Posted on 08/24/2005 11:04:49 PM PDT by smoothsailing
The Kerry campaign was very sophisticated. In Ohio, they did research on individuals. They had input from voter registration logs when they approached doors and had information on families before approach.
If a family, from the census, indicated older Americans, then they addressed those issues. If they had children, they addressed those issues for a common bond.
You have to remember the time table during the time they were looking for military families to support him. In April he got slammed for the comments he made about Al Sadr.
Here is another incident of Kerry contacting a military family, planning to go to the funeral and not showing up.
http://www.eagletribune.com/news/stories/20030426/FP_001.htm
Saturday, April 26, 2003
Anti-Kerry effort angers family
By Kathie Neff Ragsdale
Staff Writer
The parents of a Dracut soldier killed in Iraq have dismissed as politically-motivated a Republican group's attack on Sen. John F. Kerry for failing to attend their son's funeral.
"They ought to leave the poor guy (Kerry) alone," said Leo Boule, whose son, Mathew, 22, died when his Blackhawk helicopter crashed during a firefight April 2.
The November Coalition, a group that seeks to get more Republicans elected in Massachusetts, criticized Kerry, D-Mass., for campaigning out of state on the day of Mathew Boule's April 15 funeral, and has launched a petition drive demanding Kerry apologize.
The group urged voters to flood local newspapers with letters to the editor objecting to Kerry's absence from the Boule funeral, and even provided suggested wording on its Web site.
Leo Boule and his wife, Sue, said they have no complaints against presidential candidate Kerry, who personally phoned the family to offer his help following news of their son's death.
"I would rather have had somebody call us up and offer us help when we needed it than show up at the funeral as a political figure," Sue Boule said. "As far as I'm concerned, if he'd showed up at the funeral, it would have been just a political thing."
The Boules said they declined Kerry's offer for help because they were already working with the office of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., who helped arrange for the return of Mathew Boule's remains.
"They want to bash the guy, fine, but get something substantive to bash him with," Leo Boule said of Kerry. "It's all politics and this has nothing to do with politics. ... Trying to bury our son, that's not politics."
Sue Boule said she was bothered by Kerry's remark earlier this month that the United States needed a "regime change" like the one in Iraq "because of the fact that our guys are over there fighting for his rights." But she said she was not bothered by his not attending her son's funeral.
Kerry said he called the Boule family when he learned of their son's death to express his "heartfelt condolences."
"It is regrettable that there are individuals who will stoop to politicizing a family's grief," he said through a spokesman.
The November Coalition, which describes its mission as "changing the Republican party in Massachusetts forever," is headed by Ian L. Bayne, 29, of Somerville. He called Kerry's failure to attend the funeral "offensive" and said he was "ashamed and embarrassed" by it.
Bayne says he has served in the U.S. Army Reserves since 1997. He is the political activist who organized a protest against Democrat Congressman Marty Meehan 1 1/2 years ago, when Meehan questioned whether Air Force One was a target of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
Here is an excerpt from another solicitation from the Kerry campaign to a fallen soldier's family:
Friday, October 29, 2004
Cutting to the Quick
More on showing the difference in the man!
Cutting to the Quick
The mother a soldier who died in Iraq talks about John Kerry. by Stephen F. Hayes 10/29/2004 1:00:00 PM
Canton, Ohio ON MAY 5, 2004, Peggy Buryj, got the worst news a mother can get. Her son, Jesse, had been killed in Iraq. Jesse was manning the turret of a Humvee at a checkpoint in Karbala, south of Baghdad, when he noticed a dump truck racing towards his vehicle. Despite warnings, the driver did not stop. Jesse fired more than 400 rounds at the truck, killing the driver. But the truck didn't stop. It rammed his Humvee, tipping it over. Jesse suffered massive internal injuries and later died on the operating table.
Jesse's funeral got significant media attention in Canton. The military told Mrs. Buryj (pronounced "boo-dee") that her son's action saved the lives of at least three soldiers. "My son was a big hero in these parts," she says. "Canton really turned out for my son's funeral."
Six weeks later, Peggy Buryj claims that she received a phone call from a representative of John Kerry's presidential campaign. The caller identified herself as "Linda" and asked Mrs. Buryj, a registered Democrat, if she would appear at a Canton rally for John Kerry. Buryj agreed, but with a condition. She wanted to ask Kerry one question: "Why did you vote against the $87 billion for support troops in Iraq?"
"And I wanted to ask him--because I never hear journalists ask him, or anybody ask him--what was his reasoning for voting down the money?"
Buryj understood that her request was politically sensitive. So she told the Kerry campaign that she was willing to ask Kerry in private, before the event, or in a phone call. She promised that she would not go public with his answer. She even offered to sign a confidentiality agreement pledging that she would not talk to reporters about Kerry's answer. Turns out, the Kerry campaign never called back.
The entire story is at: http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/004/854cvlfo.asp
Just an FYI
I heard on Air America that Cindy will make an announcement some time today about taking some of the crosses and sending them to Congressional Members and Senators when the leave Crawford "to keep the momentum going till they get up to DC"
Oh .. and Cindy is planning a BBQ also
http://cindy.live.radicaldesigns.org/article.php?id=45
Caravan to Crawford to Rally Support for Cindy Sheehan, The Gold Star Families, Military Families and Veterans
Join us afterward for Hoe-Down BBQ from 2:00 – 5:00
We’re Inviting George and Laura to join us for some good food and conversation.
We have a few questions to ask him!
Gosh, I wonder who will get the first cross!
I bet it's John Conyers!
Can't wait to see that list!
This whole this in nothing but a PR stunt for that rally in DC on the 24th
These people piss me off
Ah, a kindred spirit! I, too, have always been turned off by that song. What really bothers me are those commercials celebrating community and seeking to make the world a better place yet have children singing "Imagine" in the background. It gives me a sick feeling that innocent children were actually taught to sing such a nihilistic song. I pray that they do not take it to heart and are not taught too much more of that garbage.
Interesting legal question. But in the meantime a better solution might be to make a really big cross with Casey Sheehan's name on it and put it up at Ft. Qualls.
These are some of the most classless people on the planet. I feel so bad for the father. This poor man has far more patience than I would be able to muster. How do you not pound some sense into the lefty idiots who do these things?
Amen, I feel the same, she might get ran out of town on a shiit truck. Not liked at all in my neck of La.
From: http://www.littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/
Reverend Al and Mother Sheehan
It’s the perfect storm. Neo-Nazis, CODEPINK, MoveOn.org, and Al Sharpton
.
The Rev. Al Sharpton plans to join peace activist Cindy Sheehan, known as the Peace Mom, on Sunday near President Bush’s Texas ranch. Sharpton’s office said Thursday he would participate in a prayer vigil Sunday with Sheehan in Crawford, Texas.
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