In Iowa, 3 Democratic hopefuls hit the ground running
Posted on 01/19/2003 3:12:37 AM PST by MeekOneGOP
In Iowa, 3 Democratic hopefuls hit the ground running
Candidates attack Bush's tax plan while meeting party faithful
01/19/2003
DES MOINES, Iowa - Attacking President Bush's tax-cutting efforts, two Democratic contenders for the White House in 2004 called for repealing the $1.35 trillion plan Congress passed two years ago.
A third advocated a freeze in the phased-in reductions.
Courting party activists a year before the opening of the presidential nominating season, Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts said Democrats must present a clear alternative to Mr. Bush if they hope to retake the White House from the GOP.
Mr. Gephardt released a plan to repeal Mr. Bush's tax cut and use the money for a national health insurance system.
"That's a big idea, a bold alternative to where he is trying to take us," Mr. Gephardt said.
Mr. Dean said the government should take back the 2001 tax cuts.
"The president's tax cuts were a mistake," he said. "They've done nothing for the economy, and they went to the wrong people."
Mr. Gephardt and Mr. Dean met with key Democratic activists, while Mr. Kerry hosted hundreds of party faithful at a breakfast.
All three were attending a county fund-raiser in eastern Iowa on Saturday night.
"I say no new tax cuts, and that includes the new Bush tax cuts that are set up in what we passed a year ago," Mr. Kerry said. "The country can't afford it. In effect it is a transfer from Medicare and Social Security to the wealthiest of Americans, and under any standard of decency and common sense and fairness, it doesn't pass muster."
All sounded central Democratic themes in seeking to appeal to the relative handful of party activists who will show up next January for the precinct caucuses that get the nominating season under way.
They said Democrats should not fear challenging a president with relatively high poll standings.
"You can't beat George Bush by saying, 'I'm going to do a lot of the same things George Bush is doing,' " Mr. Gephardt said. "If you lay out a clear, distinct, bold, realistic alternative, then I think people will listen."
Mr. Dean argued that Mr. Bush's popularity stems less from the message he sounds than from the directness with which he takes positions.
"I don't think the American people side with the president on policy," he said.
"I think the American people side with the president because they trust him and like him because he's unambiguous about what he's saying."
Mr. Kerry said the party is faced with the challenge of defining itself as it heads into the primary season.
"We can't afford to transfer money to the wealthiest of Americans," he said.
"That is precisely what is at stake in this campaign and the Democratic Party either stands up for that or it should stop being an individual party because there's nothing to define it."
They said Democrats should not fear challenging a president with relatively high poll standings.
"You can't beat George Bush by saying, 'I'm going to do a lot of the same things George Bush is doing,' " Mr. Gephardt said. "If you lay out a clear, distinct, bold, realistic alternative, then I think people will listen."
Mr. Dean argued that Mr. Bush's popularity stems less from the message he sounds than from the directness with which he takes positions.
"I don't think the American people side with the president on policy," he said.
|
Support Free Republic and dash their hopes! |
|
 |
Donate Here By Secure Server
FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
|
|
It is in the breaking news sidebar! |
|
...the one on the LEFT of course !
...Wasn't the Boston Tea Party over a three per cent tax?Yesterday: Taxation without representation
Today (my saying):Taxation with MISrepresentation. 
Nationalized health care will be popular with many because health care is pretty out-of-control...it will be up to the President and the Republicans to explain why this is the absolute worst possible solution.And explain it he will, I'm sure...
| Entrapment by Bush: He plays Democrats for fools, and they always rise to his bait |
What Kerry meant was that Americans need more taxes... drive in little sh_t-boxes and shut up.
This dumbell needs a good ass-kickin'!
You might want to check out the links in #9?...
However, when America likes what 'W' is doing, you are a fool to propose another path.
"If you lay out a clear, distinct, bold, realistic alternative, then I think people will listen."
They're listening because they sense danger is near. Why such low regard for the intelligence of the people you're courting?
The 'RATS always seek to drive a wedge in the country - Divide Amerika strategy, I call it."If you lay out a clear, distinct, bold, realistic alternative, then I think people will listen."
They're listening because they sense danger is near. Why such low regard for the intelligence of the people you're courting?
To: MeeknMing
Democrats are a strange bunch especially their leaders. They complain about politics of personnel destruction when that is how they try to divide the country. They have little pride in America, it seems that the American people serve for their pleasure only. If you don't cotton to the democratic line, you aren't American. They used the surplus for other countries and other people when there was much to do here at home. They take our best technologies and sell them to nations that will use the knowledge against us. They lack an enormous amount of integrity and don't seem to care as they flaunt sleazy ethics and morality in our faces.
We didn't have a government for the people under the Clinton administration, what we had was a Democrats Only need apply type of government and now they are attempting to replace a People's Government with their tired old arguments about an education system they didn't fix in 8 years, a health care program they messed up and couldn't fix in 8 years, a social security system they say needs fixing and did nothing about it in 8 years when in reality that system is fine as long as lawmakers don't spend the money that social security is meant for; they spent 8 years hiring federal workers with no qualifications as long as it meant a democratic vote leaving behind a dumbed down, bloated army of sleazy federal laborers who have plundered their departments of millions in dollars and equipment.
Democrats seem to have no respect, no real base from which true justice can spring, only justice that bends for them. They have no enthusiasm for country/nation, no pride, just the spoils from a rich nation for the DNC. They continue to huddle with shady and corrupt people both here in America and abroad for reasons that only benefit them. They are elitists and exclude the real Americans as they race for the Marxist Utopia they have dreamed about...where individual successes are discouraged in favor of a commune like population. They have learned nothing from failed socialism or failed communism; they still want to live like kings all the while painting a glowing picture of togetherness for the masses who work for them. It is called Slavery, servitude to a few at the top, domination over the people through higher taxes and rules and regulations. Democrats want a Unionized nation/world of bondage and they can surely have it by dividing the country with the deceptive lies they and the press propagandize with daily.
Stand tall Americans and stand firmly for the principals of our Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, both of which are like the fabled Vampires silver cross or spike to the leading democrats, they don't want you to have either; it is these people who would return this country to the quagmire of corruption of the Clinton/Gore/Reno years.
What doublespeak!!
Since when is not transferring away from someone the same as transferring money to them?
And I believe you could throw in Hypocrisy too. I think Kerry is one of the wealthiest in Congress, with a net worth in the $ tens of millions...
Kerry married wealth. His wife, Teresa Heinz, is worth about $600 mill.
To my knowledge, Kerry has never earned a dime outside of politics.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.