| Mainstream Media | Have Truth Commentary |
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URL: http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/sep04/262283.aspKerry taps into Wisconsin issuesMilk price supports, Bush's jobs record come upBy CRAIG GILBERTcgilbert@journalsentinel.com Posted: Sept. 27, 2004 Spring Green - In a 75-minute talk with voters that he suggested was a warm-up for the first presidential debate, Sen. John Kerry on Monday was blistering in his criticism of President Bush on Iraq, jobs - even dairy policy. | |
| "No matter what the issue, no matter what the choice, he refuses to come clean with the American people," Kerry said, speaking at a middle school to a few hundred invited guests, including students. | We've all heard of the logic problem that begins: There are two tribes, liars and truth-tellers. Liars always lie, the other always tells the truth; and then you only get to ask one of them one question to figure out which is which....
Now, there may be differences of opinion, but Kerry just said: "Bush is lying about everything" ... obviously this cannot be true; is it even plausible that Kerry believes it? So, either Kerry really believes Bush is of the tribe that always lies (to believe this he would have to believe that anyone could ALWAYS lie), or he (Kerry) is not to be believed. Either possibility (stupidity or dishonesty) renders him unfit for command! |
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"He's still trying to hide from the American people what needs to be done in order to be successful in Iraq." |
Apparently Kerry is, too. This would be a great place to share the secret solution with us. Instead, here's what Kerry has said in other venues: Kerry says the president must secure international support. He says we must commit to a serious effort to train Iraqi security forces. He says we must carry out a reconstruction plan and take the necessary steps to hold elections next year. These aren't secret; they are the President's plan, which he is in the process of executing. By accusing the President of hiding something, Kerry is trying to hide the fact that he's got nothing different to offer. |
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Kerry laced his remarks with appeals tailored to Wisconsin voters and to issues that are thought to carry extra weight in this key state, from dairy farming to hunting.
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| But with the debate on Thursday devoted to foreign policy and the Iraq issue simmering on both sides, Kerry was especially pointed about the war, accusing Bush of rushing into it, bungling it and then denying the problems he created. |
Let's just be clear about the accusations, here: 1. Prone to precipitous behavior. 2. Makes mistakes. 3. Denies mistakes were made. (rushing into it, bungling it, denying it....) |
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"You all are paying over $200 billion because of his bad judgment," Kerry said of the war's costs. |
Wait a minute ... bad judgement wasn't one of the accusations. In fact, Kerry had an opportunity to vote on the "precipitous behavior," the rushing in, and voted in favor of it. And, as we've pointed out, Kerry's plan from this point is not materially different from what's already on the agenda ... Bush's agenda. Also, I wonder why he says "You all" ... is that New Englander for y'all? Does he not think of himself as a taxpayer? Hmmmmm. |
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Kerry said it was time to change horses in midstream "when your horse is headed down toward the waterfalls, or when your horse is drowning." |
What is the metaphorical waterfall? Is the horse drowning? There is not even an attempt to make a case for either. It's as if the drawing of a metaphor was enough work for one day, it would be unreasonable to expect him to show that it applies, as well! |
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He added more lightheartedly, "May I also suggest that we need a taller horse . . . you can get through deeper waters that way." |
... and wade through more BS! |
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Kerry defended his own stand on Iraq, contending that his views have been consistent despite GOP efforts to portray otherwise. An example of those efforts were three Republican volunteers, wearing dolphin costumes dubbed "Flipper and Friends," who were standing outside the school where Kerry spoke. | |
| "I've had one position . . . all the way. I thought we ought to stand up and hold Saddam Hussein accountable, but we ought to do it the right way (and) have the patience and maturity to bring allies to our side," he said. | He's right, that is one position ... because holding Saddam Hussein accountable has been being tried since the first President Bush (patience and maturity). Bill Clinton couldn't do it ... then 9/11 happened, and everything changed. Among our allies in the Iraq invasion were the UK, Australia and Poland. If it happened today, Russia would be on board as well based on President Putin's recent remarks. In fact, it's not a question of patience and maturity, but of courage. |
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"I have been right about Iraq all along." |
Merriam Webster Online: fat·u·ous Pronunciation: 'fa-chü-&s, -tyü- Function: adjective Etymology: Latin fatuus foolish : complacently or inanely foolish : SILLY |
Won't abandon IraqKerry said he would not abandon Iraq if he were president."Nobody's talking about cutting and running," he said. "What we need is a leader, a leader who knows how to actually fight a war and get things done." |
