Democratic Senator and former presidential candidate John Kerry, seen here in 2005, said the United States should set a May 15 deadline for Iraqis to form a unity government and then plan to withdraw its troops by year's end(AFP/File/Paul Richards)
Posted on 04/07/2006 6:30:17 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
NEW YORK - Democratic Sen. John Kerry, a potential 2008 candidate, lashed out at former rival George W. Bush and his advisers on Friday, calling them incompetent and labeling the White House team "the Katrina administration."
"These guys are the most incompetent people I've ever seen in Washington in all the time I've been in public life," Kerry said via teleconference to the National Action Network, an advocacy group founded by Al Sharpton. "The problem with it is their incompetence is hurting people, it's hurting real people."
Kerry criticized a House bill that would punish those who aid illegal immigrants and argued that the GOP had adopted a hard line on the issue to depress voter turnout. He echoed recent comments of a potential presidential rival, Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, who said last month that the bill would penalize "even Jesus himself."
"Jesus reached out to the poor, the sick, the prisoners and the lame," Kerry said. "The notion that people in the church who help people who are here illegally would somehow be criminalized would be to say they can't even walk in the footsteps of the teachings of the scriptures."
Bush has given tacit support to a Senate version of the immigration legislation that would create a guest worker program for immigrants in the United States.
Criticizing former FEMA Director Michael Brown and the administration's handling of the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, Kerry said, "Mr. Brown is to Katrina what George Bush is to 'Mission Accomplished' and 'Wanted Dead or Alive.' This is the Katrina administration."
Tracey Schmitt, a Republican National Committee spokeswoman, dismissed Kerry's criticism.
"John Kerry deserves credit for continuing to take himself so seriously, despite the fact that no one else does," Schmitt said.
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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said Friday that his brother the president could call, even Pope Benedict XVI could call, but that he still wouldn't run for the Republican nomination for the Senate.
No way, Bush responded when asked if he would consider replacing Rep. Katherine Harris (news, bio, voting record) as the GOP candidate if she ends her faltering campaign.
What if his brother, President Bush, called?
"No. (Even if) Pope Benedict calls," responded Bush, who is Roman Catholic. "I'm not doing it, trust me. I am not interested."
Bush said Thursday that he was worried about the party's chances of unseating Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson (news, bio, voting record) with Harris as the nominee. The governor said Harris has made the Senate campaign about herself instead of Nelson's record.
Harris is widely known for her role as Florida's secretary of state during the disputed 2000 presidential election, when she certified George W. Bush's 537-vote win in the state. She trails Nelson badly in the polls, has had difficulty raising money and has also dealt with frequent defections from her campaign staff.
The filing deadline for the state primary for the Senate seat is May 12, which would give Harris time to exit the race. But GOP efforts to persuade other Republicans to compete in the Sept. 5 primary have been unsuccessful.
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WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans on Friday replaced television ads criticizing an Ohio Democrat after the candidate challenged their accuracy.
The ads accused state Sen. Charlie Wilson of knowingly allowing a sewer authority that he led in the 1990s to dump raw sewage into the Ohio River. The spots included a newspaper headline indicating that the FBI was joining the investigation.
Wilson complained in letters to Ohio and West Virginia television stations that the National Republican Congressional Committee ads unfairly implied that he was the target of an FBI inquiry.
Republicans said the ad simply stated that the FBI investigated the sewer authority, not Wilson, but television stations weren't satisfied.
"We're requiring they provide documentation that the FBI was involved in an active investigation," said David Trabert, general manager of WYTV in Youngstown. "The balance of the ad was fine; our question was on the FBI portion."
The Republicans replaced the ad two days after it started airing with a similar one that didn't mention an FBI probe.
House Republicans have spent $212,422 in the last 10 days criticizing Wilson before the May 2 primary even though he did not qualify for the ballot. If he can't mount a successful write-in campaign, Republican candidate Charles Blasdel would presumably have a smooth run in November.
The seat is being left open by Democrat Ted Strickland, who is running for governor.
"One thing the ad campaign ensures is that when people hear Charlie Wilson's name, they think sewage," GOP committee spokesman Carl Forti said.
The sewer authority was fined about $770,000 for the dumping. Wilson and other sewer board members paid an undisclosed amount to settle a related lawsuit.
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Associated Press writers Brent Kallestad in Tallahassee, Fla., and David Hammer in Washington contributed to this report.
Democratic Senator and former presidential candidate John Kerry, seen here in 2005, said the United States should set a May 15 deadline for Iraqis to form a unity government and then plan to withdraw its troops by year's end(AFP/File/Paul Richards)
Gay is Great.
Moron, Marixt, buffoon, gigolo, miltary traitor, national traitor, opportunist, liar, chameleon, and LIBERAL....did I leave anything out ???
Kerry is so lame, that he can't get through the first sentence without repeating the talking points that have been fed to the dems by Soros...the "incompetent" word.
THEN, he practically plagarizes a Hillary speech when talking about Jesus...
The only "original" thought was the most inane..his "plan" for Iraq...
Like someone else said on another thread...Kerry is giving the Iraqis MONTHS to get their government going..but, the dems haven't come up with a "plan" for Iraq in THREE YEARS!
Sure -you left out that he lost to someone he believes to be "incompetent." So that makes him a, um, Loser.
Kerry calling the Bush administration incompetent: well, you know what they say, we tend to project upon others our own shortcomings....
Yeah -- pompous, foppish windbag.
Who cares this guy and the entire Democrat "traitor/treason" Party is made up of girlie men and women (Cynthia Mckinney and Cindy Sheehan, etc.) who want to be men, but can't. Democrats are the true vermin and scum of the USA!!! This is the party that caused 911, and the American people are to stupid or too dumb to see it. They will be mournfully sorry as the future under Demcrat traitors unfolds.
I wonder how Kerry feels about Nagin stopping the FEMA trailer parks in New Orleans?
That's harsh John, did you think that one up all by yourself?
I started this months ago, obviously, but never finished it. Posting as is, the dialogue needs work, but the gist is clear.
I know one thing....I am SICK of the "incompetent" tag being applied to President Bush for all reasons..
But, this Katrina things is just plain WRONG...it was a natural disaster FGS...and NO ONE ever mentions Nagin or Blanco..and the LAW, that keeps a POTUS from going into a state and taking over without being asked first.
Now we have her heinous and his ugliness citing Jesus to bolster their lies.
Truly the world is upside down.
Great observation from a kept man/metrosexual.
You've done nothing with your decades in public life but bring misery to Vietnam veterans. Take your useless oservations and blow them out your tanned ass.
In 40 years you never looked in a mirror, huh? Kerry?
Technically, when you have Kerry AND Sharpton, it's the Cartoon Network.
IMMIGRATION SUPPORTERS: Noemia Silva of Chicago, handcuffed to a figure of Jesus, joins other clergy members Monday on the Capitol lawn in Washington.-AP
Could Kerry and Hillary be playing the "Jesus card"?
Left Ahead Pondering the present future of religious liberalism by Geoffrey Andersen quotes a poster on The Faith-Based Fray:
"Us Mexicans, we tend to believe what our priests and bishops tell us. We think they've got special graces and stuff to know good from bad. And sometimes they do. There's this one young priest I have a lot of respect for. He seems to live the life. He says Jesus was really a radical. And that is something a Mexican can believe, because we see Jesus as this broken, betrayed guy, rejected by everybody. There's no reason he should be on the side of the powers that be. The guy who's got nothing has nothing to lose."
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