Kerry Comment Riles Bush Campaign (Update - Kerry Reaffirms GOP "Attack Squad" Claims, No Apology)

Yahoo! News ^ | 3/10/04 | Mike Glover - AP

[NormsRevenge]

WASHINGTON -

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (news - web sites) called Wednesday for deeper tax cuts for the middle class than proposed by President Bush (news - web sites) and described his Republican critics as "the most crooked ... lying group I've ever seen." The chairman of Bush's re-election campaign called on Kerry to apologize "for this negative attack."

After urging labor leaders to support his campaign, Kerry met with one-time rival Howard Dean (news - web sites) to discuss an endorsement and what role the former Vermont governor might play in his campaign.

Hoping to win over Dean, the presumptive nominee's staff greeted the fallen rival with a round of applause as he walked into Kerry headquarters. The two men shook hands, embraced briefly and raised joined hands for the cameras.

After the 45-minute meeting, officials close to the talks said Dean will endorse Kerry, with only the timing in question. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the best time might be March 25 when the presidential candidates join former Presidents Clinton and Carter for a Democratic Party fund-raiser.

"I will work closely with John Kerry to make sure we beat George Bush in November and turn our country around," Dean said in a statement that did not specifically mention an endorsement. "There is a lot we can do together to rebuild an America that belongs to all of us, and we'll be saying more about what our amazing grass-roots network can do to help with his goal." Dean has set March 18 to announce details of his grass-roots advocacy organization.

Kerry was scheduled to meet with another key rival, John Edwards (news - web sites), on Thursday.

Anticipating their meeting, the Bush campaign issued "Howard Dean's Greatest Hits on John Kerry," a 10-item recounting of Dean's criticisms. The quotes from news stories include Dean's statement in January that "you're not going to change America by nominating somebody who's a Washington insider whose biggest long suit is talk."

Kerry had 2,037 delegates after sweeping four Southern primaries Tuesday, an Associated Press analysis showed. He wasn't expected to reach 2,162, the number needed to secure the nomination, until next week.

Earlier Wednesday in Chicago, Kerry toughened his comments about his GOP critics after a supporter urged him to take on Bush. "Let me tell you, we've just begun to fight," Kerry said. "We're going to keep pounding. These guys are the most crooked, you know, lying group I've ever seen. It's scary."

Bush-Cheney campaign chairman Marc Racicot called on Kerry to apologize.

"Senator Kerry's statement today in Illinois was unbecoming of a candidate for the presidency of the United States of America, and tonight we call on Senator Kerry to apologize to the American people for this negative attack," Racicot said in a statement. "On the day that Senator Kerry emerged as his party's presumptive nominee, the president called to congratulate him. That goodwill gesture has been met by attacks and false statements."

Kerry spokesman David Wade said earlier that Kerry was referring to Republican critics in general and that the comment was intended to convey the message that "he's a Democrat who fights back."

The Bush-Cheney campaign didn't see it that way. "John Kerry has run a relentlessly negative campaign from the very beginning and this comment is completely consistent with that," the campaign said.

In a satellite address to top AFL-CIO leaders meeting in Florida, Kerry said a "Bush Tax" stemming from the president's economic policies has driven up costs for working families. He vowed to reverse that trend while asking those making more than $200,000 a year to pay the same taxes they paid under President Clinton (news - web sites), effectively repealing portions of a tax cut Bush pushed through Congress.

Kerry also proposed creating a $50 billion fund to help states provide relief from state and local taxes for working families that he said have been struggling.

"Under George Bush's policies, middle-class families are paying more," he said. "America's middle class can't afford a tax increase. That's why we're going to give the middle class a tax cut."

In response, the Bush campaign accused Kerry of favoring broad tax increases that would affect all taxpayers.

"John Kerry has voted for higher taxes 350 times and his numbers for new spending don't add up," said Steve Schmidt, a Bush campaign spokesman. "His campaign-trail promises mean he is going to raise taxes by at least $900 billion." It is the first time the Bush campaign has put a number on tax hikes it says Kerry favors.

Kerry said a middle-class tax cut would do far more to spark the economy than what Bush has pushed, by helping people afford college costs, pay for health care and make ends meet.

"If this president wants to make this election about taxes after he's cut billions for billionaires and given middle-class families a larger share to pay, we're ready for that fight," he said.

Kerry also addressed Democratic National Committee (news - web sites) staff, seeking to end speculation that chairman Terry McAuliffe's role will be diminished. "No one can do what this man has done," Kerry said, according to Kerry and DNC aides in the private meeting.

___

AP Political Writer Ron Fournier contributed to this report.

[Paul Atreides]

Apparently doesn't own a mirror either.

No wonder. Look at what happened when Herman Munster looked in a mirror.

[Dog]

Everyone in the world understood what Kerry said......but AP is still spinning it for Kerry.

[Tuxedo]

Kerry... I'm beginning to really hate this guy. He is just plain nasty, a total flip-flopper, say anything to win, perhaps even worse than WJC, and definitely more liberal... if he wins... it will be hell for four years, with the spineless GOP leadership in Congress.

[PokeyJoe]

Sean has a point.

Kerry "feels" that anyone who disagrees with him is crooked, "them" (lying) against "us" (honest and morally right). His self-righteous attitude is the ironic credo of the socialist progressive communists now leading the democRAT party.

Kerry leads the fundamentalist religous wing of the liberal church - a religion devoid of anything holy, except the crap.

