SPEAKER: U.S. SENATOR JOHN F. KERRY (MA), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE
KERRY: Thank you so much. Thank you for a wonderful Cincinnati, wonderful Ohio warm and generous welcome. I appreciate it enormously. And, like you, I'm so respectful and so in awe of the courage and the patriotism of Robin O'Brien (ph).
AUDIENCE MEMBER: (OFF-MIKE)
KERRY: Will you all join me with Robin O'Brien (ph) -- will you all join me in saying thank you to Robin O'Brien (ph), for her wonderful...
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Thank you. Thank you.
AUDIENCE: Kerry! Kerry! Kerry!
KERRY: Ladies and gentlemen, please. Ladies. Please, everybody.
Thank you. Thank you very, very much.
One of the things that Gil (ph) and all of our troops are fighting for as they fight in Iraq is freedom. And I have nothing but the greatest respect for people's right to have their opinions and to express them here in the United States of America.
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That's who we are as Americans.
And I might add, it's a terrific tactic of the Bush team: They love to disrupt, they love to interrupt, they don't want America to hear the truth. But we will talk the truth.
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I think that more than anything -- I really believe this very deeply, I honestly respect the differences of opinion and the emotions that people feel. We all respect them.
You know, I once stood up and spoke about what I thought our government was doing that was wrong, and so many of our generation believed deeply in that right.
But I think what we need more than anything today in this great country of ours is a conversation, a talk, Americans to Americans, not about how we divide each other.
And we need leadership that doesn't look for the lowest common denominator of America, but the highest common denominator. Bring us together, bring us together.
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And these are troubling times. They are times of emotion. They tug at the emotions of all Americans.
What we need to do is lower our voices and listen to each other about the real choices that we face as a nation.
Yesterday, in Iraq, we marked the most incalculable loss of all. Yesterday, we reached a tragic milestone: More than 1,000 of America's sons and daughters gave their lives in service to our country; more than 1,000 sons and daughters, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, who will never come home to live the lives that they dreamed of.
We honor them. We pray for them. We pray for their families.
And we owe it to their memory and to all of our troops to do what's right in Iraq and what's right here at home.
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I also want to speak directly to the more than 150,000 troops who are currently serving and risking their lives as far away as in Iraq or Afghanistan, and to the sons and daughters like Gil O'Brien (ph), that Robin just talked about, who have served once, who are here now but who are going to go back.
KERRY: Your country is proud of you. You are the most dedicated, capable military that we've ever had in our history. We are united as a nation in support for you. We pledge to stand with you and with your families, as you are standing on the front lines for ours.
