Kerry woos Ohio voters in Bush-dominated areas "I'm not a liberal" (buys hunting license)

The Columbus Dispatch ^ | October 17, 2004 | Joe Hallett

[Cincinatus' Wife]

XENIA, Ohio — Sen. John hunted for votes yesterday in the nook and crannies of the Buckeye State, telling crowds in farm country and jobstrapped southern Ohio that President Bush is deceiving them about the economy and the Iraq war.

Joking that he will be in Ohio so often before Nov. 2 that "I’m about to have my mail forwarded here," Kerry beseeched voters to believe their eyes, and not Bush, when assessing whether they are better off now than four years ago.

"George Bush has a very simple strategy when it comes to reality: Ignore it, deny it and then try to hide it," Kerry told a rowdy crowd of 2,700 in the Xenia High School gymnasium.

As the campaign rushed toward Election Day with an ever more negative tone, Kerry opened a new front in his attack, blaming the Bush administration for the flu-vaccine shortage, saying it ignored three warnings of an impending flu crisis from government agencies and health experts dating to 2001.

"Because of their failure to act, we’ve got a shortage of 48 million flu vaccines in America," Kerry charged.

Bush campaign spokesman Kevin Madden called Kerry’s charge "incredibly hypocritical" and said Kerry voted against a bill last year that would have encouraged more vaccine production.

Speaking last night to 8,000 people on 89-year-old Maggie West’s farm enveloped by autumn-colored hills near Wakefield in Pike County, Kerry renewed his criticism of Bush’s handling of the Iraq war, pledging: "I’ll make America safe, and I’ll get those troops home from Iraq with honor and success."

Kerry, clad in the barn jacket he wore last winter in Iowa en route to winning the caucuses, sought to connect with socially conservative Ohioans on a bus tour through areas Bush carried in 2000, making several "impromptu" stops thick with symbolism.

At the Garringer Family Pumpkin Patch 20 miles east of Xenia, Kerry bought pumpkins and gourds from Larry Garringer, a supportive Democrat, and his wife, Mick, an undecided Republican, to show he intends to battle for swing voters.

To illustrate his faith to voters guided by religion, the senator went to Mass at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Chillicothe and took communion, a rite at least one bishop has said he would deny to Kerry because of his support for abortion rights.

In Buchanan, a tiny Pike County village, Kerry stopped at the Village Grocery and asked owners Paul and Debra McKnight, "Can I get me a hunting license here?"

He plunked down $140 in cash for a nonresident Ohio hunting license so he can go duck hunting in the Mahoning Valley when he returns to the state Thursday. At the Wakefield rally, Kerry was given a 12-gauge shotgun and told the crowd he would "balance the rights and responsibilities" of gun owners.

The four-county route and events were calculated to tamp down Bush’s strength in conservative areas where many voters, political observers say, are motivated by "the three Gs" — God, guns and gays.

While Democrat Al Gore rolled up a comfortable margin in Ohio’s big six urban counties in 2000, Bush swamped him almost everywhere else, winning 72 of the 88 counties and capturing 55 percent of the vote in Ohio’s 82 small- to medium-size counties.

"We’re definitely going through areas where we feel we can outperform the Gore numbers of four years ago," said Mike McCurry, a senior campaign adviser, contending that "the breadth and scope of our ground operation" will make Kerry more competitive in Ohio’s GOP areas.

"We have to try to keep (Bush’s) numbers down," he said.

McCurry said Ohio’s dismal economy, including 237,400 jobs lost in the past four years, makes rural Ohio a "target of opportunity" for Kerry.

In an interview with Ohio reporters aboard his campaign bus, Kerry sought to align himself with moderate-to-conservative voters, refuting Bush’s incessant claims that he is an outof-touch liberal.

"I am not a liberal," Kerry said. "I’m a moderate, thoughtful, practical person who looks for solutions."

Madden, Bush’s campaign spokesman, referred to a 1991 St. Louis Post-Dispatch story in which Kerry said, "I am a liberal and proud of it."

In a yard across the street from Xenia High School, Kerry saw a huge sign with the message: "Vote the Bible! Take a stand for morality."

In the interview, Kerry said Bush "talks about values, but he doesn’t live values in his public policy." There is no morality in cutting 500,000 children from after-school programs and 390,000 from Medicaid health coverage "so wealthy people get a tax cut," Kerry said.

In Xenia, Kerry hammered Bush for sugar-coating Ohio’s flagging economy, holding up the Oct. 12 front page of The (Findlay) Courier which quoted Treasury Secretary John W. Snow saying claims of job losses during Bush’s tenure were "myths."

Pointing to Michael F. Adams, recently laid off after 10 years at General Motors’ Delphi plant in Vandalia, Kerry said, "Mr. President, the people who lost jobs on your watch are not myths. They are our neighbors. They are middle-class Americans."

Kerry burnished his hunting credentials during stops in Pike County, which along with eight of the 13 other counties in Appalachia-dominated southeastern Ohio, supported Bush in 2000. Bush’s win in the region was attributed, in part, to a strong effort by the National Rifle Association to portray Gore as antigun. The NRA has targeted $20 million through Election Day in Ohio and other battleground states to do the same to Kerry.

Kerry said he is determined not to let that happen: "I believe in the Second Amendment, and I’m not going to take a back seat to anybody in protecting that right."

jhallett@dispatch.com

[RockinRight]

Kerry's not a liberal? Yeah, sure. And the sun isn't hot, and water isn't wet, and grass ain't green, either.

