"We will build new ships
to carry man forward into the universe, to gain a
new foothold on the moon and to prepare for new
journeys to the worlds beyond our own,"
said President
Bush.
"The American people have
a right to know the answer. Why did we go into
Iraq? And why didn't our president do everything
he could to prevent the threat of al Qaeda,"
Wesley Clark
said.
"Many of them have 'Mad
Dean' disease. They cannot see past that. We must
make sure that this season does not self-destruct
the Democrats,"
said Rev. Jesse Jackson.
“Howard Dean is the only
candidate who can look at problems like a doctor
would, look at evidence, make a diagnosis and give
the right prescription,”
Rob Reiner said.
“We know where he [Howard
Dean] would have stood,”
said Martin
Sheen. “He would have said no to the Iraq
war. He would have said no to war and yes to life.
He would have said poverty and racism are weapons
of mass destruction.”
“Undeclared voters are
getting calls erroneously informing them they
cannot vote in the New Hampshire Presidential
primary — and the state attorney general wants to
know if someone is trying to tinker with election
results.” --
writes the Manchester Union Leader.
Georgia Democratic
Senator Zell Miller said yesterday that he would
campaign for President Bush's re-election
campaign, beginning this Thursday at a fundraiser
in Atlanta.
“There are a lot of
people who genuinely believe it is desirable to
have the nomination process start small,”
Northeastern
University political science professor William
Mayer, co-author of a new book called "The
Front-Loading Problem in Presidential
Nominations," said. “If you started up on
the first day with five or 10 relatively large
states, you would have a system in which a huge
advantage would go to candidates who were
well-funded and well-known.”
"We must present
President Musharraf of Pakistan with a clear
choice. Either work with America and the civilized
world to defeat al Qaeda and stop the
proliferation of nuclear technology -- or become
another outlaw nation," said Wesley Clark.
"Let's not kid ourselves
about this, these guys are looking at the end of
their careers if I win and they're going to do
anything they can to stop me,"
said Howard
Dean.
We haven't lifted up any
rocks in terms of Dick Gephardt or John Kerry or
John Edwards or anybody else," he said, "But if
this is the politics that people want to play ....
," said AFSME
union leader Gerald McEntee.
"Howard Dean travels the
country and yells and pounds the podium against
NAFTA, against the secrecy of the Bush-Cheney
White House, and against insider corporate deals,"
he said. "This is the same Howard Dean who said he
strongly supported NAFTA, who won't release his
records as governor, and who wanted Vermont to
'overtake Bermuda' as a tax haven for companies
like Enron,"
said Dick Gephardt.
"I do not think somebody
[Wesley Clark] ought to run in the Democratic
primary and then make the general election the
Republican primary between two Republicans,"
Howard Dean
said.
Shattered dreams
It is approaching the season in
the pursuit of the Presidency when dreams begin to
be shattered and hope diminished. Yesterday,
Dennis Kucinich received a blow to the dream of
becoming President. There were supporters all over
this country that heard his message and hopped
that his anti-war voice would become the article
of faith of the Democrat Party, and its candidate
for President. Kucinich came in fourth out of four
in the Washington D.C. Primary voting. The
Democrat National Committee discouraged candidates
from participating in the Primary. However, all
events have importance in some context.
The results of the Primary
showed Dean leading with 42 percent, followed by
Sharpton with 35; Moseley-Braun 12 percent and
Kucinich 8 percent. The results are not final with
109 of 142 precincts reporting. So far, only
23,000 votes were counted in a city of 572,000.
This does not mean that Kucinich
will quit being a candidate for President. When
all hope is gone and the obvious fact that
Kucinich no longer has any chance of being
President, Kucinich will still be standing on a
street corner for all that will listen asking
Americans to put the U.N. in and pull the U.S. out
of Iraq.
Soon, there will be others who
will join the Kucinich faithful in finding the
path between hope and reality blocked and not open
to their dreams coming true.
Iowa battleground
Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin appeared on
Iowa Public Television for a one on one interview
with Des Moines Register political columnist David
Yepsen and critiqued the race for President and
revealed some of his reasons for endorsing Howard
Dean. The inferred message and reason for
endorsing Dean probably came back when he offered
advice to Wesley Clark to not pass up the Iowa
Caucuses. He told Clark that if Howard Dean wins
Iowa and New Hampshire that Dean will be
unstoppable.
