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July 10, 2004 Campaigns Doing Battle on Values and Celebrity BarbsBy RICHARD W. STEVENSON and JODI WILGOREN ORK, Pa., July 9 — The two presidential campaigns engaged in a full-throated battle on Friday over a broad range of issues, trading harsh criticism on topics including personal character, Hollywood's politics, abortion and the indictment of Enron's former chairman.A day after a $7.5 million Democratic fund-raiser in New York at which an array of stars harshly ridiculed President Bush, the Bush campaign criticized Senator John Kerry for what it called a "star-studded hate fest." Mr. Bush's campaign manager, Ken Mehlman, demanded that...

Dems down and dirty: Kerry laughs, GOP howls over obscene fund-raiser Amid outrage from Republicans and in the press, Sen. John F. Kerry is feverishly trying to distance himself from Hollywood celebs who called President Bush a ``liar'' and ``cheap thug'' - and even made obscene references to his last name at a New York fund-raiser. The raciest comments came from comedienne Whoopi Goldberg, who went on an extended riff comparing the president's last name to female genitalia. In addition to many that can't be printed, Goldberg said voters should ``keep Bush where it belongs and not in the White...

Crude jokes, insults OK with Kerry camp When in doubt, play the Vietnam card. That's long been a tactic embraced by Sen. John Kerry and his aides in the face of political trouble. It's what the Kerry camp resorted to again Thursday to excuse the vile criticism of President Bush by the Democratic nominee's Hollywood backers at a New York fund-raiser. ``Performers have a right to speak their minds even when we don't agree with everything they say. That's the freedom John Kerry put his life on the line to defend,'' Kerry spokesmen David Wade said (emphasis ours). And what...

CRITIC'S NOTEBOOKMixing and Matching Politics and RockingBy KELEFA SANNEHPublished: July 10, 2004 ike many political rallies, this one began with an allegory about the working poor. "Tommy used to work on the docks," the first presenter began. "Union's been on strike, he's down on his luck. It's tough, so tough." Warming to the topic, he told a similarly foreshortened (and, it seemed, apocryphal) story about a diner worker named Gina. Then he got to the point. "Whoa, oh, we're halfway there," he announced. (O.K., crooned.) "Whoa, oh, living on a prayer."The orator, of course, was the noted allegorist Jon Bon...

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. -- Republicans yesterday demanded that Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry distance himself from an at-times obscene fund-raising concert Thursday, even as running mate John Edwards and he spent the day campaigning on being a better representation of American values than President Bush.     "If John Kerry is going to praise last night's star-studded hate fest, and characterize it as the 'heart and soul' of America, he should share these values with voters everywhere," Bush campaign manager Ken Mehlman said.     Democrats believe Mr. Edwards' selection allows them the ability to talk about values with voters in parts of the country...

NEW YORK -- Hollywood stars at a Democratic fund-raiser here late Thursday night ripped President Bush as a liar, "another cheap thug" and a killer in a night of Bush bashing that put the Kerry team on the defensive and provoked widespread criticism. Both Sens. John Kerry and John Edwards were on stage at Radio City Music Hall as the stars uttered their remarks. Neither one rebuked them. Kerry, in fact, said that every performer "conveyed the heart and soul of America." Yesterday, Republicans called on the Kerry campaign to repudiate the remarks and to release a videotape of the...

<p>DURING THE PARTS of this presidential campaign that I've managed to stay awake through, it's striking how few gaffes and humiliations John Kerry has suffered. When he does, they nearly always result from his flying his freak flag, trying to talk to the young people, or otherwise waiting for his hipster credit to get approved.</p>

From www.RushLimbaugh.com: 7/9 Archived Show: Click here for audio Raunchfest Fundraiser Demonstrates Exactly Who These People Really Are July 9, 2004 Listen to Rush…(...discuss the Democrat fundraiser full of vulgarity, obscenities and raw-form liberals) BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Have you noticed that it's no longer "the Kerry campaign;" it's "the Kerry-Edwards campaign"? Everything is (story) Kerry-Edwards. Kerry here, Kerry there. No Kerry there. It's always Kerry-Edwards -- another illustration of just how dull and boring the campaign is at the top. It's gray. It is dull. It is lifeless. It's almost invisible, so they have to get a guy that Whoopi...

[snip] Monitors showed Kerry, the presumed Democratic presidential nominee, laughing through much of the concert. Afterward, he told the audience that the performers "conveyed the heart and soul of our country." His only quibble was with Goldberg's repeated references to Edwards as "Kid." Kerry said his 51-year-old running mate, who is nine years his junior, is "a man." Yesterday, Kerry touted his campaign's positive cast, telling a crowd at another fund-raiser, "John and I didn't run one negative ad against each other or any of our opponents all through the primaries and we haven't done a negative ad against George...

