Posted on 08/04/2004 2:31:24 PM PDT by deaconblues
While surfing the internet, I came across an article in the Scottish news, (came up on a Google search), with the following blurb:
"Kerry is an unlikely nemesis of George W Bush. A quietly-spoken, Swiss-educated senator who has spent 19 years in politics without any legislation to his name."
This piqued my interest and inspired me to investigate Kerry's Senate record, or more specifically, what legislation he has sponsored in his Senate career that has actually become law. My searches at
and
turned up no major legislation, that I could find.
So, I thought I'd see if any FReepers might be able to shed some light on ANY significant legislative accomplishments of the junior Senator from Massachusetts over his 3 plus terms.
Regards
Try here yet? Just found it myself. http://www.gpoaccess.gov/crecord/
Consider the degree and amount of harm, loss and damage his legislative initiatives could have caused, but have not, since there were no such initiatives. If THIS is not an accomplishment, then what is?
Kerry did work hard on normalizing relations with Vietnam. Probably one of the few items Kerry actually made on effort on. BTW, Kerry's brother got about a billion dollars worth of contracts out of the deal. Besides his lack of attendance at Senate Intelligence meetings, he votes to slash the defense and intelligence budgets, his pro-gay marriage votes, Kerry has been invisable.
[See second entry below]
These are FR threads, but they give a great amount of collected information.
The Kerry Links - important threads that need to be kept current:
John Kerry's Flip Flops (extensive documentation)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1119904/posts
John Kerry's leadership - FOUR bills passed in 19 years. (4 resolutions as well)
[Kerry's not-so-lustrous Senate career accomplishments]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1182739/posts
What Kerry Said and What You Need to Know ("MUST READ")
[analyses his acceptance speech at the Convention]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1182752/posts
Policy Memo: Progress on Homeland Security (Most of Kerry's proposals already done...)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1183603/posts
During John's quiet twenty-year career in Washington, the man who wants to be president has introduced nearly 320 bills, but only eight have passed and become law. For many of his bills, Mr. Kerry could not find co-sponsors, and still others received zero votes from his 99 colleagues. Five of his eight successful bills were ceremonial proclamations (National POW Day, naming of bridges/buildings, etc.). Two dealt with marine life, and the other was a 1999 bill that provided grants to small businesses owned by women.
So, despite having spent twenty years in the Senate, perhaps this is why America has not heard of the presumptive Democratic nominee until recently.
The reason for Kerry’s lack of success at getting his bills passed is evidenced by his scorecard. For 2003, "Americans for Democratic Action" gave Kerry a 94% liberal rating while his Massachusetts colleague Ted Kennedy received an 88%. The ACLU gave Kerry a 93% and Kennedy an 87%. The non-ideological National Journal gave Kerry a 96% liberal voting record (highest in the Senate) and Kennedy an 88%. Given these numbers, it appears that those who think that Ted Kennedy is the most liberal Senator of 100 are mistaken.
Thanks for posting this vanity, Deacon. I was thinking along the same lines and might have done one myself if you hadn't stepped in. It's an important question.
I was poking around Thomas and I noticed that very few Senators seemed to get their bills passed. Does anyone have comparable information on, say, Senator Kennedy, a person with similar views? I'd like to have some kind of standard with which to compare Kerry.
It certainly doesn't look like he was effective - does anyone have the record of an effective Democratic Senator who served during the same time period?
(Note that it has to be a Democrat because we want to compare him with his kind and compare the dates, since presumably Democrats would rarely introduce bills that would make it through a Republican senate).
Many thanks for your thoughts.
D
It would be interesting to hear more about those brotherly contracts from Viet Nam...
This may be for another thread, but how about a comparable list of President Bush's accomplishments as president? I'd like to find a listing, more than an article, so I can email that to the folks I'm trying to convince.
Future Bush Ad:
John Kerry: No principles, no experience, no leader.
Presidency of George W. Bush -- the first 42 months
President Bush signing a federal ban on Partial Birth Abortion
Banned Partial Birth Abortion
Reversed Clinton's move to strike Reagan's anti-abortion Mexico Policy
Stopped foreign aid that would be used to fund abortions.
Supported and upheld the ban on abortions at military hospitals
Signed E.O. reversing Clinton's policy of not requiring parental consent for abortions under the Medical Privacy Act
Killed the Kyoto Global Warming Treaty
Killed U.S. involvement in the International Criminal Court
Killed Clinton's CO2 rules that were choking off all of the electricity surplus to California
Killed Clinton's "ergonomic" rules that OSHA was about to implement; rules that would have shut down every home business in America
Killed the U.S. - CCCP ABM Treaty that was preventing the U.S. from deploying our ABM defenses
Has CONSTRUCTION in process on the first ten ABM silos in Alaska and California so that America has a defense against North Korean nukes
President Bush pledged to Israel on 4/14/2004 that it could keep parts of the West Bank, giving international legitimacy to Jewish settlements there
Denied Palestinian refugees any right of return to what is now Israel, saying they should be resettled in a future Palestinian state instead
Part of coalition (Russia, Israel, EU, Palestine, USA) for Israeli/Palestinian "Roadmap to Peace"
Pushed through THREE raises for our military
Increased Defense Dept funding which had deteriorated during the previous 8 years
President Bush's Grand Strategy (click here)
President Bush's Environmental Record - 2004 (click here)
Signed TWO bills into law that arm our pilots with handguns in the cockpit
Currently pushing for full immunity from lawsuits for our national gun manufacturers
Ordered Attorney-General Ashcroft to formally notify the Supreme Court that the OFFICIAL U.S. government position on the 2nd Amendment is that it supports INDIVIDUAL rights to own firearms, NOT a leftist-imagined *collective* right
Told the United Nations we weren't interested in their plans for gun control (i.e. the International Ban on Small Arms Trafficking Treaty)
Signed the 2004 Omnibus Budget 1/26/2004 that now MANDATES that gun buyers' background check information be fully and permanently destroyed within 24 hours of the completion of the check, no matter what.