The prospect of choosing an
early nominee and ending the bloodletting that is
going on clearly was a big factor in Harkin’s
decision to endorse Dean. Harkin admitted that he
had a difficult time choosing who to endorse and
that many Iowans were asking him who should they
vote for. So, he has come into the arena and is
lending his weight to Dean through direct mail
letters and phone calls to friends urging them to
support Dean.
Harkin believes that Dean has a
better organization on the ground in Iowa than
Dick Gephardt.
While Dick Gephardt was making a
speech in New York about the world is a dangerous
place and Dean isn’t capable of handling the job,
Dean was releasing a new TV ad in Iowa while he
was in Vermont doing satellite interviews with
local television stations in Arizona, Oklahoma and
New Hampshire. The ad in Iowa follows the red meat
anti war rhetoric that launched him into the lead:
"Where
did the Washington Democrats stand on the war?"
the narrator of the Dean ad asks. "Dick Gephardt
wrote the resolution to authorize war. John Kerry
and John Edwards both voted for the war. Then Dick
Gephardt voted to spend another $87 billion on
Iraq."
"Howard Dean has a different view," the ad says.
Gephardt’s message was, “We're
deciding whether foreign policy is reduced to
bluster and recycled Cold War taunts or whether we
have a real and sustained commitment to break the
cycle of poverty and ignorance."
Dean had stand ins helping out
in Iowa yesterday. Actor Martin Sheen and
Hollywood director Rob Reiner were doing media and
crowd appearances as they flew around Iowa.
"As the acting president of the
United States," Sheen roared to thunderous
applause, "I am here to announce that next Monday,
January 19, is Howard Dean Day in America!"
Dean is in Iowa again today
beginning a bus tour of the state. The media crush
is beginning to grow exponentially. Clearly the
story will build with the lead story being between
Gephardt and Dean and whether Gephardt stays alive
after Iowa being the question along with can
anyone stop Dean.
On that front, it is going to
become even harder after Sunday when Howard Dean
makes a trip to go to church in Plains Georgia
with Jimmy Carter. Carter is going to say nice
things about Dean, and it is likely to be some of
those words will be said in a religious context.
How is Wesley Clark going to stop Dean in the
South again?
Hopefully, Dean will not show up
in a Playboy interview after the visit. However,
Dean is the cover of the Jan. 16 Rolling Stone
magazine and there is an interview.
The third seat out of Iowa is
still a question. Register columnist David Yepsen
is frequently quoted for having said there are
three tickets out of Iowa: first class for first
place; second class for second; and stand by for a
third place finish. The race for third place is
still in doubt, which means that Kerry could be in
serious trouble. Edwards has been catching fire
and has even come under attack from Dean lately.
Edwards acknowledge the attack yesterday.
‘The reason we have got so much
traction and such an extraordinary response in
Iowa is because I've focused on a positive,
uplifting message," Edwards told a crowd in
Manchester, New Hampshire. "And it's ironic that
that message is working and therefore I'm being
attacked."
Edwards is handicapped in Iowa
because he doesn’t have the organizational effort
going for him the way that Sen. John Kerry does.
So, the race for third may not be a fair fight in
Iowa provided that Kerry stays on message and
keeps the wheels on his campaign.
Part of the disparity that may
play out between Kerry and Edwards is the Veterans
who Kerry is directing an organizational appeal
towards.
A source close to Kerry says the
effort to organize veterans is "unprecedented in
Iowa." The vets are "hard to identify, hard to
find, and hard to bring to the caucus process."
The Kerry campaign has veterans calling other
veterans -- the vets respond better to fellow
veterans calling them than to some 19-year-old, a
senior campaign aide says. This senior aide says
"it doesn't take that many voters to shift a
precinct." Kerry's campaign claims 10,000 vets
will caucus for him on Monday.
Iowa seems to have its own
version of MoveOn.org’s amateur ad campaign
contest. However, it is not television ads but
radio. Dale Todd of Cedar Rapids is organizing a
"draft Clark" movement in the state aimed at
encouraging caucus-goers to select Clark. He has
raised enough money to put a ad on some of the
major radios in Iowa. You can cover the state with
buys on 16 radio stations for about $50,000 a week
for saturation. They did not report how much money
they had to spend. However, they did release what
the ad will say.
