Posted on 09/02/2004 11:28:41 PM PDT by Former Military Chick
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio, Friday, Sept. 3 - Roaring back at his Republican rivals, Senator John Kerry called President Bush "unfit to lead this country" for "misleading'' America into war in Iraq and said Mr. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney avoided fighting in the Vietnam War.
"For the past week, they have attacked my patriotism and even my fitness to serve as commander in chief," Mr. Kerry told thousands here at a midnight rally shortly after Mr. Bush accepted the Republican nomination for a second term and questioned Mr. Kerry's support for combat troops in Iraq.
"Well, here is my answer to them," Mr. Kerry said to cheers. "I will not have my commitment to defend this country questioned by those who refused to serve when they could've and who misled America into Iraq."
The Kerry campaign scheduled the event days ago in an effort to reclaim the initiative in the race without letting a single news cycle pass. Mr. Kerry spoke a mere half-hour after the president had ended his acceptance speech, and Kerry aides issued his prepared text even before Mr. Bush spoke.
Mr. Cheney capped a weeklong assault on Mr. Kerry's character and national-security credentials at the Republican convention on Wednesday, saying that he honored Mr. Kerry's service in Vietnam but that the senator's 20-year voting record on foreign policy and military issues made him unfit to be president.
Mr. Bush, for his part, depicted Mr. Kerry on Thursday as a tax-raising big-spending social liberal who had defended his vote against an Iraq appropriations bill by saying the question was complicated.
"There is nothing complicated about supporting our troops in combat," Mr. Bush said.
Mr. Kerry, criticizing "the anger and the distortion" of the Republican convention, hit back in his toughest appraisal yet of the incumbents' qualifications.
"The vice president called me unfit for office last night," Mr. Kerry said. "Well, I'm going to leave it up to the voters to decide whether five deferments make someone more qualified than two tours of duty."
Mr. Cheney received five deferments and did not serve in the military. Mr. Bush was in the Texas Air National Guard and did not serve overseas.
Mr. Kerry was even harsher in attacking what he called Mr. Bush's "record of failure" as president.
"Let me tell you in no uncertain terms what makes someone unfit for office and unfit for duty," Mr. Kerry said, turning to Mr. Bush. "Misleading our nation into war in Iraq makes you unfit to lead our country. Doing nothing while this nation loses millions of jobs makes you unfit to lead this country. Letting 45 million Americans go without health care for four years makes you unfit to lead this country.
"Letting the Saudi royal family control the price of oil for Americans makes you unfit to lead this country. Handing out billions of dollars in government contracts without a bid to Halliburton while you're still on the payroll makes you unfit lead this country.
"That, my friends, is the record of George Bush and Dick Cheney - and that only begins to scratch the surface."
A Bush campaign spokesman, Steve Schmidt, called the remarks "another example of John Kerry's trying to divide America over the past."
"The contrast between the president's hopeful, optimistic vision for the future that is laid out in his acceptance speech versus John Kerry's politics of anger and pessimism will be totally clear to the American people," Mr. Schmidt said.
Mr. Kerry and his running mate, Senator John Edwards, rendezvoused here outside a history museum before they and their wives fanned out on bus trips across the crucial states of Ohio, Iowa, Wisconsin and Michigan.
Mr. Edwards, introducing Mr. Kerry, called the attacks on him amazing. "They'll say just about anything, won't they?" Mr. Edwards asked. "He wasn't wounded quite often enough, is that it?"
Reminding the crowd of Mr. Bush's acceptance speech in 2000, Mr. Edwards recalled how Mr. Bush had "over and over" said: " 'They have not led. We will.'
"Well, let me ask you, have they led us to more jobs? Have they led us to better health care for our people? Have they led us to cleaner air, cleaner water? Have they led us to better schools and education for our kids?
"Here's the truth. They led us from the edge of greatness to the edge of a cliff. And it's time to lead them out of town."
He scoffed at Mr. Bush's repeated references to his "next term" in his speech on Thursday, as the crowd signaled its scorn. "They seem to have forgotten they already had a term."
He listed what he called the administration's failures, five million Americans who have lost health coverage, four million who have fallen into poverty, nearly two million who have lost private-sector jobs and soaring costs for health insurance, college tuition and fuel.
Earlier on Thursday, Mr. Edwards had said Mr. Kerry's rivals were attacking him because they had achieved so little worth celebrating.
"I can understand why the vice president spent so much of his time talking about John Kerry," Mr. Edwards said at a rally in Norristown, Pa. "It's because he doesn't want to talk about what they did the last four years."
Later, at a community recreation center, Mr. Edwards implored his audience to recall the less strident tone that the Democrats projected at their convention in July- give or take an Al Sharpton - and to compare it with what they saw on Wednesday.
