Posted on 03/11/2004 8:58:12 PM PST by Utah Girl
Senator John Kerry on Thursday fought off Republican attacks over his harsh off-the-cuff comments about his critics and refused to apologize for describing Republicans as "crooked" and "lying."
"I haven't said anything that's incorrect about them, and they've said lots of things that are incorrect," Mr. Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, told reporters, citing Republicans' attacks on his voting record, President Bush's new advertisements against him and tactics used in earlier campaigns.
"There is a Republican attack squad that specializes in trying to destroy people and be negative," he said.
The dispute over Mr. Kerry's description of Republicans as "the most crooked, you know, lying group I've ever seen," heard in a low-key conversation with workers in Chicago picked up by a microphone, shadowed his return to Capitol Hill to meet with Democrats.
Before Mr. Kerry spoke, Congressional Republicans were out in force. The Republican leadership made Mr. Kerry one of the two items on the docket for its meeting Thursday and emerged swinging.
Representative Jack Kingston of Georgia went after both senators from Massachusetts by saying Republicans see Mr. Kerry as "Ted Kennedy on the South Beach Diet."
Speaker J. Dennis Hastert of Illinois said he took the insults personally because they were made in his home state. "If he wants to describe me as being crooked and a liar, I think he will have his comeuppance coming," Mr. Hastert said.
The House majority leader, Representative Tom DeLay of Texas, said the unguarded comments by Mr. Kerry "shows you the real person."
"Listen to John Kerry talk either off-mike or on-mike," Mr. DeLay said, "it is always about how bad George W. Bush is and very little about what he would do and what is the agenda and which agenda is he going to flip on or flop on."
After a series of Capitol Hill sessions where Mr. Kerry began organizing his own army of surrogates, he and his former rival for the Democratic nomination, Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, met here with more than 100 of Mr. Edwards's top backers.
Several people who attended the meeting said Mr. Edwards, who spent 45 minutes alone with Mr. Kerry earlier, offered unequivocal support, while the donors told Mr. Kerry how much they would like to see their first pick in the No. 2 slot.
"Edwards was saying, I'm going to work really hard for this guy, I'm asking you as my friends and supporters to do the same," said Ed Turlington, the general chairman of Mr. Edwards's campaign.
The fence-mending followed a similar session on Wednesday with Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor, who was highly critical of Mr. Kerry during his presidential run.
At the same time, aides to the Rev. Al Sharpton said his campaign manager and most influential supporters had been trying to persuade Mr. Kerry to adopt some of Mr. Sharpton's urban ideas publicly, giving Mr. Sharpton a graceful way to end his presidential campaign.
Sharpton Qualifies for Money The Federal Election Commission ruled yesterday that Mr. Sharpton qualified for federal matching money and will soon be given $100,000 in tax dollars.
But the commission also voted to investigate whether Mr. Sharpton spent more than $50,000 of his own money on his campaign, which is not permitted for candidates accepting matching money.
If he had, Mr. Sharpton could be ordered to pay back some or all of the matching money he receives and could lose out on future payments.
Charles Halloran, Mr. Sharpton's campaign manager said that he did not think Mr. Sharpton had violated any rules and that the campaign would challenge any such ruling in court.
Instead of having "sound byte symposiums" (i.e., debates), I think each candidate should have to write a book stating their positions on a host of issues, and then engage in a written Q&A with the opposing candidate.
And voters should have to read all correspondence before casting a ballot.
I love how the libs in the media let him off the hook for attacking Bush, and instead characterizing his words as describing his critics.
From another thread:
"I would like to express my sincerest sympathy to the Spanish people and the families of those killed and injured in today's horrific terrorist bombing in Madrid," Kerry said in a statement. "As a country which has also experienced tragedy at the hands of these cowardly killers, our thoughts and prayers are with you.
Notice how he refers to 9/11 as a tragedy. It's not a tragedy, it's a terrorist attack!
From another thread:
"I would like to express my sincerest sympathy to the Spanish people and the families of those killed and injured in today's horrific terrorist bombing in Madrid," Kerry said in a statement. "As a country which has also experienced tragedy at the hands of these cowardly killers, our thoughts and prayers are with you.
Notice how he refers to 9/11 as a tragedy. It's not a tragedy, it's a terrorist attack!
Sharpton Qualifies for Money The Federal Election Commission ruled yesterday that Mr. Sharpton qualified for federal matching money and will soon be given $100,000 in tax dollars.
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I still say reparations are going to be part of the Dems platform, along with other losing issues. It will be their most leftist platform ever.
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