Chris Matthews talks about Teresa Heinz Kerry: "Immigrant family, African-American, you‘ve got her from Mozambique, which she talked about the Peace Corps, she is talking about me, I was in the Peace Corps in the country she was in right next door all those years"
MATTHEWS: You know, that‘s a hell of a line. I just want to say, this was about heart and hope tonight. Immigrant family, African-American, you‘ve got her from Mozambique, which she talked about the Peace Corps, she is talking about me, I was in the Peace Corps in the country she was in right next door all those years. She‘s talking about hope and Kennedy and all that good stuff, it‘s heart. It may not be logic, but it has a compelling nature.
FINEMAN: It‘s not only that, but it‘s about the future. When Ron Reagan talked about research and science, he was arguing for the future in terms of science. Teresa Heinz Kerry is the embodiment of a global world that we are all living in now. She‘s 65, but I think...
MATTHEWS: She‘s (UNINTELLIGIBLE) immigrant from Africa.
FINEMAN: But she appeals to young people. And Barack Obama‘s story is that this is the new Democratic Party. A new Democratic Party.
MATHEWS: And your thoughts tonight?
BROWN: Well, as I said to Howard, it is the new Democratic Party, although Ronald Reagan may not be a part of that Democratic Party formally, although Teresa may never run for public office.
MATTHEWS: She just joined the party two years ago.
BROWN: And let me tell you, one telling line from her son Chris, he said, just a few years ago, some influential Republicans were trying to convince my mother to run for the Senate seat. I am telling you, a combination of all those factors gives great legitimacy to tonight‘s great performance.
MATTHEWS: Are we seeing a realignment again? You‘ve got Zell Miller, a fairly conservative Democrat in Georgia, basically going to the Republican Convention this year in New York. He is going to make a pretty compelling case against the Democratic Party of today and say, I loved the old party.
BROWN: Zell Miller hasn‘t been a Democrat for years.
MATTHEWS: Well, he got elected as one.
BROWN: I know that, but....
FINEMAN: Teresa Heinz hasn‘t been a Republican for years.
BROWN: No, no, I disagree with you. I (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Republican. I don‘t happen to think that Democrats have the license to be the only people with hearts. I think there‘s some Republicans with hearts.
(CROSSTALK)
MITCHELL: For all of those people who say that John Kerry is too cold and too aloof, Teresa Heinz Kerry was an attempt to also validate the nurturing, kinder, gentler side of John Kerry. At the same time, she spoke to something that women are very interested in, very concerned about, which is the war, and the number of people, the number of young men and women who are at risk over there. And the whole context between people being strong but also not being too stubborn. That is the dichotomy that the Republicans have been trying to fight, that the Democrats have been trying to lay out all day today.
