Kerry Bashes Bush at Corzine Rally

[kerrygoddess]

Kerry Bashes Bush at Corzine Rally
September 10th, 2005

Kerry bashes Bush at Corzine rally
Sunday, September 11, 2005
BY JEFF WHELAN
Star-Ledger Staff

Saying it bordered on “criminal negligence,” U.S. Sen. John Kerry blasted the Bush administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina yesterday and urged New Jersey voters to express their own dissatisfaction by electing Democrat Jon Corzine governor.

Kerry made his remarks during a boisterous campaign rally for Corzine at a union hall in Paramus, part of a seven-stop tour of the state by the former presidential nominee to boost Democrats in the November elections.

The Massachusetts senator, who outpolled Bush by 7 percentage points in New Jersey in his failed 2004 presidential campaign, said a Corzine victory would be a rejection of Bush’s handling of issues ranging from Katrina to the war in Iraq. He said the federal response to the hurricane would have been “profoundly” better under him.

“Make them hear what America needs to hear,” Kerry said to loud applause from hundreds of union workers as Corzine stood by his side.

“This is not just a race for New Jersey. People all across the country are going to read the tea leaves. People all across the country are going to listen to your voices as you express them when you go to the polls,” he said. “This is a time for our country to touch its soul again, and you can do that at the ballot box.”

MORE & LINKS - http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=498

[JI7]

1. i don't really like the use of the word "bash" as it implies Kerry is

doing something negative and wrong. and it makes Bush seem like the victim.

i wish words such as "critical, holding Bush accountable, etc would be used instead".

[karynnj]

2. Exactly

How often last year did you see a headline "Cheney bashes Kerry", when he was saying the terrorists would get you if Kerry won - Cheney was creepy (and evil) at that point and the headline was more like "Cheney states Kerry is weak on terrorism"

[globalvillage]

3. One phrase in that article stands out for me.

"This is a time for our country to touch its soul again...”

That's what's missing, and we need to get it back. It's the one message this country needs to heed to get back what we've lost.
What used to be the great spirit of America has become so shallow and purposeless. And it's not so much that we can't find our soul, but that much of the country is not even looking for it, or doesn't even realize that it's lost.
Even the words that used to mean so much, like faith and patriotism and hope fall flat these days, like the definitions have actually changed. If we can't feel them, deep down, then the words are just empty platitudes.

“This is a time for our country to touch its soul again...”

What is it going to take for people to stop and feel and think about what's really important? These words are so fundamental and so true. They are at the heart of the problem and the solution, and we need to hear them over and over again.

Thanks, John.

[karynnj]

5. That is a beautiful line

especially coming from Kerry. So much of what he's said this year seems to coming from his heart and soul.

[karynnj]

4. Here's the link from Morris County's Daily Record

http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050911/NEWS01/509110318/1005

Their pictures were better than mine. As you can see, there were other things he said that I missed. They seem to have missed the reference on Intelligent Design, because Kerry prefaced it as he has before by saying that Bush wants to teach Intelligent Design in the schools.

I think a couple hundred is too low an estimate - I've attended many Bat and Bar Mitzvahs (not the correct plural) with 150 - 200 people and this was far more. The 500 was a guess that some of the local people had - it might be too high, but it is more believable than 200. (The local Democrats were asking (but not requiring) people to sign a form with address, phone, and email contacts, so they probably have a good estimate - that I don't know.) But then on Thursday, they said Kerry was in his second term in the Senate.

Years ago, the Record has said that a rule of thumb is that Republicans need to win Morris County by a bare minimum of 50,000 votes to balance out the urban counties. How do you like are hard hitting protesters?

[Mass]

6. Is it a RW paper?

They also have a paper entitled "Lurch wont help the Morris Democrats" that is fairly nasty.

Here is another article that is very positive.

http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk1JmZnYmVsN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2NzY4MDUyJnlyaXJ5N2Y3MTdmN3ZxZWVFRXl5Mw==

[karynnj]

7. It endorsed Kerry

I'm not sure what the "Lurch won't help Morris Democrats" is. It definitely wouldn't be in the paper sold at the newsstand. I'll have to look at their site. Referring to your esteemed Jr Senator like that would warrant threatening to cancel the paper.

