|
 John
Kerry
 excerpts
from
the Iowa Daily Report
August
1-15,
2003
… Latest
Dean-Kerry exchange stretches from Iowa to New
Hampshire – and beyond. Gephardt joins in the
fray, too. Lieberman and Graham – from the
front row seats – chastise combatants.
Headline from yesterday’s Boston Herald: “Kerry,
Dean tilt over tax issues.” Excerpt from
report datelined Dover, NH by the Herald’s
David R. Guarino: “It was a political
free-fire zone on the presidential trail
yesterday as Democrats John F. Kerry and
Howard Dean exchanged fighting words heard
from New Hampshire to Iowa. Kerry,
the Bay State senator, was in New Hampshire
when he slammed Dean's economic policies
without mentioning the former Vermont governor
- his top rival - by name. Kerry
chided opponents who want to “take away a tax
credit for families struggling to raise their
children or bring back a tax penalty for
married couples who are starting out or
penalize teachers and waitresses by raising
taxes on the middle class.’ Only Dean and
U.S. Rep. Richard Gephardt of Missouri want to
roll back President Bush's 2001 tax cut plan,
including the child credit and abolition of
the marriage penalty. ‘Real Democrats are
straight about who they'll fight for. Real
Democrats don't walk away from the middle
class,’ Kerry said. Kerry aides made
sure reporters had the remarks in hand before
a ‘major’ Dean campaign address to union
workers in Iowa. The combative Dean shot back
that Kerry is a pie-in-the-sky candidate
offering health care and tax cuts to all
despite economic realities. ‘Real
Democrats don't make promises they can't
keep,’ Dean told the Associated Press.
‘Working Americans have a choice. They can
have the president's tax cuts or they can have
health care that can't be taken away. They
can't have both,’ he said. A statement later
released by Dean said he'll stand up to
Bush, ‘even when the polls that day say it
might be unpopular.’ Gephardt too called
the Kerry critique unfair since his health
plan would save Americans money. ‘Most
people would end up with more money in their
pocket if they pay less for health care - it
ends up being a health care tax cut,’ said
Gephardt New Hampshire spokeswoman Kathy
Roeder. Kerry made his remarks at a ‘fresh
air’ forum in this picturesque seaside town.
While Dean and Gephardt favor
full repeals of Bush's $1.6 trillion tax-cut
plan, Kerry wants to preserve the child
tax credit, the repeal of the marriage penalty
and other, smaller credits. Dean and
Kerry have been running first and second
in most New Hampshire and Iowa surveys,
including a Boston Herald poll this week
that put Dean slightly ahead of Kerry among
likely primary voters. Republicans charged
that Kerry is folding under pressure
from Dean's surge and charged he's changed his
position on the Bush tax cuts - which the GOP
said Kerry previously vowed not to roll back.
‘The pressure from Howard Dean has created
a serious identity crisis for John Kerry,’
said Massachusetts GOP Executive Director
Dominick Ianno.” (8/1/2003)
… More on
Dean Vs. Kerry Tax Feud from the sidelines and
front row seats – Lieberman and Graham join
Gephardt as interested bystanders.
Coverage in yesterday’s The Union Leader by AP
Iowa caucus-watcher Mike Glover. An excerpt:
“Jumping into the fray, Kerry strategist Chris
Lehane said the tax issue was a question of
‘whose side are you on,’ and added that
Dean ‘needs to be straight and explain that he
intends to increase the unfair tax burden on
working families.” Before Kerry
arrived for his speech in Portsmouth, N.H.,
Dean’s New Hampshire spokeswoman, Dorie Clark,
said, ‘It’s unfortunate that Senator Kerry
has decided to launch an attack against
Governor Dean. It also is probably not a
coincidence that in the last several days two
polls have shown Governor Dean in the lead.’
A Franklin Pierce College Poll this week had
Dean at 22 percent and Kerry at
21 percent, while a Boston Herald poll showed
Dean at 28 percent and Kerry at
25 percent. A spokesman for Sen. Joe
Lieberman of Connecticut also criticized
Dean’s plan. ‘While the Bush economic plan
has been a disaster for the middle class,
raising taxes on the middle class would just
be piling on,’ said Lieberman spokesman
Jano Cabrera. ‘That’s not only the wrong path
for economic recovery, but the wrong path for
the Democratic Party.’ Another rival, Bob
Graham, chastised both Dean and Kerry, calling
their economic plans ‘empty rhetoric’
without any details or numbers. ‘Instead of
attacking each other, they should be providing
real details on how they plan to balance the
budget, create jobs and provide middle-class
tax cuts to the American people, as my plan
does,’ the Florida senator said in a
statement.”(8/1/2003)
… Get used
to it: News accounts of the Dean insurgency
vs. Kerry’s efforts to succeed aren’t going
away soon. The Washington Times’ Donald Lambro
notes that the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC)
is pushing Kerry – and trying to stop the Dean
momentum. Excerpt from Lambro’s column:
“The Democrats' presidential primary war
between diehard liberal activists and
pragmatic party centrists intensified this
week at the Democratic Leadership Council's
meeting here. While none of the presidential
contenders attended the two-day event, the
talk in closed-door strategy sessions and in
hotel corridors was all about the threat posed
to their party by the insurgency of Howard
Dean, the left-wing, antiwar, anti-tax-cut
candidate from tiny Vermont. Indiana Sen.
Evan Bayh, the DLC's chairman, fired off the
first round at the beginning of Monday's
session, declaring the party was ‘at risk
of being taken over by the far left.’ Mr.
Bayh's question to the party's liberal base:
‘Do we want to vent or do we want to govern?’ DLC
founder Al From reminded the New Democrat
elected officials who packed the hotel
ballroom how Walter Mondale called for tax
increases at the 1984 convention to the cheers
of liberal delegates. ‘We lost 49 states’
to Ronald Reagan, he said. And Democratic
pollster Mark Penn, who polled for Bill
Clinton, warned of a huge ‘security gap’ among
voters who trust President Bush and the GOP to
do a better job than the Democrats to
safeguard national security in the war on
terrorism. ‘If Democrats can't close the
security gap, then they can't be competitive
in the next election,’ he said. All of
them warned that the party would lose next
year's elections if it did not match the
president's toughness on national defense.
None of them specifically mentioned Mr. Dean,
but they made it clear that's who they were
talking about in interviews with
reporters. Who can stop Mr. Dean? The
big unreported story at the DLC’s meeting is
that Mr. From is positioning his influential
DLC network to back Mr. Dean’s chief rival for
the presidential nomination, Massachusetts
Sen. John Kerry. Mr. Kerry voted
for the congressional war resolution to send
forces into Iraq, but he has also been sharply
critical of Mr. Bush's failure to build a much
stronger coalition for the war and for his
handling of postwar operations. Still, Mr.
