I just saw the new Kerry commercial

[Dawgbert]

It upsets me terribly that he says that he defended America as a young man and he will defend her as president.

REAL veterans don't brag about the fact. Most veterans don't talk about their service, especially their wartime service. Not so with this jerk. It is all a game with him. Will America wake up and realize that he is trying to take them for fools?

"I have three purple hearts, I have three purple hearts, I have three purple hearts, I defended America as a young man, I defended America as a young man."

I think I will go barf now.

[nadB]

"I have three purple hearts, I have three purple hearts, I have three purple hearts"

Mebbe that's why he hunts deer crawling on his stomach ??

He's finally learned to duck ??

[champion110]

I think it is called campaigning. If GWB had been in the service/war, we would be seeing the same thing. Dole and McKain did it too.

You will see all types of things like this from both candidates during the next two months.

[ST5]

Here is something that I don't understand. Maybe some of you enlightened people can help me. I was watching a campaign update on the local news last night. They showed a clip of Kerry at a rally and he said something along these lines:

"The administration wants you to think that our economy is doing better. My friends, that's not true. We still have 44million people without health insurance."

Please tell me how people not having health insurance means that our economy is not recovering. Is Kerry just pulling stuff out of his butt? And if we got down to the nuts and bolts of it all, I bet at least half of those 44million people that can't "afford" health insurance are paying a $40/month cell phone bill and watching digital cable on their HDTV.

[champion110]

That was a stretch. It could be related to the fact that those people that lost jobs are in jobs that don't pay near as much or have health insurance coverage. That is the ones that have been lucky enough to find another job.

I think many of you are relating all Democratic programs to the people that don't work. That is not true. Most programs are aimed at the working poor and middle class. If your employer does not provide health insurance, you have priced it. It ain't pretty.

Saying that, I do agree with you that it was a stretch, though.

[TulsaDawg]

. .. Is Kerry just pulling stuff out of his butt?

Yes. And all politicians do it. They will say anything to get elected. I usually go by the old adage "actions speak louder than words". I look at what the politician has done, not what he says he will do.

[Dawgbert]

I think it is called campaigning. If GWB had been in the service/war, we would be seeing the same thing. Dole and McKain did it too.

You will see all types of things like this from both candidates during the next two months.

I realize that. But I have never seen a candidate HIMSELF talk ad nauseum about his service. This guy has been told that his service record will win the election for him. That is all he spouts, in every speech. I for one am sick of it. Anyone else?
He has no other redeeming qualities so he touts his service record, each medal he politicked hard for.

There is nothing but smoke and mirrors to Kerry. People need to wake up and realize it. Clinton certainly does. He does not want Kerry elected because Hillary's chances of being elected president in 2008 goes up in Kerry's smoke.

[markay714]

I think it is called campaigning. If GWB had been in the service/war, we would be seeing the same thing. Dole and McKain did it too.

You will see all types of things like this from both candidates during the next two months.

BONGGGGGGG.....wrong answer. President Bush has done plenty of other things in the last 20 years that he has to brag about. Sen. Kerry talks about that 'cuz its the only thing that he's got to show for his public service. Why not brag about his accomplishments in the senate? If he didn't have Senator in front of his name nobody'd know he spent 20 years there!

[Bill Pup60]

Right Markay....

If you want a real interesting (if tedious) insight into why Kerry had a huge gap in his "description" of himself in his convention address, you only have to go to the web and look at his TRUE voting record during his senate career. There are several good sources out there. (Note: there are plenty out there that have huge axes to grind and they might not be so accurate.... but there are several you can find easily that come straight from the Congressional Record database)

The first thing you notice is that he sure DID NOT "REPORT FOR DUTY" in the Senate. You go through page after page of votes on important legislation that he DID NOT VOTE ON! I spent a long time doing this a while back and got back as far as the mid 90"s and although I did not set up a calculation to actually count the missed votes, I would guess that he missed about 75 to 85% of all votes.

Also interresting is that to the best of what I've been able to research he has not successfully introduced a single "Kerry" bill that ever even got to a vote. Now, I know that he did get his name tacked on a few "joint" bills, but the only major bill he introduced himself was one to literally gut the CIA and this never even got to the floor.

Also interesting was this:::::

Both he and Edwards have made scathing remarks about Bush's "No Child Left Behind" program. They say he started it but didn't fund it. Well, the Republican bill to INCREASE its' funding failed in the Senate by a narrow margin and guess who did not show up to vote, yep the 2 Johns!!!!!

Or how about this..... He was a member of the Intelligence Commitee for 8 years and during their 41 major meetings during that time he missed 38!!!

Ot this..... Bush recently INVITED him, as the Democratic Candidate to sit in on a Cabinet level security meeting and he didn't show up!!

