John Kerry will give his much-awaited acceptance speech, and there are lessons he can learn from the past.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE H.W. BUSH, FRM. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And I'll say to them: read my lips. No new taxes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Coming up, how a catchy phrase can become a catch 22.

Plus this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS, (D-NC) VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you have any questions about what he's made of, just spend three minutes with the men who serving him...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Kerry's war experience: Details on the time he spent in Vietnam. And how combat has affected his life. Plus, you've seen John Kerry the man, John Kerry the sailor, now images from the Senator's childhood. A sneak peek at the home movies his campaign will play tonight. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EDWARDS: When your parents call and tell you their medicine's going through the roof, they can't keep up, you tell them -- hope is on the way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Last night, John Edwards addressed the Democratic National Convention here in Boston. Tonight John Kerry speaks.

An acceptance speech is a chance for a presidential candidate to reintroduce himself to the nation and to set a tone for the general election campaign. But looking at acceptance speeches by past presidential nominees suggests that even a well-received speech is no guarantee of success.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): When public speaking scholars were asked to list the 100 greatest American speeches of the 20th Century, only three nomination acceptance speeches made the cut: William Jennings Bryant accepting the 1900 Democratic nomination, Adlai Stevenson excepting the 1952 Democratic nomination, and Barry Goldwater, accepting the 1964 Republican nomination.

Yet despite their oratorical achievements, all three of those speakers lost the subsequent elections. Bryant lost to McKinley, Stevenson to Dwight Eisenhower, and Goldwater to Lyndon Johnson. Goldwater's speech may may even have cost him some votes with its best-remembered lines.

GOLDWATER: I want to remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. Let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.

BLITZER: That declaration drew a lot of applause from Goldwater's conservative supporters, but Democrats cited it to argue that Goldwater was outside the political mainstream. When Walter Mondale accepted the Democratic nomination in 1984, he probably expected to gain points for candor with these lines.

MONDALE: Let's tell the truth. That must be done, it must be done. Mr. Reagan will raise taxes, and so will I. He won't tell you. I just did.

BLITZER: Republicans gleefully used that disclosure to help paint Mondale as a tax and spend liberal, and Mondale lost too. Four years later, George H.W. Bush tried to use the tax issue to his advantage. GEORGE H.W. BUSH: My opponent won't rule out raising taxes, but I will and the Congress will push me to raise taxes, and I'll say no, and they'll push and I'll say no, and they'll push again and I'll say to them: read my lips, no new taxes.

BLITZER: That memorable pledge helped put the elder Bush into the White House, but later he went ahead and raised taxes anyway. And the pledge came back to haunt him. He failed to win a second term.

Sometimes the problem isn't so much what you say, as when you say it. In his 1972 acceptance speech, Democrat George McGovern used the theme Come Home, America. The problem was that most of America already had come home and had gone to bed.

A battle over the party platform had delayed McGovern's speech under the middle of the night and his remaining TV audience was largely confined to political junkies and insomniacs.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And you better believe the Kerry speechwriters, the Kerry strategists, they've studied all of these previous acceptance speeches trying to learn from mistakes of the past.

John Kerry, and the horrors of war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KERRY: It's not something I talk about. It's not something I want to talk about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: But he did write about it in great detail. We'll take a look inside his journals.

Also, details of a fresh attack on coalition forces in Iraq.

Plus, up to a foot of rain overnight. We'll take you to the hardest-hit parts of Texas.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: Live from the FleetCenter in Boston, once again, Wolf Blitzer.

BLITZER: Welcome back.

Recounting the horrors of Vietnam. We'll have an inside look into John Kerry's journals.

We'll get to that. First, though, a quick check of some stories now in the news.

Kidnappers holding seven foreign truck drivers in Iraq are threatening to kill one of them, an Indian, unless their employer pulls out of Iraq.

Meanwhile, an Arab TV network reports, more hostages have been taken in Iraq, this time four Jordanians.

There's been an attack on multinational forces in Fallujah. In Iraq, U.S. Marines say someone fired a mortar or rocket at a checkpoint and they responded with artillery. There's no immediate word on casualties.

With the Summer Olympic Games just two weeks away, the International Olympics Committee is asking its Ethics Commission to look into alleged misconduct by IOC officials. The committee says it's responding to allegations in an upcoming BBC report alleging the IOC is plagued with continuing corruption in its bidding process.

The Dallas area in Texas is fighting floodwaters following up to 13 inches of rain. Cars have been swept off roads. In southern (AUDIO GAP) County, high water damaged (AUDIO GAP) 400 homes and a police station.

Keeping you informed, CNN, the most trusted name in news.

