Posted on 07/25/2004 10:19:29 AM PDT by NCjim
Presidential candidate John Kerry on Sunday courted the black vote, a major Democratic constituency that polls show he has yet to excite, by assuring churchgoers he shared their "common future, hopes and dreams."
The Roman Catholic senator from Massachusetts visited the nondenominational First Church of God in Columbus where Bishop Timothy Clarke told an overwhelmingly black congregation of more than 2,500 that he would not endorse Kerry or President Bush, but urged his parishioners to get out and vote.
Kerry's introduction drew a protest from one member who stood and shouted, "Sit down ... you big phony," before he was hustled out clutching a Bible.
At the third stop on his trek to the Democratic convention in Boston where he will be formally nominated as Bush's opponent in the Nov. 2 election, Kerry quoted scripture, black poet Langston Hughes and President John Kennedy.
"It is written, what does it mean my brother if you have faith if there are no deeds? Faith without works is dead," he said, a subtle slap at Bush without mentioning the president's name.
Kerry described his own candidacy as a "brief fragile moment that God gave us on earth to make a difference."
"This is our journey, not my journey," he said. "I came here this morning to praise his name and share with you our common future, our humanity, our hopes and our dreams."
The Democratic candidate has won around 90 percent of the black vote in recent presidential elections, but at issue is how many members of that key constituency Kerry can turn out.
Opinion polls have shown that Kerry, a blueblood New Englander who attended private schools, graduated from Yale, volunteered for the Vietnam War and has served almost two decades in the Senate, has yet to excite his African-American base.
BIG LEAD BUT LITTLE ENTHUSIASM
A BET/CBS News poll of 986 black Americans released last week found that Kerry led Bush, the Republican incumbent, by eight to one, but a majority had yet to feel a great deal of enthusiasm about their candidate. Most said they were just "satisfied" having Kerry atop the ticket.
Democrats are hoping a higher minority turnout, coupled with support from working white families, will help land southern states such as Florida in the Democratic camp and tip northern industrial states such as Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania in their favor.
Most Democrats also believe their road to the White House passes through Ohio, a critical battleground state. No Republican has won the presidency without winning Ohio.
A poll published on Sunday in the Columbus Dispatch showed Bush and Kerry running neck and neck. The survey, with a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points, put Bush at 47 percent, Kerry at 44 per cent and independent candidate Ralph Nader at 2 percent.
Despite millions of dollars spent on advertising by both camps, the poll's results mirrored those of a Dispatch survey published on April 2.
Later on Sunday, Kerry was holding a "front porch" discussion at home of Jessie and Janet Aikens where he planned to speak about the U.S. economy, creating jobs and cutting middle class taxes.
Despite the recent improvement in unemployment numbers and other economic indicators, Ohio has been hit particularly hard by the flight of work overseas, especially in the manufacturing industry.
"These jobs lost are not abstract numbers," Kerry said in remarks prepared for delivery. "They are our neighbors. They are our families and they are wondering how they're going to provide for their children, pay the bills and make ends meet."
Maybe we should invite him to become a freeper.........( We have members who don't even know they're members)
Answer #1: NO
Answer #2: YES
Kerry is a very ambitious phony who will say anything to achieve power.
The truth spoken in church and gets escorted out...
I don't think Kerry was lying.
How is that a subtle slap at President Bush, you ignorant reporter? Dubya walks the walk ("works")...not F'n.
Yeah, but they're letting Obama, the African-American ultra-liberal senator from Illinois be the keynote speaker, just as they let the African-American Tennessee Gimmee Ford do at the 2000 convention. Poster BOYS. Don't Blacks know they are being used and taken for granted? Here ya go, voting bloc, have a bite of my leftovers and shut up for another four years.
Feed them ketchup..
Excellent points. The libs are shameless. They practically wear their inconsistencies on their sleeves.
This ritual church visitation by the Dems is so silly. Every knows it's a farse. The intellectual vanguard of the democrat party, the bitter socialists who despise Christianity, know to keep mum as their man shows up, bible under arm, to preach the word. They know it's a farce. He knows it's a farce. They know he knows it's a farce. We know it's a farce. The media knows it's a farce. You have to wonder if the only ones not in on the joke are the people sitting in the pews!
My guess is that they know it's a farce, too. But it makes no difference. It's a familiar ritual and its artifice has already been accounted for.
I have a feeling though that Kerry is so snooty, so wooden -- so unfunky -- that the metro church crowd might not make it to the polls in the numbers the Democrats are hoping for.
There are a couple of items that come to mind when I see the "liberal politician at church" routine. The first is Bill Clinton leaving after services to return to Monica in the Oval Office. Another is Rev. Jesse Jackson offering "spiritual counsel" to Clinton and bringing along his (Rev. Jackson's) pregnant mistress to meet Clinton. The third is Teddy Kennedy during the Palm Beach rape case. As I recall, the evidence indicated that on Good Friday, the very Catholic Senator Kennedy was out partying... on Easter Sunday (either before or after mass) he went out drinking. I think it was in the morning; I remember the name of the drink even being reported. Right, all of their reverence for religion is quite inspiring, isn't it?
Yep, their piety is humbling ;)
Bless his heart!
Well, he married an African (Theresa). He should stress that to black voters.
"Kerry described his own candidacy as a "brief fragile moment that God gave us on earth to make a difference."
What a lying sack of shiite. St John F(*cking) Kerry it is, now. He's sainted himself. Sady, some of these foplks will fall for it.
"Kerry described his own candidacy as a "brief fragile moment that God gave us on earth to make a difference."
What a lying sack of shiite. St John F(*cking) Kerry it is, now. He's sainted himself. Sady, some of these folks will fall for it.
Ooops, sorry for the double-tap.
Make room for me!
It's likely that, except for household servants, Kerry never even MET a black person until he attended college, like many other white people in the Northeast!
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