From points to Mr. Kerry's centrism on
issues such as free trade, his support for
welfare reform, and hints that school choice
vouchers may be worth trying on an
experimental basis. ‘I think Kerry could be
a very effective nominee. I think Kerry could
run as a New Democrat [in the general
election],’ Mr. From told me in an
interview. The DLC does not endorse
candidates, but Will Marshall, who runs the
DLC's Progressive Policy Institute, has been
advising Mr. Kerry. And Al From's embrace of
Mr. Kerry is the closest he has come to
publicly backing a candidate. Notably, he
mentioned no one else in the Democratic
pack. What worries Mr. From most is the
party's weakness on defense in an age of
terrorism. ‘The problem with [the
Democrats] is that we're not in the debate on
national security,’ he said. ‘We're at a time
when our country is in peril. The Democratic
nominee for president in 2004 has to first
cross the threshold on national security so
that voters will listen to him on the economy.
If we do that we'll have a chance of winning.
If we don't, we won't,’ he said.”(8/1/2003)
…
“Catholics were stunned at the broadside
from Kerry, saying he's sure to draw the ire
of some 65 million voting Catholics.” –
sentence from the following except on Kerry’s
call for the Vatican to stay out of American
politics. Headline from yesterday’s Boston
Herald: “Kerry raps Pope: Senator fuming
over gay marriage order” Excerpt from
coverage by Herald’s David R. Guarino: “Bluntly
telling the Vatican to stay out of American
politics, U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry yesterday
said Pope John Paul II ‘crossed the line’ by
instructing pols to block legalization of gay
marriage. A fuming Kerry, taking on
his own Catholic Church in the midst of a
campaign for president, said Rome should have
more respect for America's long-held
separation of church and state. ‘It is
important not to have the church instructing
politicians. That is an inappropriate crossing
of the line in this country,’ Kerry
said. ‘President Kennedy drew that line very
clearly in 1960 and I believe we need to stand
up for that line today.’ The Democrat said
political concerns are secondary to his moral
outrage over Thursday's Vatican statement on
gay marriage. ‘Our founding fathers
separated church and state in America. It is
an important separation,’ he said. ‘It is part
of what makes America different and special,
and we need to honor that as we go forward and
I'm going to fight to do that.’ Catholics were
stunned at the broadside from Kerry, saying
he's sure to draw the ire of some 65 million
voting Catholics. ‘What one often calls
separation of church and state guarantees the
religion the right to express its
convictions,’ said Monsignor Francis
Maniscalco of the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops. ‘To object to religious people's deep
moral convictions . . . would also create a
problem because it would also (fail to)
recognize something the First Amendment
guarantees.’ Former Vatican Ambassador
Raymond Flynn said Kerry was just wrong.
‘I don't see it as crossing any line at all,’
Flynn said. ‘Too many Catholic politicians
want to have it both ways, they want the
Catholic vote but then they go ahead and
ignore Catholic teaching.’ The Vatican
injected itself into the simmering gay
marriage debate Thursday, firing off a letter
issuing instructions to Catholic politicians
to oppose any legalization efforts…The
statement followed by a day strong comments
from President Bush denouncing gay marriage
proposals. Kerry, who supports civil unions
but opposes the legalization of same-sex
marriage, took pains to say, ‘I believe in
the church’ and ‘care about it enormously’ but
said church leaders went too far. Alone
among Democrats in criticizing the church,
Kerry said he didn't weigh the political
impact of his statement. ‘This isn't a matter
of political calculation, it's simply a matter
of strong personal beliefs,’ Kerry said.
The Democratic senator also railed against
Republicans who this week said Democratic
efforts to block the judicial nomination of
Alabama Attorney General William H. Pryor were
anti-Catholic. One group, the Ave Maria List,
ran print ads equating Democrats' opposition
to Pryor as saying ‘Catholics need not apply’
to the federal judiciary. ‘That couldn't be
further from the truth. This judge is not a
good judge,’ Kerry said. ‘He should not
be appointed to the court, and many of us who
are Catholic voted against him without regard
to Catholicism.’ Kerry also continued
his criticism of Bush's ‘faith-based’
programs, saying he would end government
funding to any religious group. The White
House and Kerry's opponents declined
comment. But the Republican National
Committee blamed the sudden attack on the
growing popularity of Kerry opponent, former
Vermont Gov. Howard Dean. ‘It seems like a
very odd political strategy to attack the
Catholic Church but Howard Dean is
forcing Sen. Kerry to take a number of
odd positions on a number of odd issues,’ said
RNC spokeswoman Christine Iverson.”(8/3/2003)
… Edwards
and Kerry discover common bond: Tax
delinquencies. Kerry’s tax problem surfaces a
day after the political world discovers
Edwards’ haphazard record in DC and NC.
Headline from Friday’s Boston Globe: “Bank
error blamed for late tax payment on Kerrys’
vacation home” Excerpt from coverage by
the Globe’s Glen Johnson: “A bank's lapse
left more than $10,000 in property taxes owed
on a vacation home overlooking Nantucket Sound
shared by Senator John F. Kerry and his wife,
Teresa Heinz Kerry. Mellon Financial
Corp., the Pittsburgh bank that manages the
trust owning the property, issued a statement
yesterday saying it had failed to pay the
fourth and final installment on the couple's
2003 tax assessment. That amount, $9,978.49,
was due to the town's tax collector on May 2.
When it went unpaid, the couple were
assessed interest, leaving the Kerrys
$10,326.79 in arrears…’It was our
responsibility to make the payment and we are
researching this matter to determine why the
fourth installment was not paid in a timely
way,’ said company spokesman Ron Gruendl. ''We
have sent the payment in the overnight mail.’
The amount of delinquent taxes owed could
be considered personally inconsequential to
the couple, with Heinz Kerry as the heiress to
a Heinz ketchup fortune assessed at more than
$550 million. The senator is also a
millionaire, according to his Senate financial
disclosure form. The Nantucket home is one
of five the couple share, although Heinz
Kerry is considered the sole owner of all
but one of them…Politically, the error
could prove something of an embarrassment,
coming at a time when Kerry, a candidate for
the Democratic presidential nomination, is
hammering President Bush over the fairness of
his tax-cut policy. The news of Kerry's
delinquency came the same day one of his
rivals for the nomination, Senator John
Edwards of North Carolina, conceded tax
problems. Confirming a report in The
Washington Times, the senator said he was
delinquent on more than $11,000 in property
taxes due on a house in Washington's
Georgetown section. He also said he had
been delinquent on several occasions on both
property and automobile tax payments in his
home state of North Carolina.” (8/3/2003)
…
In San Francisco, five wannabes outline
health care plans with two – Kucinich and
Moseley Braun – favoring universal approach
over private insurance system. Excerpts
from coverage of forum – at the United Food
and Commercial Workers’ convention – by the
San Francisco Chronicle’s Victoria Colliver:
“While all promised to reduce the number of
uninsured, two of the 2004 candidates -- Rep.
Dennis Kucinich of Ohio and former Sen.
Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois --
supported throwing out the private insurance
system in favor of a universal, single-payer
plan in the style of Medicare with a
prescription drug coverage. Former Vermont
Gov. Howard Dean and Sen. John Kerry of
Massachusetts, who joined the forum from
Washington, D.C., via satellite, proposed
expanding government programs to cover more
people. Rep. Richard Gephardt of Missouri
offered a plan to extend tax credits to
businesses to subsidize coverage to all
employees. While it's estimated to cost
more than $200 billion its first year -- more
than any of the plans on the table --
Gephardt promises it will cover 97 percent
of Americans. Gephardt wants to repeal
the Bush tax cuts, which he called a joke, and
put that money into health care…While
Gephardt sees keeping the health coverage
for those who already have it as an advantage,
candidates with a more purist approach to
universal coverage criticized his plan for
retaining too much of what they considered a
broken system. ‘I'm recognizing unless we
get the private sector out of health care, we
will never have health care for everybody in
this country,’ Kucinich told about
4,500 UFCW delegates gathered at the Moscone
Center. The union is concerned about health
care benefits, especially in light of its
efforts to unionize Wal-Mart Stores Inc…Kucinich's
proposal to establish a single-payer system
would cover all Americans, but critics
question whether there is the political will
to pass such a sweeping change. Moseley
Braun, who also supports such a system, said
she wants to shift the cost burden from
payroll taxes to income taxes because that
would decouple health care from employment.
‘Part of the problem is we have an
employment-based system,’ she said, adding
that the high cost of health care puts
American businesses at a competitive
disadvantage with businesses from other
countries that do not have to pay for health
care. Dean, also a physician, touted
the fact he has passed a state budget that
included extended health care coverage to
Vermont residents. ‘The advantage I have is
I have done it,’ he said…Kerry said
his plan lowers the cost of premiums by having
the government cover ‘catastrophic’ or
high-risk cases instead of allowing them to
remain in the employee risk pool. He said his
plan, which he says would cover 27 million
people immediately, would also help people pay
for 75 percent of the cost of COBRA, or
Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation
Act, which allows employees who leave or who
were laid off to pay for their group coverage
for a limited time. Kerry said the
country needs to stop considering health care
to be a privilege. ‘Health care is a right
for every single American. We have to cover
it.’” (8/3/2003)
…
Dean-Kerry battle now reduced to dispute over
Kerry’s plan for an Internet petition drive on
overtime proposal. Dean manager responds by
saying the Mass Sen is taking a page “straight
out of our book.” Headline from this
morning’s The Union Leader: “Kerry to
launch Internet petition drive on overtime”
Excerpt from report by AP Iowa caucus-watcher
Mike Glover: “Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry
planned to launch an Internet-based petition
drive today aimed at protesting the Bush
administration’s proposal to revamp overtime
pay standards. Kerry planned to use a
meeting with key labor activists to launch the
drive, becoming the first to sign the protest
petition on his campaign’s Web site. In
remarks prepared for delivery at the event,
Kerry warns that under the proposed standards,
as many as 8 million workers — including
firefighters and police officers — could lose
the ability to collect time-and-a-half pay
when they work more than 40 hours in a week.
‘For more than 60 years, the 40-hour work week
and overtime pay have protected workers from
exploitation — and rewarded hard work,’ said
Kerry, in remarks provided to The
Associated Press. ‘But under the radar
screen, while everyone’s attention was focused
elsewhere, George Bush has launched a sneak
attack on basic worker rights.’ Kerry
was launching the petition drive after a
private meeting with leaders of the largest
union representing state workers, an important
player in Democratic politics in the state
where precinct caucuses will launch the
Presidential nominating season next January.
Representing more than 20,000 state workers,
Council 61 of the American Federation of
State, County and Municipal Employees has a
long history of political activism. Kerry
was courting favor by focusing on the overtime
issues close to the hearts of organized
labor. In addition, Kerry was following in
the footsteps of one of his Democratic rivals
by using the Internet for his latest effort.
Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean has
aggressively used the Internet to build a
network of 200,000 volunteers and surpass his
Democratic rivals in raising money, much of
that money being generated online. Dean
campaign manager Joe Trippi dismissed the
latest Kerry move. ‘It’s taking something
straight out of our book, and that’s all
right,’ Trippi said. In his speech,
Kerry focused his fire on Bush, hoping to
build backing in one of the cornerstones of
the Democratic coalition, in a race that’s
increasingly competitive. Polls have shown
Dean and Kerry bunched together
in New Hampshire, evidence that Dean’s
campaign has built some momentum.” (8/3/2003)
… Dean, who is
making a practice of disrupting plans of other
wannabes, now has Kerry campaign divided over
whether to go on attack or just go with the
flow. Headline from Saturday’s Boston
Globe: “Kerry camp split on issue of Dean…
Tougher approach winning out, but some have
doubts” Excerpt from coverage by the
Globe’s Kerry-watcher. Glen Johnson: “Howard
Dean's strong fund-raising and recent rise in
public opinion polls have created a divide
within Senator John F. Kerry's presidential
campaign, between aides who want to attack the
former Vermont governor to stem the tide and
others who believe his wave of support will
crest on its own. The views of the more
aggressive group, represented by campaign
manager Jim Jordan, were reflected this week
when Kerry criticized any rival for the
Democratic nomination who favors repealing all
of the tax cuts enacted since President Bush
took office in 2001. At least three of the
nine candidates fit that billing, but aides
circulated the Massachusetts senator's
prepared text before a speech in Dover, N.H.,
and made it clear that Dean was the intended
target. ‘Real Democrats don't walk away
from the middle class,’ Kerry declared
Wednesday night. ‘They don't take away a tax
credit for families struggling to raise their
children or bring back a tax penalty for
married couples who are starting out or
penalize teachers and waitresses by raising
taxes on the middle class.’ A more reserved
group of advisers is typified by David McKean,
chief of staff in Kerry's Senate office. He
is among those who believe that Dean's current
political celebrity will fade with closer
media scrutiny; they foresee an inevitable
misstep for his campaign, and they argue that
engaging Dean only helps him. Both camps
are united in believing that Kerry has
built a strong campaign organization, and has
successfully husbanded resources for an
eventual showdown with Dean and the
other Democrats, according to interviews with
members of each group and other aides who
spoke on the condition of anonymity. The
senator is largely focused on executing a game
plan that calls for a mid-September public
declaration of his candidacy, a round of
policy speeches and endorsements aimed at
differentiating himself from his fellow
Democrats and President Bush, and his first
purchase of television time to air campaign
commercials in Iowa, New Hampshire, and other
early-voting states, several aides said.
Dean's political strength was evident
last month when he more than doubled his
support in a poll of likely voters in
California, the state with the most electoral
votes. He and Kerry were both in the
mid-teens, steady performance for Kerry
but an improvement of 8 percentage points for
Dean from a similar survey in April. At
the same time, Dean raised more than
any of his Democratic rivals during the second
three months of the year, taking in $7.6
million for the period ending June 30.
Kerry raised $5.9 million, which placed
him second for the second consecutive quarter,
but Dean's finish was a marked
improvement over the $2.6 million he raised
during the first three months of the year.
Dean's rise has prompted the internal debate
within the Kerry camp, but Jordan refused to
discuss it. ‘I have no comment whatsoever
on internal campaign conversations,’ he said
in an interview. Jordan professed respect for
Dean, saying, ‘He's a serious
candidate, as we suspected all along.’ One
campaign aide said Kerry's criticism on
Wednesday followed reports from Iowa that
Dean was planning to attack Kerry.
Throughout the week, though, Jordan displayed
the sharper tack in dealing with Dean.
