Anyone who managed to hear John Kerry speak today at Faneuil Hall

should count themselves extraordinarily fortunate.

John Kerry delivered a magnificent speech today on the patriotic duty of Americans to dissent when the

habit of labeling dissenters as unpatriotic has become the common currency of the politicians currently running our country

before a wildly enthusiastic crowd. The scene:

In the tumultuous times before the Revolution, the hall was the scene of the most excited public meetings, and the great patriot orators of that day sounded from its platform. On the morning of March 6th 1770, following the Boston Massacre, the first public meeting was held in Faneuil Hall, packed from entrance to platform. Witnesses of the Massacre described the events, and Samuel Adams gave an impassioned speech. Adams was appointed to lead a committee to strongly urge the lieutenant governor to remove all British troops, or the safety of the citizens and soldiers would be compromised.

I will add more tomorrow, but in case anyone's patrolling the blogs tonight, Kerry will be appearing on This Week tomorrow morning. A podcast of the show will be available later in the day.

Also, NECN had a story up tonight, with video.

And best of all, c-span will be broadcasting the entire speech tomorrow (Sunday) at 7pm, at 10pm, and again at 1am Monday. Don't miss it, and don't miss the three wonderful introductory speakers, the Reverend Doctor John M. Borders, III of the Morning Star Baptist Church, Captain Jonathan Powers, and Judy Droz Keyes, widow of Don Droz.

For the record, I counted seven standing ovations and over 40 applause lines.