Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Kerry -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mephisto who wrote (52249)	10/10/2004 2:24:41 PM
From: Mephisto	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 81568

Edwards renews attack on Bush over Iraq story.news.yahoo.com MIAMI (AFP) - Senator John Edwards , the Democratic vice presidential nominee, kept up the attack on President George W. Bush in a string of television interviews, as surrogates for both candidates clashed over Iraq in the wake of the second presidential debate. The candidates themselves kept a low profile as they prepared for their third and last televised face-off in Arizona on Wednesday. Democratic White House hopeful John Kerry attended church services Sunday in Miami, while Bush bunkered down at his Texas ranch to prepare for the upcoming debate on domestic issues. A new poll for ABC television, conducted in part before the last presidential debate Friday, showed Bush still leading Kerry by about four percentage points. The poll of 2,030 adults, conducted October 6-9, gave Bush 50 percent and Kerry 46 percent. The margin of error was 2.5 percentage points. With both candidates planning to spend the next few days studying up for their next encounter, their campaigns continued to spar over Iraq, fueled by an official report last week that found Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) had no weapons of mass destruction at the time of the invasion. Edwards, who held his own against Vice President Dick Cheney in their first and only debate last week, gave a string of back-to-back television interviews on political talk shows Sunday, in which he said it was a mistake to believe that Saddam had chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. Asked what were his mistakes during his term in the Senate, Edwards told ABC television: "Believing that there were weapons of mass destruction." "It was the right thing to do to give the president the authority to confront Saddam Hussein. That was the right thing to do." "But we didn't authorize this president and vice president to make the mess that they've made," he told CBS television in a later interview. "They did not do the work to put a coalition in place before they went," he said. "They didn't allow the weapons inspectors to do their job. If they had, we would know what we know now, that they in fact didn't have weapons of mass destruction, didn't even have an active program to develop weapons of mass destruction. And they had no plan to win the peace," Edwards said. Debate over the war has intensified since the top US weapons inspector in Iraq, Charles Duelfer, released a 1,000-page report that found Saddam had destroyed most of his chemical and biological weapons after his 1991 Gulf War defeat and that his nuclear program had "progressively decayed." US national security adviser Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites) defiantly defended the invasion of Iraq, saying the United States would have taken the same decision even if Washington had known at the time that Saddam had no weapons of mass destruction. "He was someone who had an insatiable appetite for weapons of mass destruction. He had the means, he had the intent, he had the money to do it," Rice told the "Fox News Sunday" television program. "You were never going to break the link between Saddam Hussein and weapons of mass destruction. "And now we know that, had we waited, he would have gotten out of the sanctions, he would have undermined them by both trying to pay off people on the Security Council and doing what he could to keep his expertise in place," Rice said. With the two candidates locked in a tight race just 23 days before the November 2 election, states across the country reported a huge surge in voter registration, which could lead to an unusually high turnout. The National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS), organization of the state officials responsible for keeping voter registration lists, reports "record-breaking numbers" in all regions of the country.

To: Mephisto who wrote (52249)	10/10/2004 7:19:12 PM
From: Mephisto	Respond to of 81568

Kerry Courts Black Voters at Church Stops story.news.yahoo.com Politics - AP By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer MIAMI - With just three Sundays left before Election Day, Sen. John Kerry is asking for all the help he can get from black voters and the Almighty. The Democratic presidential nominee attended two church services Sunday, instead of his usual one, worshipping first with Haitian Catholics and then with Baptists, where the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton tied his election to the civil rights struggle. "We have an unfinished march in this nation," Kerry said at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, as many congregants waved fans handed out by the campaign with his slogan, "Hope is on the way." "Never again will a million African Americans be denied the right to exercise their vote in the United States of America," Kerry promised, referring to the disputed Florida recount in the 2000 presidential race. As he often does before black audiences, Kerry said he has a legal team that will aggressively respond to any allegations of disenfranchisement. Black turnout is key to Kerry's plan for victory in Florida and elsewhere - less than 10 percent of black voters nationally supported George W. Bush in 2000. But Kerry's campaign says there have been efforts to turn religious blacks against him based on his support for abortion rights and civil unions for same-sex couples. Jackson told worshippers their political concerns are issues that touch their everyday lives, not gay marriage. "I see disturbing signs today that some of our churches have been confused by wolves in sheep's clothing," Jackson said. "How did someone else put their agenda in the front of the line?" "November 2, the power is in your hands, hands that once picked cotton," Jackson said. Added Sharpton: "Everything we have fought for, marched for, gone to jail for - some died for - could be reversed if the wrong people are put on the Supreme Court." Speakers avoided criticizing President Bush (news - web sites) by name, since they were in church, but he was indirectly vilified. Former Rep. Carrie Meek said Kerry is "fighting against liars and demons. ... He challenges the man who walks with a jaunty step." She rocked her hips in an imitation of Bush's swagger as the congregation cheered and Kerry laughed from his high-backed seat behind the pulpit. Bush did not campaign on Sunday, instead spending the day at his Texas ranch riding his bike, working around the property and engaging in informal preparations for the campaign's final debate. Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) also stayed off the campaign trail, while Kerry running mate John Edwards (news - web sites) appeared on the five Sunday talk shows before heading to the Midwest. In Washington, Republican Party chief Ed Gillespie criticized Kerry for saying in an interview in The New York Times Magazine that, "We have to get back to the place we were, where terrorists are not the focus of our lives, but they're a nuisance." "This demonstrates a disconcerting pre-September 11 mind-set that will not make our country safer," Gillespie said on "Face the Nation" on CBS. "And that is what we see relative to winning the war on terror and relative to Iraq (news - web sites)." Hours later, Bush's re-election campaign announced a new television ad that plays off of Kerry's interview comment. "Terrorism ... a nuisance? How can Kerry protect us when he doesn't understand the threat?" the ad says. The campaign said the ad would run on national cable television networks and the campaign's Web site. In Florida, Kerry, who is Catholic, also attended Mass at St. James Catholic Church. Aides said it was for his own personal worship rather than for any campaigning. Or, as Kerry told a teenager who asked him Saturday night if he can get rid of standardized tests, "You do a lot more praying during exams than any other time of the year." Kerry was arriving in New Mexico late Sunday to prepare for the third and final presidential debate on Wednesday in Tempe, Ariz. ___