One flashpoint was the governor's criticism
that Kerry and other Democrats in Congress did
not sufficiently question whether there were
weapons of mass destruction in Iraq before
approving a war resolution. ‘Governor Dean
is simply reinventing his own position and
that of others, and that's the rankest kind of
politics,’ Jordan told The New York Times.
‘He was an unemployed doctor with no
responsibilities, and it was easy to sit there
and take political potshots from the outside.’
The New York Post also quoted Jordan as saying
of Dean, ‘Ultimately, voters are going to
decide a small-town physician from a small and
atypical state is probably not qualified to
lead this nation in a dangerous world.’”
(8/4/2003)
… Kerry engages
usual targets – Dean and Bush -- during Iowa
visit. Headline from yesterday’s Omaha
World-Herald: “Kerry, visiting Bluffs,
calls GOP hypocritical” Excerpt’s from
report – datelined Council Bluffs – by
the World-Herald’s Robynn Tysver: “A
proposed national ban on gay marriages is an
example of Republican hypocrisy in action,
said U.S. Sen. John Kerry, a Democratic
contender for president. Republicans espouse
states rights except when they have a
hot-button agenda that they want to thrust
upon the states, said Kerry, who was in
Council Bluffs for a political rally
Monday. ‘Here all of a sudden they have one
of their push-button issues . . . so we're
going to tell the states what to do,’ Kerry
said. ‘It's a very unfortunate driving of the
wedge - that is the lowest common
denominator of politics.’ The
Massachusetts senator is considered one of the
front-runners in a field of nine for the
Democratic presidential nomination. He was in
Council Bluffs to attend a get-out-the-vote
rally for Paul Shomshor, a Democratic
candidate for the Iowa House of
Representatives …. Afterward, in an impromptu
press conference, Kerry spoke about his
opposition to a Republican proposal for a
constitutional ban on gay marriages. He also
talked about his opposition to President
Bush's tax cuts, and he criticized the
president for going to war without a plan for
peace…Kerry can’t even launch an
Internet petition without engaging Dean.
Headline from yesterday’s Sioux City Journal:
“Kerry launches petition to oppose labor
rules changes” Excerpt from report –
datelined Des Moines – by Kathie
Obradovich: “U.S.
Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., in Iowa to court
union votes, launched a petition on his
presidential campaign Web site Monday to
oppose proposed changes in labor rules that he
said would eliminate overtime pay for 8
million Americans.
A rival for
the Democratic presidential nomination, former
Vermont governor Howard Dean, posted a
similar petition on his Internet site Sunday,
according to Dean's Iowa campaign.
The Dean
campaign says it has put up more than a dozen
on-line petitions since April and suggests
that Kerry's new feature is ‘very similar’ to
theirs.
‘We welcome all candidates to launch their own
on-line petition efforts,’ Sarah Leonard,
spokeswoman for the Dean campaign in
Iowa, said.
Kerry, who signed his petition at an
Iowa public employee union hall, cautioned
against any claims of ownership over the
petition idea: ‘The last person who claimed
he invented the Internet didn't do so well,’
Kerry said. Former Vice President Al
Gore was often accused of making that
claim during the 2000 presidential campaign,
in which he won the Democratic nomination and
the popular vote in the general election.
Both Kerry and Dean are petitioning against
the Labor Department's proposal to change
rules classifying workers eligible for
time-and-a-half pay when they work more than
40 hours a week. Employees classified as
professional, administrative or executive who
make more than $22,100 a year, including
firefighters, police officers, nurses,
emergency medical technicians and store
supervisors, could be made exempt from
overtime pay. The Bush administration has said
the proposal is aimed at providing flexibility
for workers, who could use compensatory time
off instead of overtime pay. Kerry said
Republican George W. Bush's administration has
‘the worst jobs record since the Great
Depression.’…’It is extraordinary to me
that while chief executives in this country
are walking away with billions of dollars, the
Bush administration is prepared to beat up on
the average working person and now suggests
that they should not get overtime pay,’
Kerry said.”(8/6/2003)
… “Claim:
Kerry Aide Used Gay Smear to Help Defeat
Incumbent Senator” – Headline topping
Talon News item on GOPUSA. Excerpt from
coverage by Jeff Gannon: “In 1996, Jim Jordan,
campaign manager for Democrat presidential
contender Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), was
press secretary for Tim Johnson during his
challenge to then-incumbent Sen. Larry
Pressler (R-SD). The long, negative campaign
resulted in the end of the South Dakota
Republican's 22 years in Congress. During the
campaign, Pressler was dogged by questions
about his health, since his father suffered
with Alzheimer's disease. But the most
damaging attack was delivered by James
Abourezk, the man Pressler replaced in the
Senate in 1978. Abourezk brought Alexander
Cockburn, author of ‘Washington Babylon’ to
speak to a Sioux Falls group. In his book,
Cockburn alleged that Pressler was a
homosexual. Abourezk admitted repeating
the story saying, ‘I told everybody who would
listen to me.’ Jordan allegedly sought to
take advantage of the accusations, according
to a Lisa Lutterman, a Pressler worker.
Lutterman told The Mitchell Daily Republic
that Jim Jordan was ‘just ugly, mean spirited
and boasting that he would help destroy Larry
Pressler.’ She said Jordan declared that he
was ‘going to take Larry Pressler's liver and
rip it out.’ Although Jordan said that no
such conversation ‘ever took place,’ South
Dakota newspapers followed the story as
charges and countercharges kept the scandal
alive… Pressler has always denied that he was
gay and in 1998, Cockburn retracted the
allegation and withdrew his book from
publication in a settlement with the former
senator. At the time, the ‘gay smear’
generated little attention outside South
Dakota. But in 2003, gay issues are hotly
debated. Earlier this year, Jordan's wife,
Associated Press journalist Lara Jakes Jordan
conducted an interview with Sen. Rick Santorum
(R-PA) that touched off a firestorm. Santorum
maintained that his comments about the Texas
sodomy case were taken out of context by
Jordan.”(8/6/2003)
… “Chicago
Teamsters break for Kerry” – Headline from
yesterday’s Boston Herald. Excerpt: “Less
than a week after the powerful Teamsters union
endorsed Dick Gephardt for president, the
union's second-largest local affiliate is
bucking the party line and backing
Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry. The
21,000-member Chicago Teamsters Local 705 made
its announcement yesterday, the eve of an
AFL-CIO meeting in Chicago at which the
Democratic candidates will gather for a
presidential forum. Gerald Zero, the local's
secretary-treasurer, said the choice was not
part of any political dispute with the union's
leadership and said his local sometimes
disagrees with headquarters over political
endorsements. ‘We really didn't know they
were going to endorse Gephardt or do it this
fast either,’ Zero said of the union's
decision last week to back the Missouri
congressman. ‘We had planned on endorsing
Kerry a week earlier. We think Kerry has the
better chance to win.’”(8/6/2003)
… Kerry defends
education vote in New Hampshire – and hits GWB
for inadequate funding. Headline from this
morning’s The Union Leader: “Kerry faces
skeptical teachers at NEA conference”
Excerpts from coverage by AP’s Holly
Ramer: “Facing a skeptical crowd of
teachers, Democratic presidential candidate
John Kerry defended his vote for the federal
‘No Child Left Behind Act’ on Thursday while
criticizing President Bush for underfunding
the far-reaching education reform law.
