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Politics : Just the Facts, Ma'am: A Compendium of Liberal Fiction -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: mph who wrote (8113)	5/29/2004 9:49:35 AM
From: Selectric II	Respond to of 90947

"Consider the source," is a phrase that was drilled into me by my father, who was a journalist covering politics in the '40's and '50's. It's an important factor in making sense of many things, particularly in today's world where even science and medicine have become politicized.

To: mph who wrote (8113)	5/29/2004 11:21:30 AM
From: American Spirit	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 90947

Kerry castigates Bush on veterans Candidate says budget cuts hurt active military, too By Glen Johnson, Globe Staff \| May 29, 2004 GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Returning to a strategy that helped resurrect his primary campaign, John F. Kerry is once again surrounding himself with veterans, as he challenges President Bush on national security grounds and pledges better treatment for active-duty and retired members of the military should he win the White House. The presumptive Democratic nominee, on the eve of the Memorial Day weekend, yesterday stood before the train from which Dwight D. Eisenhower commanded allied troops in World War II, and castigated the Bush administration for what he called a rush into war in Iraq, the mistreatment of military commanders, and the consideration of a $910 million cut in next year's Veterans Administration budget. "My friends, I'm not going to listen to Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld and these other people talk about patriotism in America, when the first definition of patriotism is keeping faith with the people who wore the uniform of our country," Kerry told a crowd of current and former members of the armed forces during a sometimes tear-filled town hall meeting at the National Railroad Museum. In the crowd were two of Kerry's former Vietnam crewmates. He also turned his fire on Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, who in testimony to Congress last month could not say how many US troops had been killed in Iraq. Wolfowitz estimated 500, of which 350 were combat deaths; at the time, the Pentagon was reporting 724 deaths, of which 522 occurred in combat. "It was just stunning, because you'd think that every day they'd be conscious of exactly what the cost is," Kerry said in response to a woman whose brother was killed in Vietnam and who contended that people were discounting the relatively small number of lives lost in Iraq. "That's a metaphor for the attitude about what's going on here," Kerry said. Like Bush, Kerry promised to bring the troops home "as soon as possible," but the senator said he thought he could achieve it more easily than the president, because he could more effectively enlist allied nations to send troops to replace US soldiers. There are 26.5 million veterans in the country, a bloc that regularly turns out at election time. The Kerry campaign hopes they will underpin the senator's electoral strategy. His appearance yesterday -- against a backdrop of a banner saying, "Strength and Service" -- occurred on the second of an 11-day campaign stretch focused on national security. During that span, Kerry also intends to unveil "Veterans for Kerry," a formal campaign drive. In addition, the campaign is actively recruiting the support of Republican veterans who backed Bush or his chief rival in the 2000 primary campaign, Senator John S. McCain of Arizona. The campaign is planning to launch a "Republican Veterans for Kerry" organization in the coming weeks. Continued