"You can caucus for Wesley Clark
for president," the ad says. "That's right, you
can caucus for Wesley Clark. And let's get real,
Democrats. Are we going to nominate a candidate
who can capture our imagination but can't actually
beat George Bush?"
Sen. Tom Harkin said that he
thought Democrats could get behind Dean after he
wins the nomination. It doesn’t look like that
will be a ‘hundred percenter…’
Next stop
Wesley Clark has been swimming
solo in New Hampshire Presidential, and finding it
is fun when the others aren’t around to foul up
the waters. In fact, he has been doing so well
that the Kerry campaign has a new attack ad up. It
was reported the Clark campaign became excited
when Sen. John Kerry’s New Hampshire campaign was
going to attack Clark. They took it as a badge of
honor that Clark had finally done well enough to
make the hit list of his opponents. The attack ad
shows Clark offering praise of President Bush and
his able foreign policy team.
Clark says he’s looking forward
to when the others come back to New Hampshire to
play. However, it is still not clear Clark is
ready for the big show and the scrutiny that comes
with it. His frequent gaffes have gone down in
number, though. So, maybe he is getting his sea
legs under him.
Meanwhile, Sen. Joe Lieberman’s
campaign is going nowhere and his constant message
of follow Clinton’s legacy isn’t working for him.
Lieberman continues to boost Clinton’s legacy of
free trade, balanced budgets and a middle-class
tax cut.
“I am the only lifelong Democrat
who will build on Clinton's legacy and take our
country forward," Lieberman said.
The problem may be both the
messenger and the message are not what Democrats
want. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be a Dean.
There’s no winner
Robert Kuttner of the
Boston Globe writes about the possible effects
that every state must proportion their delegates
proportionally, and the fact that in a multiple
candidate field there might not be a clearcut
winner:
With
proportional representation, this dynamic peels
off a few delegates here and a few there. The
frontrunner could well come into the convention
(stagger in?) with fewer than 40 percent of the
delegates. The Democrats also have 715
"super-delegates" who are elected officials and
party leaders. But these delegates have no
consensus favorite, either.
Dean a proponent of unilateral action
Howard Dean has been a great
critic of unilateral action, but he urged then
President Clinton in a letter to act unilaterally:
The White House
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear Mr. President:
After long and careful thought, and after several
years of watching the gross atrocities committed
by the Bosnian Serbs, I have reluctantly concluded
that the efforts of the United Nations and NATO in
Bosnia are a complete failure.
I think your policy up to this date has been
absolutely correct. We must give, and have given,
this policy with our allies and with the United
Nations every opportunity to work. It is evident,
however, that the cost in human lives in allowing
this policy to continue is too great. In addition,
and perhaps more importantly for the United
States, we are now in a position of ignoring, as
many did in the 1940s, one of the worst crimes
committed in history. If we ignore these
behaviors, no matter where they occur, our moral
fiber as a people becomes weakened. As the
Catholic Church and others lost credibility during
the Holocaust for not speaking out, so will the
United States lose credibility and our people lose
confidence in themselves as moral beings if the
United States does not take action.
Since it is clearly no longer possible to take
action in conjunction with NATO and the United
Nations, I have reluctantly concluded that we must
take unilateral action. While I completely agree
with you that no ground troops should be committed
for other than humanitarian purposes in Bosnia, I
would ask that you take the following steps in
Bosnia. First, lift the arms embargo as it applies
to the Bosnian government. Second, enforce a full
embargo of the sort that is now in effect in Iraq
on the Bosnian Serbs and upon Yugoslavia. Third,
break off diplomatic relations with Yugoslavia.
Fourth, commit American air power to support the
Bosnian government until the situation is
stabilized and the civilian murders and atrocities
by the Bosnian Serbs have been stopped.
I understand the risks of this policy and their
implications for the NATO Alliance and the future
success of the United Nations. Surely, however, as
you watch and read about the huge amount of
unwarranted human suffering, particularly of
children, you would agree that our current course
must now be changed.
I urge you to make these changes as soon as
possible, and I look forward to supporting your
policy fully to the best of my ability.
Sincerely,
Howard Dean, M.D.
Governor
Dean left a mess behind
Howard Dean brags about how he
insured everyone in Vermont, especially children,
and balanced the budget. The Boston Globe reports
that Dean may have left the state a big mess to
clean up soon:
"Damn
right," Dean said in an interview with the Globe
last week. "That was pretty smart, not to have to
put a big hole in the budget to insure everybody.