Speaking at the National Education Association
of New Hampshire convention, the Massachusetts
senator repeated his promise to ‘hold this
president accountable for making a mockery of
the words no child left behind." But some
in the audience wanted to hold Kerry
accountable for supporting the 2002 law, which
requires states that accept federal money to
broaden academic testing, triple spending for
literacy programs and meet new standards for
pupil performance. Cathie Partridge-White
asked Kerry how he could say a
1,200-page bill preserves local control over
education. Kerry responded that states do
not have to accept federal money. He
defended his support of the bill's goals,
saying it wasn't his fault that Bush has not
provided enough money. ‘We can't sit here and
pretend there wasn't something to address,’
Kerry said of problems plaguing the
education system. ‘Regrettably, this
administration turned its back on the deal it
made.’ Administration officials and
Republican lawmakers have insisted that the
law is adequately funded. Kerry
acknowledged that the law needs to be changed.
‘I'm on your side,’ he said. ‘I don't want you
to have to teach rote. I don't want testing to
be the be-all and end-all.’ The answer didn't
satisfy Partridge-White, president of the
Derry, N.H., teacher's union, but Mary Boland
had a more favorable impression. ‘I understand
what he's saying. We have to make a start
somewhere. And I think if he gets elected,
he has enough clout that he could fix it,’
said Boland, a recently retired English
teacher from Salem, N.H. Both women were among
250 educators who also heard from Kerry
rival, Sen. John Edwards of North
Carolina, a day earlier. Noting that
Edwards didn't face the same grilling as
Kerry, Boland suggested that the group may not
have taken him as seriously. He ‘seems
like a nice young man, but I'm not sure he has
the clout to perform,’ Boland said. ‘He's a
neophyte, a nice neophyte, but I don't see him
having the clout Kerry would.’”(8/8/2003)
… “Kerry
blasts Cuomo for ‘babble’ remark” –
headline from yesterday’s The Union Leader.
Excerpts from report on Kerry campaign
stop in Derry, NH: “Responding to criticism
by prominent Democrat Mario Cuomo, John Kerry
said yesterday the former New York governor
needs to listen more closely to the messages
of the nine Democratic Presidential
contenders. ‘Cuomo ought to listen to what
we’re saying . . . I think people are going to
listen not to labels, but what your policies
are,’ Kerry said while campaigning in
New Hampshire yesterday. On Wednesday,
Cuomo labeled the comments by Democratic
contenders as ‘babble’ and said they lack a
unified voice. He called for former Vice
President Al Gore to enter the
campaign. Gore has said he was not
going to run, but would endorse one of the
candidates later in the election cycle.
Kerry also said his policies are strongly in
line with former President Bill Clinton,
despite his promise to keep tax cuts for the
middle class. When asked how important an
endorsement from Gore would be,
Kerry said ‘endorsements are welcome,’ but
that they are ‘not the whole deal by any
stretch of the imagination.’ Kerry said the
election was not about gaining endorsements,
but focusing on health care, improving the
economy and providing stronger homeland
security. The Massachusetts senator toured
shops in downtown Derry, played classical
guitar and flipped burgers in the kitchen of a
restaurant.” (8/10/2003)
… Kerry
Distortion I: In the “Inside Politics”
column in Friday’s Washington Times, Jennifer
Harper reported that Kerry has come under
attack from medical marijuana advocates.
The item: “Medical
marijuana fans are accusing presidential
contender Sen. John Kerry of flip-flopping on
the issue to the point where he now
essentially embraces the Bush administration's
position. The Massachusetts Democrat said
Wednesday he'd put off any final decision on
medical marijuana because there's ‘a study
under way analyzing what the science is.’ But
Aaron Houston of the Granite Staters for
Medical Marijuana said that just a month
ago Mr. Kerry seemed to endorse medical
marijuana use, and when asked about the
content of his mysterious study, said, ‘I am
trying to find out. I don't know.’ Mr.
Kerry did say his ‘personal disposition is
open to the issue of medical marijuana’ and
that he'd stop Drug Enforcement Administration
raids on patients using the stuff under
California's medical marijuana law. Mr.
Houston said that rang hollow. ‘I was
embarrassed for the senator,’ Mr. Houston
said. ‘He seemed so afraid to take a clear
stand that he hid behind a study he knows
nothing about — and which may not even exist.’ Mr.
Kerry could end up endorsing the same
policy as Attorney General John Ashcroft, who
shepherded the DEA policy against medical
marijuana users, Mr. Houston said — leaving
Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich as the most medical
marijuana-friendly presidential candidate.
The Ohio Democrat has promised to issue an
executive order allowing its use.” (8/10/2003)
… Kerry
Distortion II. Mass wannabe claims blue
ribbon in health care derby – after juggling
with the ratings. Headline from Friday’s
Washington Post: “Experts Question Kerry’s
‘First Prize’ in Health Care Plans”
Condensed account of coverage by the Post’s
Ceci Connolly: “On the campaign trail and
on his Internet site, Sen. John F. Kerry
(D-Mass.) boasts that a bipartisan group of
policy experts has rated his proposal to
reform health care ‘the best’ among those
offered by the presidential candidates,
including President Bush's plan. He even
features a ‘First Prize’ blue ribbon on his
Web site. But the statement is, at best, a
questionable extrapolation of a recent report
on the candidates' health plans, say the
analysts who rated them. The10
reviewers cited by Kerry say they did not
choose a top health plan and would be at pains
to label one ‘the best.’ In interviews,
some of them described Kerry's statements as
‘completely wrong,’ ‘patently untrue’ and
‘inappropriate and rather misleading.’
Kerry aides, noting that a bit of puffery
is common in campaigns, say the claim results
from simple math. They took a set of scores
compiled by National Journal magazine on July
19 and tallied them. The result, according to
his campaign Web site and press releases:
‘Kerry Wins Health Care Primary! Bipartisan
panel of experts say Kerry plan to make health
care accessible, affordable for all Americans
rates above all other '04 candidates.’ The
10 analysts ‘all agreed that John Kerry's
plan is the best choice for doctors, health
care workers, businesses and all Americans
looking for a solution to the health care
crisis that has plagued our country for too
long.’…’That's completely wrong in two
ways,’ said reviewer Paul Ginsburg,
president of the Center for Studying Health
System Change. ‘We didn't agree on anything,
and we were never asked to give an overall
rating.’ National Journal asked 10 policy
analysts of divergent political ideology to
rate the candidates' ideas for health care in
10 broad areas on a scale of 1 to 5.
Categories included the uninsured, pricing,
quality of care, government expense and
accessibility…Often a high score in one
area led to a lower score in another. Rep.
Richard A. Gephardt's plan, for
instance, scored 4.5 for covering the
uninsured, but his ambitious plan is quite
expensive, which meant a 1.4 in limiting
government costs. Gephardt (D-Mo.) had the
highest rating in four categories; Kerry in
three. Former Vermont governor Howard
Dean, a physician, received the top score
for plans to reduce medical errors, while
Bush scored highest for minimizing
administrative burden. Kerry
spokesman Robert Gibbs compared the campaign's
exercise to tallying up Olympic scores to
determine the gold medalist. ‘Simply adding
the scores together, John Kerry's plan
received the highest score,’ he said.
