Have the words "poor" or "working poor" been mentioned

[A-Schwarzenegger]

once in the campaign?

[Lars39]

1. "Poverty" was mentioned by Kerry in the last debate.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

4. You're right---three times. Thanks.

"Poor" was used once, by Shieffer in a question.

[Mizmoon]

2. Kerry wants to expand the earned income tax credit

that's the only time anyone has come close, I think.

[xray s]

3. Absolutely

Kerry made a strong pitch to raise the minimum wage in the last debate. John Edwards stump speech always comments on people being exhausted working two jobs and trying to raise a family. John Kerry made a very strong speech to the Urban league in July...

http://www.johnkerry.com/pressroom/speeches/spc_2004_0722.html

here is a snippet...

...When we look at what is happening in America today we must ask ourselves, where are the deeds? The Bible teaches us: “It is not enough, my brother, to say you have faith, when there are no deeds…Faith without deeds is dead.”

Fifty years ago, Thurgood Marshall, Whitney Young, the National Urban League and America turned faith into deeds when you fought and won Brown v Board of Education. Forty years ago, Lyndon Johnson, Dr. King, the National Urban League and America turned faith into deeds when the nation passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. And next year the nation will again be reminded that you helped turned faith into deeds 40 years ago to push for the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Today we have an administration in Washington that looks at the challenges we face here and around the world and says this is the best we can do. They say what we have now is the best economy of our lifetimes. They have even called us pessimists for speaking truth to power. Well, I say the most pessimistic thing you can say is that America can’t do better.

Don’t tell us 1.8 million lost jobs is the best we can do, when we can create millions of new jobs. We can change that…and we will.

Don’t tell us unemployment is not a problem, when we see that African American unemployment is now above 10 percent – double the rate for whites. It is unacceptable in the wealthiest nation on earth that we tolerate vast and growing pockets of poverty – from the hills of Appalachia to the streets of Detroit. Raising the minimum wage and making life better for the working poor is part of my vision for a stronger America. We can change that…and we will.

Don’t tell us crumbling and overcrowded schools and underpaid teachers are the best we can do. We have the means to give all our children a first-rate education. We can change that…and we will.

Don’t tell us we have to accept racial profiling, hate crimes or the assault by right-wing judges on our precious civil rights progress. We can change that…and we will.

Don’t tell us that in the strongest democracy on earth, a million disenfranchised African Americans and the most tainted election in history is the best we can do. We can change that…and we will.

Don’t tell us in the richest country in the world, that we can’t do better than 44 million people uninsured. Nearly 60 percent of Hispanics and 43 percent of African Americans lacked health insurance for all or part of the last two years. We can change that…and we will.

W.E.B. Dubois talked about the two Americas years ago. He called it “a nation within a nation.”

Our job, between now and November is to end the division between the fortunate America and the forgotten America.

John Edwards and I have talked about closing that gap for many years now. We must come to together to build one America.

During the course of this campaign I’ve met young people who want nothing more than to be able to find a job in the place they were raised. I’ve met steelworkers and mineworkers and autoworkers who have seen their jobs and equipment unbolted before their eyes and shipped overseas. Some have even had to train their foreign replacements. I’ve spent time with seniors who have worked for a lifetime but can’t pay for their medicines or hardly make ends meet. And I have talked with parents full of hope and ambition for their children but they don’t know what to do about classrooms that are overcrowded and teachers who are underpaid. And they are worried that they won’t be able to afford to send their kids to college.

My faith teaches me, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Let me tell you where my heart is: it’s with the middle class who are the heart of this country; it’s with the working families who built this country; it’s with the veterans who saved this country; with the cops and firefighters and soldiers who protect this country; and it is with the children who are the future of this country. They deserve a president who believes in them, who shares their values, and who with every fiber of his being to uphold them.

For four years, we have heard a lot of talk about values. John Edwards and I have the vision and values to bring out country together again and build stronger communities. For us and for you, values are more than just words on a page. They are about the causes we champion and the choices we make.

And I am running for president because I believe that what matters most is not the narrow values that divide, but the shared values that unite all of us in this country....

[A-Schwarzenegger]

5. Thank you for posting that. Very inspiring impassioned speech. n/t

[XanaDUer]

6. Yes but

I wish when ads would run busting chimp on his record, they would say "middle class" *and* "working class" and "working poor", not just the first one.

[no name no slogan]

7. That's one of my beefs, too

We seem to put plenty of emphasis on the "middle class", but not nearly enough on "working people" or the "working class".

Maybe they think that the working class are not "sexy", or that we don't need to specifically appeal to the working class?

IMHO we still need to pay attention to the working class, especially since the middle class has been rapidly shrinking in the last four years...

[XanaDUer]

8. I feel that it is because there is some sort of shame

or something about being a member of the "working class". There are people who think they are part of the middle class, yet have no idea that they don't earn enough money to be a part of it.

[meganmonkey]

9. and then there are the working poor

the minimum wage thing would help, but they will never get it high enough to really provide what people need, especially if they have a family.
i work at a food relief organization, and i get calls every day from folks who have never asked for help before, and they feel shitty about it. and i hear about how hard they work to keep food on the table for their kids but because (fill in the blank with health insurance, prescription drugs, heating bills, gas prices) they can't make it to the end of the month.
that's the working poor.
that's who no one is talking about.

[BiggJawn]

12. I talk about them.

I *AM* them!

But then there's people who heard the propaganda last week and said "Buffy! We've slipped into the Middle Class! They said 200 thousand is Middle Class! What are we going to do, dear???"