Oh well.....................

[champion110]

BONGGGGGGG.....wrong answer. President Bush has done plenty of other things in the last 20 years that he has to brag about. Sen. Kerry talks about that 'cuz its the only thing that he's got to show for his public service. Why not brag about his accomplishments in the senate? If he didn't have Senator in front of his name nobody'd know he spent 20 years there!

Senator Kerry has talked about and answered questions regarding his voting record. I just don't think many of you are listening. He speaks about the service, because it is something to brag about and believes that it relates to the world we are living in right now. Agree with that or not, that is the reason. There are not many of us that gives the other guy a chance. We have made up our minds and anything the "other guy" says gets dismissed. There are very few open minds left on either side.

[DONW]

Here's the latest ad about Kerry's military career. Check this out, www.swiftvets.com

[duckbillplatty]

I think many of you are relating all Democratic programs to the people that don't work. That is not true. Most programs are aimed at the working poor and middle class. If your employer does not provide health insurance, you have priced it. It ain't pretty.

I am what you would call working poor or mayble (just maybe) lower middle class. My employer does not provide health insurance. I have coverage through BlueCross/BlueShield. How? I pay my health insurance bill. How? I drive a 1981 Chevrolet El Camino. (A year older than me.) And I shop at Goodwill. Democrats do NOT represent me well. Everything I read about conservative economic policy reaffirms my place on the *right* side of politics.

[nadB]

I am what you would call working poor or mayble (just maybe) lower middle class. My employer does not provide health insurance. I have coverage through BlueCross/BlueShield. How? I pay my health insurance bill. How? I drive a 1981 Chevrolet El Camino. (A year older than me.) And I shop at Goodwill. Democrats do NOT represent me well. Everything I read about conservative economic policy reaffirms my place on the *right* side of politics.

*Right*-On, dbp, Been there, done that.
My employer does not provide health insurance, either, since I don't have an "employer". My family and I have coverage through BlueCross/BlueShield. How? I pay my health insurance bill, same as you. How? I never bought a new car until I was thirty-something years old. I always shopped for "pre-owned" cars, and paid cash, while trying to save and invest. My family of three presently has 3 cars and a pick-em-up-truck, two of the cars being less than a year old. I have never paid even one car note in my life, and the "government" never bought me a car, even though the democraps have tried to lead me to believe it might. Where there's a "will", there's most often a "way".

[aubunique]

Finally, a couple of people who shop right, save and pay cash. Makes me feel at home. Shopping at charity resale shops is wise not only because you save money but because it helps the charity, keeps the usable items from going straight to a landfill, saves the environment in many ways, less fuel needed to manufacture, ship, etc.
The only step beyond that would be for you to say that you never buy anything that is available in a nearby apartment-complex or dormitory dumpster. In areas such as the Ozarks with karst topography, that final step becomes important because finding a safe place for expanding landfill capacity is almost impossible. Finding a safe place for potentially toxic substances is even more difficult. So "recycle, reuse" is extremely important, in addition to continuing the family traditions of those whose parents grew up in the depression and COULD NOT WASTE anything usable. Not in my lifetime but in that of many alive right now, communities that now only make recycling available may be REQUIRING that no one waste anything and people discovered sneaking a worn T shirt into the garbage or a toy a kid no longer wants into the waste bin would be subject to a fine! Food waste would have to be buried in one's own yard to fertilize the soil where everyone would grow as many of his own vegetables as possibleor fed to your own chickens, hogs, rabbits, dogs, etc.
Sound unreasonable? Only if one believes that the lives of people in most of the world a century ago were lived in a totally unreasonable way.

On the subject of the emphasis on Kerry's war record. That wouldn't be such a big part of his campaign if so many Bush supporters such as talk-show guys like limburger and even some of our GOP friends on this board had not been saying for 3 years how glad they were that Bush had become president because Gore wouldn't have done anything effective to fight terrorism.
That, of course, is a statement no one can prove or disprove. Only Bush held the office and there is no way to compare. However, Kerry's record makes the idea that he wouldn't be strong in the face of attack obviously wrong. He wouldn't have needed to have put his qualification in that area to the front but once had there not been the constant harping on how well some people believe Bush has done in ending the threat of terrorism.
No minds are being changed, now are they? One has to wonder how many campaign dollars are spent to change the mind of only one voter on a single item to do with a particular candidate or one single platform item.

[champion110]

I think that is great that all of you are happy with the costs of health care and are willing to pay that amount (no choice) to keep covered. There are a lot of people doing that now.

Aub is right, "One has to wonder how many campaign dollars are spent to change the mind of only one voter on a single item to do with a particular candidate or one single platform item.