Kerry policy adviser Sarah Bianchi noted
that Gephardt has bragged about the
categories in which he scored well. ‘We're
both showing the data in a way that makes our
best case,’ she said. But the analysts said
it would be misleading to tally the figures,
because not every category deserves equal
weight…Jack Meyer, president of the
Economic and Social Research Institute, said
Kerry's attempt to compare ‘apples and
oranges’ is ‘inappropriate and rather
misleading.’ The Kerry campaign's math gave
him a 29.2, with Bush in second place with a
28.9. Candidates received ‘not applicable’
if they did not provide enough information,
which Kerry aides scored as 0.”(8/10/2003)
…
Apparently tired of trying to explain his vote
for the Iraq resolution, Kerry moves on to
another foreign policy issue that he probably
knows even less about – Liberia. Headline
from the New Hampshire Sunday News – “Kerry
raps Bush on Liberia response in Manchester”
Report – an excerpt – from Union Leader
staffer Mark Hayward: “Democratic
Presidential hopeful John Kerry said U.S.
troops should have been sent to Liberia sooner
and promised he would only commit military
personnel abroad if he could face the parents
of a dead soldier. ‘The test is whether
you can look in the eye of a parent as
commander in chief and say, ‘This had to
happen,’ ‘ Kerry, a Vietnam veteran,
said as he spoke to a family in the city’s
North End yesterday. The Massachusetts
senator spent about an hour knocking on doors
of likely Democratic primary voters on Ray
Street. Some 300 Kerry volunteers from
Massachusetts and New Hampshire complemented
his effort after getting handfuls of
literature and a pep talk at Kerry’s
Manchester campaign headquarters. They
were expected to visit homes in Manchester,
Nashua, Concord and Derry. A separate group
met in Dover and canvassed there. In speaking
with one family, Kerry said he had
wanted President Bush to commit troops to
Liberia earlier. ‘We’ve dilly-dallied;
we’ve lost lives. It’s a very poor show of the
United States of America to do what is right,’
Kerry said. On Wednesday, seven Marines
flew into Liberia to coordinate U.S.
logistical support for a peacekeeping force of
West African soldiers. Some 2,000 Marines are
on ships off the coast of Liberia, but Bush
has said they will not enter the country until
besieged President Charles Taylor departs.
Taylor is pinned in the capital by a
2-month-old rebel siege, which has led to the
deaths of more than 1,000 civilians and
created widespread hunger and sickness.
Kerry said he supported former President
Clinton’s military efforts in Kosovo and he
would have sent troops to Rwanda, where in
1994 an estimated 800,000 died in genocidal
attacks. Kerry, who voted to send
troops to Iraq, said Bush should have done
more to build an international coalition and
legitimacy for the war.” (8/11/2003)
… Another view of
Philly forum. Headline from
yesterday’s Washington Post: “Dem.
Candidates Blast Republicans Over California”
Yesterday’s Daily Report carried a story about
the Dem wannabes commenting on tax cuts at the
Philadelphia forum, but they discussed other
topics. This excerpt from the Post – a Reuters
report – was one of the most interesting: “Democratic
presidential candidates blasted California's
recall campaign against Gov. Gray Davis on
Monday, calling it part of a larger Republican
assault on the U.S. electoral process. At
a political forum near the Liberty Bell, seven
of the nine Democrats vying for the right to
oppose President Bush in 2004 said
California was being swept by the same
right-wing tactics used against Democrats in
Florida and Texas and during the impeachment
of former President Clinton. ‘This is an
attack on the institutions of our government.
That's what Republicans do,’ U.S. Rep. Dick
Gephardt of Missouri told hundreds of
union leaders at Philadelphia's National
Constitution Center. Nearly 200 Californians,
including Hollywood actor Arnold
Schwarzenegger and porn magazine publisher
Larry Flynt, are hoping to replace Davis in a
special Oct. 7 recall election sparked by the
state's fiscal and economic woes. Republican
Congressman Darrell Issa, a wealthy
conservative, spent $1.7 million to fuel the
petition drive that led to the recall against
Davis, a Democrat who was reelected in
November. Bush, former governor of Texas,
weighed in last week by saying he felt the
Austrian-born Schwarzenegger would make a good
governor for the nation's largest state, which
Bush lost decisively to former Vice President
Al Gore in 2000. On Monday, Democratic
presidential hopefuls likened the California
contest to the political confrontation three
years ago in Florida that left the 2000
presidential election to be decided by the
U.S. Supreme Court. ‘We may disagree, the
seven of us here tonight, on a lot of things.
But we don't disagree on this one,’ said Sen.
Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, Gore's
2000 running mate. Some compared the
California recall to the wrangling between
Republicans and Democrats in Texas over an
aggressive Republican redistricting plan. ‘I
think it insults democracy in this country.
It's wrong,’ said Sen. John Kerry of
Massachusetts, who called on California voters
to retain Davis. ‘They should overwhelmingly
reject this right-wing, ideological
interference in the electoral process of the
United States of America,’ he added. Two
Democratic hopefuls -- Sen. Bob Graham
of Florida and Sen. John Edwards of
North Carolina -- did not attend Monday
night's forum in Philadelphia.” (8/13/2003)
… Article of the
day. Cyberattacks fuel latest
chapter of the Dean-Kerry rivalry as Deanies
raid the Mass Sen’s new Internet venture.
Headline from yesterday’s Boston Herald: “Dean
fans flog blog, rip Kerry to threads”
Excerpt from report by the Herald’s Andrew
Miga: “The testy rivalry between
presidential hopefuls John F. Kerry and Howard
Dean has spilled over to Kerry's new campaign
Web log, which has been swamped with mocking
messages from Dean backers. ‘Kerry
a real Democrat???!!!’ taunted one Dean
supporter with ‘Sam’ as an online name.
‘That's a laugh.’ Desperate to capture
some of the cybermagic that propelled the
former Vermont governor to the top tier of the
2004 Democratic pack, Kerry on Saturday
launched a web log, or ‘blog,’ to chronicle
his travels and rally supporters. But the
Bay State senator's online journal - patterned
after Dean's hugely successful
BlogforAmerica.com - was soon invaded by
swarms of taunting Dean supporters, turning
cyberspace into the latest Kerry-Dean rift.
‘Right after GWBush, I want to beat John
Kerry the most,’ wrote one blogger.
Several pro-Dean bloggers lashed
Kerry for stealing the former Vermont
governor's Internet-savvy campaign tactics.
‘When (Kerry) finds out that Dean
has got momentum, he's copying everything from
him,’ wrote a blogger identified as ‘copycatkerry.’
The Kerry camp, while dismissing such
Internet sparring as campaign pranksterism,
insisted the online rants have badly misfired.
‘The Dean trolls have actually fired up
Kerry supporters, and increased their energy
and excitement to organize for John Kerry,’
said Kerry spokeswoman Kelley Benander.