To: Mephisto who wrote (52249)	10/12/2004 9:37:19 PM
From: Mephisto	Respond to of 81568

Clinton Lends His Voice to Kerry Campaign story.news.yahoo.com By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer SANTA FE, N.M. - President Clinton can't put his recovering heart into John Kerry 's election effort out on the campaign trail, but he is using his voice to help in the final weeks of the race. Clinton regularly phones Kerry and his aides to offer advice, and he plans to tape a phone message that will be sent into voters' homes. Campaign officials say it's likely he'll also record radio advertisements, but his slow recovery from heart surgery is making it questionable whether he'll be able to do any physical campaigning. Democrats who have spoken to Clinton say he is eager to get more involved, but his doctors and his wife are not sure he is strong enough to travel five weeks after he underwent quadruple bypass surgery. One senior Democratic official who recently saw Clinton said the former president looked wan and reported that his recovery had been harder than he had expected. But Clinton told the official to begin planning a couple of events for the final days of the campaign. Another Democrat who has talked to Clinton said that may be wishful thinking, and it's unclear whether there will be any appearances. Clinton spokesman Jim Kennedy said there have been no decisions about whether he'll be able to campaign. Vice President Al Gore (news - web sites) shied away from appearing with Clinton four years ago, afraid the Monica Lewinsky scandal could taint his own campaign. But Clinton remains popular, and most Democrats are eager to tap into his star power this year. The former president is planning to give a speech at New York's Hamilton College on Nov. 9 - a week after the election. And he's planning to appear in Arkansas at the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce (news - web sites)'s annual meeting on Nov. 16, two days before he opens his presidential library. Clinton, 58, underwent surgery in New York City on Sept. 6 after complaining of chest pain and shortness of breath. He has been recovering at home in Chappaqua just north of New York City and has recently been going on walks and chatting with other residents. One Democrat who has spoken to Sen. Hillary Clinton (news - web sites) said she has been more cautious than her husband about a quick return to the campaign trail and to work at his foundation. During an interview on CNN's "Larry King Live" last Friday, Sen. Clinton said they would be guided by the advice of doctors at her husband's six-week checkup, although in the meantime he's talking on the phone to the campaign and supporters around the country. "I'm so pleased that Bill has really made it clear he's going to do what the doctors advise, and he doesn't want to rush," she said. "He wants to be as fully recovered as possible." Clinton has appeared only once publicly with Kerry this year - a Democratic unity dinner on March 25, three weeks after Kerry sewed up the party's nomination. But he has spoken to Kerry regularly since his surgery, and a Democrat close to Clinton said the most recent call was within the past week. Clinton talks once or twice a week to adviser John Sasso, who travels at Kerry's side, including a phone conversation on Monday, campaign officials said. Kerry adviser Mike McCurry, who was press secretary in the Clinton White House, said the former president has offered pointers for the debates, guidance for increasing Democratic turnout and other strategic advice. "He's giving good, wise, counsel," McCurry said. "We would be delighted to have him help, but we understand the importance of following doctors' orders." The Kerry campaign would like to use Clinton to encourage Democratic voters to get to the polls. He could be particularly helpful in motivating black voters, whom Kerry has been making a special effort to reach. "If he's able to travel, going and helping to rally the base would be particularly helpful to us," said Kerry adviser Joe Lockhart, also a former Clinton press secretary. ___

To: Mephisto who wrote (52249)	10/14/2004 1:47:11 PM
From: Mephisto	Respond to of 81568