That was the Medicaid program, and we figured out
how to use it."
Critics say Dean expanded the Medicaid program
without sufficient foresight. Governor James
Douglas, a Republican who served as state
treasurer from 1995 to his election in 2002, said
in an interview last week, "We maintained a
balanced budget, but now I am seeing the
consequence of that balance. . . . We have a
Medicaid program -- just heard from someone on our
senior staff today -- that will be in a hole five
fiscal years from now to the tune of about $200
million because it is on a projectory of costs
that is just not sustainable."
Dean offered a solution that
sounded a lot like take two aspirins and call me
in the morning:
Dean
says the answer lies in not cutting people from
the rolls but in reducing the number of benefits
the method he employed during his tenure. In 1993,
for example, Dean proposed cutting $1.2 million in
Medicaid, which affected dental coverage as well
eye care benefits for some elderly residents.
Following protests and a lawsuit by Vermont Legal
Aid, Dean dropped most of the cutbacks.
Dean: I know best
In a story that sounds a lot
like ‘I know best,’ ABC News reports on how Howard
Dean as Governor involved himself in one of his
employee’s personal matters in an inappropriate
manner. Dean is accused of not paying attention to
the standard signs of abuse and supporting the
trooper who was in charge of his personal
security.
Dean filed papers supporting
Dennis Madore, the state trooper who headed Dean's
security detail stating in a three-page affidavit
for use in a custody hearing, that Madore was "a
firm but gentle disciplinarian" and a "wonderful
parent." Dean was for warned that his actions
would be wrongful, according to ABC:
In a
phone call to his Burlington home on June 1, l997,
Maggie Benson — a longtime Dean supporter and
friend of Donna Madore — told the governor that
Dennis Madore was an unfit parent and that Dean
could damage himself politically by being
involved.
According to Dean's handwritten notes on the call,
he hung up on the supporter because he construed
her tone to be threatening.
"She
said she did not believe Dennis was a good father
and I told her the conversation was
inappropriate," Dean wrote.
ABC reports that Dennis Madore
was eventually brought to justice in so far as it
was possible due to expiration of statue of
limitations:
In
September 2000, Madore was removed from the
governor's detail because of the investigation. He
was later fired in December 2000 because "he had
engaged in acts of domestic violence during the
course of his marriage and had possibly committed
perjury during his divorce proceedings," according
to the current Vermont attorney general, William
Sorrell.
Gephardt: Dean’s unethical staff
John Lapp, state director for
the Gephardt campaign in Iowa, released the
following statement in response to dishonest Dean
campaign tactics discovered yesterday:
"We have learned that two staff
members of the Dean campaign yesterday came to a
Gephardt campaign office in Council Bluffs with
the intention of deceiving our campaign staff.
They were identified by David and Christopher
Hoagland, who were volunteering at the Gephardt
campaign office at the time.
"On the heels of a similar
incident with Dean campaign spies in Creston who
were fired last week, it appears there is pattern
of dishonesty and deception within the Dean
campaign.
"Members of the Dean campaign
staff who have committed these latest dishonest
tactics, and all of those who intend to illegally
caucus, must be immediately fired.
"Howard Dean should act quickly
to protect the integrity of the Iowa Caucuses and
stop these foolish antics that do little more than
endanger Iowa's first-in-the-nation status and
embarrass the Democratic Party.
"Howard Dean has the power to
stop the dishonest tactics in his campaign. It's
time that he did."
Unions behind Gephardt
The
Boston Globe reports on how the industrial
unions have organized for Gephardt in Iowa like no
one ever has. It also touches on the fact that the
service unions are working hard for Howard Dean.
The industrial unions are in the fight of their
life to remain relevant within their own union
organizations:
The
Gephardt-Dean contest highlights a fissure in the
labor movement. The 21 unions behind Gephardt are
mostly in the industrial and building trades. They
are rallying behind the former House Democratic
leader, for whom protecting American jobs in
foreign-trade agreements has been the defining
issue of his 27 years in Congress. Dean won the
backing of the two largest unions in the AFL-CIO
-- the Service Employees International Union and
AFSCME -- plus the smaller painters' union. They
are less threatened by the outflow of American
jobs overseas. Many members work in government and
are energized by Dean's campaign themes of
empowerment and reform.
The problem Gephardt has is that
his union support is bunched into certain
communities. He is likely to dominate those
caucuses. However, the government employees and
teachers are spread out over the whole state.