[T'wit]

>> Its just a viagra surge

If I were married to Teresa Heinz Scumbag Kerry, I'd make a point of leaving Viagra off my shopping list. If I were married to Elizabeth Edwards, I'd flush the Viagra down the toilet and then go pop a bottle of strychnine.

[teletech]

"Speaking last night to 8,000 people on 89-year-old Maggie West’s farm" 8,000, yeah, sure.

LOL!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

"I am not a liberal" = "I am not a crook."

YES.

[Casloy]

In Buchanan, a tiny Pike County village, Kerry stopped at the Village Grocery and asked owners Paul and Debra McKnight, "Can I get me a hunting license here?"

What a condescending jerk. If they were black he probably would have said, "Looki hea, Is dis am da place to get dem dar huntin licenses."

[LS]

This is a flat LIE!!! XENIA IS NOT "BUSH COUNTRY." It is a poor, mostly DEM part of Dayton. If Kerry were in "Bush Country," he would be campaigning in WARREN COUNTY or in Cincinnati!!!!!!

[Casloy]

There is no morality in cutting 500,000 children from after-school programs and 390,000 from Medicaid health coverage "so wealthy people get a tax cut," Kerry said.

Proving once again Kerry doesn't understand the difference between morality and public policy. When does a tax cut become moral or immoral? How many kids cut from after school programs is moral versus immoral? What a total fool.

[lyingisbetter]

I know liberals that wouldn't bad mouth their fellow soldiers when their fellow soldiers are still fighting a war.

Also I know liberals that don't have to explain everything they say 5 and 6 times because no one can comprehend what they've said.

I know liberals that will not call a guy that after getting caught stealing important 911 documents in his socks a great man, as Kerry did with Sandy Berger.

I know liberals that would never call the president at a time of war a liar, knowing that their statements help the enemy's motivation to kill more of our soldiers!

I think most liberals don't know what "liberal" stands for and we should stick to the issues in specific and stop letting Kerry and these democrats distract voters on the word instead of his record!!!!

[zook]

Someone with graphics skills: Can't we get a shot of Kerry in an Elmer Fudd costume? "Be vawry vawry quiet!"

[Carolinamom]

Kerry's Show and Tell.........Show him buying license; show him wearing hunting jacket; show him buying gun. Tell: HE tells us that he is a regular guy and not a liberal. Truth is in his POLITICAL motivation.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

***Kerry, clad in the barn jacket he wore last winter in Iowa en route to winning the caucuses, sought to connect with socially conservative Ohioans on a bus tour through areas Bush carried in 2000, making several "impromptu" stops thick with symbolism. ***

Democratic Presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites), D-Mass.,visits the Village Grocery in Buchanan, Ohio, Saturday, October 16, 2004. He was there to buy a hunting license. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Democratic Presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., buys a hunting license inside the Village Grocery in Buchanan, Ohio, Saturday, Oct. 16, 2004. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Sen. John Kerry looks at a new shotgun that was given to him during a rally on the West Family Farm, Saturday, Oct. 16, 2004 in Wakefield, Ohio. (AP Photo/David Kohl)

[Cincinatus' Wife]

*** Kerry's Show and Tell.***

Bump!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

***.....While Kerry, in the last debate, embellished his Senate history, the Associated Press examined the record. It found that only eight laws — eight in almost 20 years — had Kerry as lead sponsor. Two were resolutions designating "World Population Awareness Week." Another designated a day to honor the 10th anniversary of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Another designated a day to honor POWs and MIAs. Another renamed a federal building in Waltham, Mass. Two others related to the fishing industry, and the other provided grants to support small businesses owned by women.

That's the Senate record of accomplishment of a man who offers competence in all matters related to national security and the health care delivery system in the United States. The talk is not supported by the do.

The other concern is that the past is a guide to how Kerry would lead in the war on terrorism. Here his post-Vietnam record is entirely relevant. It is an indicator of how he would perform in the future. Talk doesn't matter. Character does. Kerry's a debate hawk chosen by an anti-war party.

Not surprisingly, when people in military service and their families were asked who they would trust to be the commander in chief, Bush was preferred 69 percent to 24 percent, almost a 3-1 margin.

Talking points and debate style don't matter to potential adversaries nor to those who stand against them. What matters is core convictions and the resolve to abide by promises made.

John Kerry looked his fellow servicemen and women in the eye — and then betrayed them, by misrepresenting their service in a way that helped turn the country against them. That's the record of past behavior. And that is the best predictor of future actions.***

http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/wooten/2004/101704.html

[ImFree]

From the local paper, Kerry called his hunting license a "$140 duck".

http://www.chillicothegazette.com/

[westmichman]

He's probably after a 16 point DUCK

[planekT]

"Can I get me a hunting license here?"

"How much is the Rich Widow Stamp?"

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Public policy is morality to a LIBERAL - or so they say when they want your vote.

[bert]

In the real world, Form Follows Function.

Designs based on form always prove unusable and fail.

The Kerry Ohio campaign design is shown to be purely form. It will fail.

Can you imagine the embarassment at being faced with a Presidential candidate buying a nonresident hunting license?

[Edit35]

Yeah he got a hunting license, but it was for gerbils.

[DUMBGRUNT]

He plunked down $140 in cash for a nonresident Ohio hunting license
CASH ?????????

Who hauls wads of cash around anymore?