Kerry heckled on his own front porch

[BaysideLiberal]

COLUMBUS, United States (AFP) - Democrat John Kerry (news - web sites)'s presidential campaign took the pulse of the ordinary American homeowner, and came face to face with the polarized nature of the country's electorate


Four days before he makes a crucial speech at the national Democratic convention in Boston, the Kerry bandwagon rolled into a suburb of Columbus, Ohio, for a "front porch" rally at the home of Jessie and Janet Aitkins.


The carefully choreographed event was gatecrashed by a vocal group of local Republican residents brandishing placards in support of President George W. Bush (news - web sites) and chanting "flip-flop" Kerry -- echoing Republican criticisms of Kerry's Senate voting record.


"Kerry doesn't have anything like Bush's integrity," said David Timms, 32. "Actually, because of his liberal policies, I'm happy he doesn't even vote that often in the Senate."


Some Bush supporters handed out flyers advertising a "Kerry Waffle Raffle."

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1516&e=...

[AlFrankenFan]

1. Well they are somewhat clever

Maybe that's a little too much credit...scratch that they honestly need to re-think the thing about Bush having integrity. That quote made me laugh!

[Tellurian]

6. these people are no more than domestic terrorists..

gatecrashing?...Kerry better beef up his security before something bad happens!

[Toucano]

21. That's a bit harsh, doncha think?

Domestic terrorists?

Really?

I think they're just morons wasting their time exercising their right to demonstrate against the next president of the United States.

[AlFrankenFan]

38. True, cause we could be called the same thing n/t

[Tellurian]

45. Well no- I said it first.. they have to come up with something else..

anti-Republicans...ok!

[shanti]

51. do you actually

think that *ush would allow this to happen at one of his foto-ops?

not hardly

[Tellurian]

44. No, I don't think so..we've always underestimated the vitriol these people

harbor for anyone unlike themselves..

They scare me..

[OinkoBoinko]

49. Darn tooting

Somoody tell these (*) supporters that they have no 1st amendment rights when it comes to public protest. Who do these wingers think they are?

[laylah]

69. Darn tootin'

just like libs have had it shoved down our throats since December 2000

Jenn

[Virginian]

63. There's safety in numbers.

If it was only one and he was heckling rather than demonstrating, he could have been handled with a little one on one. When there is a mob, they can't think for themselves, the others won't allow it.

[coloradodem2005]

2. Bush supporters need to grow up.

Though, they reflect who they are supporting quite accurately.

[spotbird]

37. They don't have too, their natural constituency is immature and eats

this crap up, they think it makes their side look strong. They started the grade school crap in 1980 and it has served them well ever since. The more immature the better, they have 13 year old girls cook up the strategy.

[Maeve]

3. My favorite part of the story

"Sometimes, they're a little loud," he(Kerry) said over audible Republican voters' chants of "four more years" for Bush. "But that's the nature of democracy."

"Four more years of what?" he added. "Four more years of jobs being lost? Four more years of the deficit growing bigger and bigger?"

[Cocoa]

15. "four more years of what?"

what a perfect response. I bet Rove sends the word out for no one to ever say "four more years." With Bush, that's mostly a depressing thought, for anyone.

[JohnKleeb]

16. hah and they say he's aloof

Guy has a neat sense of humor.

[Mokito]

58. The tone alone of those words, "four more years",

makes them sound like it is a punishment (which in this case it accidentally is!).

[Virginian]

65. "Four more months"

That's for the Kerry supporters to chant back, not for Kerry himself to say.

[Spiffarino]

4. Don't forget the glaring difference here

Kerry allows dissenters near his appearances. Bush keeps them miles away and often behind fences.

Kerry doesn't fear democracy; Bush cowers before it.

[Webster Green]

11. Totally!

Very important difference!

[NC_Nurse]

5. If it was a Bush event

they wouldn't have gotten within a few blocks of it! Bush can't deal with any direct protest or even a pointed question!

[JerseygirlCT]

27. And they'd probably have been arrested, to boot.

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

54. Bush flips them off. Kerry recognizes that people have the right to

dissent.

[Only Me]

57. I agree, they are just following their masters lead...

After all he (bush) got away with it time and time again. We all remember the reports of people saying this had happened to them.
During the 2000 elections, When Bush came to my tricities area, demonstrators or demonstrations were not allowed. Gore signs and banners were taken from protesters before Bush spoke, but he was present. And the actual people were effectively physical and/or verbally removed from the area. I know this first hand.
Some of my family were there. Bush and his people were allowed to violate the peoples' right to public protest. These people were just a small group of regular neighborhood people, not like they were a tar and feather spouting mob brewing.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

7. Pisses me off because nobody can even get within a few hundred....

...yards of FratBoy. If FratBoy wasn't such a coward, he would be willing to deal with the same kind of situation.