July 10, 2004 -- President Bush's campaign yesterday demanded that John Kerry release the full video of his New York fund-raiser, where Whoopi Goldberg delivered an X-rated rant that turned Bush's name into a crude sexual joke. Kerry was at the glitzy Radio City Music Hall show — where Bush also got attacked as a "cheap thug," a liar and a killer — and afterward praised the performers for expressing "the heart and soul of our country." Bush campaign manager Ken Mehlman said yesterday, "We call on Kerry to release the video of this event so that all Americans can...

The Bush camp forced John Kerry yesterday to disavow raunchy celebrity comments at the Democratic gala at Radio City Music Hall as the presidential campaign erupted into a war over who has better values. Republicans hit the ceiling because John Mellencamp sang a song calling President Bush "a cheap thug" and Whoopi Goldberg joked about George Bush's last name and Dick Cheney's first. The flap accomplished two GOP goals: trample on Kerry's rollout of John Edwards as running mate and block his attempt to move away from Howard Dean-style anger toward a voter-friendly message of hope. Bush campaign manager Ken...

Something to Yak About – Obscenity Laced Celebrity Hate Fest Reflects Kerry-Edwards Values A lot of papers carried an item Friday about the star-studded fundraiser in New York City, fawning over the Hollywood Big Shots who helped John Kerry raise $7.5 million. What many of those reports glossed over was the “X-rated rant,” of Whoopi Goldberg while Kerry could be seen, “laughing uproariously during part of Goldberg's tirade.” John Kerry’s response to the invective laden hate mongering? "Every performer tonight ... conveyed to you the heart and soul of our country.” John-John Shows Less Sense Than Dean We’ve already seen...

We have major TWO issues at play right now that are live grenades. We can't let them slip away out of Kerry's hands. We HAVE to use these issues RIGHT NOW while they are still hot and put Kerry on the defensive.

ARLINGTON, VA-- Today, U.S. Senator Zell Miller (D-GA) made the following remarks during a Bush-Cheney '04 conference call: "Last night John Kerry held a fundraiser in New York that featured performers in a time of war calling the President of the United States 'a killer,' 'a cheap thug' and 'a liar.' John Kerry just sat there, grinning like a mule eating briars. "Far from condemning this display of hatred, he said their remarks represented the 'heart and soul' of our country. These are not the values of Southern voters. These are not the values of rural voters, and this is...

WASHINGTON, DC— Bush-Cheney '04 Campaign Manager Ken Mehlman issued the following statement on John Kerry's fundraiser last night. "We have seen John Kerry take two positions on the most important issues facing our country. Now we see him take two sets of positions on his own values. "If John Kerry is going to praise last night's star-studded hate fest, and characterize it as the 'heart and soul' of America, he should share these values with voters everywhere. "We call on Kerry to release the video of this event so that all Americans can see what John Kerry has called America's...

Whoopi Goldberg (search) delivered an X-rated rant full of sexual innuendoes against President Bush last night at a Radio City gala that raised $7.5 million for the newly minted Democratic ticket of John Kerry (search) and John Edwards (search). Waving a bottle of wine, she fired off a stream of vulgar sexual wordplays on Bush's name in a riff about female genitalia, and boasted that she'd refused to let Team Kerry clear her material. "I Xeroxed my behind and I folded it up in an envelope and I sent it back with a big kiss mark on because we're Democrats...

As Tommy Daschle might say, I am deeply saddened. It is getting more and more difficult to enjoy popular culture. I will miss some of it. After reading reports of the Bush-bash fest at Radio City Music Hall by the RAT b*st*rd entertainers that raised 7.5 million bucks for John/John, I once again went to the cabinet that houses CDs and videos. I found SISTER ACT, FOUL PLAY, VACATION, SEEMS LIKE OLD TIMES, and two John Cougar Mellencamp CDs. I took them out to the backyard and went to George and Kramer's favorite foliage. Before too long, they lifted their...

Washington, DC, Jul. 9 (UPI) -- The Kerry-Edwards campaign Friday declined to release tapes of a New York concert at which lewd comments allegedly were made about the president. Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts and John Edwards of North Carolina attended a Thursday night concert at Radio City Music Hall that featured celebrities from comedienne Whoopi Goldberg to actor Paul Newman. Democrats came under fire Friday for comments Goldberg made during her performance, in which she allegedly used President Bush's last name in a sexual context. Other performers bashed the president in strong terms. "The views expressed by the performers...

BUSH/CHENEY: 'We call on Kerry to release the video of this event' Fri Jul 09 2004 10:37:52 ET WASHINGTON, DC -- Bush-Cheney '04 Campaign Manager Ken Mehlman issued the following statement on John Kerry's fundraiser last night. "We have seen John Kerry take two positions on the most important issues facing our country. Now we see him take two sets of positions on his own values. "If John Kerry is going to praise last night's star-studded hate fest, and characterize it as the 'heart and soul' of America, he should share these values with voters everywhere. "We call on Kerry...