Gephardt endorsement
U.S. Rep. Dick Gephardt has
received the endorsement of Gary Hoskey, president
of the Iowa Farmers Union. Hoskey, from Montour in
Tama County, said Tuesday that he was backing
Gephardt for the Democratic presidential
nomination because the Missouri congressman is a
major supporter of family farmers and has what it
takes "to get America back on track."
Hoskey said Gephardt's
commitment was on display during the farm crisis
of the 1980s, when Gephardt joined U.S. Sen. Tom
Harkin, D-Ia., in pushing debt restructuring and
other types of relief for financially stressed
farmers.
"It was basically Tom Harkin and
Dick Gephardt who saved the day for us out here,"
Hoskey said.
Former South Carolina State
Governor Robert E. McNair also endorsed Dick
Gephardt's candidacy for President of the United
States. Gov. McNair served as South Carolina's
governor from 1965-1971 and in the U.S. House of
Representatives from 1951-1962.
"I am proud to add my
endorsement for Dick Gephardt," said former
Governor Robert E. McNair. "Dick has long fought
on behalf of the working families in our country.
His hard stance against bad trade initiatives,
which take jobs out of our state and nation, and
his ongoing commitment to find a way to provide
health care for every American, are just two of
his hallmarks. I believe Dick Gephardt is the best
person to take our country forward in November
2004."
Gephardt’s top ten
Dick Gephardt appeared on the
"Late Show with David Letterman" Monday night to
announce the Top Ten list. He did not post the
list until way late on his website…
Top 10 Signs You've Been
on the Campaign Trail Too Long
10) Every speech begins: "It's great to
be wherever in the hell I am today"
9) You've hired Pete Rose to manage your campaign
funds
8) You've been working tirelessly to secure
endorsement of your imaginary friend Lester
7) You black out while campaigning in Nevada and
wake up married to Brittany Spears
6) You ask yourself, "What would Schwarzenegger
do?"
5) Last time you were home, America had 36 states
4) More and more debates are ending with you and
Joe Lieberman on the floor wrestling
3) You actually attempt to show a pie chart on the
radio
2) Agree to appear on lame late night talk show
1) Get caught polling yourself
Kerry responds to Dean
Unable to explain his
indefensible plan to repeal middle class tax cuts
in debates, town halls or press conferences,
Howard Dean has launched a misleading new
30-second television ad in New Hampshire charging
that John Kerry and other candidates were
“defending Bush tax cuts.”
The fact is John Kerry voted
against the final Bush tax legislation and as
president will repeal the Bush tax cuts that
benefit the wealthy and will preserve and protect
the middle class tax cuts, such as the child tax
credit, elimination of the marriage penalty, and
reduced marginal tax rate on the first $14,000 of
family income.
Dean has spent the last week
explaining, clarifying, backtracking and
continually changing his own position on middle
class tax cuts, including saying that the middle
class “never got a tax cut.” After his own
advisors admitted that his trillion-dollar tax
increase would cost middle class families $2,300 a
year, Dean came under pressure to unveil a new
middle class tax reform plan.
Most recently, Dean said that
any middle class tax cut would have to wait until
the budget is balanced (he has estimated that will
take six or seven years) and he has yet to offer
his plan to actually balance the budget.
“If Howard Dean has a plan to
dull the pain of his own middle class tax increase
and balance the budget, then he has a duty to
share that plan with the people of New Hampshire
before they vote on January 27, rather than hiding
behind slick and misleading 30-second TV ads,”
said Kerry spokesman Mark Kornblau.
Kerry highlights national security
Sen. John Kerry’s campaign is
going to combat Wesley Clark’s credentials by
flooding New Hampshire with Kerry’s national
security friends. The campaign announced that
United States Generals, national security experts,
and veterans will be campaigning throughout this
week in New Hampshire for Kerry. Lt. General
Claudia Kennedy (Ret.), Brigadier General Stephen
Cheney (Ret.), Former Assistant Secretary of State
Rand Beers, Former Ambassador Joe Wilson, Governor
Jeanne Shaheen, foreign policy expert Nancy
Stetson and dozens of veterans will lead a
three-day campaign swing in New Hampshire, because
they believe John Kerry is the best candidate to
take on George Bush on national security issues.
