Posted on 08/02/2004 2:38:26 PM PDT by TomasUSMC
Kerry vs Bush in Grand Rapids
Friday the President visited this city's Community College, today the challenger Kerry arrived at the downtown center. What where the differences and similarities? Lets see.
Therezzzzzza started off speaking so slowly that the discomfort she spread was evident by dozens of folks leaving to catch some shade before the john spoke. Her condescending tone was only surpassed by her constant reminder of how John,( "Oh by the way, my first husband was named John"), would protect us, would do this for us and do that for us. When finally the medicated one was finished, many a prayer was answered, as I could see almost a wave of exasperated exhaling sweep Calder Plaza.
The John came in and the first thing on the agenda was pitching his new book, who the queen of abortion, Gov. Granholm, threw out to him. Then the John repeated several times "Help is on the way, help is on the way." He accused the President of waiting almost 3 years for the 911 commission to issue its finding before leading. Obviously Kerry didn't notice Iraq Afganistan Lybia... .
The democrat though, must be given credit for using a better location than the GOP. The Plaza was filled with at least twice as many as could have been packed into the Community College Field house. And in this town, many more knew of the Kerry Visit and of the Bush visit. But when it comes to quality - well both the people and message were superior during the Presidents visit.
When the President stated Friday that of the 100 senators only 12 voted against funding the troops in Combat, and that both of the democrats on the Presidential Ticket were among that dirty dozen, there was no comeback from the John today. When the President talked of tax cuts and said, " And this time the check was in the mail!", again the donkey's john could only comeback with a plan that he would repeal tax cuts for the rich.
The biggest difference that I noticed between the Friday speech of the President and the john's speech was the emphasis that W put on small business. There was absolute silence at today's johnfest on small caps. Surprisingly, the john returned time and time again to family values, except each time he attempted to define them as: "But values spoken without actions taken are just slogans". Humm, must mean the 3000 abortions daily, No action there by the democrats, thats for sure.
This then is where both speeches were the same. There was no mention of abortion either friday, nor today. Immigration was also something that was avoided like the plague both days. These two issues apparently are hot potatoes that have little significance to both major parties. The fact that they kill 3000 babies every day and bring into this country another 3000 illegal immigrants a day apparently is nothing to be alarmed at. Funny, how both numbers are the same.
All in all, both days were great fun for the respective audiences, with little if any protesters for either event having an impact. Money seems to be in great supply on both sides as does enthusiasm. In this battle ground state, West Michigan seems to be were the fighting will be the toughest.
However, the sounds of battle do not extend to the fields of Immigration and Abortion yet.
Why is there a cease-fire, or is it the calm before the storm?
Grand Rapids proper leans Democrat and actually went to Gore in 2000 - but the rest of "Grand Rapids" and West Michigan lean far right. (For the purposes of inflating the various counts and tallies and totals for Grand Rapids, the city officials include much of the surrounding areas and not just the downtown area when having it listed in national rankings).
Does he have support among the firefighters? It's called a union.
I was born and raised in GR, before I left town for college in Kalamzaoo and law school in Detroit. My family (mom, dad, brother and sister) still live in the Grand Rapids Metro area.
I'm hearing from them (and they're all staunch Bush supporters, mainly for social conservative reasons) that the area has been very hard hit by the recession that we've just come out of. The job scene is tough and slow to bounce back.
West Michigan can NOT be considered a slam dunk for Bush this year.
I went to both events (though I ducked out of Kerry's after standing in the heat for over an hour and half). First, the area has been hard hit driven by the slow down in the office furniture industry and a couple of large plant closings in the surrounding areas. But with all of that, most polls show the President trailing Kerry by only a couple of points, less than what he lost to Gore by in 2000. I consider that to be a great sign, most analysts say turnout will decide the outcome.
Secondly, the Kerry event was much better attended than Gore's rally in the same place in 2000. The President spoke to a capacity crowd as well and tickets were gone within a few hours so he would have easily drawn a lot more.
Finally, I talked with a lot of Kerry supporters Monday, most came up to me since I was standing near some Bush supporters. Not a single one of them had anything to say but they hated Bush and the war. So the real question is if we have more passion and courage to get out there and volunteer, work the phones, walk the streets with literature, etc. Personally I think it's the least we can do given what our troops sacrifice each day...I will not forgive myself if I don't do my part, however small, to keep their fate out of Kerry's hands.
You're definitely right there. Bush may even have a tough time getting the outlying areas of West Michgian (which usually vote straight-ticket Republican) given how heavily they are impacted by the manufacturing industry declines. The perception will be made worse by the fact that West Michigan is sort of insulated from the economic changes in the rest of the nation, and that the economic growth we're experiencing right now won't be felt for a while.
Yep - there were definitely more people in the Kerry rally than in the 2000 Gore rally; that's especially significant considering that security was looser for the Gore rally and more people had access to the plaza.
While there are a ton of current Kerry supporters who are only supporting him becuase they're opposed to Bush, I think that as things progress, they'll eventually be able to find something about Kerry that they like. After all, his grooming team has been working overtime on changing his blah persona - and it appears to be working (unlike Gore, who couldn't change from being a plank of wood no matter how much coaching he had).
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