Kerry vows to call an Iraq summit
Patrick Healy The Boston Globe
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
SPRING GREEN, Wisconsin John Kerry has declared that as president he would immediately convene a summit meeting of all European and Arab heads of state "to figure out how together we're going to assume the burdens" of Iraq and proposing that another country could provide a base for training Iraqi security forces.
.
With two new polls on Monday indicating that more respondents said they trusted President George W. Bush to manage Iraq and indicating that Bush holds a lead of at least six percentage points, Kerry has been hammering the Iraq theme almost daily. Kerry advisers are convinced that the anti-American insurgency in Iraq represents the greatest threat to Bush's re-election.
.
But the polls also indicate that the Massachusetts senator has the most at stake going into a debate on Thursday with Bush. The USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll of likely voters gave Bush an edge for the first time on handling the economy, while the ABC News/Washington Post poll indicated that a plurality of likely voters - 42 percent to 37 percent - said they have a negative impression of Kerry.
.
Kerry, taking questions from an invitation-only audience of Wisconsin voters, said "cutting and running" in Iraq would never be an option if he became commander in chief.
.
He said his proposed summit meeting also would include searching for common ground to solve the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, and cut off Arab support for terrorist groups.
.
Kerry drew a standing ovation when he hit back at critics of his decision to join the antiwar movement after returning from Vietnam. "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: I volunteered to stand up and call it the way I saw it," Kerry said. "That's what I intend to do as president, ladies and gentlemen; there's no value in running for president just to be there."
.
As he took a break from his four-day prep sessions for the debate, Kerry also seemed to be using the town hall meeting here to test new lines for his first debate with Bush. At one point he said he was offering "short and straight and simple" ideas instead of "fancy talk."
.
After recounting his fights against Republicans to protect the environment, Kerry offered a new defense of his 19-year record in the U.S. Senate.
.
"You're not always measured by the things that you have a bill named after you for," he said. "Sometimes you're measured by stopping really bad things from happening, like when I stood up and helped stop Ronald Reagan's illegal war in Central America." He also spoke on some Midwestern concerns, saying, for example, that he would fight for the interests of dairy farmers.
.
The Boston Globe
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SPRING GREEN, Wisconsin John Kerry has declared that as president he would immediately convene a summit meeting of all European and Arab heads of state "to figure out how together we're going to assume the burdens" of Iraq and proposing that another country could provide a base for training Iraqi security forces.
.
With two new polls on Monday indicating that more respondents said they trusted President George W. Bush to manage Iraq and indicating that Bush holds a lead of at least six percentage points, Kerry has been hammering the Iraq theme almost daily. Kerry advisers are convinced that the anti-American insurgency in Iraq represents the greatest threat to Bush's re-election.
.
But the polls also indicate that the Massachusetts senator has the most at stake going into a debate on Thursday with Bush. The USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll of likely voters gave Bush an edge for the first time on handling the economy, while the ABC News/Washington Post poll indicated that a plurality of likely voters - 42 percent to 37 percent - said they have a negative impression of Kerry.
.
Kerry, taking questions from an invitation-only audience of Wisconsin voters, said "cutting and running" in Iraq would never be an option if he became commander in chief.
.
He said his proposed summit meeting also would include searching for common ground to solve the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, and cut off Arab support for terrorist groups.
.
Kerry drew a standing ovation when he hit back at critics of his decision to join the antiwar movement after returning from Vietnam. "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: I volunteered to stand up and call it the way I saw it," Kerry said. "That's what I intend to do as president, ladies and gentlemen; there's no value in running for president just to be there."
.
As he took a break from his four-day prep sessions for the debate, Kerry also seemed to be using the town hall meeting here to test new lines for his first debate with Bush. At one point he said he was offering "short and straight and simple" ideas instead of "fancy talk."
.
After recounting his fights against Republicans to protect the environment, Kerry offered a new defense of his 19-year record in the U.S. Senate.
.
"You're not always measured by the things that you have a bill named after you for," he said. "Sometimes you're measured by stopping really bad things from happening, like when I stood up and helped stop Ronald Reagan's illegal war in Central America." He also spoke on some Midwestern concerns, saying, for example, that he would fight for the interests of dairy farmers.
.
The Boston Globe
SPRING GREEN, Wisconsin John Kerry has declared that as president he would immediately convene a summit meeting of all European and Arab heads of state "to figure out how together we're going to assume the burdens" of Iraq and proposing that another country could provide a base for training Iraqi security forces.
.