When Mr. Edwards invited audience members to ask questions, one man suggested that the Democrats were campaigning too timidly, a criticism that many Democrats around the country are beginning to raise.
"You're up against the dirtiest fighters in the world," the man said. "If they hit you, you've got to hit back twice. How are you going to handle it the next two months?"
"There's a difference between how you fight and who you're fighting for," Mr. Edwards said, choosing his words carefully." It's one thing to engage in a lot of personal assaults, like some of the things we saw last night. It's another thing to fight with everything you've got for the American people and the people you believe in."
Michael Janofsky contributed reporting from Norristown, Pa.
KERRY RALLY [Mark R. Levin]
Ok, I definitely think we now need to see his medical records.
Posted at 12:07 AM
****snicker***
If I knew what you meant by *rods* I have no doubt I would be with you.
Nuclear reactor rods. Fissionable uranium or plutonium. Goes with the 'meltdown' metaphor. : )
Kerry came out 'roaring'. Not. It was bad. He's clearly desperate. He's got nowhere to go. Nobody shows up at his stump speeches but the Secret Service and his flunkies. He's looking at emptiness in his own life after Nov. He doesn't like being a senator, otherwise he'd show up once in a while at his day job. He'll be totally irrelevant, like Gore. Worse, he's facing landslide humiliation. The RAT party will blame him. Hill will be ascendant. So what's he to do? Go back to cheating on TerAYsa again? He'll be a bitter man, impossible to live with. She doesn't believe in divorce, but she owns enough homes so that she never has to lay eyes on him again. He'll be a remittance man. Hoist on his own petard. Ha Ha.
from what I'm gathering here and other threads he was well on his way to being a Roaring Drunk...
what a putz
Lt. Kerry
DISMISSED
Gentlemen, we have the technology. I'll volunteer for that.
Yeah..how dare they question him...don't they know who he is???? LOL.. pompous windbag..
Liked Bill Bennet's interview tonight. He said something along the lines of 1971 finishing him off.
Gee knock this blonde with a wet noodle. Learn something knew everyday.
If they hit you, you've got to hit back twice. How are you going to handle it the next two months?"
I can see it now, George Bush hits JF'n once, JF'n rolls over, whines about how cruel the enemy is, pulls out his PH bandaid and then files an after action report.
You know the rest of the story.
I thought he likes being a Senator, though he's not too fond of the job.
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio, Friday, Sept. 3 - Swerving back at his Republican rivals, Senator John Kerry called President Bush "unfit to *hic* lead thiss country" for "mizleading'' America into war in Iraq and said Mr. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney avoided fighting in the Vietnam War.
"For the passst *hic* week, they have attacked *hic* my spatriotism and even my spitness to serve as commander *hic* in *hic* schief," Mr. Kerry told thousands [???] here at a midnight rally shortly after Mr. Bush accepted the Republican nomination for a second term and questioned Mr. Kerry's support for combat troops in Iraq.
"Wayall, here ish my answer to *hic* them," Kerry said to jeers. "I will not have my commishment to defund thiss country quezioned *hic* by those who refuzed to ssssserve *hic* when they could've aaaand who mishled America into *hic* Iraq."
Mr. Cheney capped a weeklong assault on Mr. Kerry's character and national-security credentials at the Republican convention on Wednesday, saying that he honored Mr. Kerry's service in Vietnam but that the senator's 20-year voting record on foreign policy and military issues made him unfit to be president.
Mr. Bush, for his part, ...[pointed out that] Mr. Kerry [is] a tax-raising big-spending social liberal who had defended his vote against an Iraq appropriations bill by saying the question was complicated.
"There is nothing complicated about supporting our troops in combat," Mr. Bush said.
Mr. Kerry, criticizing [what he claimed was] "the anger *hic* and the dishtor*hic*tion" of the Republican convention, hit back in his toughest appraisal yet of the incumbents' qualifications.
"The vice prezident *hic* called me unfit *hic* for offish lasht night," Mr. Kerry said. "Well, *hic* I'm goin to leave shnit up to the votersss *hic* to decide *hic* whether five defermentsss make someone more qualified than two toursss of doody. *Beeeelch!*"
Kerry wash harsh: "Let schme tell you *hic* in *hic* no unshurtain terms what makess ssssssomeone un*hic*fit for offish and unfit *hic* for doody," Mr. Kerry said. Mishleading our nashun into *hic* war in Iraq makess you unflit to *hic* lead our country. Doing nothing while this nashun loses millionsss of jobssssss makes you *hic* unfit to lead thisss country. *hic* Letting 45 million *hic* Amerikanskis go without *hic* health care for four yearz makess you *hic* unfit to lead thish country."
