It turns out that Kerry was just joking. Kerry needs to get his stories straight and stick to them. LOL
boston.com
Democrat says 'regime change' comment intended as a campaign quip
By Phillip Rawls, Associated Press, 4/29/2003 16:00
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry said Tuesday that his controversial wartime comment saying the United States, like Iraq, needs a regime change was intended as a lighthearted remark.
''It was not about the president, and it was not about the war. It was about the election,'' Kerry said during a campaign stop in Alabama.
Earlier this month, Kerry came under fire from top congressional Republicans when, during a speech in New Hampshire, the Massachusetts senator said President Bush had so alienated allies prior to the U.S.-led war against Iraq that only a new president could rebuild damaged relationships with other nations.
''What we need now is not just regime change in Saddam Hussein and Iraq, but we need a regime change in the United States,'' Kerry said.
Those comments drew an angry rebuke from top Republicans in the House and Senate, widespread criticism from many conservative corners and lit up the lines to radio talk shows in numerous states, including Alabama.
While campaigning Tuesday, Kerry said some people overreacted to the remark. The decorated Vietnam War veteran also repeated his frustration with GOP congressional leaders who never served in the military but used the remark to assail Kerry's patriotism.
''When I fought in Vietnam and fought for my country, I didn't give up my right to make quips and to participate in the debate,'' the lawmaker said.
Kerry made the trip to Alabama to meet with potential supporters in Birmingham and to speak at the Alabama Democratic Party's annual salute to Democratic lawmakers in Montgomery. Rival Democrats for the presidential nomination such as Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, Al Sharpton and Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri have visited the state in recent weeks even though Alabama has been less than hospitable to Democratic candidates.
Voters haven't backed a Democrat since Jimmy Carter was elected president in 1976, and the last Democratic nominee from Massachusetts Michael Dukakis lost to Bush's father in 1988 by a 3-to-2 margin. In 2000, Democrat Al Gore didn't even bother to campaign in the state.
William Stewart, a political scientist at the University of Alabama, said Kerry will have ''a hard time making a sale in Alabama as far as the bulk of Alabama voters because they are strongly Republican in presidential politics.''
But Kerry said, ''I don't think any area of the country ought to be written off.''
On the Net: Kerry at johnkerry.com |
