April 7, 2004

QUOTABLES:

Kennedy "should be a little more restrained and careful in his comments because we are at war," Powell said.

"I am not and will not be a candidate for Vice President of the United States, and I will not leave the Republican party," said Senator John McCain.

"It is staggeringly clear that the Administration did not understand the consequences of invading Iraq a year ago... It is time -- past time -- for the President to remedy that omission and to level with the American people about the magnitude of mistakes made and lessons learned," said Senator Robert Byrd.

"When you plunge our country into war on a platform of fabrications and deceptions, and you bring back thousands of American soldiers who are sick, injured or dead, and that war is unconstitutionally authorized to begin with, Mr. Bush's behavior qualifies for the high crimes and misdemeanor impeachment clause of the Constitution," said Ralph Nader.

"What we have to tell the two parties in unmistakable terms is that this country does not belong to two parties," Ralph Nader responded to Howard Dean’s comment that a vote for Nader is a vote for Bush.

"Lying under oath is not a trivial offense, but it cannot compare with deceiving the American people night after night after night on national television, staging untruths and rejecting the advice of his [Bush] advisers," said Ralph Nader.

"I think they [Bush administration] wanted to get the troops out and get the transfer out of the way as fast as possible without regard to the stability of Iraq," John Kerry said. "The test ought to be the stability of Iraq and not an arbitrary date ... it should not be related to the election." 

"It may be one of those moments when we look back and say 'before' or 'after' Condoleezza Rice's testimony," said James Hilty, a specialist in the presidency at Temple University. "She has become the prime defender of the administration's national security policy."

"She's [Condoleezza Rice] a very smart, capable person who knows exactly what took place, and will lay out the facts…. I'm looking forward to people hearing her," President Bush said.

"Condi is not a moral relativist," said Coit D. Blacker, director of Stanford's Institute for International Studies and a Rice confidant. "She has very strong views that are informed by a certain kind of religiosity…. She thinks through issues carefully, seeks divine guidance, makes a decision and sticks to it. Other people might call that being stubborn."

JUST POLITICS

Senator Flipflop accuses Bush of flipflop

Senator John Kerry brought the charge of “flipflop” to President Bush.

"You want to talk about flips and flops?" This president said one day Condoleezza Rice is not going to testify and the next day she is going to testify," Kerry said in addressing supporters in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Kerry failed to mention the negotiated settlement to preserve the U.S. Constitutional principle of "separation of powers" between branches of government.

Kerry also accused the President of flipflopping on national security and the economy. Then he went on to infer that the President is a liar.

"It is clear that we deserve truth in Washington, we deserve an honest economic policy for the American people," Kerry said.

He capped off his speech in Ohio with promises to create 10 million new jobs, even though many wonder where he will come up with the extra millions of people that do not exist in America to fill the jobs he intends to create.

Kerry continued to signal a change in the campaign to go to the right of the President by proposing fiscal discipline on the budget. Kerry signaled his support of "pay as you go" budget rules of the 1990 implemented by the newly elected Republican controlled congress. The rules capped discretionary government spending and required increases in entitlement benefits or cuts in taxes to be offset.

Congress is contemplating reinstating the "pay as you go" rules that expired in 2002.

It was reported earlier in the week that Kerry’s staff was trimming back his $100 of billions of new programs -- promised while Kerry was fighting for his party’s nomination -- in order to implement this new campaign tactic. This would result in cuts to promised new programs that included free college education, preschool care, increased funding of K-12, increased veterans benefits, increased funding for firefighters and policeman, massive funding for container inspections at ports and many more programs.

Kerry did not mention the flipflops on these changes in his positions and promises. Kerry’s campaign continues to be a work in progress, at best. Kerry is expected to give his budget and jobs speech today.

Evans to respond

Secretary Don Evans is going to respond to Senator John Kerry’s speech on jobs and the budget today. Evans is expected to offer the following comments: 

"The key element of Senator Kerry's economic proposal is a tax credit that closely mirrors the plan Jimmy Carter enacted in 1977."

