We had troops there before we took them out.
Posted on 08/31/2004 11:11:21 AM PDT by ejdrapes
Bush: Against Winning War on Terror Before He Was For It, Says Kerry-Edwards 2004 To: National Desk, Political Reporter Contact: Chad Clanton or Phil Singer, both of Kerry-Edwards 2004, 202-464-2800; Web: http://www.johnkerry.com WASHINGTON, Aug. 31 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The following was released today by Kerry-Edwards 2004: BUSH FLIP-FLOPS ON WINNING THE WAR ON TERROR: Kerry spokesman Phil Singer said: "What today showed is that George Bush might be able to read a speech saying we can win the war on terror, but as we saw yesterday, he's clearly got real doubts about his ability to do so and with good reason. "This President has gone from mission accomplished to mission miscalculated to mission impossible on the war on terror. We need a leader who knows we can win the war on terror and has a plan to do it. America can do better than a go-it-alone foreign policy that has alienated key allies, leaving U.S. troops bearing the overwhelming burden in Iraq and U.S. taxpayers shouldering the bulk of the cost." BUSH ON THE ATTACK BECAUSE, CAN'T TALK ABOUT HIS RECORD BUSH DISTORTS KERRY POSITION ON REDEPLOYMENT Bush Distorts Kerry's Position. While the Bush campaign continues to distort Kerry's position, Kerry in fact believes that now would be a dangerous time to pull troops out of nuclear- armed North Korea and further fray our alliances in Europe at a time when we need them more then ever. Bush and Cheney themselves have pointed to the need to keep our troops in the Korean Peninsula. What Kerry said in early August was: "IF THE DIPLOMACY THAT I BELIEVE CAN BE PUT IN PLACE CAN WORK, I think we can significantly change the deployment of troops, not just there but elsewhere in the world. In the Korean peninsula perhaps, in Europe perhaps." Unfortunately, with Bush's failures in Korea and with our alliances around the world, we don't have the diplomacy right at this point. (This Week, August 1, 2004) Bush: "And I'm not -- I strongly believe we need to have a military presence in the Korea Peninsula, not only to keep the peace in Peninsula, but to keep regional stability. And I strongly believe we need to keep a presence in NATO." (Bush, 10/11/00) Cheney Said Danger Posed By North Korea Requires U.S. Presence. Cheney: "'In view of the dangers of nuclear proliferation in North Korea and the destabilizing impact on Northeast Asia -- and as a result of our consultations -- we have concluded that it would be unwise to proceed with major U.S. force reduction,' he said. 'We have therefore postponed the next round of force level adjustments being considered for Korea until the dangers and uncertainties of the North Korean nuclear program have been thoroughly addressed.'" (UPI, 11/21/91) BUSH THREATENED TO VETO $87 BILLION White House Threatened to Veto $87 Billion. The White House threatened to veto the $87 billion supplemental bill. 'If this provision is not removed, the president's senior advisers would recommend that he veto the bill,' Joshua B. Bolten, the White House budget director, wrote in a letter to Congressional leaders." They also threatened a veto if full health benefits were given to TRICARE In a letter to Congressional conferees on the $87 billion bill, "In particular, if the President is presented a bill that authorizes concurrent receipt or military retirement pay and veterans disability compensation benefits, or expands TRICARE, then I would join other advisors to the President in recommending that he veto a bill." (Rumsfeld letter, 7/6/03; New York Times, 10/22/03) BUSH SENT TROOPS INTO HARM'S WAY WITHOUT EQUIPMENT Even in Mid-June, Soldiers Lacking Armored Vehicles. "The problem with unarmored Humvees in combat situations continues to be an issue. In early March, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, questioned Acting Secretary of the Army Les Brownlee about the shortage of body armor and fortified Humvees for troops serving in Iraq. Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said after a visit to Iraq in mid-June that U.S. forces still need better armored equipment. Of the 15,000 Humvees in Iraq, about 1,500 to 2,000 are armored, according to the Army." On General who was in Iraq said, "we're short of the proper body armor. Everybody had flack jackets and some body armor, but not the new body armor. They showed us the schedule, and said it was going to be done. They was short at that time, I believe, around 1,400 up-armored Humvees that were coming into the country, and the body armor was on schedule. So these shortage will drastically come down, but it does leave you wondering why couldn't we have done this before the war, and we simply didn't." (CNN, 3/14/04; Portland Press Herald, 7/2/04) KERRY AGREES WITH POWELL ON FLAG AMENDMENT Kerry believes in protecting the flag AND the first amendment. As such, he advocates for penalizing flag desecration, but not via a constitutional amendment. Gen. Colin Powell on a Flag Burning Amendment: In a letter to Senator Patrick Leahy, Powell wrote: "I love our flag, our Constitution and our country with a love that has no bounds. I defended all three for 35 years as a soldier and was willing to give my life in their defense. I understand how strongly so many of my fellow veterans and citizens feel about the flag and I understand the powerful sentiment in state legislatures for such an amendment. I feel the same sense of outrage. But I step back from amending the Constitution to relieve that outrage. .. If I were a member of Congress, I would not vote for the proposed amendment and would fully understand and respect the views of those who would. For or against, we all love our flag with equal devotion. ( Letter to Senator Patrick Leahy, 3-18-1999) John Kerry on Penalizing Flag Desecration: "As a former prosecutor I know that most flag burning incidents can be prosecuted under existing law. If a person burns a flag that belongs to the Federal Government -- that constitutes destruction of Federal property, which is a crime." (Congressional Record, 12-12-95) John Kerry on Amending the Constitution: "The Constitution has been amended only 16 times in the 198 years since the Bill of Rights was ratified. No amendment has ever limited the Bill of Rights itself." (Congressional Record, 6-26-90) --- Paid for by Kerry-Edwards 2004, Inc.
Kerry-Edwards Campaign to Sprint Out of the Gates Following Republican Convention
8/31/2004 11:43:00 AM
To: National Desk, Political Reporter
Contact: Allison Dobson of Kerry-Edwards 2004, 202-464-2800
WASHINGTON, Aug. 31 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Following four days of misleading slogans, miscalculations and soundbites designed to hide the real Bush record in New York, John Kerry and John Edwards [Pardon the interruption, but doesn't this poorly written sentence make it sound like Kerry and Edwards are the ones with misleading slogans, etc.?] will kick off the general election Friday with a real plan for America, a formidable sign of campaign strength and impressive grassroots support as they join their wives in barnstorming battleground states Labor Day weekend.
Hours after the close of the Republican convention, Kerry, Edwards and their families will hold a midnight rally in Springfield, Ohio [Woo hoo, go crazy!] before splitting up to hold separate tours through battleground states. Culminating in coordinated, country-wide Front Porch visits on Monday, the weekend will focus on the Kerry-Edwards plan to create jobs, cut taxes for the middle class, lower health care costs and make America stronger and safer because John Kerry and John Edwards believe a stronger America begins at home.
As Kerry, Edwards and Teresa Heinz Kerry and Elizabeth Edwards hit the battleground states, the campaign will unveil new television ads next week on their plan to build a stronger America.
"John Kerry and John Edwards will sprint out of the general election gates [an apt equine metaphor] with a real plan for America and incredible grassroots strength across this country," said Kerry-Edwards campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill. "With two months to go, we will begin our final push to make sure voters know about the fundamental choice in this election: four more years of policies that benefit the few and 'catastrophic' successes that blame the military for administration 'miscalculations,' or the Kerry- Edwards plan to build an economy that strengthens and expands the middle class."
Following the midnight rally, Kerry, Edwards and their wives will split up for four separate tours Friday and Saturday, and Front Porch visits on Monday. Kerry's Friday and Saturday bus tour will take him through the Ohio cities of Newark, Akron and Steubenville. Edwards will hold a similar bus tour through Wisconsin. Teresa Heinz Kerry will tour through Iowa, while Elizabeth Edwards tours Michigan.
On Labor Day, all four individuals will hold front porch visits. They will be joined in the effort by supporters across the country and in each and every battleground state who will gather in their communities on front porches, cul-de-sacs and other meeting places to hold Front Porch Visits of their own. Each Front Porch event will feature the Kerry-Edwards book, "Our Plan for America," and local elected officials and other prominent backers of the Kerry-Edwards team.