‘Troll’ is web slang for people who post
harassing comments. Some bloggers posted a
list of Kerry's missed Senate votes.
Others ripped Kerry for backing the
Iraq war, for not being liberal enough and for
attacking Dean. ‘Kerry and his
campaign manager Jim Jordan have been saying
nasty things about Dean all along. They
attack Dean, we speak back on their
blog. Seems fair to me,’ wrote blogger
‘Dave.’ A blogger named ‘Trey Phish Head’
claimed he was a Dean backer and a
‘shallow lonely stoner that lives to spam my
enemy.’ Such comments irked Kerry
supporters, who responded with a volley of
blistering blog entries. ‘Until this stops,
I am going to raise hell on the Dean boards,
and I encourage all Kerry people to join me,’
ranted a blogger known as ‘Pocki,’ who added
angrily, ‘(Dean) is a traitor anyway.’
Another Kerry backer blasted Dean
supporters for ‘attacking like trust fund
babies.’ The cyberskirmishing prompted an
online plea from Dean campaign manager Joe
Trippi urging supporters not to post messages
on rival blogs. Other pro-Dean bloggers
apologized for the vitriolic messages from
fellow Dean backers. ‘I am truly
embarrassed that some alleged Dean
supporters have posted nasty messages,’ wrote
blogger ‘Passing Shot.’ Some were frustrated
by both sides. ‘All I found on one side are
potty-mouthed Deanies - and on the other,
snooty Kerryites,’ wrote ‘Lilly James.’
Aides to both Kerry and Dean suggested
mischievous Republicans could also be behind
some of the anti-Kerry entries allegedly from
Dean supporters. ‘Who knows who is
actually writing this stuff?,’ asked Benander,
noting the difficulty of confirming identities
online. Dean spokeswoman Dorie Clark
had no comment.” (8/14/2003)
… Kerry –
in an apparent competition with Dean on farm
policy announcements – outlined his proposal
a day before Dean yesterday detailed his
proposal just a couple counties away. (See
yesterday’s Daily Report for more on Dean’s
proposal.) Headline on Kerry’s
announcement from yesterday’s Mason City Globe
Gazette: “Kerry touts farm reform”
Excerpt from John Skipper’s coverage –
datelined Klemme: “Standing in
front of a hog confinement operation owned by
the DeCoster family, U.S. Sen. John Kerry said
Tuesday the ‘corporatization’ of agriculture
is destroying the family farm and pledged that
as president he would press for reforms.
‘Corporate farmers ought to be regulated like
the big-time industries they are,’ he said.
Kerry, D-Mass., one of nine Democrats
seeking the party’s 2004 presidential
nomination, offered a five-point program of
reforms. ‘Corporations have an unacceptable
concentration of power. We need to restructure
environmental laws and we need an attorney
general who understands anti-trust laws and
enforces them,’ he said. Kerry’s
reform plan calls for: Banning the
corporate packer ownership of livestock,
restructuring the Environmental Quality
Incentive Program to ensure it benefits family
farmers, requires a comprehensive nutrient
management plan and ensures its funds are used
as intended, enforcing antitrust laws if a
merger reduces competition to the degree that
if affects prices to hog producers, protecting
independent farmers from discriminatory
pricing, and insisting the EPA and USDA work
together to work with states to set and
enforce environmental protection rules and
laws. Kerry met with supporters at the
Rose Bowl in Mason City and then headed
for Klemme, stopping once to view from
the roadside a hog confinement operation south
of Ventura. He then went to the site of
the DeCoster hog operation about 300 yards
from the property of Gloria Goll of Klemme.”(8/14/2003)
… In Iowa –
where pro-trade policies are pushed by farmers
and commodity groups – Edwards and Gephardt
brag about leading the fight against trade.
Headline from this morning’s The Union
Leader: “Democrats court key labor vote”
Excerpts of coverage from Iowa Federation of
Labor convention in Waterloo by AP’s
Mike Glover: “Six Democratic
presidential candidates sketched out
differences on health care and trade Wednesday
as they competed for the backing of organized
labor, which is key to securing the party's
nomination. North Carolina Sen. John
Edwards and Missouri Rep. Richard
Gephardt bragged that they've led the
fight against trade deals, saying the deals
resulted in American jobs being shipped
overseas and declining wages. The two men
criticized their rivals who have supported
trade pacts in the past. ‘Most of them
were for those treaties when they were before
Congress,’ said Gephardt, wagging his
finger. Added Edwards: ‘There are a lot
of Democrats have never seen a trade agreement
they didn't like.’ Trade is a key issue for
organized labor because an effort to expand
the North American Free Trade Agreement is
pending before Congress. Massachusetts Sen.
John Kerry conceded that he had voted for
trade agreements during the Clinton
administration, but argued that he now
opposes expansion of those agreements. ‘During
the Clinton years I voted for trade, but we
have seen a sea change over those years,’
Kerry said. Florida Sen. Bob Graham
said he would push for protections in any
trade agreements negotiated with other
countries. ‘If we have a level playing field,
we can win,’ he said. Kerry, Graham and
Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman all voted in
favor of the original NAFTA, but Kerry and
Graham argued that it is now time for
additional protections. Former Vermont
Gov. Howard Dean said he supported
NAFTA because it was good for his state.
Dean now wants labor and environmental
standards added to it. Ohio Rep. Dennis
Kucinich said he would pull out of the World
Trade Organization and cancel NAFTA altogether.
‘Anyone who talks about changing it doesn't
know what he's talking about,’ he said.
Kerry and Graham argued that Gephardt's $200
billion-plus plan to expand the nation's
health care system was too expensive,
although all of the candidates have their own
plans to fix the system.” (8/14/2003)
… Could a “dollop of
Cheez Whiz” – or absence of “a dollop of Cheez
Whiz” – be costly to Kerry’s presidential
aspirations? Headline from yesterday’s
Washington Post: “Steak Raises Stakes for
Kerry in Philly” Excerpt from coverage by
the Post’s Dana Milback: “If Sen. John F.
Kerry's presidential aspirations melt like a
dollop of Cheez Whiz in the sun, the trouble
may well be traced to an incident in South
Philadelphia on Monday. There, the
Massachusetts Democrat went to Pat's Steaks
and ordered a cheesesteak -- with Swiss
cheese. If that weren't bad enough,
the candidate asked photographers not to take
his picture while he ate the sandwich;
shutters clicked anyway, and Kerry was
caught nibbling daintily at his sandwich
-- another serious faux pas. ‘It will doom
his candidacy in Philadelphia,’ predicted
Craig LaBan, food critic for the Philadelphia
Inquirer, which broke the Sandwich Scandal.
After all, Philly cheesesteaks come with Cheez
Whiz, or occasionally American or provolone.
But Swiss cheese? ‘In Philadelphia, that's
an alternative lifestyle,’ LaBan
explained. And don't even mention Kerry's
dainty bites. ‘Obviously, Kerry's a
high-class candidate, and he misread the
etiquette,’ LaBan said. ‘Throwing fistfuls
of steak into the gaping maw, fingers dripping
-- that's the proper way.’ For Kerry,
a Boston Brahmin, this is something of a sore
spot. As he seeks to lose his reputation
for $75 Salon Cristophe haircuts, Turnbull &
Asser shirts and long fingernails to play
classical guitar, he has been seen riding a
motorcycle and doing other regular-guy things.
