Bush’s moles dig for victory

AS a lifelong Democratic activist and steelworking shop steward in the key swing state of West Virginia, Rick Casini is exactly the kind of man Senator John Kerry needs to help him claw his way back into a presidential campaign that is in danger of slipping away from him.

Casini works at the 95-year-old Weirton steel mill on the Ohio River in America’s industrial heartland. Within a few minutes’ drive of this soot-stained West Virginian town lie the borders of Ohio and Pennsylvania, closely contested states Kerry must win if he is to wrest the White House from President George W Bush.

Yet the opinion polls in steel country are turning against the Democratic challenger and Casini is one of the reasons why. To the dismay of many of his fellow unionists, Casini, 46, will be voting for Bush in November. “You wouldn’t think that union people would back a Republican,” Casini said. “But Bush has proved himself a man of steel. We’re standing behind him because he stood behind us.”

Casini’s appearance at a Bush rally near here last month ignited accusations of treachery from the local steelworkers’ union, which is officially backing Kerry. Yet the row illustrates a key component of Bush’s strategy. He is courting Democratic voters with the help of high-profile turncoats.

Returning to West Virginia on Friday for his ninth visit this year Bush was accompanied by Zell Miller, the outspoken Democratic senator who mesmerised the Republican convention with a scathing attack on Kerry.

The president was “the one man I trust to keep my family safe,” Miller told an ecstatic audience in Huntington. Bush could hardly believe his luck. An attempt to smear him over his alleged shirking of Vietnam-era military duties had earlier backfired amid allegations that potentially damaging new documents were forged. Now a Democrat was attacking Kerry.

Grinning from ear to ear, Bush said he was “proud” to call Miller a friend. “You know,” he said, “Zell Miller represents a lot of folks out there who wonder whether or not it’s okay to vote Republican. He’s a discerning Democrat.”

The dispute over Casini reflected another feature of the campaign. While the national media were transfixed last week by the fuss over Bush’s service in the National Guard in the 1970s — when the president has been accused of cashing in on his family connections to dodge the Vietnam war — it was hard to find anyone in West Virginia who regarded the issue as anything other than irrelevant dirty tricks.

“Look at that steel mill over there,” said one of Casini’s supporters, pointing at the rusting hulk that towers over Main Street. “That’s what matters to Weirton, not garbage from the liberal media. It’s still open, thanks to Bush.”

Casini and his friends argue that Bush’s imposition of tariffs on imported steel saved the Weirton plant from closure. Although the decision outraged European exporters and briefly tested Bush’s relationship with Tony Blair, American steelmakers were spared competition for 20 crucial months.

By the time Bush was forced to lift the tariffs, the Weirton plant had been bought by a bigger producer and world demand for steel had soared. “Mr Bush saved steel in the Ohio river valley,” Casini said.

In West Virginia, registered Democrat voters outnumber Republicans by more than two to one, but Bush has crept into a nine-point lead in local polls. He has overtaken Kerry in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Overall, his post-convention “bounce” appears to have settled into an average five-point lead. Kerry is still ahead in enough other states to catch up should Bush stumble, but he must counter the president’s rising approval ratings for leadership on national security.

On Friday Bush claimed Kerry had more different positions on Iraq than all his Senate colleagues combined. Meanwhile, the White House was counter-attacking over renewed controversy concerning the Vietnam war.

Democrats were initially delighted by the supposed discovery of memos that raised doubts over whether Bush fulfilled his military obligations as a reservist pilot in the Texas Air National Guard.

The president has long been accused of lying about his Vietnam-era service and of seeking to cover up long absences from duty.

The new documents, first reported by CBS, were purportedly found in the files of Bush’s then-superior officer, Lt Col Jerry Killian, who is now dead. No sooner had they been posted on the internet than Killian’s wife and son disowned them and experts suggested they had been written with a computer typeface not used by the military in the early 1970s.

Dan Rather, the veteran CBS anchorman, vouched for the documents’ authenticity, but the doubts helped defuse what might have posed a more awkward problem for the president.

For both candidates, the next major hurdle is the first presidential debate tentatively scheduled for September 30 at the University of Miami.