There's a 160 thousand dollar spread in the middle class? I don't fucking think so.

Everything goes up but my salary. I lose ground every god-damn month. Another 4 years of Captain Fucktard Codpiece, and I'll be eating Gubbmint Cheez again...

[Philostopher]

10. I think you may have hit on it.

I think there's an incredibly strange variety of perceptions of what 'middle class' actually is. I don't, quite honestly, know what it's considered anymore. If I had to make a guess, it probably is the equivalent of $40k to $100k for a family of four. Republicans generally try to stretch it up to about a quarter of a mil.

What is officially considered middle class, these days, and by whom?

Oh, and I would assume the whole 'Two Americas' concept Edwards came up with to use for his stump speech during the primaries includes those below $40k/yr/family of four.

[BiggJawn]

13. I think 40 kilobucks for a family of 4 is poverty...

Or it may be 40 K for a family of 6, anyway, you just proved your own thesis. you don't know what's "middle class" anymore.

I'm a "Family of One". I have a hard time stetching the paycheck to fit the month, even on an income of 39 kilobucks. And no, I don't have Nextel and Dish and a new Beemer and a 7' Teee-Veee and 50 kilobucks of CC debt.

[Philostopher]

20. I know I don't know -- that was the point, yeah.

I lived on less than $20K for the best part of three years during the mid-90s (I was fortunate enough to have medical insurance through my employer, though my contribution was $40 a month). I really don't know what the qualification of 'middle class' is, anymore -- the Mr. and I probably are, we're somewhere between the numbers I quoted, with no kids.

[BiggJawn]

21. Funny how we're all in the dark on that, isn't it?

I thnk the point was made elsewhere that it is to the Bushie's advantage to have people earning everything from 30 thousand to over 200 thousand considering themselves "Middle Class".

It's fairly easy to find the numbers on what constitutes poverty in this country, but beyond that,?????

Seems like the attitude is "Hey! If you think you're middle class, then you're middle class!"

I supported a wife and kid during the Ray-Gun years bringing home $98 a week. 40 hours a week, $3.30 an hour...Food stamps, "Gubbmint Cheeze" and food baskets from her church. I did NOT consider myself anything but "Poor" then.

Any wonder that if I ever go to Collie-Forn-yia I wanna visit Ronnie's grave with a full bladder?

[AP]

11. By Edwards all the time. Where have you been?

[meganmonkey]

14. Yes, and the '2 Americas' is poignant

but they keep talking about people who have trouble paying for their health insurance and higher education.
i'm talking about people who have trouble paying for their food. poverty and homelessness. i haven't heard these words. granted, i don't have a tv, but i listened to & watched the debates online, i listen to NPR all day, and i read a lot of news. hunger is an ugly thing and it happens all over and no one talks about it. that's because no one wants to hear about it.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

15. That's what I'm talking about.

Where's Edwards been is the question.
He surfaced for two days for the debate with
Cheney & disappeared again, at least out here
in CA. Nothing on TV for sure. He's the most
under utilized compelling candidate. I havent
heard hide nor hair of the "2 Americas" since
the primaries. I dont think most Americans want
to even think about the poor. "The poor will always
be with you."

[meganmonkey]

17. aaah. it all makes sense now

yup. i always feel like i focus on that issue too much since i work in the 'field', so to speak. it's good to see other folks are aware that it has been ignored.
:)

[indyjones1938]

18. It's not his fault

The Kerry camp strategists shut him up. His "Two Americas" speech was too "populist" and "class warfare" for their tastes.

And you're right, most Americans don't want to hear about the poor nor do they really care about the poor. If Kerry were to talk too much about the poor, mimimum wage, Welfare, Food Stamps, SSDI/SSI, hunger, etcetera, he too would be accused of "class warfare" a la Socialists/big government.

Sadly most people agree with Bush, "the poor are poor because they're lazy." This applies to many Democrats as well as the GOP.

[indyjones1938]

16. During the primaries Edwards talked frequently

about the poor and the working poor. He was the only major candidate to do so.

During the general election the Kerry campaign has avoided the subject like the plague. They basically told Edwards to put a sock in his mouth because his excellent "Two Americas" speech was too "populist" and had strains of "class warfare."

It frustrates me to hear Kerry talking about a "middle class tax cut" when there are tens of millions of people in the country so poor that they don't even pay income tax. Contrary to what Bush says, most poor people are not poor because they're lazy. In fact it is just the opposite. Many poor families work 2-3 jobs but cannot keep food on the table because these jobs are $5.15 an hour with no benefits. Many pay local and school taxes.

The same applies to Social Security Disability and Social Security Supplemental Income. Kerry talks about Social Security Retirement but ignores the millions of people who subsist on these other forms of SS.

It angers me that Kerry refuses to talk about the poor but I realize there is a reason for it. The rightwing will jump all over him for talking about "class warfare" and encouraging Welfare grabbers and other "big government Socialist programs."

Bush encourages the poor to "fend for themselves" and "own something." How the hell can you "own something" when you cannot keep food on the table? And poverty is not endemic only to urban centers. It exists in rural areas, small towns and even suburbia. Ignorance is bliss to the RW.

[meganmonkey]

19. indeed

well put!

i need to go to bed now. so i can go to work tomorrow.

[bread_and_roses]

22. Good to see others paying attention

to this. It heartens me. I think the various analysis of why the poor are ignored are on target. The trouble is, they've been pretty well either ignored or ground further into poverty by policy as well as rhetoric for roughly the past thirty years. I have little hope that anything about that dynamic will change under a Dem admin, but I would love to be proven wrong.