Posted on 05/31/2005 6:29:53 AM PDT by areafiftyone
Former Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, who lost this crucial swing state in November, sounded Friday as if he were still stumping for Florida's votes.
The Massachusetts senator, at a National Head Start Association conference to tout his plan to provide health care for uninsured children, hammered on familiar themes of values and unity while repeatedly criticizing the Bush administration and Republican leaders in Congress.
"I went back and reread the whole New Testament the other day. Nowhere in the three-year ministry of Jesus Christ did I find a suggestion at all, ever, anywhere, in any way whatsover, that you ought to take the money from the poor, the opportunities from the poor and give them to the rich people," Kerry said.
Kerry has yet to officially announce whether he's in the running for the 2008 nomination, and he didn't take questions from the media Friday.
But while speaking to the educators and child advocates gathered in a hotel ballroom, it wasn't difficult to imagine his rhetoric, unchanged, being said at a campaign rally.
"We need to enlist and join together in a great cause across the country that puts a simple choice before our fellow Americans. It's a choice that, I think, is based on values," Kerry said.
Following Florida's 2000 election debacle, in which Bush emerged the barest of winners over Al Gore after five weeks of partisan fighting, the Democratic Party made capturing the state one of its highest priorities.
But Kerry couldn't pull the state into his column, despite the millions spent on advertising and get-out-the-vote efforts. Bush prevailed by almost 381,000 ballots, for a margin of five percentage points.
"The fact is, 10 million more Americans voted for our idea of what we wanted to do than voted for Bill Clinton in 1996 when he was the sitting president of the United States," Kerry said. "The fact is, a million people volunteered. The fact is, across America we created an energy.
"And that energy is going to keep on going and keep on fighting until we achieve what we want to."
If Kerry decides to run, possible competition for the party's nomination include his former running mate, ex-N.C. Sen. John Edwards; N.Y. Sen. Hillary Clinton, and retired general Wesley Clark.
"I went back and reread the whole New Testament the other day..."
Yeah, right. I'm gonna read 'War and Peace' this afternoon, but I've got a few more pages to go from this morning's read, 'The Brothers Karamazov.'
Frankly I am tired of seeing conservatives putting the "rich" on a pedestal. Many, if not most, of the rich, inherit their money or have parents who are at least wealthy enough to give them a head start in life. The poor - and increasingly the middle class - obviously don't have this, and are falling further behind in their salary dollars over the past 30 years. Let's not start kicking the poor just because some folks got a head start. I don't mind the rich, but I hate it when people kick the poor around or start blaming them for being poor. Some people bring it on themselves, but most actually don't - it is VERY hard to dig your way out of poverty you're born into, especially nowadays. The working poor work very hard indeed for smaller and smaller returns. We are no longer living in the early 1900s when we had far more unlimited opportunities for the poor to climb out of poverty. Be grateful for what you have and show some compassion for those who have less, usually through no fault of their own. This beating up on the poor is probably the single most unattractive quality I see in the conservative movement.
How dare a US government official bring religion into politics. What about seperation of Church and state? Where is the ACLU? My rights have been violated by Kerry advocating his religous preferences. I'm outraged. He has no right to imply that his religion is the right one. This is not a theocracy!!!
Oh, that's right, religion is only bad and the domain of fanatics when it's the conservatives/republicans doing the talking. Silly me.
Kerry is a pompous a$$.
It is a supernatural book. It is not a magic book.
I think Kerry needs a new bible. The Word according to Kerry would require that Jesus jump up and either stop the widow from contributing or giver her her money back.
The Widow's Offering
41Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins,[a]worth only a fraction of a penny.[b]
43Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others.
There was no welfare program in the scriptures. A farmer was to leave the corners of his field and if the poor wanted to eat they had to go out and get the wheat. Now you can't get them to go to the public welfare office to get the bennies.
I was thinking of the same passage of Scripture. Of course this passage addresses how people use money (among other things)....
One DAY?!?!?! Impossible. He has been contemplating and meditating on "render unto Caesar" for the past 20 years, and hasn't gotten any farther than that.
I'm sure he's not done with the digging, either.
Lurch obviously hasn't gotten any smarter.
I'm also trying to figure out just how fast of a speed reader - he said he re-read the entire New Testament "the other day", implying that he re-read it in a single day. I find it hard to believe that even a speed reader could comprehend the entire New Testament in one day. There are many Bible scholars who spend their entire lives trying to understand it all.
But you know what - I don't see anything in the Bible that says to take away from those who have to give to those who "have not". In fact, I do see references to the slothful/lazy not eating. Hmmmm... .Maybe Kerry needs to read that part.
What are you *talking* about? Nobody is doing what you're accusing us of doing.
Welcome to FR. Hopefully you'll read and listen before responding with your preconceived notions next time.
Great reply 2banana!!!
John F'n Kerry, We do not care what you have read. Sign the form 180, and go away. Your party is insane if they run you again, but we'll deal with it and overcome you again. (he is such and idiot).
"... and in the original French, too!" :)
Giving to the poor is supposed to be willing and without duress, not government mandated.
I'm enjoying the Bible commentary, but am I the only one that finds his shots at Clinton as entertaining as Kerry's revision of the Scriptures?
I haven't seen a single post here that could be called "beating up on the poor". Explain what you are talking about (and charging people with) with examples, please.
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