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Politics : I Will Continue to Continue, to Pretend.... -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sully- who wrote (375)	12/7/2003 3:31:53 AM
From: Sully-	Respond to of 35834

Democrats attack Bush 12/07/03 By JACOB OGLES Daily Commercial Staff Writer LAKE BUENA VISTA <font size=4> The Democrats running for the Democratic presidential nomination have varying domestic and foreign policy agendas, but they agree on one thing: The outcome of Florida’s 2000 election was skewed, if not stolen outright, and the party’s core supporters need to stay angry until the current president is voted out of office. <font size=3> John Kerry wants to break away from foreign oil dependence, Howard Dean wants to shed his liberal label and Wesley Clark wants a rebirth of Democracy. But each shared a frustration and expressed fear over actions of an administration that came into office amid controversy. <font size=4> “George Bush started a division of the country when he was trying to take an election that any reasonable person would say he had not actually won,” said retired Gen. Wesley Clark, one of six candidates in Florida Saturday for the state party convention at Walt Disney World. <font size=3> Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean alluded to Bush’s campaign promise to be a “uniter, not a divider.” “I don’t see any evidence of that either,” Dean said. The line won some of the loudest applause of the day, and Dean left the apparent favorite of Democrats. His campaign had brought a troop of out-of-state delegates, but numerous Dean supporters hailed from the Sunshine State. Clark also showed strong support in Florida, and Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry was greeted by a number of “Real Deal” signs waved by his fans. Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich came in smaller numbers, but proved among the most vocal at the event. Kucinich called for a country interested in preserving world peace. “We need a president who will work with America to stand up with the world community,” he said. Should Kucinich become president, he said he would sign such international treaties as the Chemical Weapons Ban and Kyoto Treaty. Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt pleaded his case for broad health care availability. Harkening back to the Clinton presidency, Gephardt said America knows how to make an economy work but the current administration is choosing to pad contributor wallets instead. A key point in his platform, as expressed in Florida, had an emphasis on health care. He repeatedly mentioned the 43 million Americans without any health insurance, and said his health care proposal would help ensure some 41 million of them by requiring some employers to provide insurance and subsidizing those who cannot have a job-related package. <font size=4> He <Gephardt> also labeled Bush the worst President he had ever served with. “This guy makes me nostalgic for Ronald Reagan,” North Carolina Sen. John Edwards focused his message on the president’s tax cuts, claiming the White House has an unspoken agenda of shifting the tax burden in the country away from the rich and onto the middle class. “There is something more radical going on with this,” he said. Kerry, Gephardt and Edwards all voted for a resolution to go into Iraq, but did not shy away from criticizing the war. “If we want to do anything in North Korea now, we will have to send the Boy and Girl Scouts of America,” he said. “Our resources are tapped.” Candidates were critical of a failure to find terrorist Osama bin Laden, the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001. “He can’t find Osama bin Laden. He can’t find Saddam Hussein. He can’t even find the leak in the White House,” Kerry said. <font size=3> Clark talked up his military credentials, citing his leadership in Kosovo for rebuilding a democracy and put Slobodan Milosovic in international prison for war crimes. This path should have been taken, he said, in dealing with Saddam Hussein. “When I am president, I will not send our men and women in uniform into harm’s way except as an absolute last result,” he said. Dean was the candidate most critical of his own party, saying America hungers for change in Washington status quo. “We need to stop this special interest auction,” he said. All nine Democratic candidates for president confirmed visits to the state convention this weekend. Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman is scheduled to appear today. Civil Rights activist Al Sharpton missed Saturday’s events to host Saturday Night Live but is expected at the convention today. Ambassador Carol Mosely Braun canceled because of health reasons. All nine candidates had supporters in the crowd of more than 4,000 delegates, but the majority of Democrats at the event said they would support whoever the nominee was as long as it meant a vote against Bush. According to event coordinator Allie Merzer, the convention is the biggest in state history. The anger at Bush was palpable throughout the convention, with many calling for “revenge.” Merchandise at the convention included jokes about the recount and attacks on Bush’s foreign policy, as well as ridicule of Attorney General John Ashcroft. mywebpal.com