With two new polls on Monday indicating that more respondents said they trusted President George W. Bush to manage Iraq and indicating that Bush holds a lead of at least six percentage points, Kerry has been hammering the Iraq theme almost daily. Kerry advisers are convinced that the anti-American insurgency in Iraq represents the greatest threat to Bush's re-election.
.
But the polls also indicate that the Massachusetts senator has the most at stake going into a debate on Thursday with Bush. The USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll of likely voters gave Bush an edge for the first time on handling the economy, while the ABC News/Washington Post poll indicated that a plurality of likely voters - 42 percent to 37 percent - said they have a negative impression of Kerry.
.
Kerry, taking questions from an invitation-only audience of Wisconsin voters, said "cutting and running" in Iraq would never be an option if he became commander in chief.
.
He said his proposed summit meeting also would include searching for common ground to solve the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, and cut off Arab support for terrorist groups.
.
Kerry drew a standing ovation when he hit back at critics of his decision to join the antiwar movement after returning from Vietnam. "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: I volunteered to stand up and call it the way I saw it," Kerry said. "That's what I intend to do as president, ladies and gentlemen; there's no value in running for president just to be there."
.
As he took a break from his four-day prep sessions for the debate, Kerry also seemed to be using the town hall meeting here to test new lines for his first debate with Bush. At one point he said he was offering "short and straight and simple" ideas instead of "fancy talk."
.
After recounting his fights against Republicans to protect the environment, Kerry offered a new defense of his 19-year record in the U.S. Senate.
.
"You're not always measured by the things that you have a bill named after you for," he said. "Sometimes you're measured by stopping really bad things from happening, like when I stood up and helped stop Ronald Reagan's illegal war in Central America." He also spoke on some Midwestern concerns, saying, for example, that he would fight for the interests of dairy farmers.
.
The Boston Globe
SPRING GREEN, Wisconsin John Kerry has declared that as president he would immediately convene a summit meeting of all European and Arab heads of state "to figure out how together we're going to assume the burdens" of Iraq and proposing that another country could provide a base for training Iraqi security forces.
.
With two new polls on Monday indicating that more respondents said they trusted President George W. Bush to manage Iraq and indicating that Bush holds a lead of at least six percentage points, Kerry has been hammering the Iraq theme almost daily. Kerry advisers are convinced that the anti-American insurgency in Iraq represents the greatest threat to Bush's re-election.
.
But the polls also indicate that the Massachusetts senator has the most at stake going into a debate on Thursday with Bush. The USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll of likely voters gave Bush an edge for the first time on handling the economy, while the ABC News/Washington Post poll indicated that a plurality of likely voters - 42 percent to 37 percent - said they have a negative impression of Kerry.
.
Kerry, taking questions from an invitation-only audience of Wisconsin voters, said "cutting and running" in Iraq would never be an option if he became commander in chief.
.
He said his proposed summit meeting also would include searching for common ground to solve the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, and cut off Arab support for terrorist groups.
.
Kerry drew a standing ovation when he hit back at critics of his decision to join the antiwar movement after returning from Vietnam. "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: I volunteered to stand up and call it the way I saw it," Kerry said. "That's what I intend to do as president, ladies and gentlemen; there's no value in running for president just to be there."
John Kerry has declared that as president he would immediately convene a summit meeting of all European and Arab heads of state "to figure out how together we're going to assume the burdens" of Iraq and proposing that another country could provide a base for training Iraqi security forces.
.
With two new polls on Monday indicating that more respondents said they trusted President George W. Bush to manage Iraq and indicating that Bush holds a lead of at least six percentage points, Kerry has been hammering the Iraq theme almost daily. Kerry advisers are convinced that the anti-American insurgency in Iraq represents the greatest threat to Bush's
re-election.
.
But the polls also indicate that the Massachusetts senator has the most at stake going into a debate on Thursday with Bush. The USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll of likely voters gave Bush an edge for the first time on handling the economy, while the ABC News/Washington Post poll indicated that a plurality of likely voters - 42 percent to 37 percent - said they have a negative impression of Kerry.
.
Kerry, taking questions from an invitation-only audience of Wisconsin voters, said "cutting and running" in Iraq would never be an option if he became commander in chief.
.He said his proposed summit meeting also would include searching for common ground to solve the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, and cut off Arab support for terrorist groups.
.
Kerry drew a standing ovation when he hit back at critics of his decision to join the antiwar movement after returning from Vietnam. "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: I volunteered to stand up and call it the way I saw it," Kerry said. "That's what I intend to do as president, ladies and gentlemen; there's no value in running for president just to be there." |