Before John Kerry's speech here tonight, delegates will see a nine-minute biography of the nominee called "A Remarkable Promise."

Here's an excerpt.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John Kerry saved my life and I'm forever grateful.

TERESA HEINZ KERRY, WIFE OF SENATOR JOHN KERRY: He really cares about fairness.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I respect him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's got a big heart.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a tough customer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John's got a very deep sense of family.

MORGAN FREEMAN, ACTOR: John Kerry was born at Fitzsimmons Military Hospital in Colorado in December of 1943. The world was at war, and the Kerry family, like millions of others, was woven into the very fabric of the war effort.

John's father, Richard, was a test pilot, flying C-47s in the Army Air Corps. His mother, Rosemary, was a community leader, who also dedicated herself to raising her children.

DIANA KERRY, JOHN KERRY'S SISTER: John was a good big brother. He was somebody who looked out for the rest of us, but also set a pace that was exciting to try and keep up with.

FREEMAN: Their family made their home in Massachusetts, and then later in Washington D.C. John's father became a diplomat overseas.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He loved languages. He enjoyed cultures and history.

My mother was 50 years a Girl Scout leader, and was incredibly proud of the pins she got for those 50 years of service. She was my den mother as a Cub Scout. And they both just gave back. And I think their example of citizenship really had a profound impact on the whole family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: That excerpt from the nine-minute biographical film that will air tonight just before John Kerry's acceptance speech.

Some of John Kerry's most vocal supporters are the men who served with him during the Vietnam War. For his part, Kerry has said little about what he experienced in combat, but he did write about it in extraordinary detail in his wartime journals.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Twenty-five-year-old John Kerry says he first encountered death in Vietnam at a makeshift Army hospital. He watched a South Vietnamese soldier slowly die on an operating table. Later, he recorded what he saw in his war journal, which he shared with Douglas Brinkley in the book "Tour of Duty."

"He was completely nude. his eyes, only half open and dazed, were searching for something. Everywhere, blood was pouring out of him. It seemed absurd, a man dying alone in his own country. I wanted to cry, but I thought that I couldn't let myself and so tears just welled up in my eyelids."

But it was Kerry's own combat experience that he says dramatically changed his life. He volunteered for duty as a commander of a swift boat, a 50-foot aluminum vessel, heavily armed, but with no protective armor. The mission, show the American flag by patrolling the rivers and canals of the vast Mekong Delta and attacking the enemy at every opportunity.

According to the commander in charge of the swift boat operations, swift boat crews had a 75 percent chance of being killed or wounded. Luck, fate, whatever you call it was with Kerry when his boat was ambushed on February 28, 1969. Brinkley's book quotes a fellow crew member who said Kerry beached his vote at the very site a Viet Con guerrilla was getting ready to fired a rocket-propelled grenade.

Grabbing an M-16 rifle, Kerry jumped off his boat, chased the V.C., and shot him dead. The Navy awarded him the Silver Star for Valor and Bravery. After another ambush, Kerry wrote about the horror of coming under fire.

"Suddenly, in a flash that is a moment of hell and blindness the read erupt and bullets walk out across the water at your boat." He writes of another mission helping to retrieve the body of a tribal mercenary killed while fighting with South Vietnamese troops: "I never want to see anything like it again. A person had been there only moments earlier and now was a horrible mess of torn flesh and broken bones."

In March of '69, Kerry was again ambushed. When talking to Brinkley for his book, Kerry recalled how a mine exploded under one of the boats and the impact threw Army Green Beret Jim Rassmann overboard. Under intense fire, Kerry turned his boat around to pick up Rassmann. Suffering a shoulder wound, Kerry ran to the bow of his boat and pulled Rassmann out of the water.

Kerry was awarded a Bronze Star for what the citation describes as his heroic action and great personal courage under fire. Years later, a group of Navy Vietnam veterans who say they represent 250 swift boat veterans, some of whom served with Kerry, called Kerry's three Purple Hearts fraudulent and challenged the accounts of heroism in the book "Tour of Duty." All this has added to their resentment of Kerry's charges some three decades ago about atrocities caused by Americans in Vietnam.

JOHN O'NEILL, SWIFT BOAT VETERANS FOR TRUTH: I think you'll find people are very angry at John Kerry. They remember his career in Vietnam as a short, controversial one, and they believe that only Hollywood could turn this guy into the war hero.

BLITZER: The crewmates that are with Kerry at the Democratic Convention support the candidate. They are who he calls his brothers in combat. To this day, their experience is not something he likes to share with others.

