Written by: Beck

Denny Hastert is up to bat now. Not sure why he wasn't listed on CNN's speaker schedule. Whatever.

I can tell already that this guy has roughly as much charisma as Ted Kennedy (i.e. scant).

"The economy grows when the private sector grows, not when the government grows."

Already floated an attack on John Kerry, using his name (at the DNC, Bush's name was only used twice the entire time, once by Al Sharpton, once by John Kerry)--listing all the things he's on "the wrong side" of. Regulation, taxation, etc. "John Kerry, at his Boston tax party, promised to raise taxes on the job creators. Instead of throwing tea in the Boston harbor, John Kerry wants to throw the tax payers overboard." I mean, I agree with the general message here, but this rhetoric goes over like a week old dead fish. The crowd is not responding at all.

First response line: "Does anybody know where John Kerry stands on the war?" Audience: "NO!"

Jim Lehrer is surprised that Hastert used Kerry's name and adds, "That's all he spoke about the whole time."

Shields: The speech was only 6 paragraphs long, and he went after Kerry from the get-go.