The paper is a reasonably decent local paper. Most of their national and international articles are essentially the AP or other feeds - as you would expect. When they try to write on National or International news, they often add no insight or knowledge - for example they have a front page article on what area soldiers who returned from Iraq think.

The quotes from the soldiers really show the divide in the military very well and it is well written. The problem is that, like on cable TV, there is no attempt to counter false information. One soldier, implicitly defining himself as an expert said that he doesn't know where people get their misinformation - Al Qaeda was in Iraq and was killing Kurds before the Americans came in so there is a connection to 911. The problem of course were they were in the no-fly zone area in the north that was not in Saddam's control and Bush didn't take the opportunity (that the military advised) to strike them first.

It's frustrating because the article is well conceived and well meaning otherwise. They also need to have better fact checkers - on Thursday, they referred to Kerry as being in his second term as Senator. He was the candidate last year - this says so much about how well they really looked at his background.

They certainly could have found a less Republican leaning person to cover the rally though.

[karynnj]

8. I read the editorial

The writer is actually more to the left than the right usually. His writing here is awful in every way possible. His point is the lack of civility of the Republican official - who is an unmitigated jerk - and the stupidity of what he wrote. Virtually anyone in the community this will go to will correctly read this as reflecting very poorly on the Republican, not Kerry. Sounding like a poster on FR does not play well in the real world; even Regency Press hid Corsi (who lamentably lives in this county) after his quotes were revealed. People here saw Kerry in the debates - he is not ugly, ill-mannered, or a danger to women and he is correct Kerry was a hero in Vietnam.

Two thoughts on this, we should be cautious about being the same. We lose the moral high ground when they point to us doing the same. Here they're wrong because there is no elected Democrat calling Bush a chimp. In a way, reminding people of the horrible slime campaign may cause them to be even more cautious believing anything thrown at Corzine.

He also misses the point in many ways. Kerry lost Morris by a much smaller margin than Gore or Clinton did. That kind of mentality actually is driving many people away from the Republicans. Secondly, Kerry was speaking to Democrats - the only publicity was the emails send by johnkerry.com, some canned telephone calls with Kerry inviting people and a small article in Friday's Daily Record, that surprised the Morris Democrats.

Kerry's goal was to get more people involved and to try to give people who liked him enough to come reasons to actively support Corzine. On entering people were urged to sign their names, addresses, phone numbers and emails - obviously for a database of Democrats who can be approached to help in their own areas. (As mentioned in the main article, there is now a Democratic organization in Morris Plains! (Morris Plains would be the perfect place to film a movie on the 1950s. It literally hasn't left that era.) We need grassroots even where we are the minority - getting say 42% of the vote rather than a more normal 38% or 39% in this county means the Republicans lose the state.

Time is against them too - the juniors and seniors in our local high school picked Kerry by 51%, the town was around the county average.

[Mass]

9. Thanks for the background

That makes a lot more sense to me now.

And thanks for the great pictures too.

[ginnyinWI]

10. a Kerry moment

"Deming, however, became dehydrated and fainted. She was taken to an ambulance and missed Kerry's speech. She asked a paramedic to take a few pictures of the former presidential hopeful for her. Instead, he returned with Kerry himself.

"If I had felt better, it would have been the best moment of my life," Deming said."


Would * have done this? Noooooooo way.

[TayTay]

11. That is so sweet

I bet it was like a tonic for Sen. Kerry to go out on the road and talk to people and get back on the stump. He really likes Corzine, who is a good Dem, and there is blood in the water as far as the Rethugs go. I bet this was just a great and fun day for Kerry.

I loved this part:

While the event was meant to promote Corzine's gubernatorial run and recruit volunteers for the November election campaigns, many said Kerry was the reason they came.

"I don't think we'll get many chances to hear John Kerry speak in our lifetime,"said Doug Cloninger, 17, who came with classmates from Morristown High School.

"If he wasn't here, I wouldn't be here."

Sombody has charisma, at least for the young. LOL!

[ginnyinWI]

12. yup

Charisma to spare. I really think he's habit-forming for a lot of us. The media has written him off--but we are the ones who vote. He may become a dark horse candidate next time and surprise everyone. He does have a way of surprising these wise-guy media types.

[karynnj]

13. No one there even knew why Kerry left

some actually thought he was going to talk to some protesters - which made no sense. Someone simply came up said a few words to him, he shook his head yes, followed him out and returned a few minutes later.