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.
Is this the John Kerry who served in Vietnam?
If a total blithering moron labels someone incompetent, does it really count???
Kerry kiss my axe.
Which side?
You are making great progress Grasshopper! Under the new educational system, no one is taught the LAW so when no one mentions it, does it exist?
I actually agree with you 100%. True responsibility for failure in preparation, in neither the WOT nor the evacuation of New Orleans, will NEVER be acknowledged by dems, the MSM, or the NEA. Therefore: It's all Bush's fault.
He who controls the media controls history. He who controls the schools controls the future. At least that was the way things were.
Doc,
It seems the NAN (National Action Network) is missing two words from their name, and thus letters from their acronym.
Add these; (NAN) Nurturing Yuppies.
Its a natural for their ultimate state of affairs.
"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."
The congressperson who put the provision in HR4437 that requires ministers and priests to ask for "papers" from Hispanics before they provide any services to them provided fodder for Hillary, Kerry, and Cardinal Mahoney to rake the Republicans over the coals.
What's more, the GOP DESERVES to be raked over the coals for expecting clergymen to act as law enforcement officials.
Does anybody know the name of the idiot who put this in the House bill? He/she ought to be skinned!!
Yes. MOONBAT.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Wake me when AP decides that a Republican criticizing Democrats is also news.
I went and looked at all of the amendments to the bill in the House..and couldn't find one with the exact language asking for "papers" and such...
The closest I could find was submitted by Tancredo and has to do with giving santuary.
Lunatic.
Obviously frenchie hasn't learned a thing in the last two years. I'm sure he won't learn anything in the next two. If the rat has frenchie "Reporting for duty" in 2008 we can pick a name out of the phone book and kick the rat's ash.
Now that is a good question and yes 'they' ought to be skinned. But here's what I have found:
Last weekend I have read the entire Original Bill and every amendment (there's a bunch) and NOWHERE can I find those two 'hot button' issues; the aiding and abetting and making illegals felons. (I used the Firefox search word, phrase, function on every single page and they simply do not show up)But, and its a BIG but, it was reported on FoxNews by (IIRC) Rep Peter King (R-NY) that those two items were inserted by an Amendment by a DEMOCRAT (with some Dem cosponsors) and that's how the Bill left the House.
Again, I searched and simply couldn't find this. The word felony came up but in reference to employers knowingly hiring illegals.
BTW, Cardinal Mahoney should STFU. He has his own problems with his Homo priests molesting little boys.
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