Kerry's Celebrity Fund-Raiser Is a Huge Bash European Pressphoto AgencyJohn Kerry played the guitar with John Fogerty at the conclusion of a concert and fundraiser held at Radio City Music Hall on Thursday. By JODI WILGORENPublished: July 9, 2004 star-studded salute to Senators John Kerry and John Edwards Thursday night at Radio City Music Hall slid into an unsparing skewering of the Bush administration, with actors and comedians denouncing the president as a liar, making off-color jokes about his name, and accusing him of risking soldiers' lives for political gain.The racy Hollywood humor and harsh attacks were a sharp shift...

The White House is reportedly demanding an apology from the Kerry-Edwards campaign after Thursday night's Manhattan fundraiser - where comic Whoopi Goldberg targeted President Bush with a filth-laden monologue as the two top Democrats looked on and laughed. "Waving a bottle of wine, [Goldberg] fired off a stream of vulgar sexual wordplays on Bush's name in a riff about female genitalia, and boasted that she'd refused to let Team Kerry clear her material," reported Friday's New York Post. "I Xeroxed my behind and I folded it up in an envelope and I sent it back with a big kiss mark...

The wife of vice presidential hopeful John Edwards is defending Whoopi Goldberg after the potty-mouthed comedienne attacked President Bush with an X-rated monologue at Thursday night's Kerry-Edwards fundraiser in New York. Rejecting calls for her husband's campaign to apologize for Goldberg's outburst, Mrs. Edwards said Friday that the anti-Bush tirade was justified. "A lot of people are going to be angry - there's a lot to be angry about," she told reporters at a fundraising breakfast on Manhattan's West side. "It's a free country and people are going to express that anger."

Whoopi raises hackles at Kerry fundraiser     July 09 2004 at 09:06AM By Peter Mackler New York - The Democratic presidential ticket netted a cool $7.5-million (about R50-million) at a star-studded concert but had to squirm through a wickedly irreverent monologue from comic Whoopi Goldberg to do it. Aides to presidential candidate John Kerry exulted that the gate from Thursday night's extravaganza at the historic Radio City Music Hall was the biggest single take ever for a Democratic event. But while the party was raising cash, Goldberg was clearly raising some hackles by repeatedly referring to Kerry's boyish...

Jon Bon Jovi wasted no time throwing the audience some partisan red meat last night at the star-studded John Kerry fund-raiser at Radio City Music Hall. The rocker opened the $7.5 million rainmaker by taking a little license with the chorus from George Harrison's "Here Comes the Sun" - and a big shot at President Bush. "It's been four years since it was clear," Bon Jovi crooned to roars of approval. It was that kind of night for the 5,500 faithful who paid $250 to $25,000 a seat to pack the theater and see stars serenade Kerry and his freshly...

[snip]And, by the way, neither man has been bothering to show up for work much. Since the 108th Congress began in January 2003, Edwards has missed 42 percent of all Senate votes. Which makes him practically a workaholic compared to wannabe-President Kerry, who missed nearly 70 percent of his votes — including on issues that he says he cares about, such as veterans' health care and unemployment benefits. These two are the most liberal senators ever to run for national office on the same major-party ticket. They pretend otherwise, of course. But facts will out. Is America ready for two...

US celebrities gathered to raise £4 million for John Kerry and John Edwards – or “kid” as Whoopi Goldberg called the newest addition to the Democratic presidential campaign. The comedienne greeted Kerry and Teresa Heinz Kerry, and then peered into the crowd looking for Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth Edwards. “And where’s the kid? Where’s young Mr Edwards? And, where’s my girl, where’s my girl?” Teasing Kerry, Goldberg said: “Not that your not youthful. You’re very youthful John. But he’s youthful. He looks like he’s 18!” Later she offered Kerry and Edwards a little advice: “John and John. Tell the...

July 9, 2004 For 2 'Johns,' Day Brings Crowds and Money By JODI WILGOREN mashing his own one-event record, Senator John Kerry scooped up more than $7.5 million to support his presidential campaign on Thursday night, in a star-studded salute at Radio City Music Hall that skewered President Bush for his tax cuts and prosecution of the Iraq war. Chevy Chase called Mr. Bush a liar and made fun of his pronunciation of "nuclear" and "terrorist." Paul Newman denounced "tax cuts for wealthy thugs like me as 'borderline criminal.' " Jessica Lange said this year's election presented the American public...

John Kerry and John Edwards mingled with top rockers and hip-hop artists at a star-studded fund-raising concert last night at Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan in an unusual mixture of presidential politics and New York entertainment. The newly unveiled Democratic team swept into the city by motorcade at rush hour after campaigning in Florida, a potentially decisive state. The glitzy affair was originally slated for last month but was rescheduled when it threatened to conflict with a week of memorial services for Ronald Reagan. The musical fest came as an Associated Press poll struck a warning tone. It showed...