[Kurt Remarque]

8. sounds like those thugs in florida in 2000

[lancdem]

9. This isn't a surprise

I don't Columbus is a heavily Dem area. I'm glad Kerry went there.

[Comicstripper]

10. I was watching on C-Span

Kerry handled it really well.
He said (paraphrasing), "Y'know, I'm glad that we live in a Democracy. You can hear the voices of America right now! (applause)Sometimes they're a little louder...(laughter from audience)..but we need to get to a point where we can stop yelling and start listening (applause)"
Very graceful. And he seemed awfully personable to me.

[faithnotgreed]

17. thank you so much for sharing that! its great to hear & welcome to du!

[Orangepeel]

12. today's Boondocks is great

http://www.ucomics.com/boondocks/2004/07/25 /

"I hear Kerry might be a little wishy-washy on some issues...."

[ilovenicepeople]

55. HI Mr. Cheney!!

[JohnKleeb]

13. Bush has intergrity lol!

Oh man, that made my day. I got a question for the republicans who call him a flip flopper, at the same time, youre saying hes too liberal, which is it?

[Ready4Change]

14. Hmm, a Presidential candidate who allows himself to hear dissent.

Rather than Bush's travelling cone of silence, Kerry allows dissenting voices. Now THAT'S a change from who we've had in the White House for the last 3.5 years.

[nosmokes]

18. peace president!

[nosmokes]

19. war president!

[cmd]

22. Ah, the sound of the presidential flop-flop n/t

[Rebellious Republican]

20. I was thinking the same thing! These Morans just do not get it do they!

[Alexander]

23. "On his own front porch"???

I didn't know Kerry lives in Ohio.

I thought he was from liberal Taxachusetts.

Don't you just love the media's misleading headlines?

[benfranklin1776]

33. The headline is abominable.

That was exactly what I thought when I first saw it that a group of protestors went to HIS house in Boston. What passes for "journalism" these days is atrocious.

He handled the antics of the gate crashers very well and put them squarely in their place. I hope they continue such juvenility as he will eat them for lunch, just like he did today by showing himself to be very Presidential and very composed. He paints quite the stunning contrast to Junior who is such the infantile idiot that he flips off the few protestors that may have escaped their holding pens which have been erected to insulate and protect him from any unpleasant truths that he might hear. This is the difference between a real leader and a simpering coward.

[flordehinojos]

24. What would have happened if,

Kerry had invited the loud Bush supporters on to the porch of the house where he was speaking, shaken hands with the Bush loud mouths, invited them to ask a direct question of Kerry's leadership about which they, they, the Kerry opponents, had the most prescient doubt, or strongest opposition to, and then answered all of their questions right then and there.

Would they have seen Kerry in a different light? Would his answers have been able to touch their thinking brain rather than their emotional buttons which GWB likes to push all the time?

Would they have become the next Arianna Huffingtons of the Republican Party?

Would Kerry have started an era of civility here in this country? An era of civil dissent, open dialogue, honest debate?

Oh, if he could, or would have, only used the moment!

[hippywife]

56. Kerry walked right up to them

and shook hands with them on the way out. I was watching it on CSPAN and the cameras followed him as he exited.

[AP]

25. I would love it if Kerry asked that group to pick a spokesperson and then

if he engaged that spokesperson.

He could ask, "On which issue do you think I've flipfopped?"

A: "uhhh..."

"And, on which issue do you think George Bush has displayed more integrity?"

A: "Well, uhm..."

"And which votes are you glad I missed? The one where we voted to name the hiqhway in SC after the late Republican Senator from SC?"

A: None.

"And if you were running for president against me, don't you think that you'd find it more important to go out and talk to the people than vote in the Senate when your vote isn't needed?"

[Barkley]

26. I bet Dave Timms drives a pick-up with a confederate flag on the back!

[osaMABUSh]

28. We don't even know Kerry yet he leads * who everyone knows

Kerry barely leads Bush "But a Time Magazine survey released Sunday found that only 29 percent of voters said they knew a "great deal" about Kerry while 67 percent said they knew "a great deal" about Bush"

In a week America will know Kerry and his lead will be big.

[TryingToWarnYou]

29. He should have turned on the sprinklers...it works for Ozzy

[featherman]

30. Why are we believing this "local residents" garbage

sounds like a typical RNC goon squad, bought and paid for.

[Dr Fate]

31. It's only heckling if it works- Kerry turned this into a positive.

His responses to the would be disruptors was great...

But luck next time freepies!!

[Octafish]

32. Bush is a CROOK!

What integrity?

Bush was drunk until he was 40 fucking years old.

FUCK YOU, BUSH!

[Art_from_Ark]

50. He was drunk long after that

The "40 years old" bit is just the age at which "youthful indiscretions" come to an end, according to bu$h apologists.

