07-07-2004 

QUOTABLES:

"We've got better vision, better ideas, real plans, we've got a better sense of what's happening to America and we've got better hair," John Kerry said, a reference to his and John Edwards’ hair.

"I do not propose to be buried until I am really dead" — Daniel Webster said on not accepting the vice presidency.

''This is great for us," Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie said as he prepared to go on CNN to discuss Edwards selection. Citing the nonpartisan National Journal ranking of senators, Gillespie said, ''We've got the first- and fourth-most liberal senators on the Democratic ticket."

"The elite media may seek to paint John Edwards as a moderate, centrist Democrat, but that portrait is plain phony," Executive Director Richard Lessner of the American Conservative Union said. "There isn't a [bit] of difference between the two Johns. They're both far-left liberals in the Ted Kennedy tradition."

"In 2003, Edwards voted against repeal of the death tax, against repeal of the marriage tax penalty, against research into advanced nuclear weapons, and against medical malpractice reform, while voting in favor of the Roe v. Wade abortion decision. That's hardly the record of a moderate," said Richard Lessner.

"I think this may be a big flip-flop on the part of the No. 1 person on the ticket," Elizabeth Dole said on NBC's "Today."

"I welcome Senator Edwards on the ticket," President Bush said in the Oval Office yesterday morning when asked about the pick. Adding that Cheney called Edwards to extend a personal welcome, Bush said: "I look forward to a good, spirited contest."

BUSH BEAT

New Ketchup in town

There's a new Ketchup in town.

W Ketchup, produced by a company based in Eagle Bridge, New York, boasts that 100 percent of its product is made in the U.S.A. -- including the bottle.

"The leading competitor not only has 57 varieties, but has 57 foreign factories as well," exclaimed W Ketchup on its web site. "W Ketchup comes in one flavor: American."

The company inquires, "You don't support Democrats. Why should your ketchup?"

Since Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John F. Kerry has financially benefited from the ketchup fortune of his heiress wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, W Ketchup wanted to provide conservatives with another option for their favorite condiment.

"Choose Heinz and you're supporting Teresa and her husband's Gulfstream Jet, and liberal causes such as Kerry for President," W Ketchup expressed.

Additionally, the company said consumers enjoy the taste of W Ketchup better than Heinz.

"In side-by-side taste tests of five leading brands, we found that W Ketchup is second to none," W Ketchup remarked. "You'll never go back to Heinz again!" 

The W Ketchup is available on its website.

Hillary disses Bush

The Boston Globe reports on Sen. Hillary Clinton standing in for Sen. John Kerry at the National Teachers’ Union Convention:

"There's a reason that the majority of Americans did not vote for George W. Bush the first time around," Clinton said to roughly 9,000 delegates of the National Education Association. "And boy, do we have more evidence about how right we were. If he were one of your students, you'd be sending home notes to his mother: `Dear Mrs. Bush, he never admits when he's wrong. You really have your work cut out for you.'"

 Just POlitics

Kerry a scab?

The question is whether Sen. John Kerry will honor his pledge not to cross a picket line during the national convention that is to nominate him. The Boston Globe reports that the nearly 12 Boston school bus drivers and monitors are planning a picket line outside the FleetCenter during the Democratic National Convention, reviving the specter of labor unrest outside the convention arena.

Kerry did not cross the picket line of the policeman picketing the National Mayors’ Convention saying that he had ‘never’ crossed a picket line.

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Kerry have reportedly hung up on each other during phone conversations about the convention and Kerry’s slight in not attending the Mayors’ convention. This could be a sticky wicket for Kerry and the Mayor.

Judicial conduct

The Washington Times reports on a judicial conduct flap that not only demeans the judiciary but Bush as well:

More than a dozen congressmen are calling on Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer, as chairman of the newly formed Judicial Conduct and Disability Act Study Committee, to investigate the recent "Bush versus Gore" comments by Second Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Guido Calabresi.

During a panel discussion at the convention of the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy, Judge Calabresi stated: "In a way that occurred before but is rare in the United States ... somebody came to power as a result of the illegitimate acts of a legitimate institution that had the right to put somebody in power.

"That is what the Supreme Court did in Bush versus Gore. It put somebody in power. ... That is what happened when Hindenburg put Hitler in. I am not suggesting for a moment that Bush is Hitler. I want to be clear on that, but it is a situation that is extremely unusual."

