Posted on 06/14/2004 5:34:32 PM PDT by kattracks
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Teresa Heinz Kerry says anger, not ideology, prompted her to become a Democrat. The wife of Sen. John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, says her emotion stemmed from the way the Republican Party, to which she had pledged allegiance, treated Democratic Sen. Max Cleland of Georgia in 2002.Cleland, who lost both legs and an arm as an Army captain during the Vietnam War, lost his re-election bid in a bitter campaign against then-Rep. Saxby Chambliss. The GOP had raised questions about Cleland's patriotism because of his position on legislation to create the Department of Homeland Security. Cleland supported the concept behind the department, but insisted that a workers' rights provision be part of the bill.
Heinz Kerry, in an interview to be broadcast Tuesday on the "CBS Evening News," says Cleland's status as a triple amputee is enough to prove his patriotism.
"Three limbs and all I could think was, 'What does the Republican party need, a fourth limb to make a person a hero?' And this coming from people who have not served. I was really offended by that. Unscrupulous and disgusting," she said, her reference being an indirect one to President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.
Neither Republican served in Vietnam. Bush served stateside in the Texas Air National Guard, and Cheney received five student deferments from service during the war.
Kerry volunteered to serve in Vietnam and earned three Purple Hearts, and Silver and Bronze stars for his efforts commanding a swift boat on the Mekong Delta. Earlier in the campaign, opponents of Kerry had raised questions about his military service and whether he deserved the military honors.
Heinz Kerry had been a registered Republican until Kerry, her second husband, announced his bid for the White House. Her first husband, Republican Sen. John Heinz of Pennsylvania and the Heinz prepared foods heir, was killed in a plane crash in 1991. She inherited a fortune estimated at more than $500 million.
In the interview, John Kerry is asked about criticism of his wife, who has a reputation for being blunt and outspoken.
"When it's silly stuff, and a lot of it is incredibly unfactual, I get angry about it," he said.
Asked for three words to describe his 65-year-old wife, who is five years his senior, Kerry said: "Saucy, sexy, brilliant."
She responded: "I'm cheeky, I'm sexy, whatever. You know, I've got a lot of life inside."
•__
A liberal interest group will begin airing a new television commercial Tuesday in four battleground states that calls President Bush "a failure of leadership" and criticizes Vice President Dick Cheney's ties to Halliburton.
MoveOn.org's political action committee will spend about $1 million over a week, a hefty amount, to run the 30-second ad in Missouri, Nevada, Ohio and Oregon.
The ad accuses Bush's administration of giving Cheney's former company no-bid contracts to work in Iraq "on a silver platter."
"Then," the ad says, "the Pentagon caught Halliburton overcharging $61 million for gasoline. Worse, they billed over $100 million dollars for meals for our troops that they never delivered. And George Bush is still doing business with them."
Steve Schmidt, a spokesman for Bush's re-election campaign, said: "This is another incredibly misleading ad from an organization completely outside of the mainstream of American politics."
Separately, The Media Fund, another Democratic group, ran new radio and newspaper ads in Kansas City, Mo., criticizing his record on health care and prescription drug costs. Bush visited the state Monday.
•__
Associated Press Writer Liz Sidoti contributed to this report.
THIS is partly why SKerry is still in the running... Weak, inept retorts like this one!!! First of all, what does that mean to the average person. So what if that organization is outside the mainstream of American politics... So what.
He should call a spade a spade- they LIED, not misrepresented. They are a rogue/radical group that espouses socialism/communism. TO THE POINT!!!
That should be easy to disprove, there have to be statements on record of her political leanings before that. What a crock. NO one attacked Cleland, Chambliss attacked his record, which is FAIR GAME.
EXACTLY!
So it's just a coincidence she was married to Kerry? She was still a Pubbie until 2002?
And then later it worked out so well, what with Hubby running this year.
Show of hands, all who believe her blatant nonsense, which happens to drag in -- surprise! -- VIETNAM.
What about SEXY? Pardon the "Valley Girl" statment, but Oh my God, gag me with a spoon!
She couldn't have possibly been a "true" Republican up until what happened to Cleland. Obviously, she doesn't know what Republican is or taste in men either, since she chose Herman Munster as a husband.
I'm still trying to understand the logic that says losing three limbs proves anything except that you'll never need to tie your shoes again.
...and GREAT ON HAMBURGERS!
She's obviously a woman with deep ideological beliefs. Sheesh.</p>
Oh, monkey muffins. Heinz has raised this "you big bad Republicans are questioning our patriotism" theme before. Any questioning of voting record, for example, gets this retort.
It's an attempt to shift the focus of course. Ought to be easy to disprove.
Prairie
I live in Georgia and I voted against Cleland.
I get tired of this shame-based BS that because a Democrat was wounded in combat, I have to agree with him on security issues. That's not what Cleland - or any other patriot - fought for.
Rather than try and shame me into voting for lousy ideas, how about trying to come up with better ones?
Hienz-Kerry hates America. She simply decided to flock with the other birdbrains.
three words to describe tah-RAY-zuh?
"vile, virulent, and vindictive"
"...from the way the Republican Party, ... treated Democratic Sen. Max Cleland .."
Yeah right...and I bet some people believe it
As I recall the nitwit was playing with a live hand grenade with the pin pulled and the dummy dropped it. The nitwit and the dummy being the same person, Max Cleland.
No way that makes him a hero, war or not. It just makes him a did-not-place in the Darwin Awards for that year.
As I recall the nitwit was playing with a live hand grenade with the pin pulled and the dummy dropped it. The nitwit and the dummy being the same person, Max Cleland.
No way that makes him a hero, war or not. It just makes him a did-not-place in the Darwin Awards for that year.
huh?,I thought it was because she was "increasingly alarmed by the negative tone and shortsighted policies of the Republican Party."
or the environment
On the environment, an issue she has long been active on, Heinz said the GOP was "heading in the wrong direction by rolling back the common sense environmental laws and regulations which have made our air and water cleaner and safer."
The comments on Max must have been cut out.
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