WP: Kerry Eschews GOP's Labels for His Own

[DeepModem Mom]

By John F. Harris
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, April 24, 2004; Page A04


Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry tried yesterday to shake off President Bush's charge that he is an unreconstructed liberal, saying instead that he is an "entrepreneurial Democrat" who wants to lower taxes on most businesses and middle-class voters.

"I don't want to lead a party that loves jobs and hates the people who create them, and I don't intend to," Kerry said at a luncheon appearance before the American Society of Newspaper Editors. "Instead of being a burden to business, I think government needs to fulfill a duty to help them succeed."

On national security, the senator from Massachusetts similarly struck a tone of tough-minded centrism. He said he differs with Bush only on means, not on the goals of vanquishing al Qaeda and ensuring that Iraq does not become a haven for terrorism....

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Cumulatively, the speech was Kerry's most comprehensive effort in recent weeks to present himself as a creature of the ideological center and a tribune of the middle class. Like most of his competitors in the Democratic nominating contest, Kerry steered clear of his party's ideological divides during the primaries and emphasized his ability to unite the party around traditional themes....


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37827-2004Apr23.html