In a letter to Justice Breyer, the lawmakers call the Bush-Hitler comparison "inexcusable for a sitting federal judge."

Business vs. Edwards

The Washington Times reports on how the business community could rally to elect President Bush now that Sen. John Edwards is on the ticket:

"Tom Donohue, head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, has made a public vow: If John Edwards is chosen as John Kerry's running mate, the chamber will abandon its traditional stance of neutrality in the presidential race and work feverishly to defeat the Democratic ticket," Wall Street Journal, columnist Alan Murray wrote in yesterday's editions of the newspaper, hours before Mr. Edwards was anointed.  

The Times says it is just business:

"But Mr. Edwards is a trial lawyer. His campaign for the presidency was financed by trial lawyers. And there is nothing that makes America's CEOs see red these days like America's trial lawyers. 'It's visceral,' " says one person who works with a group of chief executives. 'You can feel it in a room.'

9-11 no new information

Most of the media is reporting that the 9-11 Commission found that there was no new information that Vice President Dick Cheney had than they did. In a one-sentence statement, the panel's chairman and vice chairman said that "after examining available transcripts of the vice president's public remarks, the 9/11 commission believes it has access to the same information the vice president has seen regarding contacts between Al Qaeda and Iraq prior to the 9/11 attacks."

France consistently duplicitous

Reports are coming out about how France blocked investigations into the corrupt Oil for Food Program under the U.N., showing that France has continued to be duplicitous with America and Britain in its actions. The truth about France’s statements that they want to curtail America’s power continues to be proven. France, Russia, Germany and China have made billions through the Oil for Food Program.

According to a top congressional investigator who has read the highly sensitive documents, the minutes confirm that there was widespread knowledge inside the United Nations years before the Iraq War that Saddam's regime was ripping off the $100 billion program by demanding kickbacks from oil traders and suppliers of humanitarian aid to Iraq.

The investigator said the transcripts reveal that U.S. and British diplomats repeatedly raised questions about suspicious contracts, but efforts to investigate corruption were blocked by Russia, France, China and, at times, Syria.

"The Russians and Chinese made clear their position was that they were against sanctions on Iraq and didn't like this program, so they were not going to help in any way," the investigator said.

"The French were two-faced about it. They would respond to American and British requests to halt contracts by saying there was not enough evidence, or more information was needed. In the end, the Americans and British were often forced to back down on these inquiries."

France and Russia were two of the biggest opponents of the U.S. war effort to oust Saddam, and Russian and French politicians and businessmen were the most numerous names published in the Baghdad newspaper al-Mada earlier this year of recipients of sweetheart oil deals from Saddam's regime.

Ihsan Karim, the Iraqi official heading the probe into alleged corruption, was killed last Thursday.

The McCain bullet

Sen. John Mc Cain has become the latest message delivered by both sides to inflict damage on the other’s campaign. It demonstrates the great recognizance that both sides have as well as the rapid response of both sides in this race.

In the case of the Bush campaign, they have on their website the introduction by McCain at a recent joint appearance of Bush and McCain. The commercial features McCain’s citing of how President Bush is the leader we need in the war on terrorism. The commercial is called “First Choice” because of Kerry’s attempt to recruit McCain as his V.P. The Bush campaign ad is of better quality of production than the Democrats’ ad.

The Democrats have a commercial and written statements of disagreements between McCain and Bush posted on the DNC’s website. The theme is that Bush has no credibility in using McCain in ads. The following is a list of the highlighted disagreements posted by the DNC: 

The Straight Talk Express: John McCain on George W. Bush

McCain campaigned for the Republican presidential nomination aboard his bus, the "Straight Talk Express." Through primary states like New Hampshire, New York, South Carolina and Michigan, McCain gave Republican voters straight talk about Bush's plans for America. Whether it was decrying Bush's tax cuts for the rich at the expense of our nation's fiscal health or highlighting Bush's terrible environmental record as Governor, McCain called it like it was. As President, Bush has taken numerous positions opposite of McCain on key issues such as investigating the causes of 9/11, Bush's failed policies in Iraq, a real patients' bill of right or the environment.

