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.
Pure BS
TerAYsa doesn't get it. Kerry has nightmares because his subconscious is screaming about his stupidity in marrying that witch.
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/anncoulter/ac20040212.shtml
Ann Coulter, February 12, 2004
Former Sen. Max Cleland is the Democrats' designated hysteric about George Bush's National Guard service. A triple amputee and Vietnam veteran, Cleland is making the rounds on talk TV, basking in the affection of liberals who have suddenly become jock-sniffers for war veterans and working himself into a lather about President Bush's military service. Citing such renowned military experts as Molly Ivins, Cleland indignantly demands further investigation into Bush's service with the Texas Air National Guard.
Bush's National Guard service is the most thoroughly investigated event since the Kennedy assassination. But the Democrats will accept only two possible conclusions to their baseless accusations: (1) Bush was "AWOL," or (2) the matter needs further investigation.
Thirty years ago, Bush was granted an honorable discharge from the National Guard, which would seem to put the matter to rest. But liberals want proof that Bush actually deserved his honorable discharge. (Since when did the party of Bill Clinton, Ted Kennedy and Robert Byrd get so obsessed with honor?)
On "Hardball" Monday night, Cleland demanded to see Bush's pay stubs for the disputed period of time, May 1972 to May 1973. "If he was getting paid for his weekend warrior work," Cleland said, "he should have some pay stubs to show it."
The next day, the White House produced the pay stubs. This confirmed what has been confirmed 1 million times before: After taking the summer off, Bush reported for duty nine times between Nov. 29, 1972, and May 24, 1973 – more than enough times to fulfill his Guard duties. (And nine times more than Bill Clinton, Barney Frank or Chuck Schumer did during the same period.)
All this has been reported – with documentation – many times by many news organizations. George magazine had Bush's National Guard records 3 1/2 years ago.
All available evidence keeps confirming Bush's honorable service with the Guard, which leads liberals to conclude ... further investigation is needed! No evidence will ever be enough evidence. That Bush skipped out on his National Guard service is one of liberals' many nondisprovable beliefs, like global warming.
Cleland also expressed outrage that Bush left the National Guard nine months early in 1973 to go to Harvard Business School. On "Hardball," Cleland testily remarked: "I just know a whole lot of veterans who would have loved to have worked things out with the military and adjusted their tour of duty." (Cleland already knows one – Al Gore!)
When Bush left the National Guard in 1973 to go to business school, the war was over. It might as well have been 1986. Presidents Kennedy and Johnson had already lost the war, and President Nixon had ended it with the Paris peace accords in January. If Bush had demanded active combat, there was no war to send him to.
To put this in perspective, by 1973, John Kerry had already accused American soldiers of committing war crimes in Vietnam, thrown someone else's medals to the ground in an anti-war demonstration, and married his first heiress. Bill Clinton had just finished three years of law school and was about to embark upon a political career – which would include campaign events with Max Cleland.
Moreover, if we're going to start delving into exactly who did what back then, maybe Max Cleland should stop allowing Democrats to portray him as a war hero who lost his limbs taking enemy fire on the battlefields of Vietnam.
Cleland lost three limbs in an accident during a routine noncombat mission where he was about to drink beer with friends. He saw a grenade on the ground and picked it up. He could have done that at Fort Dix. In fact, Cleland could have dropped a grenade on his foot as a National Guardsman – or what Cleland sneeringly calls "weekend warriors." Luckily for Cleland's political career and current pomposity about Bush, he happened to do it while in Vietnam.
There is more than a whiff of dishonesty in how Cleland is presented to the American people. Terry McAuliffe goes around saying, "Max Cleland, a triple amputee who left three limbs on the battlefield of Vietnam," was thrown out of office because Republicans "had the audacity to call Max Cleland unpatriotic." Mr. Cleland, a word of advice: When a slimy weasel like Terry McAuliffe is vouching for your combat record, it's time to sound "retreat" on that subject.
Needless to say, no one ever challenged Cleland's "patriotism." His performance in the Senate was the issue, which should not have come as a bolt out of the blue inasmuch as he was running for re-election to the Senate. Sen. Cleland had refused to vote for the Homeland Security bill unless it was chock-full of pro-union perks that would have jeopardized national security. ("OH, MY GOD! A HIJACKED PLANE IS HEADED FOR THE WHITE HOUSE!" "Sorry, I'm on my break. Please call back in two hours.")