Bush Official: Debates Gave Lift to Kerry story.news.yahoo.com By SCOTT LINDLAW, Associated Press Writer TEMPE, Ariz. - Sen. John Kerry gained ground in the race for the White House in the trio of campaign debates, a top official in President Bush 's campaign conceded Thursday, but insisted that any advantage would prove fleeting. "I think it was temporary," Marc Racicot, Bush's campaign chairman, told reporters on the morning after the president and Kerry collided in an intense final debate that sharpened differences over the war in Iraq (news - web sites), the economy, health care and abortion. Racicot spoke as Bush and his Democratic rival set out on an 19-day campaign sprint to Election Day, concentrating their time and advertising on a dozen or so battleground states that will settle the election. The ubiquitous polls made their race a virtual dead heat. The Democratic Party was quick to publicize what it called a debate "threepeat" for Kerry, launching two videos that mocked Bush's performance. One shows Bush talking about Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) and telling White House reporters, "I truly am not that concerned about him. I know he is on the run," then denying during the debate that he had ever said it. The other video shows Bush laughing when asked about uninsured Americans. Bush played down negative reviews of his debate performances. "The pundits and the spinners - they all have their opinions but there's only one opinion that matters and that's the opinion of the American people on Nov. 2," he told reporters during a rare visit to the press cabin on Air Force One. "I feel great about where we are." "My spirits are high," Bush declared. "I'm enthusiastic about my chances." Kerry's day included an appearance before the AARP's national convention in Las Vegas. The organization of Americans 50 and older lent crucial support to controversial Medicare prescription drug legislation that Bush won from Congress a year ago. Kerry opposed the measure and polls now show support for it lags among older Americans. Bush decided to skip the convention and first lady Laura Bush was taking his place. The president headed instead to a rally with Republican governors, also meeting in Las Vegas. For undecided voters, Wednesday night's debate was a chance to comparison-shop. Kerry cast himself as champion of the little guy and Bush the guardian of the wealthy, branding the president as reckless with the federal budget and the use of American force. Bush labeled Kerry a do-nothing liberal senator with questionable credibility and an insatiable appetite for taxes. A question about federal spending and deficits yielded one of their sharpest exchanges. "You know, there's a mainstream in American politics, and you sit right on the far left bank," Bush said, charging that Kerry had voted to exceed budget ceilings 277 times. "Being lectured by the president on fiscal responsibility is a little bit like Tony Soprano talking to me about law and order in this country," Kerry said. "This president has taken a $5.6 trillion surplus and turned it into deficits as far as the eye can see." Both candidates said they believe marriage should remain a union of a man and a woman but that gay Americans should be treated with respect. Kerry cited Mary Cheney, the vice president's openly gay daughter and an official in the campaign, as a lesbian who probably would say being gay is not a matter of choice. That drew a rebuke at a post-debate rally from Lynne Cheney, the vice president's wife. She called Kerry "not a good man" and his reference to her daughter "a cheap and tawdry political trick." In an interview Thursday with ABC Radio, Elizabeth Edwards, wife of Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards (news - web sites), said Mrs. Cheney "overreacted to this and treated it as if it's shameful to have this discussion. I think that's a very sad state of affairs. ... I think that it indicates a certain degree of shame with respect to her daughter's sexual preferences. ... It makes me really sad that that's Lynne's response." The debate focused on a range of domestic issues and exposed deep differences: _Kerry said a hike in the minimum wage to $7 an hour is "long overdue," and blamed Republican congressional leadership for preventing a vote on it. Bush mentioned a Republican senator's minimum wage plan that he said he had supported. _On the assault weapons ban that expired last month, Kerry said it was a "failure of presidential leadership" that Bush had taken no concrete action to renew the law. Bush said background checks at gun shows and vigorous enforcement of existing gun laws were the way to keep deadly weapons off the streets. _On affirmative action, Kerry said he opposes quotas but the nation has not moved far enough along to eliminate affirmative action. Bush also opposes quotas, but said he supports programs that help low- and middle-income families fund college, or small businesses get loans. _Kerry said he would not appoint judges who would overturn the Supreme Court's 1973 abortion rights decision of Roe v. Wade (news - web sites). Bush said he had no issue test for judges, and reiterated his support for the ban on so-called partial-birth abortion. Bush seemed to find his stride after two debates that most viewers and analysts thought he lost. He stifled most of the facial expressions that marred his first performance, ending each answer with a smile, though the camera occasionally captured him dropping it abruptly a few seconds later. After letting his voice rise to a shout during the second debate, Bush toned it down, speaking more softly. Kerry was seen as the winner in two of three post-debate polls, while the third found the two tied. Racicot quarreled with polls showing Kerry won the final debate and described the president's performance as "extraordinarily good." Assessing all the debates combined, he said Kerry "did provide himself some temporary assistance with the first debate that got more leavened in the second debate and then began to dissipate at a whatever unknown rate with last night's performance. "I just think he was on his heels most of the night," he added. But Democratic chairman Terry McAuliffe said the videos told the story. "They capture the essence of George Bush (news - web sites)'s four years in office. Four years of wrong choices which he won't even own up to," he told reporters in a conference call. ___