Drinking before 40-- OK, because it's a "youthful indiscretion". Saying that you quit at 40 shows "maturity," whether you actually quit or not.

Unless it's about war, or killing, or creating new tax breaks for the have-mores, I don't believe a damn thing that comes out of that man's mouth.

[Octafish]

78. Agree with you 100-percent, Art_from_Ark!

The guy may not imbibe, but his brain is under the influence. His mouth -- with all the talk about killing and helpin' his rich friends -- only reflects what's in his heart and bladder.

[nolabels]

72. Milo doesn't need to use an insult, he just uses his breath.

Milo was this guy that impressed me with his lack of brilliance and dedication to being a total jerk. So this is a tribute to him. If you know someone like that feel free to submit an insult on the main Insults page. Not all insults are directed at Milo, which proves that nothings perfect... If you need to use one of these insult just insert your victims name (and duck).
(snip)
http://mindyourownbusiness.com/just_plain_mean.htm

Famous Retorts

Of Clemmet Atlee, Churchill said "He's a sheep in sheep's clothing."

Physicist Wolfgang Pauli upon reading a submitted paper: "This isn't right, this isn't even wrong."

Anonymous actress: I enjoyed reading your book . Who wrote it for you?
Ilka Chase: Darling, I'm so glad that you liked it. Who read it to you?

Lady Astor: Winston: If I were married to you, I'd put poison in your coffee.
Sir Winston Churchill: Nancy, if you were my wife, I'd drink it.

Henry Clay: I would rather be right than be president.
Congressman Reed: He doesn't have to worry. He'll never be either.

Lord Sandwich: Really, Mr. Wilkes, I don't know whether you'll die on the gallows or of the pox.
John Wilkes: That depend, my lord, on whether I embrace your principles or your mistress.

Lewis Morris: It is a conspiracy of silence against me - a conspiracy of silence. What should I do.
Oscar Wilde: Join it.
(snip)
http://mindyourownbusiness.com/retorts.htm

[Octafish]

79. Thanks, nolabels! Those are very handy!

Physicist Wolfgang Pauli upon reading a submitted paper:



"This isn't right, this isn't even wrong."


Here's another, from your source...

Noël Coward (could have been talkin' about Wolfie):



"I see (him) as one great stampede of lips directed at the nearest derriere."

[2Design]

34. And we will probably find out they are aides to washington

senators who were bussed in to make this a evil event...since Kerry has advertised he is doing this tour....if it was bush...they wouldn't have been allow within miles...

[Jaybird]

35. what are these

assholes gonna do when his royal shrubness loses in november......is the suicide rate gonna climb......we can only hope i guess

[Occulus]

61. No... but the murder rate *will.*

And that's what scares me the most about these people.

[mtnester]

36. David Timms

is a member of the Franklin Co. Republican Central Committee. It appears he arrived in a neighborhood that is not his own, with his official approved talking points.

[Straight Shooter]

43. Disingenuous. You would think the "liberal" media would point that out.

So they send an operator, and he gets quoted as if he's Mr. Anyman off the street.

Kerry handled it well. "Four more years of WHAT?"

[drscm]

39. Kerry doesn't have anything like Bush's integrity.

No truer words were spoken. Kerry's integrity is real.

[are_we_united_yet]

41. Yes David is a true moron

[bluestateguy]

40. Put these people into protest cages

See how they like it.

[Gloria]

42. Since "flip flopper" seems to be the meme about Kerry...I hope to

god that he goes after Bush on exactly this "issue."

I caught part of this even on the CSpan repeat (not the heckling) and he did well. He always is good in forum and interview settings.

The part about not even hearing about a health plan for Americans from Bush was esp. good.

I noted that he said at one point he wasn't out to "bash Bush" ....but he was being "comparative."

Well, I guess that's a start.........

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

46. Hit and run.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

60. It certainly has the hallmarks does it not?

[MODemocrat]

47. Republicans parrott everything they hear

What are they to do? They don't have minds of their own, so they let the facists do their thinking for them. Lest they forget, or are just too down right stupid to know it: John Kerry saved Bush's sorry ass by serving in Vietnam while Georgie Boy deserted his duties to campaign for his Daddy. The Bush "administration" is just so
un-patriotic,it leaves me to wonder why they hate America so badly?

[daleo]

48. It sounds like Kerry handled this well, and very gracefully

As far as I can recall, Clinton also had a knack for handling hecklers quite gracefully. It seems like a good sign.

[AFSCME girl]

52. Kerry doesn't have anything like B*ush's

integrity........I think I'm gonna be sick!
B*sh doesn't even know what the hell integrity is!

[Mari333]

53. That 32 year old is the PERFECT age to enlist!!!

send him to Iraq, and bring my kid home.

[RamboLiberal]

59. WP says some * bunch were volunteers not residents

Nearby, Republicans -- some residents, some Bush volunteers -- sought to disrupt much of the event with shouts of "four more years" and "Bush, Bush."