Today, Lt. General Claudia
Kennedy (ret.), the highest ranking woman in the
U.S. Army, will join Governor Jeanne Shaheen to
host a “Women’s Voices on the Trail” discussion in
Manchester on pressing issues facing women, and
will highlight John Kerry’s lifetime advocacy for
women and families.
On Wednesday, Beers, Cheney,
Wilson and Stetson will lead a forum on important
national security issues and discuss John Kerry’s
foreign policy experience and homeland security
record.
On Thursday, Kerry’s “Veterans
Brigade” will make several New Hampshire stops on
their way to Iowa. The Veterans Brigade, a busload
of Massachusetts veterans supporting John Kerry
for President, will stop at the VA Hospital in
Manchester, Liberty House Veterans Shelter, and
speak with undecided veterans across the state.
Veterans are backing John Kerry because they know
as President, John Kerry will provide mandatory
funding for veterans health care, grant full
concurrent receipt to disabled veterans, fairly
compensate soldiers and their families for their
service, reduce the strain of the military by
increasing active-duty troops and streamline the
Veterans Administration to make it more
responsive.
The Veterans will also host a
screening of the new documentary, Brothers in Arms
-- the film that tells the story of the unique
friendship forged by John Kerry and his five
crewmates on a swift boat in the Mekong Delta in
1969 during some of the worst fighting of Vietnam
War.
Lt. General Claudia Kennedy held
a variety of command and staff positions
throughout her career, including Commander, 3d
Operations Battalion, U.S. Army Field Station
Augsburg, Germany; Commander, San Antonio
Recruiting Battalion, U.S. Army Recruiting
Command; and Commander, 703d Military intelligence
Brigade, Field Station Kunia, Hawaii. Brigadier
General Stephen A. Cheney, USMC (Ret) retired from
active duty in 2001 following a tour as the
Commanding General, Marine Corps Recruit
Depot/Eastern Recruiting Region, Parris Island,
South Carolina from June 1999 through June 2001.
Rand Beers, formerly President
Bush's special assistant for combating terrorism,
is now a counselor to Kerry on national security.
Ambassador Joe Wilson served a distinguished
career as a diplomat for more than twenty years.
He was the acting U.S. ambassador in Iraq during
Operation Desert Shield and the last U.S. official
to meet with Saddam Hussein before the first Gulf
War. He was assigned in 2002 by Vice President
Dick Cheney to investigate claims that Iraq was
trying to buy Uranium for Niger. Governor Jeanne
Shaheen is the former governor of New Hampshire
and the Granite State’s most popular Democrat. She
is Chairwoman of John Kerry’s Presidential
Campaign. Nancy Stetson is John Kerry’s chief
foreign policy aide. She is best known as an Asia
expert and helped Kerry develop his policy on
Vietnam.
Clark says probe Bush
Wesley Clark is continuing to
push for a probe into President Bush’s actions
concerning 9-11 and Iraq. In a story in the
Manchester Union Leader he calls on Congress to
act now:
The
retired four-star general was asked if he, as
President, would launch or demand a probe of the
Bush administration decision.
“I
don’t think we can wait for this election to begin
a probe,” he said. “We have to demand that probe
now . . . (while) we don’t know what other tricks
the administration might have up its sleeve to
pursue its original design, whatever that was, for
the Middle East.”
In other reports, he cites Paul
O’Neill as a reason to investigate Bush as well.
In the Union Leader, he brings up his often quoted
statement that in the halls of the Pentagon after
9-11 he was told that Bush was going after Iraq:
“I’ve
been opposed to this war from the start,” he said,
“from the time I went through the Pentagon two
weeks after 9/11 and was warned by military
colleagues of the joke, ‘If Saddam Hussein didn’t
do 9/11, too bad because we’re going to get him
anyway.’
“That’s what they told me,” he said. “It was wrong
then. It was a mistake.”
Clark: bankruptcy prevention
With the U.S. Bankruptcy Court
for New Hampshire announcement that the personal
bankruptcy rate is up 8.4 percent this year Wesley
Clark offered proposals to prevent families from
taking bankruptcy:
"Right
now, the sad fact is that too many Americans are
working harder and harder and earning less and
less," General Wesley Clark said. "Under George W.
Bush, the typical working family has seen its
income fall by nearly $1,500. Compare that to the
eight years under President Clinton, when the
typical family saw its income rise by $7,200. The
Republicans are always talking about family
values. It's time in America that we started
valuing families."