[Homer1]

These giys need more FIRE IN THE BELLY!

allow me to give 1 examples

"Tonight we call on Senator Kerry to apologize to the American people for this negative attack"

Negative attack? A negative attack is when you say that Bush waited too long to go to Haiti. No, tonight we call on him to apologize for his inflammatory and insulting remarks

[PISANO]

Nothing that JFKerry says OR does matters. It will either NOT be covered at all (like his voting record & this and other vile statements about GW & GOP) or it will be put in the most positive light like his FLIP-FLOPPING on issues being described as a man who is confident enough to change his mind and follow his conscience.

Kerry is getting by with murder (figure of speech) and the press/media will continue to cover his backside for as long and as often as it takes.

We are in a fight people, against the Democrat machine, Kerry and the manistream media, and so far our side is losing on all fronts.

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

"These guys are the most crooked, you know, lying group I've ever seen."

This is a misquote. It has been played about 20 times on Hugh Hewitt's show. He actually said,"These guys are the most crooked, you know, lying group OF MOTHERS and...", as he lowered his voice further and trailed off. And he was clearly refering to the President and the Administration.

[dwilli]

Did you listen to Hannity today? As soon as the story broke, Hannity was talking to a reporter at the Kerry
event. The Reporter said Hannity's name was mentioned and
Hannity's ego boiled over. The rest of the interview
was about Hannity.

[Joee]

He will be "hobbled" until someone shows him how to get his foot out of his mouth. But then again, he has another up his ------ASK me no questions and I'll -------

[Loyal Buckeye]

Call GW a liar is double downer for Kerry.

1. No one will believe him.

2. It gives the Republicans another chance to portray him as the flake he is.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Listening to it now:

News Talk Live

Discussion Free Republic thread:

KERRY / BUSH PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES CANCELLED PENDING FORMAL APOLOGIES FROM KERRY CAMPAIGN (Proposal)

[cajungirl]

yall ought to hear dennis miller skewering kerry,,it is hilarious

[Mustang]

The Liberal-Socialist-DemocRAT party, aka the LSD party, have flunked their electric kool-aid acid test and will forever support nitwits.

Then again, maybe they passed their test...?

Mustang sends from "Malpaso News"...

[OldFriend]

Sorry to disagree with you. Nothing would be gained if we got in the gutter with ketchupboy.

Anyone watching the news today had an opportunity to see and hear what was said.

Why would we want to interfere with the man consistently digging himself into a hole.

He has secret foreign admirers, secret insider info on the kidnapping of his good friend Aristede, and an assorted array of lies and slurs against those of us with real values.

[OldFriend]

Hannity's rant that if the President doesn't listen to him, well then he deserves to lose.....was breathtaking in it's arrogance.

[ladyinred]

Pot/Kettle/Black!

[truthkeeper]

I certainly agree with you about the New Tone. It's long past time for it to be dumped.

[NormsRevenge]

John Flip'n/Flop'n Kerry

[Wild Irish Rogue]

" You'll earn a fourth Purple Heart, and it won't be for a minor scratch, you freak of nature."

This was posted to me today by mohresearcher :

"Just finished reading Douglas Brinkley's book "Tour of Duty." Senator Kerry supplied most of the material about Kerry's war experiences in Vietnam, and Brinkley adds snippets from other published sources (mostly from a leftist perspective, but excluding extensive coverage by the Communist Party newspaper Daily World, which glorified Kerry's antiwar activities in 1971.) Anyway, I was particularly interested in knowing the details of the three Purple Hearts that Kerry was awarded for supposed combat wounds.

Most of the men that I knew personally or read about were dead on their third Purple Heart wound in Vietnam. I am an Army veteran, and most combat units had strict rules prohibiting Rambo wannabes from claiming the Purple Heart for scratches from shrapnel that could be covered with a Band-Aid.

Brinkley writes about Kerry's first Purple Heart on pp. 146-148. The so-called action happened on December 2, 1968 in the DaNang area. Brinkley's description is glaringly vague, and Brinkley does not report any other crewmen being injured. Kerry didn't need any hospitalization for that injury, which most Army and Marine combat veterans would find suspicious. Wags might call this event Kerry's personal Gulf of Tonkin incident.


The second Purple Heart wound was on February 20, 1969 in the Delta, covered on pp. 280-288. There was enemy action recorded in detail, and Kerry had another minor shrapnel wound, for which he did not need hospitalization. Again, he was the only one injured. Why is he the only one very slightly wounded?

The third Purple Heart was on March 13, 1969, also in the Delta. It was a legitimate combat wound from my reading of Brinkley's description of the action on pp. 304-317. If I read this section carefully, Kerry was the only one injured on his Swift boat. Brinkley records others injured on other boats in the engagement.

So, inquiring minds must be pondering: which came first, Kerry reading Navy regs to learn that if you had three awards of the Purple Heart you could get out of Vietnam pronto; or, a deliberate strategy on his part to get his return ticket punched a third time so he could abandon his crewmates and bug out after only four months in a combat zone? "

It appears that Kerry was the only one injured,in all three of the engagements, where he earned his each of his PHs.
This is a huge red flag and may be the reason why Kerry refuses to authorize the military to release his full military record.
I cannot imagine the odds that Kerry would be the only one injured and eligible for a PH,not once,not twice,but, three times.

[dwilli]

I live in an area with very little hearable talk radio and listen to Hannity quite a bit. How this guy made millions
is a mystery to me. Calling him shallow would be a compliment.