"Letting the SSShaudi royal family control the price *hic* of oil for Amerikanz makes you *hic* unphlit to lead thish country. Handing out billions of rubles I mean dollars in government contractz *hic* without a bid to Halli*hic*burton while you're schtill *hic* on the payroll makes you unfit lead this country. *burb*
"That, my french, ish the record of George Boosh *hic* and Dick Chene' - *hic* and that only begins to scratch the surface. Um, speaking of scratch ...did I mention I was in Vietnam?"
A Bush campaign spokesman, Steve Noschmidt, called the remarks "another example of John Kerry's trying to divide America over the past."
"The contrast between the president's hopeful, optimistic vision for the future that is laid out in his acceptance speech versus John Kerry's politics of anger and pessimism will be totally clear to the American people," Mr. Noschmidt said.
Mr. Kerry and his running mate, Senator John Edwards, rendezvoused here outside a revisionist history museum before they and their wives fanned out on bus trips across the crucial states of Ohio, Iowa, Wisconsin and Michigan.
Lil' Mr. Edwards, introducing Mr. Kerry, called the attacks on him amazing. "They'll say just about anything, won't they?" Mr. Edwards asked. "He wasn't wounded quite often enough, is that it? Did I mention John Kerry was in Vietnam?"
Reminding the crowd of Mr. Bush's acceptance speech in 2000, Lil' Mr. Edwards recalled how Mr. Bush had "over and over" said: " 'They have not led. We will.'
"Well, let me ask you, have they led us to more jobs?" asked Edwards after having quit his day job -chasing ambulances- to a job as a hair model displaying his luxurious locks on the campaign trail]
"Have they led us to better health care for our people?"
Which people are your people Mr. Edwards? The French? The Vietnamese? The Sandinistas? ]
"Have they led us to cleaner air,..."
[How does one get 'led' to that which he's aready immersed in, Mr. Edwards? Logic is not your game, right?]
"...cleaner water?"
[Ever consider buying a filter?]
"Have they led us to better schools and education for our kids?"
[Ever consider private education, Mr Edwards?]
"Here's the truth. They led us from the edge of greatness to the edge of a cliff."
[No, John Kerry saw a lemming jump off a cliff and he just followed. So did the DNC, apparently.]
"And it's time to use CPR."
He scoffed at Mr. Bush's repeated references to his "next term" in his speech on Thursday, as the crowd signaled its scorn by waving flip flops. "They seem to have forgotten they already had a term." ...
War of words
Protesters gather in New York City's Union Square in anticipation of a march to the convention at Madison Square Garden Thursday. New Yorker Ivan Medina, 23, right, argues with a Bush supporter, left, about the war. Medina's brother, U.S. Army Spec. Irving Medina, 23, died in Iraq. (Tribune photo by Chris Walker) September 2, 2004
Throngs fill the streets
The first wave of demonstrators makes its way Sunday toward Madison Square Garden during the anti-Bush march organized by United for Peace and Justice. (Tribune photo by Pete Souza) August 29, 2004
Global issues
Protesters carry an inflatable globe as they march past the Hotel Pennsylvania, across from Madison Square Garden, as mounted New York police officers look on. (Tribune photo by Pete Souza) August 29, 2004
Confrontation
Desiree Bernstein (right), a Brooklyn resident and supporter of President Bush, argues with a John Kerry backer along 7th Avenue in New York. Bernstein's brother-in-law was killed in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. (Tribune Photo by Pete Souza) August 29, 2004
Elephants in New York
Protesters mimicking the Republican mascot ring bells as they participate in a "Ringout" observance at Ground Zero, site of the World Trade Center, on Saturday evening. (Tribune photo by Pete Souza) August 28, 2004
"I will not have my commitment to defend this country questioned by those who refused to serve when they could've and who misled America into Iraq."
Well Mr F'n Kerry, I served my complete 12 month tour versus your 4 month tour. Guess that gives me three reasons to question you. I'll pass two of those to the POTUS to do the questioning.
You're a slu and you're toast. Take your box of band-aids with you back to Taxachusetts.
Kerry is going to invade Saudi Arabia and take their oil? I'm no fan of the House of Saud but they have helped keep us from paying $3 per gallon even when it was well within their power to do so.
only 2 1/2 games behind the Yankees, when they're really 3 1/2 back.
Give the guy a break will ya. he's such a genius. he was in Cambodia in December or January or February. The red sox are behind by 2 1/2, 3/ 1/2 or 4 1/2 games. He's an "impotent" man in the Demoncratic party.
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