McCain's Straight Talk On: Bush's Tax Plan

McCain: "Sixty percent of the benefits from Bush's tax cuts go to the wealthiest 10 percent of Americans, and that's not the kind of tax relief that Americans need." [Washington Post, 1/5/00]

McCain: "He's spending the entire surplus, the entire projected surplus on tax cuts."... [McCain] said Bush's plan is aimed at giving tax breaks to the wealthy. "I'm not sure wealthy Americans need one at this particular time,' McCain said." [Houston Chronicle, 1/10/00]

McCain: "Your tax plan over the next five years not only spends all of the surplus, it spends twenty billion dollars in addition to that. I'm sure we'll have that figured out. But this idea that somehow, if the money is left in order to salvage the Social Security for America and Medicare and the debt, that, you don't understand the role of the president of the United States. The president of the United States will veto bills, will veto bills that spend too much." [MSNBC/WOOD-TV GOP Debate, Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI, 1/10/00]

McCain: "The first thing I'd say to a single mom is that I've got a tax cut for you, and Governor Bush doesn't." [Washington Post, 1/16/00]

McCain: "Governor Bush said he supported tax deduction for long-term health care. He has no provision for that. As far as single parents are concerned, he has no provisions to help the single mother in his tax proposal. We do." [AP, 1/20/00]

McCain: "Governor Bush wants to give 38 percent of his tax cut to the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans ... My friends, I don't think Bill Gates needs a tax cut -- but I think you and your parents do." [Dallas Morning News, 2/21/00]

McCain's Straight Talk On: Social Security/Medicare

McCain: "'By not shoring up the Social Security system now with surplus funds we are, by fiat, agreeing to raise payroll taxes in the future," added McCain, whose own plan is roughly half the size of Bush's. "I have called this kind of economics 'fiscally irresponsible.'" [AP, 1/14/99]

McCain: "Governor Bush's proposal has not one new penny for Social Security, not one penny for to pay down the debt, not one penny for Medicare. There's a difference there. He puts all the extra surplus into tax cuts. I don't think we need that. And by the way, thirty-eight percent of his tax cuts goes to the wealthiest one percent of Americans. I don't think they need that. I think working families need that tax cut rather than the wealthiest." [CNN, Darlington, SC, 2/12/00]

McCain: "I guess it was bound to happen. Governor Bush's campaign is getting desperate with a negative ad about me. The fact is, I'll use the surplus money to fix Social Security, cut your taxes and pay down the debt. Governor Bush uses all the surplus for tax cuts, but not one new penny for Social Security or the debt." ["Desperate," McCain 2000 ad]

McCain's Straight Talk On: Bush as a Different Kind of Republican

McCain: "Unfortunately, Governor Bush is a Pat Robertson Republican who will lose to Al Gore." [McCain speech in Virginia Beach, VA, McCain 2000 release, 2/28/00]

McCain's Straight Talk On: Bush as a Positive Campaigner

McCain: "I'm sorry that Governor Bush has orchestrated this campaign so it's nothing but negative ads. But that's a decision that he'll have to live with." [Hilton Head, SC, 2/18/00]

McCain: "This morning, I heard the most disappointing story of the campaign. A woman told me of a push poll received by her son -- a 13-year old Boy Scout -- and sponsored by the Bush Campaign, which had so negatively portrayed my record as to drive her son to tears. ... The Governor should accept my challenge and immediately halt these push-polling calls and take his negative ads off the air." [McCain 2000 release, 2/10/00]

McCain: "Texas Governor George W. Bush's continued mudslinging negative campaign reached a new low in his attempts to attack John McCain and paint him as opposed to breast cancer research. However, the Governor's erroneous attack and insensitive remarks with respect to McCain's sister, a breast cancer survivor, drew attention to Bush's poor record on the issue." [McCain 2000 release, 3/3/00]

McCain's Straight Talk On: Bush's Failed Environmental Record

McCain: "Governor Bush is one of the great polluters in history." [McCain in New York City, 3/4/00]

McCain's Straight Talk On: Bush & Campaign Finance Reform

McCain: "He was asked what a President George W. Bush might do for the corporate interest of giant Texas energy conglomerate Enron Corp., whose executives bundled some $550,000 in campaign gifts to the Texas governor. McCain chortled: 'They'll get what the tobacco companies got 'good government.'" [Boston Globe, 1/12/00]

McCain: "In five years as governor of the state of Texas, Governor Bush never made one proposal on campaign finance reform in a state where unlimited contributions are the order of the day." Sen. John McCain, [Baltimore Sun, 2/21/00]

