Posted on 02/16/2004 2:09:20 PM PST by PhiKapMom
Kerry Blasts Bush's Daytona 'Photo Op'
By NEDRA PICKLER
.c The Associated Press
WAUSAU, Wis. (AP) - A confident John Kerry launched a full-throttle attack on President Bush's economic policies, mostly ignoring his Democratic rivals on the eve of the Wisconsin primary. Howard Dean's campaign shed another top manager and John Edwards vowed to press on no matter how he fares Tuesday.
Kerry, who has a commanding lead in the race to oppose Bush this fall, chided the president for taking time out Sunday to attend the Daytona 500, saying the country was bleeding jobs while he posed for a ``photo opportunity.'' Bush had donned a racing jacket to officially open NASCAR's most prestigious event in front of some 180,000 fans.
``We don't need a president who just says, `Gentlemen start your engines','' Kerry said. ``We need a president who says, `America, let's start our economy and put people back to work.''
Kerry for the most part has chosen in recent days to aim his Campaign 2004 rhetoric directly at Bush as he has lapped his competitors, winning all but the South Carolina and Oklahoma delegate-selection contests.
His broadside against Bush came as the president argued anew against any rollback in the tax cuts that Congress has passed at his behest, and on a day in which Dean divulged the departure of national campaign chairman Steve Grossman.
For his part. Edwards declared ``there are differences'' with his Democratic rivals and said he was confident his campaign was gaining momentum. He said he would remain in the race well into the March and the Super Tuesday round of electoral faceoffs.
Kerry's latest criticism of Bush came during a town hall meeting at Northcentral Technical College, where he toured the school's machine tool lab and posed for pictures with students who engraved an 40-pound aluminum plaque with ``Wisconsin Backs Kerry in 2004.'' But he didn't go unscathed either.
Lasee Philips, who is learning about the electrical and mechanical trades at the school, rose during the forum and told Kerry his support for the North American Free Trade Agreement was ``throwing some red flags in my mind.''
After working 22 years as an injection molder in the same factory, Philips lost her job last year and blames the trade agreement.
Kerry responded that the United State initially gained jobs under NAFTA, but blamed subsequent losses on the failure to enforce side agreements on labor and environmental standards.
Philips was not convinced. ``NAFTA, in my mind, sent our country in a tailspin the day it passed in 1997,'' she said after the forum.
Edwards claimed the endorsement of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the state's largest newspaper. Then he sharpened his differences with rivals.
``I was against NAFTA,'' he said. ``Governor Dean and Senator Kerry were for it. There are differences.''
Polls have shown Kerry with a wide lead heading into Tuesday, but Edwards vowed to press ahead. While he has sought throughout the primary season to avoid attacking his rivals, Edwards said he would make differences clear and insisted there's plenty of time for voters to see those differences.
``It's not too late because this primary process is going well into March,'' said Edwards. ``I want voters to know what the differences are between us.''
Kerry said the first step to repairing the economy is to repeal Bush's tax cuts for people who make more than $200,000.
Bush, appearing in Florida on a visit that the White House characterized as official business, told an audience at a window factory: ``You hear people in Washington saying, 'Oh let's not make the tax cuts permanent.' When you hear somebody say that, they're saying 'We're gonna tax you. We're gonna raise your taxes'.''
Bush didn't mention Kerry by name. But a spokesman for the president, Scott Stanzel, said, ``Senator Kerry's pledge to raise taxes on Americans is precisely the wrong thing to do.''
In the Dean campaign, the departure of Grossman was the second high-level change in less than three weeks; campaign manager Joe Trippi was ousted in the wake of Dean's losses to Kerry in Iowa and New Hampshire.
It was during a brief question-and-answer session with reporters that Dean acknowledged Grossman had left, and just before the former Vermont governor was to appear at a campaign event in La Crosse, Wis.
He indicated that the move came following statements attributed to Grossman in which the chairman suggested Dean would likely curtail his campaign if he lost the Wisconsin primary.
Dean said he was appreciative of Grossman's efforts and that he had no hard feelings.
Roy Neel, Dean's campaign manager, however, said he thought that Grossman was heading to Kerry's camp. ``He's made clear his on-the-record comments to the press he has another agenda at work now,'' Neel said.
Grossman said he had neither resigned nor been asked to resign. But he said he understood why Dean considered him no longer part of the campaign.
``I think it's fair to assume my public statements and actions as tantamount to a resignation,'' said Grossman. ``For the record, it didn't happen quite that way. I tried to make it clear I would do nothing prior to the end of the Wisconsin primary.''
02/16/04 16:45 EST
<Mom I'm going to send you a FReepmail shortly keep an eye out for it.
Catchy!
Don't hold back...tell us how you REALLY feel about him!
My, my. How pissy can you get?
I just heard these comments on my local news. This guy is even more of an idiot than I even imagined. I'm more of a football/basketball fan, but I have many friends who are NASCAR fans. I'm going to email his remarks to them.
Is this buffoon saying our President has to stay sequestered in the White House? Who does he think he is? Between this, and the moveon.org ad I saw on tv earlier trashing President Bush, my blood pressure is probably up about 10 points.
Well, other than that, he'd be almost as good a president as Bill Clinton. 
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