August 27, 2008 Kerry: No one can question Obama's patriotism Play video

(NECN: Denver, CO) - This is part two of Sen. John Kerry's address to the Democratic National Convention.

The one-time Presidential candidate said he "no longer recognizes" former friend John McCain, a man he once considered as a running mate.

Click Here to view part 1 of John Kerry's speech

Prepared text, Part 2. of Sen. John Kerry's speech:

So who can we trust to keep America safe? When Barack Obama
promised to honor the best traditions of both parties and talk to
our enemies, John McCain scoffed. George Bush called it "the soft
comfort of appeasement." But today, Bush's diplomats are doing
exactly what Obama said: talking with Iran.

So who can we trust to keep America safe? When democracy rolled
out of Russia, and the tanks rolled into Georgia, we saw John
McCain respond immediately with the outdated thinking of the Cold
War. Barack Obama responded like a statesman of the 21st century.

So who can we trust to keep America safe? When we called for a
timetable to make Iraqis stand up for Iraq and bring our heroes
home, John McCain called it "cut and run." But today, even
President Bush has seen the light. He and Prime Minister Maliki
agree on guess what? a timetable.

So who can we trust to keep America safe? The McCain-Bush
Republicans

have been wrong again and again and again. And they
know they will lose on the issues. So, the candidate who once
promised a "contest of ideas," now has nothing left but personal
attacks. How insulting to suggest that those who question the
mission, question the troops. How pathetic to suggest that those
who question a failed policy doubt America itself. How desperate to
tell the son of a single mother who chose community service over
money and privilege that he doesn't put America first.

No one can question Barack Obama's patriotism. Like all of us,
he was taught what it means to be an American by his family: his
grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line in World War II,
his grandfather who marched in Patton's army, and his great uncle
who enlisted in the army right out of high school at the height of
the war. And on a spring day in 1945, he helped liberate one of the
concentration camps at Buchenwald.

Ladies and gentlemen, Barack Obama's uncle is here with us
tonight. Please join me in saluting this American hero, Charlie
Payne. Charlie, your nephew, Barack Obama, will end this politics
of distortion and division. He will be a president who seeks not to
perfect the lies of Swift boating, but to end them once and for
all.

This election is a chance for America to tell the merchants of
fear and division: you don't decide who loves this country; you
don't decide who is a patriot; you don't decide whose service
counts and whose doesn't.

Four years ago I said, and I say it again tonight, that the flag
doesn't belong to any ideology. It doesn't belong to any political
party. It is an enduring symbol of our nation, and it belongs to
all the American people. After all, patriotism is not love of power
or some cheap trick to win votes; patriotism is love of country.

Years ago when we protested a war, people would weigh in against
us saying, "My country right or wrong." Our answer? Absolutely,
my country right or wrong. When right, keep it right. When wrong,
make it right. Sometimes loving your country demands you must tell
the truth to power.

This is one of those times, and Barack Obama is telling those
truths.

In closing, let me say, I will always remember how we stood
together in 2004, not just in a campaign, but for a cause. Now
again we stand together in the ranks, ready to fight. The choice is
clear; our cause is just; and now is our time to make Barack Obama
the next President of the United States.
Thank you.