McCain: "Governor Bush just said he wants unlimited contributions from individuals. Maybe that explains why there have been sleep-overs at the Governor's Mansion in Austin by the Pioneers,' McCain said, referring to reports that eight of Bush's top presidential fund-raisers have spent the night at the mansion." [Houston Chronicle, 3/3/00]

McCain's Straight Talk On: Bush the Reformer

McCain: "I understand Governor Bush is now a reformer. If so, it's his first day on the job." [Dallas Morning News, 2/8/00]

McCain: "I'm going to work a lot harder at pointing out that Governor Bush is -- if he's a reformer, I'm an astronaut. That spending -- Governor Bush said he would have signed and supported the biggest pork barrel spending bill in history last November. I said I would veto it. Governor Bush is governor of Texas where spending has increased by 35 percent. Under Clinton it's only increased by 20 percent. And of course, the surplus, he puts it all into tax cuts and none into Social Security, Medicare or paying down the debt. We're going to define that a lot more." [Late Edition, CNN, 2/20/00]

McCain's Straight Talk On: Education Proposals

McCain: "Don't take the money from public education, as Governor Bush wants to do. Take it from eliminating corporate pork." [McCain in Grand Rapids, MI, 2/20/00]

McCain: "You want to use funds from public education [to pay for vouchers]. I don't want to take money from public education." [Philadelphia Inquirer, 1/27/00]

McCain's Straight Talk On: Qualifications for President

McCain: "And let me say this: I don't need any on the job training. I don't need any help from anybody. I am fully prepared to President of the United States and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces." [McCain in Grand Rapids, MI, 2/20/00]

McCain: "There comes a time when our nation's leader can no longer rely on briefing books and talking points, when the experts and the advisers have all weighed in, when the sum total of one's life becomes the foundation from which he or she makes the decisions that determine the future of our democracy." [Sen. John McCain, AP, 9/28/99]

Iraq

McCain Feels that Mistakes Were Made in Iraq. "I think several [mistakes have been made]. One was the lack of sufficient troops there, which allowed the looting to take place, which established kind of a lawless environment. I think any law enforcement person would tell you that the environment is a very important aspect of it. The fact that we island-hopped and left certain areas of towns and cities around Baghdad as well as in the Sunni Triangle alone. I think it's because we probably didn't make sufficient plans to turn over the government as quickly as possible and a level of expectation that probably was unrealistic, which led to a certain amount of disappointment, but a lot of it had to do with lack of sufficient troop strength at the time that 'combat phase' was over." [McCain, NBC News, "Meet the Press," 5/16/04]

McCain Feels that There is No Strategy For Transfer of Power in Iraq. "Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we need a political strategy. We do not currently have one. With no one identified to lead Iraq after the transfer of sovereignty, and with some questioning even the date for the handover, there is a political vacuum in Iraq today. We need to reduce the uncertainty as soon as possible by announcing our plan for events after June 30." [McCain Speech To the Council on Foreign Relations, 4/26/04]

9/11 Commission

McCain Co-Sponsors Legislation to Create Independent Body to Investigate September 11. Along with Sen. Lieberman, McCain introduced legislation to create a 14-person National Commission on Terrorist Attacks that would be separate from legislative bodies. The plan allowed for the top four members to be chosen by President Bush and the rest of the commission would be appointed by "the chairmen and top-ranking minority members of key congressional committees." "I think the American people deserve it, just as they deserved a thorough and complete investigation with the assassination of President Kennedy, just as they needed a Tower Commission after Iran-contra, just as they needed a commission after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln," McCain said. [USA Today, 12/24/01; AP, 12/21/01]

Bush Initially Opposed to Independent 9-11 Commission. Bush opposed an independent inquiry into 9/11, arguing it would duplicate a probe conducted by Congress. In July 2002, his administration issued a "statement of policy" that read "...the Administration would oppose an amendment that would create a new commission to conduct a similar review [to Congress's investigation]." [Statement of Administration Policy, Executive Office of the President, 7/24/02; Los Angeles Times, 11/28/02]

Patients' Bill of Rights

McCain Co-Sponsors Patients' Bill of Rights. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) has joined Senators Kennedy (D-MA), Edwards (D-NC), and Graham (D-FL) in supporting a real patients' bill of rights. The new version drafted in the Senate includes the right to sue, access to emergency care and specialists. HMOs and insurance companies have said they do not support the bill because it allows the right to sue. [New York Times, 2/6/01]