Appearing out of touch with the common man
can be deadly for a candidate. Recall
George H.W. Bush's wonderment in the 1992
campaign upon coming across a supermarket
scanner, and Sargent Shriver's legendary
request for a Courvoisier while visiting a
milltown bar in 1972. Kerry spokesman
Robert Gibbs insisted that the candidate was
‘not taking a dainty nibble’ of the steak.
‘I suspect that Kerry was thinking
about provolone cheese but became distracted
by thinking of the more than 3 million jobs
that have slipped through the holes of George
W. Bush's economic plan.’ The owner of Pat's
Steaks, Frank Olivieri, was forgiving, though
he points out that Bill Clinton and Al Gore
knew to ask for Whiz. ‘It happens,’ he
said. ‘I swayed him to the Cheez Whiz. If
you're eating in Philadelphia, you eat what I
serve you.’ At least Kerry didn't ask
for Camembert.”(8/14/2003)
… Wealthy
wannabe – Kerry – indicates he would consider
Social Security means-testing for rich
Americans. Headline from yesterday’s
Boston Globe: “Kerry hints at reform for
Social Security” The Globe’s Glen Johnson
– one of a small army of reporters covering
the wannabes in IA this week – reported on
Kerry’s campaign stop in Webster City.
Excerpt: “Declaring ‘I am blessed to be
wealthy,’ Senator John F. Kerry said that, if
elected president, he would consider some form
of means-testing for rich Americans as part of
a broader review of ideas to shore up the
Social Security system. The Massachusetts
Democrat told a group of Hamilton County
political activists late Tuesday that one
idea bearing exploration is eliminating Social
Security payments to the wealthy after they
have recouped the money they paid into the
federal retirement program during their
working life. ‘Rich people are getting
checks from poor people, well beyond what they
put into the system,’ said Kerry, a
millionaire in his own right and the husband
of Teresa Heinz Kerry. She is a philanthropist
and heiress to the Heinz ketchup empire whose
net worth has been estimated at more than $550
million. Kerry said he had a right to
recoup his personal tax payments into the
retirement system but no need for government
support beyond that. A spokeswoman for the
AARP said that the nonpartisan association
would not comment on candidates' positions,
but added that it did not support
means-testing for Social Security recipients.
Another idea Kerry said he would
consider is raising the cut-off point after
which people no longer pay into the system.
Americans pay Social Security taxes only on
the first $86,000 they earn in a year.
Kerry said he has heard suggestions about
raising that threshold as a way of building up
the fund for the pending retirement of the
baby boom generation. ‘Maybe people ought
to pay up to $100,000 or $120,000, I don't
know,’ the senator said. The baby boom
generation is expected to put a tremendous
strain on the retirement system, and the
government projects that Social Security could
be insolvent by 2042. But tinkering with
Social Security is considered akin to touching
the third rail in politics, because poorer
Americans have relied on the program since it
was instituted by President Franklin D.
Roosevelt in 1935. And older Americans who
are receiving Social Security checks are an
active and potent group of voters. Kerry
presented his ideas in response to an audience
question. Aware of the potential political
peril, he took pains to couch his remarks,
both to the county Democrats and to a group of
reporters who interviewed him after the
appearance. He said he has not committed
to the ideas and would consider them only
after assembling ‘a group of wise souls who've
been through the process’ to conduct a larger
review of Social Security. Kerry also
said he has decided against two ideas that
have already generated protests: raising the
full Social Security retirement age beyond 67,
and reducing the payments made under the
program.”(8/15/2003)
… “Still
time for Kerry – but hold the ketchup” –
Headline on David Yepsen’s political column in
yesterday’s Des Moines Register. Excerpt from
column with a Webster City dateline: “John
Kerry's presidential hopes in Iowa rest with
people like Ramona Timm, a Blairsburg farmer
who showed up here Tuesday night to hear the
Massachusetts senator. ‘He had some good
points,’ she said after his speech to about 75
Hamilton County Democrats. ‘I like Senator
Kerry. I like Howard Dean. I
haven't had a chance to meet them all yet so
I'm open-minded." For Kerry, that's
good news. With all the buzz about Dean's
momentum or Dick Gephardt's trouble in the
polls, there's a tendency by some in the
political community to forget it's five months
until caucuses Jan. 19, when people like
Timm have to make a choice. And Kerry needs
every minute of that time. He's running
third in polls in Iowa. He started campaigning
here later than other candidates, and hasn't
spent as much time here. His vote to authorize
a war in Iraq caused a number of anti-war
Democrats to bypass him in favor of Dean.
Then there was the bout with prostate cancer
that slowed him down. Now, just when he's
trying to put his political flaps down to lift
his campaign, the political fiasco in
California is crowding out media coverage of -
and money for - the Democratic presidential
race. It wasn't supposed to be this way.
Kerry, a seasoned U.S. senator and
decorated Vietnam veteran, was seen by many
early on as the national heavy favorite to
beat President Bush. He was smart, rich,
experienced, conversant on issues and
bulletproofed from any Republican inferences
he was weak on defense. Unfortunately for
Kerry, it hasn't played out that way.
His base is being piecemealed. He's lost some
of the urban liberals to Dean over the war.
He's lost some of the populists to Dennis
Kucinich. Gephardt denies him some in the
labor movement. Too many Democrats worry
he'll be pegged as too liberal, as were the
last two Massachusetts Democratic presidential
candidates, Edward Kennedy and Michael
Dukakis. And there are days when Kerry must
feel snake bit. On Wednesday, the
Washington Post even wrote a story about how
Kerry went to Philadelphia and ordered
a cheese steak sandwich made with - horrors -
Swiss cheese instead of Cheez Whiz. That's a
little like coming to the Iowa State Fair and
ordering oysters on the half-shell. John
Norris, Kerry's well- regarded campaign
manager in Iowa, said such negativism is
getting to some of the younger staffers. He
said he had to buck them up in this week's
staff conference call by saying their jobs are
to quietly build the organization, not worry
about the buzz. He said Kerry's
campaign is picking up key supporters in every
county, people who understand the caucus
process and can mobilize others…Kerry is
also delivering a punchier, less esoteric
message. He told reporters here he's
‘coming out of spring training’ and ‘I save my
best for last.’ That's good, but it can be
risky. He told the audience here the
country should consider raising Social
Security taxes on incomes above $86,000 or
capping the retirement benefits paid to
wealthy Americans. Later he said those
were just ‘options’ he was considering. There
was a time, back in the good old days, when
presidential candidates could get away with
winging it in Iowa, with trying out new ideas
or brainstorming out loud with voters. No
more. Not when you are always followed by a
half-dozen reporters noting your every word.
In Iowa, with one of the oldest populations in
the country, you especially don't ad lib on
something as politically sensitive as Social
Security. Will somebody make sure Kerry
doesn't put ketchup on his Maid-Rite?”(8/15/2003)
Kerry
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Kerry Aug. 16-31, 2003
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