Kerry promises to protect funding for veterans
By Bob Lewis, Associated Press, 2/1/2003 23:13
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) Democratic Sen. John Kerry said Saturday he will not concede conservative states such as Virginia in his presidential bid because he feels President Bush is vulnerable on his handling of the nation's economy.
The Massachusetts senator and candidate for the Democratic nomination spoke to hundreds of Virginia Democrats Saturday night at their annual fund-raising event, the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner.
It was Kerry's second visit to the state in the last two weeks. He spoke to several thousand black voters at an event in Richmond on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Kerry said Democrats can win in Republican strongholds, even Virginia, by pointing out how Bush's economic and fiscal policies are affecting people.
In Virginia, that means pointing out cuts in funding for military veterans. The Veterans Affairs Department announced in January it was rolling back health care benefits for about 164,000 veterans.
''This state has about 780,000 veterans. This is a state that has made an enormous contribution to the service of our country: the Navy bases, Quantico, the Pentagon. The Arlington Cemetery reminds us every day of the contribution and I think we have to keep faith with that,'' Kerry, a Vietnam veteran, said in an interview before his speech.
''We've got a lot of veterans earning $30,000 a year being told by the VA (Veterans Affairs) that they can't get services they were promised,'' Kerry said.
Shawn Smith, spokesman for the Republican Party of Virginia, said Kerry's comments were ''clearly misplaced.''
''At this time of uncertainty, we should stand with the men and women on the front lines and those who served before them and not engage in political scare tactics,'' Smith said.
In his speech to about 1,300 Democrats, Kerry criticized Bush for his handling of foreign policy.
''We'd better get about the business of making some friends on this planet,'' said Kerry.
''Why not fight the notion that we have to send our young to preserve the gluttony of fossil fuel?'' Kerry said, referring to Bush's military buildup in the Persian Gulf in a showdown with Iraq.
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