KERRY: It's not something I talk about. And it's not something I want to talk about.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you feel that you've dealt with it?

KERRY: Sure. War is war. And, you know, if you go to war, you do what you have to do to win the war, live up to the standards of your country hopefully and to survive. And I did that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Kerry's Vietnam service also a major factor for some delegates here at the convention.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WAYNE BURTON, NEW HAMPSHIRE DELEGATE: I made a commitment to him, because, in a way, it's like making a commitment to myself in the promise that I made when I was in Vietnam.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: We'll hear more from this Kerry supporter and fellow veteran. Plus, Senator Barbara Boxer on John Kerry's big night. We'll get to all of that. First, though, a quick look at some other news making headlines around the world.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): Secretary of State Colin Powell met with Iraq's interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi, in Saudi Arabia. Allawi embraced a Saudi proposal to send Muslim troops to Iraq to help restore order.

Global appeal. The United Nations will seek international aid for Bangladesh, where monsoon floods are blamed for more than 450 deaths. Rising waters also are bringing devastation to India, Pakistan and Nepal.

Storm watch. Japan is bracing for a typhoon this weekend. This storm's 80-mile-an-hour winds could hit Japan's south islands Saturday or Sunday.

Still burning. The battle against multiple wildfires continues in Spain and Portugal. Thousands of acres of forest have been destroyed.

And that's our look around the world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: This week, Jeff Greenfield has been looking beyond the big names here at the Democratic Convention to introduce us to some of the rank-and-file delegates. He concludes his series with a college president who has something in common with John Kerry. Besides being a new Englander, he's a Vietnam veteran.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BURTON: How you doing? Good to see you.

GREENFIELD (voice-over): For North Shore Community College president Wayne Burton...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've got so many hats you wear.

BURTON: I know. I know. Sometimes, they get confusing.

GREENFIELD: The eight-hour workday is a distant memory.

BURTON: This is an extremely important election.

GREENFIELD: At 7:30 a.m., Burton is moderating a breakfast for the North Shore Chamber of Commerce in nearby Lynn, Massachusetts; 9:00 a.m., he's checking in on Virginia Barton (ph) to see how her community minority cultural center is doing.

At 10:00 a.m., he's at the Capital Diner (ph) in Lynn. BURTON: I'm back.

GREENFIELD: For a very special delivery.

BURTON: I don't think there's any doubles in there.

GREENFIELD: Eggs for his friend Julio (ph), who's working the grill.

BURTON: These yolks came from very healthy, happy Democratic chickens.

What's your name?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Iri Yenmen (ph).

GREENFIELD: Next up, meeting students at Operation Bootstrap, an adult education program in Lynn.

BURTON: You have to realize how important the step you're taking right now is.

I was a captain. I was a company commander.

GREENFIELD: For 60-year-old Wayne Burton, the first step toward public service began in 1968 on the other side of the world in Vietnam.

BURTON: The first night I spent trying to crawl into a helmet as incoming rocket mortars rained down on us. I realized what it was like to feel disempowered. And I think, for the first time in my life, I really understood being empowered. And it changed a lot of things for me. I promised myself that if I got out of there alive, that I would participate in the political process that caused me to get there in the first place, that I would be a participant.

GREENFIELD: Burton and John Kerry served in Vietnam at the same time, but they never met until 1987. Now Burton is doing all he can to help his fellow veteran.

BURTON: I made a commitment to him, because, in a way, it's like making a commitment to myself in the promise that I made when I was in Vietnam.

GREENFIELD: He was there for Kerry making calls for vets during the Iowa caucuses. He was behind him on stage as Kerry won his first primary in New Hampshire.

BURTON: We're going to go after everybody now.

GREENFIELD: Now he's working with Veterans For Kerry.

BURTON: OK, ladies.

GREENFIELD: And remember those eggs back at the diner? BURTON: There's a certain sense of solidarity after a long day of politics and academics to come back and the chickens are just out here doing what they always do. And I know the world is all right.

GREENFIELD: Jeff Greenfield, CNN, Boston.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And joining us now here on the platform is Wayne Burton.

Mr. Burton, thanks very much for joining us.

BURTON: Good to be here.

BLITZER: What do you make of those Vietnam veterans who are critical of John Kerry and saying his heroic acts in Vietnam are simply overblown?

BURTON: I'd like you to picture this Fleet auditorium full of hidden snipers, and you send somebody in to walk around and draw their fire. Think about that. That's what John Kerry's mission was, to drive around the rivers and draw fire and when they did, to take action. That is very dangerous work.

BLITZER: Other veterans are upset, when he came back, he threw his ribbons away into that crowd. They're angry with some of the comments he made about the behavior of U.S. troops during the Vietnam War.