In another sign of the strong grassroots support building behind the Kerry-Edwards team, the campaign this week expects to sign-up the 2 millionth subscriber to its online list at Johnkerry.com. The Labor Day weekend tour will be cataloged and followed closely on this webpage. In addition to readouts from the road and maps to follow along, the website will feature pictures of the best local front porch visits [Oh, please show the pictures of the front porch visits where only 8 people showed up!] and some of the best stories from the weekend.
link.
Well, "Bring it on." And when Kerry's campaign managers become unemployed, they should "get over it" real quick, and move on to honest work where they can get some satisfaction. There are plenty of jobs for honest hard-working people.
Kerry in fact believes that now would be a dangerous time to pull troops out of nuclear- armed North Korea
Uh Mr. Clanton....over here....yes me......we don't have troops in North Korea.
So true. Anyone who would possibly expect this charge to ever get any kind of traction is even further out of touch than I'd given the dems credit for.
Were there any sanity on the kerrykampaign they would be praising heaven for the GOP convention and using the week out of the limelight to regroup.
They look foolish. This is such a non-issue. I log in through AOL and they're running a poll on it. 44% say the war is not winnable. 55% say they prefer W to lead the war on terror. Only 36% prefer kerry. W has almost a 20% advantage. And this is AOL folks.
Wow, I have never seen such a bad campaign in all of my life. They are just pulling things out of thin air.
The only thing they have as a backup is a terrorist attack on America and the Democrat vote fraud machine.
If it is a blowout then the vote fraud will not work. They Democrats cannot afford a blowout (even Hillary knows this).
You know, I've never liked the habit of insisting that one's political opponents are stupid (after all, one must consider the possibility that they are wicked), but the longer this campaign goes on, the more I'm forced to come to the conclusion that John Kerry is stupid.
I don't mean silly, or ridiculous, or naive; I mean just plain ol' low-IQ village-idiot stupid.
Al Sharpton down in Florida getting the disenfranchise card ready as we speak.
Who the heck holds a campaign rally at midnight? These people must think too much sunlight is dangerous.
They'll have to bus in a whole lot of union guys to that rally, and pay them triple overtime to boot. If they don't, I predict attendance of about 30.
Seriously, this campaign is being run by middle schoolers, I am now certain of it.
Hillary doesn't mind. I suspect this is exactly how the Clintons want it to unfold. Remember how Bubba took out Andrew Cuomo in NY? Pataki went on to crush his hapless replacement Carl McCall by a landslide. Trust me, the Clintons know what they're doing. This is all about Hillary in 2008 and if she wants to be President, NO Democrat is going to be allowed to win this year. Its that simple.
The Dems are so desperate!
Kerry thinks he can win at the game of "gotcha", but the problem is that Bush has a natural advantage; he has Kerry as his raw material.
Beyond that, Kerry continues to miss what is happening around him. He asserts that we ought to maintain a military presence in Korea, which is a nice thing to say but in no way any different from present US policy. He probably missed, though, the distinction that we were pulling back into a more defensible position back from the border, and in the process defanged the Korean peace activists by forcing Korea to beg us to stay.
As for the charge that "BUSH SENT TROOPS INTO HARM'S WAY WITHOUT EQUIPMENT", that is both true and irrelevant. You never go to war with the perfect force, and the perfect weaponry, you go to war with the force you have. You always have to weigh the advantage of delay while you continue to prepare, against the advantage of decisive action.
McClelland, during the Civil War, was famous for preparing for battle endlessly. Bush and Rumsfeld made the decision to act, and act decisively. Men died because they didn't always have the right gear. More men might have died had the enemy army been given time to better coordinate their defenses and their alliances.
LOL.
Dog - you are a riot. And I'm so glad you caught that little problem with this press release.
Memo to Kerry from Dog: We don't have troops in North Korea.
We had troops there before we took them out.
Hillary wants Kerry to get beat but she does not want to see him get beat in a blowout. Then you are talking about Congress, the Courts, SCOTUS, and a Republican agenda that will reverse the Clinton Socialist policies of the past.
lame!! and it doesn't even make sense... it's got to fit the situation for it to be effective... even if the President really meant that we could not win the war on terror, that does not mean he was against winning the war on terror... don't any of these people study logic?
What maroons. No one believes W flip flopped.
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