As we've pointed out, he's not actually planning to do anything different.... The war's over, this is reconstruction. Unless he's talking about the war on terror ... I wonder if Kerry considers that a real war? |
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The Massachusetts Democratic senator also brought up his service in Vietnam and his activism against that war, both fodder for bitter exchanges in the campaign. "I fought for my country and I volunteered to fight for my country, and when I came back, I did what I thought was patriotic," he said. "I volunteered to stand up and call it the way I saw it." Kerry, who is trying to fend off Bush in a state that has voted Democratic in presidential elections since 1984, also used the event to make his case to Wisconsin voters. | |
| He noted that net employment growth under Bush's presidency is only a couple of hundred jobs overall, and that more than 60,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost. | WOW! That's more than 60,000 new jobs created in the service and entrepreneurial sectors! That must mean Bush's economic policies are working.... |
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"Are you telling me seriously that people in Wisconsin are going to return to the presidency a man who promised jobs and lost them?" Kerry said. |
Hello-o ... With the previous sentence, he refuted this one before he even said it! Are you telling me seriously that you think the people in Wisconsin are so stupid they would elect someone so steeped in double-talk he doesn't know what he's just said ... for President? |
| Kerry ridiculed the administration's contention that recent job growth here and elsewhere amounts to a real turnaround, saying, "You're going to hear all this talk, 'Oh, we've turned the corner, we're doing better, and blah blah, you know, blah and blah and blah.' " | Nice quote ... (how embarrassing for him!) |
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In other Wisconsin themes, Kerry raised the subject of hunting and fishing. | |
| "I know hunting is valued up here in Wisconsin. You're going to hear them try to gang up on me on guns," said Kerry, who opponents have criticized for supporting certain gun restrictions. "They'll say anything. They have no relationship to the truth. The truth is I'm a gun owner. I'm a hunter. I've hunted since I was 12, 13 years old." |
Here's the old "Bush belongs to the tribe that always lies" lie, again. |
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Kerry made the obligatory nod to the Green Bay Packers, telling the crowd that the day before, he stopped at a tavern in Mount Horeb, and "within 10 seconds of my walking in, they scored." Kerry said he didn't claim to be a Packers fan - "I'm not pretending something I'm not" - but the Packers' opponent was the Indianapolis Colts, rivals to Kerry's hometown New England Patriots, so he was eager for a Green Bay victory. | |
Dairy issuesIn addition, Kerry waded into the dairy debates, citing recent news reports about an Agriculture Department official who suggested this year that the administration could gain votes in politically important dairy states by maintaining high milk prices through the election. The official also suggested that unpopular dairy policies, such as eliminating the Milk Price Support Program, could be pursued after the election, according to reports in the Chicago Tribune and Congress Daily. | Now a mature individual, not prone to precipitous behavior, upon hearing such reports, would check up to verify if this Agriculture Department official was speaking for the Bush campaign or administration. Instead.... |
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Kerry jumped on those comments and accused the administration of wanting to kill the payment program for dairy farmers, known as Milk Income Loss Contract, or MILC. Senate Democrat Herb Kohl of Wisconsin last week pushed through a committee an extension of that program from 2005 to 2007. |
... Kerry rushes in ... |
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The Bush campaign said the agriculture official was not speaking for the campaign or the administration. |
... bungles it ... |
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"The press accounts about the Bush administration being opposed to MILC programs are false," House Republican Mark Green of Green Bay said in a Bush campaign statement over the weekend. Administration officials said they haven't taken a position yet on the two-year extension of the program. | |
| ... will he deny it? I don't know, let's ask him. | |
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Kerry said he would support an extension. Also, he touted the virtues of family farming, describing visits he made as a child to an uncle's farm. "I have a great sense of the land. I really do," Kerry said. "I'm tired of small family farmers getting squeezed." | |
| Kerry acknowledged that because of regional interests, he and upper Midwest farmers had been on opposing sides of another hot dairy issue, the Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact. That program is now dead. | Let's see, they were on opposing sides ... Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact; so that would be Kerry's side ... the program is now dead.
How many ways can we spin it(?): Kerry opposed Midwest farmers and lost. Let's see what he has to say about it.... |
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"We've worked out that problem between us," he said. |
??? |
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Kerry's appearance Monday was expected to be his biggest public event during his Sunday-to-Wednesday stay at a resort here, a time devoted mostly to debate preparations. |