"When I hear Senator Kerry and the economic naysayers, the image that comes to mind is of President Carter sitting in the White House wearing his sweater blaming the state of the economy on 'malaise.' What he fails to realize is that this is a growing economy in which we want to foster job growth and opportunity, not close it off."

"American must not to go back to the days when the government kept more of your money and decided how to spend it. Back to the days when the government decided which investments were worthy of your capital. Back to the days when the government decided which jobs needed to be filled and which businesses deserved help. Back to the days when America lacked confidence and sought protection from other countries rather than partnership with them."

Treasury under investigation

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Inspector General announced that they are investigating the circumstances that led the Treasury Department to analyze candidate John Kerry’s proposal to repeal the Bush tax cut on those making $200,000 or more a year, according to Reuters:

"While we're pleased that the Treasury Department is launching an inquiry into this matter, the bigger question is why the President refuses to dedicate Treasury's resources to creating new jobs and opportunities for America," Cahill said.

Treasury spokesman Rob Nichols, in a statement that made no reference to whether the analysis was of Kerry's plans, said it was "proper" for Treasury to analyze tax proposals so that lawmakers and administration officials were aware of their impact. It was the department's responsibility, he added.

The investigation is to determine if the Treasury Department violated the Hatch Act that forbids federal employees from taking part in partisan politics.

Rice speech refused

Reuters is reporting that the 9/11 Commission requested Condoleezza Rice’s speech that she was going to give on Sept. 11, 2001, the day of the terrorist attacks. The Bush administration has refused to provide the speech according to Reuters:

Daniel Feldman, who was a director at the National Security Council under Bush's predecessor, Democrat Bill Clinton said the excerpts appeared to "reflect the intellectual underpinnings for the administration's pre-9/11 neglect of counterterrorism."

ABC, NBC and CBS said they would go live at 9 a.m. EDT on Thursday to broadcast Rice testimony before the 9/11 Commission.

Kerry counting on Vets

The USA Today reports on how winning veterans’ votes is a crucial part of the Kerry strategy to win the Presidency. While this subject has been explored in depth by others, the story shares how veterans’ votes remain a key part of the Kerry strategy:

Kerry strategists say their candidate's combat experience and bond with other Vietnam veterans could attract veterans who voted for Bush last time or didn't vote at all. They see these veterans as a persuadable voter group, much like the soccer moms and NASCAR dads coveted by both parties in recent presidential campaigns.

"We are going to be reaching out to all veterans, including both parties and independents," says John Hurley, a Boston attorney who is national director of Veterans for Kerry. The campaign plans to set up Veterans for Kerry groups "in virtually every state."

The article also points out that there is very little to believe that the Kerry strategy is working.

Kerry gains discipline

Senator John Kerry’s campaign is seeking to gain some discipline over the candidate according to ABC’s The Note:

…apparently, when and how the Senator makes news is becoming an increasingly controlled art.

Stalked by traveling spokesperson David Wade and senior strategist David Morehouse in the press cabin in the campaign 727, Kerry turned back to joke, "Look at these guys. They are so scared every time I come back here that I'm going to step in deep doo-doo."

The Davids laughed, then moved closer.  

FEC protest

The Federal Election Commission is receiving the largest volume of mail yet concerning proposed rules to govern uncoordinated federal political action committees and 527 nonprofit organizations. The USA Today reports that the FEC wants to distinguish between advocacy groups and those with pure political intent:

Larry Noble, executive director of the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics and a proponent of new regulations, said the political groups Soros is funding are using the less-political non-profit groups as virtual "human shields" to help them dodge FEC regulation.

"It's in part a disinformation campaign" designed to whip up fear among non-profit groups and force the FEC to back off rules changes, Noble said.

Noble and other supporters of new FEC rules want the commission to draw a distinction between non-profit groups that primarily advocate issues and more overtly political groups such as MoveOn, America Coming Together and the Media Fund that are intent on helping the Democrats in the presidential and congressional elections.

homepage