Bush Backs Limited Patients' Bill of Rights, Less than McCain's Proposal. George Bush has announced his support for a patient protection legislation drafted by Sens. Bill Frist (R-TN), John Breaux (D-LA) and James Jeffords (R-VT). The legislation written by Frist-Breaux-Jeffords does not allow for patients to sue in state court. In addition the law would not allow for punitive damages and cap all damages at $500,000. There is no estimate for how many American would be covered by the Frist-Breaux-Jeffords legislation but the Washington Post reports that it would be less than the alternative written by McCain-Edwards, which expand protections to 160 million Americans. [New York Times, 2/7/01; Washington Post, 5/15/01]

Energy Policy

McCain: "The Energy Bill is the Worst Case of Pork-Barreling and Vote-Buying I've Seen." Senator John McCain (R-AZ) has been one of the most vocal critics of the energy bill "It's a leave-no-lobbyist-behind bill," said McCain. He added "the energy bill is the worst case of pork-barreling and vote-buying I've seen." McCain added, "This legislation is very timely because if we pass it, Thanksgiving will come early for the Washington special interests. The American public will be presented with an enormous turkey stuffed with their tax dollars." McCain stated that with so much pork in the energy bill he felt like "a mosquito in a nudist colony." [San Jose Mercury News, 11/15/03; San Francisco Chronicle, 11/21/03; Boston Globe, 11/21/03; Salt Lake Tribune, 11/21/03]

Environmental Policy

Bush Broke Promise, Appeased Coal and Oil Industries Campaign Donors. In a March 2001 letter to Republican Senators, Bush said he decided to back off this campaign pledge to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants after encountering strong resistance from the coal and oil industries, as well as Republicans. "I do not believe, however, that the government should impose on power plants mandatory emissions reductions for carbon dioxide, which is not a 'pollutant' under the Clean Air Act," Bush wrote in his letter. [AP, 3/13/01; Washington Post, 3/14/01; Bush letter to Senator Chuck Hagel, 3/13/01]

McCain Co-Sponsor a Bill to Restrict Carbon Dioxide Emissions. McCain introduced legislation to greenhouse emissions and reduce them using a market-based trading mechanism, limiting carbon dioxide, mercury, nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide emissions. [Los Angeles Times, 10/7/01; Environment and Energy Daily, 8/6/01]

Guns

McCain Pushes Closing the Gun-Show Loophole. Publicly breaking from Bush, McCain co-sponsored legislation to halt the unregulated sales of guns by unlicensed sellers and to conduct more criminal background checks at gun shows. "This is a reasonable approach to the gun-show loophole, which is clearly something that must be closed if we are going to keep guns out of the hands of criminals," McCain said. Bush has said that he would prefer to more strictly enforce current gun regulations, rather than create new ones. [Miami Herald, 5/16/01]

The following is the transcript of the democrats commercial taking cuts mostly from McCain’s presidential nomination race against President Bush: 

Transcript

TEXT: Is Bush Really Using McCain In His New Ads?

TEXT: McCain on Bush's Tax Cuts

McCAIN: "Governor Bush wants to give 38 percent of his tax cut to the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans ... My friends, I don't think Bill Gates needs a tax cut -- but I think you and your parents do." [Dallas Morning News, 2/21/00]

TEXT: McCain on Bush and Iraq

McCAIN: "Mistakes happen in war that's why we try to avoid them. Mistakes have been made....One was the lack of sufficient troops there which allowed the looting to take place, which established kind of a lawless environment." [McCain, NBC News, Meet the Press, 5/16/04]

TEXT: McCain on Bush's Social Priorities

McCAIN: "Governor Bush's proposal has not one new penny for Social Security, not one penny for to pay down the debt, not one penny for Medicare. There's a difference there. He puts all the extra surplus into tax cuts. I don't think we need that. And by the way, 38 percent of his tax cuts goes to the wealthiest one percent of Americans. I don't think they need that. I think working families need that tax cut rather than the wealthiest." [CNN, Darlington, SC, 2/12/00]

TEXT: McCain on Bush and the Environment

McCAIN: "Governor Bush is one of the great polluters in history. Air quality in Texas has gone down." [McCain in New York City, 3/4/00]

TEXT: Are You Kidding?

TEXT: Credibility is on the ballot this November.

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