Posted on 10/15/2004 11:17:03 AM PDT by Brilliant
There is a "great potential of a draft" to replenish U.S. forces in Iraq if President Bush wins a second term, Democratic challenger John Kerry said on a campaign stop in Iowa.
Bush said in the second presidential debate that there would be no revival of the military draft under any circumstances if he is re-elected. "We're not going to have a draft, period," the president said.
However, Kerry told The Des Moines Register, "With George Bush, the plan for Iraq is more of the same and the great potential of a draft." The interview was published Friday as Kerry was leaving for Wisconsin and a speech on the economy.
Kerry is telling voters that Bush's record on jobs and taxes has helped special interests, not their interests, as he heads into the final stretch of his presidential campaign with running mate John Edwards.
He prepared to deliver the first in a series of speeches that aides describe as the campaign's "closing arguments" in Milwaukee, the first stop of a daylong drive through Wisconsin. A record 2004 federal deficit of $413 billion reported Thursday fueled the Democrats.
"We know that the strength of our economy isn't just about how many jobs we've gained or lost," Kerry said in remarks prepared for delivery Friday. "It's also about whether those jobs lift up our families. It's about whether our incomes are rising or falling."
Kerry portrayed the president as out of touch with the everyday challenges facing families.
"George Bush has had four years to do something — anything — to create an economy where hard working Americans can live out their dreams," Kerry said. "The problem is, this president just doesn't understand what's happened to our economy."
Bush was also campaigning in the Midwest on Friday, heading to Iowa and Wisconsin after more than a weeklong swing that included stops in Missouri and Arizona for the last two debates.
Bush has defended his economic record, saying that repeated tax cuts energized growth and helped create 1.78 million new jobs after the economy sustained terrorist attacks, a sustained stock market slide and a recession.
Wisconsin's unemployment rate runs below the national average, and the state's voters haven't seen the severe job losses afflicting other Midwestern battlegrounds. Bush has a slight lead in the state, which Democrat Al Gore won narrowly four years ago.
Some of the thousands who turned out to hear Kerry and Edwards brought brooms to signify Kerry's "sweep" of the debates. The crowd was dotted with "3-4-3" signs declaring Kerry the victor of all three face-to-face battles with Bush.
In Oregon on Thursday, Bush campaigned in Jacksonville, a historic gold-mining boomtown in the southern part of the state. Kerry appears to be making in roads in the area, a growing region near the California state line that has been a traditional Republican stronghold.
Bush lost Oregon in 2000 by less than 7,000 votes, though he handily defeated Democrat Al Gore in the county containing Jacksonville, a town created when gold was discovered here in 1851. The gold rush is long over but Jacksonville preserved its heritage and the entire town, population 2,300, is designated a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Interior Department.
The area has turned from a declining timber industry to tourism and retirement for its strong economy.
Bush's father paid a visit as vice president to Jacksonville, and his son repeated the compliment, staying overnight in a 141-year-old inn whose last presidential guest was Rutherford B. Hayes.
"I understand Rutherford complained about the tab; I'm not going to," Bush told thousands of cheering supporters at the Jackson County fairgrounds in nearby Central Point.
While waiting for the president to return to Jacksonville, anti-Bush protesters were dispersed by police in riot gear who fired pepperballs at them, projectiles like a paintball filled with cayenne pepper. Police took the action while moving the crowd away from the Jacksonville Inn where the president was to arrive for dinner.
The Bush campaign should turn this around and ask about where John Kerry is going to get the 40,000 additional troops he promises. With Kerry the draft is most likely.
Based on WHAT? Charlie Rangel's (D) proposed bill that was shot down? Even by Rangel himself!!!
Criminelly...how in the heck can he keep getting away with this BS?!?!?!?!
W said no in the debate
The defecratic proposals in BOTH houses of congress were denied nearly unanimously
what's it gonna take? will MSM even mentionit much less put down the rumor?
Plus, under Kerry, they might need a draft to make up for all those who would get out in protest...
I guess that is why we see more and more reports of the Iraqi army engaging insurgents.
Who in Congress has been proposing a draft... Hmmmmmmm ?
Will he shut up about this draft crap already. The fact that they keep going back to this is a good sign that the Dems are running out of ammunition. hehe. I think Kerry put the last nail in his coffin during the last debate.
There's no Santa Claus ?
BTW, like your screen name.
This ticks me off that the MSM did not clarify that it was 2 democrats not republicans who introduced that recent bill that was turned down.
I think Kerry would start a draft in a heart beat for the 40,000 he needs. Wish someone would get him to answer that question.
Of course he is lying. It was 'Rats who wrote the current draft bill in Congress and it is only 'Rats who are bringing it up time after time.
HR163 SPONSORED BY RANGEL(NY),MCDERMOTT (WASH),CONYERS(MICH),JOHN LEWIS (GA), STARK (CAL) &ABERCROMBIE(HAWAII)
S89 HOLLINGS (S.C.)
6 DEMOCRATS FROM THE HOUSE AND 1 DEMOCRAT FROM THE SENATE HAD INTODUCDED A BILL TO BRING BACK THE DRAFT. RANGEL WAS IN THE MEDIA CONSTANTLY SAYING THAT THE BUSH ADMINISTATION WAS BEHIND BRINGING BACK THE DRAFT. BUT BEING THE PARTY OF SCARE TACTICS &LIES ONLY THE DEMOCRATS SPONSORED THE BILL WHICH WAS RECENTLY DEFEATED.
They just won't get off this, will they? Are they mentally ill, or just stupid?
HR163 was voted down 402-2
Right on. Seems like Kerry is the one who's interested in reinstating the draft, he's the one who keeps bringing it up.
Kerry can only tear down and lie.
Why doesn't he use all this stump time to explain his PLANS?
Because nobody will like his plans!
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