Here are some key excerpts from Massachusetts Senator John Kerry's speech at the Democratic Convention on Thursday, Night 3 of the Convention.
Kerry is scheduled to deliver a speech just before 9:00 p.m. EST, directly before Vice President Joe Biden and President Barack Obama address the audience. The Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, will highlight the "consequences of a Romney-Ryan foreign policy agenda" in his speech tonight.
The Vietnam vet, who is touted as a possible successor to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton after she steps down after November, will tout the Obama administration's foreign policy credentials:
1) On American exceptionalism.
"Our opponents like to talk about 'American Exceptionalism.' But all they do is talk. They forget that we are exceptional not because we say we are, but because we do exceptional things. The only thing exceptional about today's Republicans is that - almost without exception - they oppose everything that has made America exceptional in the first place."
2) On Bin Laden.
Touting the bin Laden kill: "And after more than ten years without justice for thousands of murdered Americans, after Mitt Romney said it would be 'naïve' to go into Pakistan to pursue the terrorists, it took President Obama, against the advice of many, to give that order to finally rid this earth of Osama bin Laden. Ask Osama Bin Laden if he's better off now than he was four years ago!"
3) On Israel.
"Barack Obama promised always to stand with Israel-- to tighten sanctions on Iran and take nothing off the table. Again and again the other side has lied about where this President stands and what this President has done. But Prime Minister Netanyahu set the record straight -he said: our two countries have 'exactly the same policy ... our security cooperation is unprecedented.'"
4) On Romney.
"It isn't fair to say Mitt Romney doesn't have a position on Afghanistan. He has every position."
For a complete schedule of tonight's speeches, including Kerry's speech time, see here.