<snip>

This easily persuadable audience of supporters seemed persuaded. But a few houses down, where Bush-Cheney signs were staked in the yard and middle-aged men and women and their children chanted with fury, there was a dramatically different take on the war on terror and Kerry's ability to win it.

Peter Bricker, 43, a veteran and a proud Bush supporter, said Kerry "would weaken the country to the point it will no longer be a super power." Down the street, Steve Ward, 55, a heating and cooling specialist, contacted the Bush campaign to find out how he could help make Kerry's day miserable. Ward's chief complaint: "Democrats are bashing the president at a time of war."

Unlike the Democrats who lamented job losses at nearby Buckeye Steel, which recently filed for bankruptcy, the Republicans talked of an economy on the rise and sounded much like Bush in blaming Democrats for leaving the president with an economy in recession in 2001. Greg Lawson, 26, a Bush volunteer, hurried into the neighborhood to plant yard signs and join in the Kerry bashing. "He just doesn't stand strong on any issue," Lawson said.

After shaking hands, Kerry was rushed back to his SUV as the soundtrack to the TV show "Flipper" blared from a Republican house.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14029-20...

Hah, I figured as much when I saw the video today - damn media rarely digs in to what is so obvious. One thing the Kerry advance people need to learn from this is to put their supporters signs on sticks so they can hold in front of the koolaid drinkers. I noted all the Chimpy/Cheney signs were on sticks so the idiots in the back could hold them high for the news cameras.

[JohnKleeb]

62. Hey Ward, where were you during Kosovo?

I opposed that war myself but I bet you were bashing Clnton daily. Stupid republican snobs. God.

[thebigidea]

64. I wonder if the WP ever quotes protesters extensively when W campaigns?

Oh yeah, they don't.

[Ganja Ninja]

70. Exactly right! Pro-Bush protesters are covered at almost every ...

campaign stop too. Where as anti-Bush protesters are covered from afar to portray them as being dangerous and on the fringe.

[aquart]

66. Bayside, Queens?

[flaminbats]

67. Somebody doesn't have a life..

Interesting how freepers don't volunteer to do something useful for local Republicans, or spend this time convincing swing voters to support Bush. Their only purpose in life is to whine about Kerry and to waste time on those who would never vote Republican. IMO these tactics help our campaign and drive undecided bystanders away from voting Republican.

[yankeedem]

68. David Timms? That David Timms?

Man, I love google.


http://www.lawyers.com/find_a_lawyer/search/atty_profil...

What type of law does his firm do? Bust unions, of course!

http://www.maslawfirm.com/recent.htm

I guess the reporter didn't have time to mention that, though.

[dave29]

71. Kerry was heckled in front of the White House?

n/t

[Kukesa]

74. I like your attitude! n/t

[MallRat]

73. At least Kerry allows dissent.

If these were Kerry supporters heckling *, they'd be handed a one-way ticket to Guantanamo.

-MR

[tom_paine]

75. This is a Total Bushevik Mockingbird "article"

A "carefull choreographed" event? Jesus, that reads like a Gingrichian Language Manipulator's Wet Dream!

And, of course, it is ALWAYS easy for Totalitarian Party Members, be they Bolsheviks in 1978 Soviet Union or 2004 Busheviks, to get special treatment when even people who wear anti-Bush t-shirts are cuffed and taken out, if they are allowed closer than a mile from the boyt-King.

Amerika, you look so much like the Old Soviet Union (minus the murderous violence and Gullagings, btu we don't want to spoil the surprise) that I can scarcely tell the difference.

Hey, at least you aren't brutalizing and Gulagging us...yet.

Progress. Our Amerikan Empire is a much more semi-free Tyranny than the old Soviet Empire.

[tom_paine]

76. Oh, and I GUARANTEE you that the 'gatecrashers' weren't local.

GUAR-AN-TEEEED!

Totalitariansm and Totalitarians are SOOOOOO predictable, as are the toadies who suck up and write their Pravda.

[KansDem]

77. Hahaha!!! Here's the real story...

Latest polls give Kerry and his running mate John Edwards (news - web sites) the slimmest of leads over Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites). But a Time Magazine survey released Sunday found that only 29 percent of voters said they knew a "great deal" about Kerry while 67 percent said they knew "a great deal" about Bush.

The Media Whores used the line "slimmest of leads" to downplay this fact but more than twice the respondents in the Time poll said they knew "a great deal" about Bush over Kerry...more than twice as many know a great deal about Bush yet Kerry is ahead. Not much room for improvement for the Bushistas.

I would imagine Rove and the Media Whores are very worried about this...

[Career Prole]

80. BUCK FUSH!!!!

...and the horse he's afraid of. Or was that the bike he fell off of?