Wesley
Clark is committed to putting America's families
first. No family should be forced into bankruptcy
because of illness. Wesley Clark has a plan to
insure all children through the age of 22 and
offer refundable tax credits to families of four
making up to $90,000 to pay for health insurance.
And his Families First Tax Reform Plan will
eliminate all income tax for families of four
making under $50,000. Under his plan, 132,600 New
Hampshire families will receive a tax cut, and the
typical family's tax cut will be $1,440. An
additional 14,300 New Hampshire families will pay
no income taxes at all--12 percent of all
taxpaying families removed from the rolls.
"I
know how hard all this can be," Wesley Clark said.
"My father died when I was about four years old,
leaving behind $450 in savings. My mom had to
raise me all alone. She got a job as a secretary
in a bank and worked hard every day just to
provide the basic necessities. We never had much,
but we somehow made ends meet. When you work so
hard - in the wealthiest country in the world --
you shouldn't be struggling to get by. I'll put
families first so that they can get the help they
need before they reach the bankruptcy court."
Clark: celebrities on parade
The Clark for President Campaign
announced that a group of high-profile Clark
supporters will be arriving in New Hampshire to
campaign across the state on Saturday, January
17th, culminating with a rally at Pembroke Academy
in Pembroke, NH. The group of supporters will
consist of members of Congress, political
activists, and former Clinton Administration
officials. This event demonstrates General Clark's
ability to unify Americans of varying backgrounds.
New Hampshire Communications
Director, Mo Elleithee said, "This group of
supporters is from all different backgrounds, and
from all over the country - North, South, East,
and West. Only General Clark could bring together
a group of supporters from all of these different
backgrounds."
All American Day Participants
Include (partial list):
Michael Moore - author,
filmmaker, and political activist; Rep. Charles
Rangel - (D-NY); Rep. Anthony Weiner -
(D-NY); Ben Jones - former Representative
from Georgia; Congressman Rahm Emanuel -
senior advisor, Clinton administration; John
Dalton - Secretary of the Navy, Clinton
administration; Ted Sorenson - policy
advisor and Legal Counsel, Kennedy administration;
Dr. Mary Frances Berry - Chairperson, U.S.
Commission on Civil Rights; Samantha Power
- Pulitzer prize-winning author; Barbara Lawton
- Lt. Governor of Wisconsin (D); David Pryor
- former Senator from Arkansas (D); Dale
Bumpers - former Senator from Arkansas (D);
James Rubin - Assistant Secretary of State for
Public Affairs, Clinton administration; Sherron
Watkins - Enron whistle blower; Barry
Levinson - Oscar award winning producer and
director; and Pat Williams - retired Army
major serving under General Clark.
Supporting marriage
The
NY Times reports on the administration’s
debate to include a provision that would spend
$1.5 billion on preserving and promoting marriage:
For
months, administration officials have worked with
conservative groups on the proposal, which would
provide at least $1.5 billion for training to help
couples develop interpersonal skills that sustain
"healthy marriages."
The
officials said they believed that the measure was
especially timely because they were facing
pressure from conservatives eager to see the
federal government defend traditional marriage,
after a decision by the highest court in
Massachusetts. The court ruled in November that
gay couples had a right to marry under the state's
Constitution.
Bush Bashing Super Bowl bound
MoveOn.org is raising money to
place the winner of their Bush Bashing ad contest
on the Super Bowl.
The organization originally
planned to play the winning ad nationally on CNN
during the week of Bush's State of the Union
address, but the response to the ads has been way
beyond their expectations. Now, they are working
to put the ad on the Super Bowl. They call on
their supporters to help place the first political
ad, "Child's Pay," on the prized Super Bowl
advertising slot. They urge their supporters to
send Washington a clear message: no more politics
as usual.
The Super Bowl ad will cost
$1.6 million to place nationally. The organization
needs to complete their $10 million dollar
grassroots campaign, which now stands at $7.5
million.
Why did he lose?
Drudge is reporting on Al Gore’s sense of the
absurd:
Against the advice of senior advisers, Gore is
planning to appear at the historic Beacon Theatre
in Manhattan on Thursday to issue an indictment of
the Bush administration's "inaction on global
warming."
Gore
will make the warming case on a day forecasters
are predicting the coldest temps in Boston since
1957, with wind chills in parts of New England
plunging to 100 degrees below zero!
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