Democrats Bash Bush in Chicago

Former House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt told the crowd at Navy Pier that his father was a Teamster and milk truck driver. North Carolina Sen. John Edwards reminded them he came from a family of mill workers, with "lint in their hair and grease on their faces."

And Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry stressed that he was the only Vietnam veteran among the Democrats hoping to oust President Bush.

"I cannot wait to stand up and remind him that having a skilled Navy pilot land you on an aircraft carrier in a borrowed suit does not make up for losing 3 million jobs," Kerry said. "It does not make up for going back on civil rights. It does not make up for failed economic policies."

"I had a non-union cab driver." --The Rev. Al Sharpton, explaining to the 2,000 union members in the audience why he arrived at the forum after it had already begun.

"Maybe the first thing I should say, the first thing I will do if I'm elected president is not re-appoint John Ashcroft attorney general of the United States." --Sen. Joseph Lieberman, after Sharpton delivered an impassioned attack on Ashcroft.

The Democratic presidential sweepstakes rolled back into Chicago Tuesday, providing all nine hopefuls a chance to stress their union credentials, take a few jabs at one another and take a lot more at Bush.

"This is the president who has lost the trust of the American people," said Florida Sen. Bob Graham. "This is a president who repeatedly used misleading information to make the case for a war in Iraq--that I opposed. Some others on this stage tonight supported it. ... Are we really surprised that the man who as president of the Texas Rangers traded Sammy Sosa is having such trouble running our national economy?"

The Democratic presidential forum, held by the AFL-CIO, was the first time all nine Democrats appeared together in Chicago. In June, seven of the nine appeared at a Rainbow/PUSH forum.

On Tuesday, labor issues were front and center as an estimated 2,000 union members--many in T-shirts bearing the names of their locals--listened to the nine Democrats square off.

"We must have a commitment from this party that labor will not be treated as a special interest," said the Rev. Al Sharpton. "Labor is the interest of this party."

Former Illinois Sen. Carol Braun told the crowd "organized labor has given us the middle class, and if we're going to fight for the middle class, we've got to fight for unions."

Gephardt had the most riding on Tuesday's gathering. A fierce opponent of free trade pacts, the Missouri congressman is considered the only one of the Democrats with a shot of picking up the labor organization's early backing.

"This administration has declared war on the middle class in this country--83,000 jobs have been lost a month," Gephardt said. "This president is the Houdini of economics. Three million jobs have disappeared. He's got the worst record since Herbert Hoover."

The AFL-CIO Executive Council will meet today to discuss whether the organization will make an endorsement before the primary.

It has only done so twice in the past 20 years, and both of those Democrats wound up losing the White House, Walter Mondale in 1984 and Al Gore in 2000.

Earlier in the day, he picked up the endorsement of the United Steelworkers of America, his ninth from a major labor organization. An AFL-CIO endorsement would require the support of two-thirds of its 13 million members.

Singling out unions in the crowd by the color of their T-shirts and touting his role in leading the fight against the North American Free Trade Agreement, Gephardt said "check our records.''

But Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich pledged that he would cancel NAFTA and the World Trade Agreement if he was elected, and he challenged others to make the same pledge.

"My good friend, Dick Gephardt, will you cancel NAFTA? Will you cancel the WTO, which you voted for?" Kucinich asked. "[Former Vermont Gov.] Howard Dean, will you cancel NAFTA? Will you cancel the WTO? ... Answer the question. Find out the answers. Let's find out tonight."

Asked about his state's right-to-work laws, Edwards went into an emotional description of his families' work in unions.

"My younger brother is a member of the IBEW," he said. "His wife and his family have health insurance because of a union. My mother is a retired member of the letter carriers union. ... This is personal for me."

And he closed by telling of the time he worked in a textile mill in North Carolina.

"I will never forget the men and women I saw there," he said. "The lint in their hair and grease on their faces working hard to build better lives for their families.''

Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman, one of the most conservative Democrats in the race, defended his support for free markets and was booed by speaking up for school vouchers.

