Posted on 07/15/2004 7:00:50 AM PDT by areafiftyone
BOSTON (AP) -- Democrat John Kerry is telling the NAACP that as president he will always talk with people who disagree with him - a slap at President Bush for declining to address the civil rights group.
"I will be a president who talks with everyone those who agree with me and those who don't," Kerry says in remarks prepared for delivery Thursday in Philadelphia before the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Bush has not spoken to the NAACP since he was campaigning in 2000. He was angered when, during that race, the NAACP National Voter Fund ran an ad that portrayed Bush as unsympathetic to the dragging death of James Byrd in Texas.
Since the campaign, leaders of the NAACP have called Bush an illegal president, compared his anti-abortion views to the Taliban and called his trip to Africa a photo-op. A Bush spokesman blasted the NAACP on Thursday.
The president "has many friends who belong to the NAACP and respects their proud history of championing civil rights," White House communications director Dan Bartlett said. "Differences of opinion and opposing views are of course part of the national debate. Yet the current leadership of the NAACP has clearly crossed the line in partisanship and civility, making it impossible to have a constructive dialogue."
"Despite the current leadership's intolerant views, President Bush will continue to reach out to members of the NAACP and African-Americans from across the country," he said. Bush addresses the Urban League, another civil rights group, next week.
The leaders of the NAACP have said they are committed to helping Kerry defeat Bush this year. Kerry welcomes the help as he tries to stir blacks to get to the polls this year.
I will be a president who shares the values of people of all colors who get up and go to work every day, try to raise their families in dignity and want to leave this world a better place for their children," Kerry says in the NAACP speech. "I will be a president who when he is invited into your home, will always say yes."
In a statement, the Kerry campaign said Bush has failed to bring opportunity for blacks. It criticized Bush for failing to support affirmative action, for dropping employment among blacks and for cutting education and health care programs that disproportionately impact blacks.
Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt said, "Kerry continues to campaign making fundamentally baseless assertions about the economy." He said minority homeownership is at record levels.
After his speech to the NAACP, Kerry was beginning his "Front Porch Tour" in Philadelphia suburb of Lansdowne. The Kerry campaign is putting a new spin on an old technique - trying to get the candidate more time sharing concerns with regular Americans.
While Kerry is visiting with voters in the swing state of Pennsylvania, his running mate John Edwards will be visiting voters on a front porch in New Orleans. Although Kerry and Edwards were officially kicking off what they say will be a regular feature of their campaign trips, Kerry sat with voters on their porch at least once before.
Last month in Columbus, Ohio, Kerry chatted with two sisters who brought out iced tea and talked about the struggles of raising their kids in a tough economy. The normal intimacy of a front-porch chat was somewhat disrupted by the glare of the flood lights brought in by the campaign and more than a dozen national journalists and staff who watched from the lawn.
Kerry said the importance of the porch visits is "going to the homes of ordinary citizens across this nation and talking with them about the values that matter most to them - values you live by every day - family, responsibility, service, opportunity, inclusion, fairness, faith."
He's talking about "my faith teaches me where you heart is, there is your treasure also." Now he's trying to sound like a preacher....saying his heart's with middle Americans, the children....gag. Then why doesn't he represent middle America in the senate to which he was elected? Why is his voting record far left? Why does he represent those values which are French?
I would like Kerry to name one shared value that he holds in common with me. I can't think of ANY!
Now he's speaking about all the imaginary people he's talked to. The maggot has no shame.
LOL, I love this "Values" gig. What values? This is a dangerous man and I pray he looses by a landslide.
Now calling the President a liar. He is sickening.
If he would be elected President, he'd ruin America as we now know it.
Now's he's saying this President has the problem with telling the truth.
John Kerry doesn't know truth if it would hit him in the head; he's so full of himself and lies. Truth is a foreign concept to him and his values.
This isn't about politics says John effin'
It's about values
Indeed...
Not the narrow values that politicians use to cynically divide America
What values mean to John Edwards and me: Creating jobs, actually getting ahead, tax cuts for middle-class. Relief for those trying to get into middle class or are already in. The wealthy don't need tax cuts but the middle class does.
Now he watched the President last night; "This president really seems to have a problem with the truth"
That is exactly what he said. I expect another article from the New York Times about the Republican "attack machine" any minute.
Now race pandering in the job arena
Now bringing up race and unemployment.
-- Kerry says in the NAACP speech. "I will be a president who when he is invited into your home, will always say yes." --
What a jerk. I'm sure he would love to come into our home and chat with us Republicans ... and put up with our three badly-behaved dogs.
That's because he talks about uniting but sees US as "the enemy".
He must LOSE.
Feel it? I can almost smell it. This piece of work exudes hatred from his pores. Hatred, contempt, and hypocrisy.
Between the bold faced lies (enhanced by the no-movement-above-the-jaw botoxification), the cynically delivered scripture verses, the lies, the smarm, the lies, the faux emotion, and, oh, did I mention the lies? He's right in his element today.
The James Byrd Liars Club and the John-John Kerrykohn Express were made for each other.
I am watching the speech on Fox News right now live...he has got to be the most dull and uninspiring speakers ever.
If he is so darned worried about health care, why doesn't he have his wife set up a foundation that helps?
Kerry courting the NAACP: "We Democrats know that you black folk can't help yourselves. We Democrats know you are too stupid and lazy to make it in America. So we Democrats are here to take care of you. Sure, you'll be under our control as long as you are dependent on the government, but you can trust us."
That's why the Kerry campaign keeps trotting out Edwards. He may be an airhead, but he is a more exciting speaker.
sw
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