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.
Uh, I believe Kerry has a plate in his head -- from a Croquet accident at Yale. Bwaaahaha
Sho nit??!!!?
Thanks to labor unions.
Well, you got the first two letters right...
he didn't spill a DROP of blood, John-Boy!
Edwards, a lying crapweasel plaintiff's attorney, alleges that Triator John "spilled his blood" and "carries shrapnel." OK, let's see your supporting evidence!! Relaease the secret military/medical records. Your failure/refusal to do so establishes that you are a lying scumbag! Easy-peasy!
Oh, blecchhh, blecchh, bleccchhh, hurl, hurl.
The only reason they are using Kerry's service for this campaign is to try to insulate him from any kind of criticism.
It's the same reason they used a twelve year old to give a speech.
They try to hide behind imagined sacred cows, in order to avoid any type of questioning or criticism.
How many of us have spilled our blood for the Red Cross? A nosebleed? Scratching a scab?
Jeeze. Enough of the hero stuff.
RELEASE YOUR MILITARY RECORDS, Senator Kerry, so that ALL can see!! Ths can be cleared up with just signing that 180 form....DO IT!!
I have seen my wife spill more blood shaving her legs than Kerry ever spilled for his country.
Actually, he knew that if he sqeezed that little spot hard enough he could get some blood out of it.
Drama!
AHAHHAHA
I bet that's pillow talk between Edwards and Kerry."Tell me about the time you were in Cambodia honey!"
"Well, it was Christmas, no January and I was fighting the Cambodians and Red Chinese wait, no I twas so close that I could hear gunfire from the Cambodian border where.."a grunt comes from the Frenchierian Lurch,"Just tell me which version you want to hear Edwards. .. "
I think he does have shrapnel in a leg from the ONE bonefide PH injury
Kerry served in Vietnam?
OK guys AND ladies...how many of us here can claim to have spilled OUR blood, due to the EVIL enemies, Gillette, Schick, and Bic??
Thats probably, about as close as kerry has ever come to REALLY "spilling his blood".
....IMHO, kerry probably asked the doc who was ready with the tweezers to remove the shrapnel in his thigh:
"Will this leave more of a scar if you dig in there with the tweezers to remove it?"
Doc:"Well it would be bigger if I dig it out"
kerry:" Just leave it then.I don't want a seeable scar when
I wear shorts to ride my bike, play tennis, go boating, water skiing, pick up a new heiress,......etc."
Kerry’s Vietnam record is protecting him from his own senate record. At this time in the election he should be explaining why he has the most liberal voting record and hasn’t sponsored or co-sponsored anything.
He is a follower! That is the picture of Kerry that will win the election. Nobody wants a follower to lead the country.
Holtz
JeffersonRepublic.com
"I think he does have shrapnel in a leg from the ONE bonefide PH injury."
I think you are right, but it was so small and insignificant, they didn't bother to find it, or couldn't.
Count on Kerry to suddenly develop a limp now.........
L0L
Pillow talk - LOL! I can picture them with hairnets on to protect their "do's"
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