Disarmed Libya of its Chemical, Nuclear, and biological WMD's without bribes or bloodshed
Won an agreement that U.S. Navy sailors may now freely board thousands of commercial ships in international waters to search for weapons of mass destruction under a landmark pact between the United States and Liberia, the world's No. 2 shipping registry (signed Feb 11, 2004), and Panama 5/10/2004 http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/11/international/americas/11ship.html).
Successfully executed 2 wars: Afghanistan and Iraq. 50 million people who had lived under tyrannical regimes now live in freedom
Executed a WAR ON TERROR by getting world-wide cooperation to track funds/terrorists (has cut off much of the terrorist's funding and captured or killed many key leaders of the al Qaeda network)
Bush Administration diplomacy led to the 5/25/2004 peace accord that ended a massive 20-year civil war between Sudan's north and south after two million deaths Click Here
Brought back our EP-3 intel plane and crew from China without any bribes or bloodshed
Started withdrawing our troops from Bosnia and has announced withdrawal of our troops from Germany and the Korean DMZ.
Signed the LARGEST nuclear arms reduction in world history with Russia
Initiated comprehensive review of our military, which was completed just prior to 9/11/01, accurately reported that ASYMMETRICAL WARFARE was critical.
Created NATO's Rapid Response Force
Changed the tone in the White House, restoring HONOR and DIGNITY to the Presidency
Reorganized bureaucracy...after 9/11, condensed 20+ overlapping agencies and their intelligence sectors into one agency: the Department of Homeland Security.
Initiated discussion on privatizing Social Security and individual investment accounts.
Improving govt. efficiency with .8 million jobs put up for bid...weakening unions and cutting undeserved pay raises. Wants merit based promotions/raises only.
Orchestrated Republican control of the White House, the House AND the Senate.
Killed the liberal ABA's role in vetting federal judges for Congress.
GWB signed an executive order enforcing the Supreme Court's Beck decision (re: union dues being used for political campaigns against individual's wishes)
Turned around an inherited economy that was in recession.
Passed tough new laws to hold corporate criminals to account as a result of corporate scandals.
Signed 2 income tax cuts ---- 1 of which was the largest Dollar-value tax cut in world history
Reduced taxes on dividends and capital gains
In process of eliminating IRS marriage penalty.
Increased small business incentives to expand and to hire new people
Eliminated the Estate Tax (AKA "Death Tax") that was taking small farms and businesses from families
Signed into law the No Child Left Behind legislation delivering the most dramatic education reforms in a generation (challenging the soft bigotry of low expectations)
Reorganized the INS in an attempt to safeguard the borders and ports of America and to eliminate bureaucratic redundancies and lack of accountability.
Signed trade promotion authority
Committed US funds to purchase medicine for millions of men and women and children now suffering with AIDS in Africa
Passed Medicare Reform (authorized $39.5 Billion per year for preventive medicine such as drugs and doctor visits as well as included a ten year Privatization option)
Urging federal liability reform to eliminate frivolous lawsuits
Supports class action reform bill which limits lawyer fees so that more settlement money goes to victims
Submitted comprehensive Energy Plan--awaits Congressional action (works to develop cleaner technology, produce more natural gas here at home, make America less dependent on foreign sources of energy, improve national grid, etc.)
Endorses and promotes The Responsibility Era ("In a compassionate society, people respect one another and take responsibility for the decisions they make in life. My hope is to change the culture from one that has said, if it feels good, do it; if you've got a problem, blame somebody else -- to one in which every single American understands that he or she are responsible for the decisions that you make; you're responsible for loving your children with all your heart and all your soul; you're responsible for being involved with the quality of the education of your children; you're responsible for making sure the community in which you live is safe; you're responsible for loving your neighbor, just like you would like to be loved yourself. " -----this quote was too good to leave out)
Started the USA Freedom Corps
Initiated review of all federal agencies with a goal to eliminate federal jobs (completed September 2003) in an effort to reduce the size of federal gov while increasing private sector jobs.
Challenged the United Nations to live up to their responsibilities and not become The League of Nations (in other words, completely irrelevant)
Nominated strong, conservative judges to the judiciary.
Changed parts of the Forestry Management Act to allow necessary clean-up of the national forests in order to reduce fire danger.
As part of the national forests clean-up, the President restricted judicial challenges (based on the Endangered Species Act and other challenges) and removed the need for an EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) before removing fuels/logging to reduce fire danger.
New Forest Rules Gives States Power Over Federal Forests Inside Their Borders
Significantly eased field-testing controls of genetically engineered crops.
President Bush signed the workplace verification bill to prevent hiring of illegal Aliens
S. 1685, the Basic Pilot Extension Act of 2003, was signed by President Bush on December 3, 2003. It extends for five years the workplace employment eligibility authorization pilot programs created in 1996. It expands the pilot programs from the original five states to all 50 states.
Thanks very much for that! I'll be sending this to a number of fence-sitters.
Granted, Bush hasn't named any buildings, but still... :)
That is terrific information. Thanks for finding and posting it.
Actually is was his first cousin, C. Stewart Forbes, CEO, of Colliers International, that was able to sign a contract with Hanoi, worth BILLIONS of dollars for to become the exclusive real estate representative for the country of Vietnam.
Among Kerry's most significant accomplishments have to be the two blondes (over time) from Georgetowm even though one had a "horse face." They were both reasonably well built, well-to-do, easy, and spoke French.
read later
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