Posted on 08/13/2004 4:27:54 PM PDT by Dan from Michigan
Edwards responds to Cheney's criticism of Kerry
By KATHY BARKS HOFFMAN
The Associated Press
8/13/2004, 4:14 p.m. ET
FLINT, Mich. (AP) A day after Vice President Dick Cheney criticized John Kerry, Democratic Sen. John Edwards defended his running mate on Friday, saying he "spilled his blood for the United States" and accusing the Republican of distorting Kerry's words.
Cheney told voters in Ohio Thursday that Kerry had called for a "more sensitive" war on terror and mocked that notion as something that won't impress the Sept. 11 terrorists or the Islamic militants who have beheaded U.S. citizens.
Edwards, returning to the campaign after a three-day break, took issue with Cheney's comments and his target Democratic presidential nominee Kerry, a decorated Vietnam War veteran.
"He took that word and distorted and tried to use it to argue John Kerry will not keep the American people safe," Edwards said during a campaign stop in Flint. "He's talking about a man who still carries shrapnel in his body. He's talking about a man who spilled his blood for the United States of America."
At a minority journalists' convention last week, Kerry said: "I believe I can fight a more effective, more thoughtful, more strategic, more proactive, more sensitive war on terror that reaches out to other nations and brings them to our side and lives up to American values in history."
Edwards on Friday also discussed his 2002 vote to give President Bush the military authority to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
"I think it was correct to give the president the authority that he was given," Edwards said in an interview with The Associated Press following the event. "I think the president has misused and abused the authority he was given. ... And the American people, our troops, the American taxpayers have paid dearly as a result."
Kerry said this week he stands by his vote despite the failure to find weapons of mass destruction. But the four-term Massachusetts senator added that Bush used the authority poorly, rushing to war with limited allied support and little thought to an end game.
Edwards' visit to Flint focused on issues polls show are even higher than security on Michigan voters' list of concerns: jobs and the economy.
"What it is is an effort to distract, not to talk about the problems here in Flint, Michigan," the North Carolina senator told the audience of more than 1,000, who gathered in a drizzling rain outside Mott Community College.
Prior to the rally, Edwards held a front-porch meeting with some Flint voters.
One was Susan Duffiny, who was laid off in 2002 from her factory job in Auburn Hills. The Flint woman was retrained as a computer network administrator but has yet to land a job in that field.
"I'm sure there are a lot of people in trouble who don't have health care," Duffiny told Edwards.
"Oh, I can tell you there are a lot of people in trouble," Edwards told her. "For us, jobs are a big issue."
Twenty-seven percent of likely Michigan voters surveyed recently by Lansing-based EPIC/MRA said improving the economy and providing jobs was their biggest concern, nearly twice as many as those listing health care or terrorism, which tied for second.
The state unemployment rate remains a full point above the national rate at 6.5 percent. Flint's unemployment rate was 14.5 percent in June, while the rate in surrounding Genesee County was 8.5 percent.
WTF have you or Kerry done for Flint while in the Senate? Oh yeah, you both backed OUTSOURCING.
That "Kerry was a war hero" argument is so anorexic now that it isn't even funny.
They didn't provide any money for AutoWorld, that should count in their favor.
Spilled his blood? Good grief.
You know, considering what happened the LAST time Edwards opened his mouth...("ask the guys who served with him...")
...he might want to consider the old saying: "When you're in deep water, it's a good idea to keep your mouth shut."
Right Breck Girl....he got a boo-boo and put a Flintsone band-aid on it.
"WTF have you or Kerry done for Flint while in the Senate?"
They have Michael Moore on their side. He defeated the Goliath auto makers in Flint and brought lasting prosperity to the newly freed serfs in the movie 'Roger and me.'
Don't you know?
Kerry served in Viet Nam too.
I'm sure I spilled more blood during childbirth than Kerry ever has.
Let the LAWYER explain what I meant....
Edwards said during a campaign stop in Flint. "He's talking about a man who still carries shrapnel in his body.
First I've heard this one.
Kerry may have "spilled his blood for the United States", but not very much. By his agitation for the anti-war movement after returning from Viet Nam, he is probably responsible for spilling the blood of a LOT more GIs, in casualties incurred because the war was prolonged and eventually abandoned. And not to mention the discussion of assassination attempts on members of Congress while a member of VVAW.
Attn: Bush Team Lurkers! This appears as BS to me.
Show me the x-rays!
"Spilled his blood? Good grief."
He's a man among girlie-men.
Actually, I have heard Kerry is full of shrapnel...or something like that.
Please tell me where Kerry's carrying shrapnel in his body, and why wasn't it removed? When did he "spill his blood for the United States?" I didn't think a scratch "spilled blood." Edwards acts like he's talking to a jury. He's laying it on thick.
What exactly did Edwards do for the United States, besides driving medical malpractice insurance rates through the roof, causing medical fees to rise?
LOLOL......the Breck girl rides to the rescue of the big time war hero!!!! LOLOL
"...he might want to consider the old saying: "When you're in deep water, it's a good idea to keep your mouth shut.""
Or, "when you see a sinking ship, don't try to get on board".
I wouldn't consider one drop an actual "spilling" of blood.
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