The good people of Georgia – who do not need lectures on admiring military service – gave Cleland one pass for being a Vietnam veteran. He didn't get a lifetime pass.
Indeed, if Cleland had dropped a grenade on himself at Fort Dix rather than in Vietnam, he would never have been a U.S. senator in the first place. Maybe he'd be the best pharmacist in Atlanta, but not a U.S. senator. He got into office on the basis of serving in Vietnam and was thrown out for his performance as a senator.
Cleland wore the uniform, he was in Vietnam, and he has shown courage by going on to lead a productive life. But he didn't "give his limbs for his country," or leave them "on the battlefield." There was no bravery involved in dropping a grenade on himself with no enemy troops in sight. That could have happened in the Texas National Guard – which Cleland denigrates while demanding his own sanctification.
But the partygoers will have to use the portapotties set up in the Heinz-Kerry side yard.
It doesn't matter how he lost his limbs. I don't give a good godd--n how it happened. He was in Vietnam and he lost his legs. Of course, if it happened while engaging the enemey it is an amazing sacrifice, if it was self inflicted it is still sacrifice. He didn't have to be there.
'Sen. Cleland had refused to vote for the Homeland Security bill unless it was chock-full of pro-union perks that would have jeopardized national security. ("OH, MY GOD! A HIJACKED PLANE IS HEADED FOR THE WHITE HOUSE!" "Sorry, I'm on my break. Please call back in two hours.")' (from Ann Coulter)
Let's see JUST HOW MUCH they love the Unions after the Cops, The Electricians, etc. hold up the preparations for the Fleet Center's Democratic Convention - and they should be impressed by the work stoppages and demonstrations by the unions outside the Convention Hall...
Another rat liar. Who woulda thought.
The thing that I'm most amazed by this is the John Kerry actually served in Vietnam. Why doesn't he share that more often so people will know it?
Cleland's votes throughout his career have been nearly 100% on Big Labor and about 35% on defence.
That he blew himself up while a general's aide and received some "sympathy" awards is a fine thing, but it doesn't absolve him of the requirement to do the nation's business now -- or make way, as he had to, for someone who would.
It's the old "attack the messenger" thing in reverse. We should support Max not cause of who he is, but because of who he was. Not because of what he will do, but what he did once.
In other words, it's not rational.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
"If I recall correctly, didn't Cleland blow off his own limbs?"
No. One of his troops did - it was a friendly fire incident. They were all exiting a chopper and Cleland noticed a live grenade had fallen to the ground from off one of his troops gear. He reached down to pick it up (the pin had come out) and BOOM.
Very sad story, but hardly heroic or patriotic.
If your first husband were still alive, would you have switched?
Thanks for posting Coulter's wonderful comments about Cleland (I posted two links to her article as well). Coulter totally debunks the Cleland myth.
Thanks for the tagline, Ta-Rayza.
His loss of limbs and his service have NOTHING at all to do with the price of eggs in England,let alone making Terry Kerry become a Dem! Don't you get it? IT'S A LIE,A DAMNED LIE;BOGUS!
I bet you think that Kerry's 4 months and out early and algore's wee stay in Nam,WITH A BODY GUARD,were heroic too. LOL
Facts ARE our "friends"...learn some.
I have done a little checking and I have found that my take on Cleland's accident and resuilting injuries was totally wrong - there was no horseplay - and this accident happened not in the barracks as I had thought, but in the field, just after Cleland had exited a helicopter.
The grenade may or may not have been his own; apparently Cleland thought the grenade had fallen off his own web gear as he departed the helicopter, and as he bent down to pick it from where it had fallen, it went off.
My apologies to all for implying that this accident was somehow a result of Cleland's carelessness, horseplay, or dumb risk-taking. Quite clearly, it was not.
Real contrast between Mrs. Reagan and the widow Mrs. Heinz.
I don't begrudge her decision to remarry, however it seems her current statements lock her into one of her marriages being a sham.
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