BURTON: John Kerry was a 27-year-old person -- I was the same age -- who led a national movement to stop the war. He did some dramatic things to do it. And one of them was to throw ribbons over the wall.

Secondly, I was in an area where free-firing zones were used continually. We fired what was called harassment interdiction fire.

We were landing artillery on civilians. We didn't know where it actually was going. When John talks about that, that's what he's referring to. He didn't say every G.I. in Vietnam committed atrocities. But the way we ran the war was basically against some of the rules of war.

BLITZER: Wayne Burton, thanks very much for joining us.

BURTON: Thank you very much. Good to be here.

BLITZER: And it's going to be the most important speech of his political career, at least so far, the expectations clearly very high. What exactly does Senator Kerry need to do tonight? I'll speak live with Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer of California. She will join me here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back.

For more on John Kerry's big night, we're joined now by Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer of California.

Senator, thanks very much for joining us.

SEN. BARBARA BOXER (D), CALIFORNIA: Thanks for having me.

BLITZER: Why do you think, according to our most recent polls, more Americans think President Bush is better equipped to deal with the war on terror and national security than John Kerry?

BOXER: Well, it's one of the reasons this speech tonight is so important. John Kerry is going to let the people know why he is the right one for these times, and I certainly believe that he is.

He's the one who volunteered to go to Vietnam. He knows what war is, when others refused.

BLITZER: But just because he volunteered to go to Vietnam doesn't mean you're going to be strong on national security. Bill Clinton never served in the military.

BOXER: Well, you never let me finish my point.

BLITZER: Go ahead.

BOXER: But then he volunteered and he actually went, and he saw war, and he led troops, and he was brave and courageous. And he understands what it takes to win battles. He understands the cost of battles.

And I don't think you can underestimate that experience that he has had, and, also, his years of experience on the Foreign Relations Committee, understanding what it takes to build coalitions, Wolf. We are bearing the brunt of this war, this horrible war. And we need someone who can build those alliances.

BLITZER: Senator, we've been asking viewers to e-mail us their comments. Let me read one of them. We asked them a question yesterday, What does Senator Kerry have to do on the issue of the economy to win the presidential election?

Mel wrote us this: "Senator Kerry needs to present a comprehensive plan to protect American jobs and repair our national economy. He needs to commit to utilizing every avenue possible, including tax incentives and rigorous tariffs, to rebuild and strengthen manufacturing and agricultural production and reduce the dangerous control that powerful global corporations now possess."

Do you think Mel is right?

BOXER: Mel makes a lot of important points. And if you listen tonight, you'll hear John Kerry talk about the pain of people watching their jobs being shipped overseas, in some cases, even having to train their replacement. And he gets that. And it's a big part of his approach. He also does believe in using tax incentives to help keep the jobs here and also to help people pay for college tuition. And all these things are going to make us stronger.

BLITZER: Is he no longer a free trader?

BOXER: You would have to ask John. I think he's a fair trader.

I think we're all a fair trader. We want to go with countries that have the labor standards and environmental standards we have. But we don't want to open the door to people who, for example, practice child labor and really underpay people, because it's very hard for us to compete. It's not fair to our workers, who deserve better.

BLITZER: All right, Senator Boxer, you just spoke up there. Now you spoke here. Thanks very much for joining us.

BOXER: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: Barbara Boxer of California.

What does Senator John Kerry have to do on the issue of values to win the presidential election? That's our question for tomorrow. You can submit your thoughts, your suggestions. Just go to my Web site, CNN.com/Wolf, click on the link that says tell us what you think. We'll read one of your opinions tomorrow.

The excitement is building ahead of Senator John Kerry's acceptance speech. It all happens here in just a few hours.

And our special live coverage will continue when we return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: The delegates here truly come from all walks of life.

A prime example, Art Alexakis. He's a delegate from Oregon, but you might know him better as the singer for the alternative band Everclear. He visited us earlier here today, along with his guitar.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ART ALEXAKIS, EVERCLEAR: I recorded a cover of Woody Guthrie's song "This Land Is Your Land," which we all sang in school. And it's become kind of a classic, kind of an anthem. But I started paying attention to the words again. And the words are pretty apropos for now. So, it makes a great punk rock song.

(singing): As I was walking that ribbon of highway, I saw above me that endless skyway. I saw below me that golden valley. Yes, this land was made for you and me. This land is your land, this land is my land, from California to the New York Island, from the redwood forest, to the Gulf Stream waters. Yes, this land was made for you and me. Yes, this land was made for you and me. (END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" starts right now.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com