The incredible shrinking midnight cowboy.
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.
The Democrats had a Rapid Response Team, but they were MIA. (possibly fired would be my guess)
Tell you what, Senator: Let's allow only Vietnam vets to vote for the President and Vice President this year.
From "Bring It On!" to "Make Them Stop!" now to "You Ain't Qualified!"
I know you are serious, but, your post was just delightful, provided me with a much needed chuckle (a friend is ill not expect to live through the night) so it was a great stress reducer.
Wouldn't it be a hoot, vets only. I doubt he could get enough people for the family pack at KFC.
And so the Implosion begins.
Kerry's "first tour" was on the frigate Gridley. His cruise on that ship was a year long, and I believe five weeks of that year were spent in a carrier group operating far off shore. The remainder of that year was spent off the coast of California and around Australia.
Kerry's "second tour" was on swift boats. He spent about a month in training in Cam Rahn Bay (a French tourist beach, the safest place in Nam). He was assigned to combat units for the remaining three months. He lasted but a single week at his first assignment at An Thoi. There he whined that he hadn't volunteered to patrol narrow rivers in mangrove swamps. Rather than deal with him, his CO transferred him out to a unit in the Mekong delta.
Since he was run out of Nam after scamming his third Purple Heart in his fourth month, he never completed a tour. If he had gone home early severely wounded or dead, his comrades in arms would give him credit for doing a tour, but as he deserted his band of brothers on the basis of three Purple Owies treated with bandaids, Quick John did not, in the eyes of the veteran members of the Naval officer corps who served with him, ever complete a tour in Nam.
Kerry is banking on political correctness to ensure that no one brings this up in the national media. Please do your patriotic duty to fight political correctness by informing people of the truth of this matter early and often.
And, How are you gonna stop it?
The incredible shrinking midnight cowboy.
You deserve one of these for your vehicle, do you have one yet?
Swiftee window sticker thread - get yours! Click the link or FReep mail for details on how to get one.
*bump* Thanks for that. Thanks too for the early transcript of Bush's speech.
You are most welcome. However, I am not certain what I did, but, again thank you for the kind words.
Subject: Think Positive !
How to start each day with a positive outlook:
1. Open a new file in your PC.
2. Name it "John Kerry."
3. Send it to the trash.
4. Empty the trash.
5. Your PC will ask you, "do you really want to get rid of John
Kerry?"
6. Answer calmly, "yes," and press the mouse button firmly.
7. Feel better.....
A sense of humor helps pass the night away.
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