Posted on 07/31/2004 6:02:22 PM PDT by Born Conservative
For Helen Gohsler, the equation is simple and unequivocal: Catholic pro-life.
That's why, in Gohsler's mind, Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry's support of abortion rights doesn't square with his contention that he's a practicing Catholic. And that's why she and about 100 other sign-waving abortion opponents greeted Kerry's bus as it eased through Mulberry Street and North Washington Avenue en route to Friday's rally at Lackawanna County Courthouse Square.
A smaller group met the bus on Spruce Street near the Radisson at Lackawanna Station hotel.
"He's said he's a practicing Catholic, but a practicing Catholic doesn't support the use of tax dollars for abortion," said Gohsler, president of the Scranton chapter of Pennsylvanians for Human Life. "We have to let people in this area know a practicing Catholic does not do these things."
Abortion opponent John Brzycki, 51, Scranton, sweltered inside a bear suit as he waited for Kerry and running mate John Edwards' entourage. He carried a sign that read: "43 million babies will never hug a teddy bear."
"I've been in the pro-life movement for 30 years, and John Kerry and John Edwards scare me," said Brzycki, tipping the suit's head back so he could sip water from a plastic bottle.
He planned to leave the head tipped back when Kerry arrived -because of the heat and because, he said, "I want him to see my face."
"I'm not ashamed of my pro-life stance. ... God is pro-life, and I'm pro-life, too," he said. Not all the demonstrators were there specifically to protest Kerry's position on abortion.
Liz Davis, 51, was among a group of Bush/Cheney supporters - one decked out in a dolphin costume and red, white and blue sneakers - who handed out a flier entitled, "They call him flipper ...," that detailed Kerry's supposed flip-flops on issues such as the Iraq war and the Patriot Act.
"We're like Fox News - fair and balanced," Davis said. Lauren McCawley, 17, of West Clifford, a sophomore at Lycoming College in Williamsport whose father spent 22 years in the Army and Air Force, carried a sign that read: "Our military is not a political stepping stone."
She said Kerry, a Vietnam veteran, is misrepresenting his military record for political gain, which she called "disgraceful."
"It's sinful to use the military that way," she said. And Richard Csontos, 51, took issue with both major party candidates, calling them war criminals -Kerry for serving in Vietnam and President Bush for the war in Iraq.
"I'm here among the anti-abortion people," he said, "but bombs kill babies, too."
I could not disagree with you more. BTW, what were YOU doing this day?
Okay, help me out...I'm having a major brain fart. What is the term used to describe accidental casualties of war?
Is there a term for an accidental abortion? Didn't think so.
Check this out:
http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/25935.htm
"I'm here among the anti-abortion people," he said, "but bombs kill babies, too."
So do airplanes when flown into our buildings. These people in Scranton are so naive, it's amazing. I worked in Mountaintop, PA for a year, and... the Scranton crowd, 'in general' is a little short of a full deck. Must be all the 150 year old coal fires still smouldering.
A bit harsh....aren't we?
Please do not use God's name in fame.
Please do not use God's name in vain.
Yea, I get a very similar response to my request for freeps. Only it's "hey, I was at home sitting at the computer" or "but I live in the suburbs, do you know what its like to drive to downtown Chicago?".
I hope you don't use a similar excuse when Kerry arrives 3000 miles from Scranton...
Showing up in "flipper" costumes has zero impact. I think the "flip-flop" angle is played out. Its time to stop the homogenized barbs and get specific. Kerry has a record. A very specific record. And its not a good one. But no one knows it becasuse Kerry will avoid it and the GOP doesn't seem to want to get specific. When you make it specific and pointed then people understand it. It ceases being abstract. It becomes personal.
Kerry has been getting away with the Big Lie on Vietnam for so long now that I think he may be completely encapsulated now. Thanks to people like Hannity who have done us no favors by insisting that Kerry was a "war hero" because he thinks to do otherwise would insult the military. The truth is that mentality is dead wrong. It is an insult to the military to exalt one of their greatest foes as a "hero" by their standards. It is an insult to the *real* heroes of Vietnam, and all of the soldiers who never came home to allow this traitor to get away with this.
Every time Ed Gillespie or Sean Hannity or any of these linguini-spined Senators go on TV and say "John Kerry is a real war hero, I don't question that" instead of saying "hey, the guy was only in Vietnam for 4 months", they are only further cementing Kerry's lie in place.
Kerry's been running on his Vietnam record in this election now for longer than he was actually in Vietnam.
And now he is running his whole campaign on this lie, and no one has the courage to stand up and say that this emperor has no clothes.
And we have fools running around dressed up as dolphins???
It makes us look like a bunch of fruits and nuts. Lets talk about how Kerry is a liability to our national security, and get specific, not tease him with these softball taunts.
As far as Kerry's record goes, you are preaching to the choir here on Free Republic.
Humor is an effective weapon when countering propaganda. It can get pretty tense when you're out on the frontlines and being able to laugh or make someone else laugh is a valuable tool.
What is more absurd? A man in a dolphin suit making a humorous political point or a man who believes in killing full-term babies performing CPR on a hamster?
You call us fools, fruits and nuts. That is insulting as you well know. If you have no sense of humor perhaps it would be healthy for you to develop one.
Maybe you could start with a few basic knock-knock jokes instead of knocking the people who are putting their hearts and souls as well as their bodies into this battle for America.
It is a grand thing to be able to write coherent position papers, arguments and letters to the editor. It is also a grand thing to condense an opponents' weakness into four or five words on a sign or transform it into a symbol ( i.e. Flipper) and make people laugh.
And I gotta be honest with you, counterpunch, sometimes you just have to laugh to keep from cryin'.
As terrible as the term sounds, the deaths ARE accidental.
How many abortion deaths are "accidental"? NONE.
Ahem, how can you say they need better impact ... they got media coverage!!! that beats 9 out of 10 freeps hands down.
And these people seem heartfelt, genuine, and in the case of "flipper" quite amusing.
Anyone got a pic???
Hear hear!!!
counterpunch: quit being a whiny complainer. That is NON-productive. it takes all sorts of different folks to DEFEAT JOHN KERRY. Many different issues, and many different ways to get the truth out there.
"It is a grand thing to be able to write coherent position papers, arguments and letters to the editor. It is also a grand thing to condense an opponents' weakness into four or five words on a sign or transform it into a symbol ( i.e. Flipper) and make people laugh."
I for one think that is BRILLIANT. Any little thing to keep the other side offbalance helps.
"Flipper" was just the layup in the spring... the Bush campaign needed to wait for Kerry to either move left or to the middle. Kerry is moving to the middle on foreign policy and sticking with higher taxes and socialized medicine.
Now comes the ram-it-home side of it: To take Kerry's liberal record and show how it doesnt comport with his rhetoric.
So the sins of omission continue.
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