NOTE to Senator John F. Kerry (D-Mekong Delta): Yes, John. This tone is the right tone. Do not flinch, do not parse, do not pull any punches. Speak for the soldiers, speak for the firefighters, speak for the 9/11 Families. Shine the bright white light of truth on the incredible shrinking _resident. But you must be ready to pick up the lightening rod of the Bush cabal's pre-9/11 INCOMPETENCE, you must be ready to call for the RESIGNATIONS of Rice and Ashcroft over 9/11 and Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and Cheney over Iraq. You must be willing to either speak to their egregious mistakes which will hopefully be documented in the 9/11 Commission's final report due in July, BUT you must also be ready to speak to their egregious mistakes and FAILURES if the 9/11 Commission wimps out or breaks apart. Do not be afraid of speaking about their pre-9/11 failures. Yes, it is prudent to wait for the 9/11 Commission to finish it work and hopefully produce a report worthy of the suffering of the 9/11 Families, but once the end game is played out you must pick up the lighenting rod either way. 9/11 is the shame of this White House, not its strength. The 2004 US Presidential election is a national referendum on the CREDIBILITY, COMPETENCE and CHARACTER of the incredible shrinking _resident revolves, indeed, around the issue of SECURITY: NATIONAL SECURITY, ECONOMIC SECURITY, SOCIAL SECURITY, ENVIRONMENTAL SECUITY...There is an Electorate Uprising coming in November...
Dab Balz, Washington Post: "Home base for George Bush in this race, as you saw to the nth degree in his press conference, is terror," Kerry told about 100 donors at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in New York. "Ask him a question and he's going to go to terror," Kerry said. "And everything he did in Iraq, he's going to try to persuade people it has to do with terror, even though everybody here knows that it has nothing whatsoever to do with al Qaeda and everything to do with an agenda that they had preset, determined. That's where they're going to go."
Cleanse the White House of the Chickenhawk Coup, Show
Up for Democracy in 2004: Defeat Bush (again!)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15951-2004Apr15.html
Bush Uses 'Terror' as A Fallback, Kerry Says U.N. Role in Iraq His Idea, Senator Adds
By Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 16, 2004; Page A04
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J., April 15 -- Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) accused President Bush on Thursday of exploiting the war on terrorism, saying the president has tried to draw links between Iraq and the al Qaeda terrorist network for political purposes. He vowed to convince voters that he can do a better job than Bush in fighting to keep the country safe.
"Home base for George Bush in this race, as you saw to
the nth degree in his press conference, is terror,"
Kerry told about 100 donors at a Democratic National
Committee fundraiser in New York.
"Ask him a question and he's going to go to terror,"
Kerry said. "And everything he did in Iraq, he's going
to try to persuade people it has to do with terror,
even though everybody here knows that it has nothing
whatsoever to do with al Qaeda and everything to do
with an agenda that they had preset, determined.
That's where they're going to go."
Kerry's criticism drew another swift reply from Bush's
campaign chairman, Marc Racicot, who said Kerry's
"reckless allegation" demonstrates "a profound
misunderstanding" of the global war on terrorism and
the threat facing the United States.
"On a day when Osama bin Laden again threatened the
United States and our allies, it is disturbing to
realize that John Kerry neither recognizes nor
understands the murderous ideology of our enemies and
the threat that they pose to our nation," Racicot said
in a statement.
On a busy day that took Kerry from the morning New
York fundraiser to Washington for an appearance at
Howard University and a private meeting with Cardinal
Theodore E. McCarrick, and then to New Jersey for
another fundraiser, the presumptive Democratic
presidential nominee repeatedly attacked his opponent
and the Republican Party on terrorism, taxes and the
economy.
Continuing to draw differences with Bush over Iraq,
Kerry accused the administration of now embracing his
calls for giving the United Nations a significant role
in overseeing the creation of a new government. But
for the second day in a row, Kerry, who prides himself
on his expertise in foreign policy, repeatedly
misnamed the U.N. special representative, Lakhdar
Brahimi, who is helping to negotiate the terms of the
transfer of power to the Iraqis on June 30. Kerry
referred to him as "Brandini."
"What you're seeing already is the administration is
essentially trying to implement my strategy without
admitting they're implementing my strategy," he said.
"They've got Brandini over there, and he's
negotiating. They've basically turned over the
decision of what they're going to turn over the
government to, to Brandini -- whatever he creates. . .
. And they're desperately trying to avoid a visible
public transfer of authority to the U.N., because that
would be an admission of failure in the way they've
approached it."
Republicans said Kerry's latest criticism of Bush was
especially ill-timed because of the new bin Laden
tape, but Kerry spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said the
issue was not whether the nation is united in its
determination to bring bin Laden to justice but what
she called Bush's shifting rationale for going to war
in Iraq.
Saying even Secretary of State Colin L. Powell agreed
there was no link between al Qaeda and Iraq before the
war, Cutter said Iraq has now become a breeding ground
for terrorists. "This president has to decide what the
mission is in Iraq and how we're going to achieve that
goal instead of challenging John Kerry's patriotism
and his commitment to the security of this nation,"
she said.
At Howard University, where Kerry held a
question-and-answer session with students, he sought
to rebut charges by the Bush campaign that he would
raise taxes significantly as president by asserting
that despite Bush's tax cuts, most middle-class
Americans have seen their overall tax burdens rise
because the weak economy has forced state and local
governments to raise taxes and colleges to raise
tuition.
After the campus event, Kerry met with McCarrick for
about 45 minutes, at Kerry's request. Campaign
officials declined to provide any information, with
Cutter calling it "a private meeting between a man and
a member of his clergy."
Kerry, who is likely to be the first Roman Catholic
presidential nominee since John F. Kennedy in 1960,
supports abortion rights, which puts him at odds with
the church's position. McCarrick heads a church task
force addressing the issue of what to do about
politicians who openly disagree with the church's
teaching.
Some Catholic prelates have criticized Kerry, and
Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis said he would
not want Kerry to take communion in his archdiocese.
On Easter, McCarrick defended the bishops' right to
criticize Kerry during an interview with "Fox News
Sunday," saying, "It's an issue, yes."
McCarrick said Kerry "certainly should follow the
teachings of the church" but stopped short of saying
he would recommend denying communion to Kerry. "I
would want to get to talk to him, get to see him and
get to understand him before I would make a decision
like that," he said.
Staff researcher Brian Faler contributed to this
report.
© 2004 The Washington Post Company