"I'm going to speak the truth," the former vice presidential nominee said. "I'm going to say what I think is best for America."

But Dean emphasized his opposition to the war in Iraq and other more liberal views.

"You can't beat President Bush by trying to be like him," he said. "We tried that in 2002, and it doesn't work."

"You can't beat President Bush by trying to be like him," he said. "We tried that in 2002, and it doesn't work

Democrat are sooooooooooo screwy!

"We tried to pull the wool over peoples eyes in 2002 and make ourselves appear as thought we were winners but
Noooooooooooooo they didn't fall for it."

A few observations:

1. I'm amazed at how poorly Edwards is doing in the primaries: showing up at between 2 and 5% - in the neighboorhood of Sharpton and Braun. He chose to raise money, not campaign- and he's paying the price in the polls...and the financing race (losing the 2Q money race to Dean)

2. Sharpton should be going for broke- that's the only shot he's got to win the nomination- break out the demagogic eloquence he's used to rally countless crowds and badmouth the others. Then, why wouldn't he?? I suspect McAulliffe et al. told Sharpton "We don't want another Jesse Jackson fiasco where Jackson made other candidates look bad and then demanded concessions from us before he 'lent them the black vote' by endorsing the eventual nominee. So this time, you're going to play nice and if you do...we won't villify you in public (ie: Tawana Brawley and charges of anti-semtism) and we'll help you build a powerful activist organization behind-the-scenes that will rival Jesse Jackson's"

3. I see this as a two-man race: Kerry vs. Dean. Those who think Dean has peaked "misunderstimate" the man. He's very charismatic and has his soundbites down. I think he will only build on his advantage. Kerry is giving too much rein to his chief of staff in Washington over his presidential campaign: the result is a risk-averse campaign which is letting Dean walk all over it.

I see this as a two-man race: Kerry vs. Dean.

I don't know. A lot of them seem to be going for that huge bloc, non-voters. If they come in, they won't go for Kerry. I can't quite figure out what Kerry's constituency would be. Plus, Massachusetts will vote Dem anyway.

Believe it or not, that Carol Mosely-Braun did a nice job, but she seems to be there to make a point. Also, isn't labor fond of Gephart? I don't know, if I were in charge of labor, I wouldn't want two Yalies fighting it out to run against a Yalie. There was quite a bit of "us vs. them" and "destruction of the middle class" rhetoric.

I could see a few of these candidates holding their delegates until given a VP nod by a front runner.

I enjoy wild, unrestrained politics. This could be a hoot.

And Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry stressed that he was the only Vietnam veteran among the Democrats hoping to oust President Bush

Senator (carpe tomatae) Kerry really needs a second talking point about his candidacy. This may be difficult, though, since his legislative record is, like his head, rather vacuous.

Former House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt told the crowd at Navy Pier that his father was a Teamster and milk truck driver.

For a couple of months, until he could get out of that job and into the real estate and insurance selling business.

The almost always untold side of L'il Dickie's schpiel about his dad and being a Teamster when he delivered milk once, between jobs, was how bitterly Gephardt senior complained about being forced to pay union dues in order to keep his job. It was the only union job Gephardt had and he ditched it as fast as he could.

Beyond Bush bashing, few reasons existed to hold this event.

It seemed that the AFL-CIO wanted an early showcase to make sure the wanna-bees committed to their issues...jobs, security of retirement finances, affordable health care and education.

Senator (carpe tomatae) Kerry really needs a second talking point about his candidacy. This may be difficult, though, since his legislative record is, like his head, rather vacuous.

Well, Senator John Fitzgerald Kerry-Heinz (JFK-H.......... get it??) can make two big points besides the seldom-mentioned fact that he's a Veteran of the Viet Nam War (who'd a thunk it?):

1. He's somewhat French looking

2. He got the Gold Medal in the Military Medal Toss event for throwing someone else's medals over the White House fence in protest of the Viet Nam War.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.