Negotiations are under way to decide the format of the encounters, which could be Kerry’s last chance to change the race’s momentum.

There were indications last week that the president wants to limit his exposure to any possible upset. The proposal for three 90-minute debates may be changed to two of 60 minutes.

If bottom-feeding produces results ... hey, why not?

That's about what it amounts to (in the eyes of good, money is my God, Republicans)...It's no secret that George, or any of the Bushes, or any Republicans represent the working middle class of the country...The fact that Pesident Bush helped out the steel workers is somewhat of a fluke since it goes against the grain of his campaing contributors and the NWO (WTO)...

Most American workers in the labor force are hard-working folks, whether they are union employees, or not...Most are torn between voting for the candidate that will work to keep them working and the other candidate who believes in a strong military, and defense, 2nd Amendment and some type of moral character...Unfortunately, a strong military and 2nd Amendment doesn't feed your family in the short term...

If George and the rest of the Republicans happen to slide a little further to the left and get a little more pro-(American)labor, they will win every election by a landslide...Course corporate China and Mexico would go nuts...

From the 9/10/04 Wheeling (W.Va.) Intelligencer:

WEIRTON - The "Steelworkers for Bush" want it known that they truly are steelworkers and that they are union members who think for themselves and question union leadership. The group that stood behind Republican President George W. Bush when he spoke in Wheeling on Aug. 29 called a news conference Thursday at the Millsop Community Center in Weirton to refute claims that they aren't really steelworkers.

Fourteen of them have signed a letter to Democratic challenger John Kerry asking that he "do the right thing" and not allow steelworkers that support him "to attack their fellow union brothers and sisters."

Eleven members of the group indicate with their signature that they are workers for Weirton Steel. They are Richard Casini, Michael Ingole, Henry DiNofrio, Bob Hoover, Rhonda Jennings, Wesley Robinson, Frank Casini, David Haught, Donald Elder, Donald Ryan and Greg Williams.

Others who signed the letter were Jerry DiBacco, an employee of the Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp.; Robert Carpenter, a worker at Weircove; and Weirton Steel retiree Robert Haught.

The steelworkers crafted their letter after steel union leadership and members of the Kerry campaign announced earlier this week that they were investigating the tape of Bush's Wheeling speech to determine whether the workers in black T-shirts behind him actually were steelworkers.

Richard Casini, who introduced the president in Wheeling, said the steelworkers support Bush because the steel tariffs he imposed "saved the industry." Casini is also a Democrat and a union steward with the Independent Steelworkers Union. The ISU, the United Steelworkers of America and the United Mine Workers of America all have endorsed Kerry, he added. Casini said he has been questioned by the ISU membership about the union's decision to endorse Kerry.

"They thought I did it," he said. "There was an enormous amount of our people who were not happy. I thought we needed a voice" to show support for Bush, "and the effort just snowballed."

Casini added that since he spoke out for the president, he has not received the best of treatment from some other union members that support Kerry. "I get comments every now and then," he said. "I've found things in my mailbox at the union office that were just childish - the type of things you would find on the Internet. They were put there to challenge my views.

"I took them to our union president (Mark Glyptis), and he has asked them to stop. When they get in the attack mode, it is the most disturbing thing."

At a Kerry rally in Steubenville on Saturday, former United Steel Workers of America local president John Saunders - now co-chair of the Ohio County Democratic Party - said he disagreed that the tariffs and Bush were what had saved the steel industry. Saunders suggested the industry was instead saved by concessions in benefits for retirees agreed to by union membership.

"That is ridiculous nonsense," Casini said Thursday. "The tariffs are what saved it. These people who would tell you otherwise are intellectually dishonest. They think we (union members) are idiots who can't think for themselves.

"There are many steelworkers who would be happy if the union got out of the politics business and got back to the business of representing our concerns about our jobs and pensions."

He added that the Steelworkers for Bush appearance in Wheeling "was public," and union leadership didn't have to secretly investigate tapes to prove the steelworkers' identity. "They just find it difficult to accept it when (union members) just won't follow them," Casini said. "It used to be thought that what was good for the union was good for the worker, and what was good for the union was what was good for Wheeling-Pitt. That is not the case anymore."

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