Kerry response to the "most Liberal" label.

[gcomeau]

If Bush tries it in the debate Kerry can take him apart.

It would look something like this:

"I'm a little confused Mr. President. You've spent months trying to convince everyone in the country that I'm a flip-flopper. That I blow in the political wind and vote however popular opinion of the time dictates... and all of a sudden now I'm hearing you say that I have the MOST *CONSISTENT* voting record of any liberal in the entire United States Senate.

Are you flip-flopping on calling me a flip-flopper Mr. President? I mean really, which claim is it that you want to run with? That I'm too inconsistent or that I'm too consistent? Because really, at this point you're just arguing against your *own* campaign statements. If you've decided to do that job what's there left for me to do in this debate?"

He destroys both attacks at the same time. For good. If Bush ever tries to settle on just one Kerry only has to ask him what happened to the other line of attack? Did he decide it was untruthful?

And then he address the audience.

"The truth is ladies and gentlemen that I am a Liberal, I am just not the most Liberal. The 'voting record' the president refers to is a cherry picked fraction of the total number of votes I have cast, as I'm sure the post-debate fact check will inform you viewers watching on television. I am also not a flip flopper. As you have all seen in the last two debates my position on Iraq, on the Patriot act, and on No Child left behind... all the issues the president's campaign has tried to attack me on, has been entirely consistent from the beginning. The only legitimate point the president has is that I did make one poorly worded statement many months ago about one of my votes. That now infamous protest vote on the 87 billion dollar bill. The same bill this president threatened to personally veto, a detail you won't hear him mentioning too often. That's all his entire attack boils down to ladies and gentlemen. One slip of the tongue. Well, I can admit a mistake, and the choice of words in that sentence was indeed a mistake. Upon this one sentence he has based an entire multi-million dollar negative advertising campaign so far reaching I doubt a single person out there hasn't heard one of his advertisements talking about John Kerry the "flip flopper".

All over one sentence. After all, the president has just shown us that he doesn't believe my Senate record supports the charge.

I invite you to decide for yourselves how important that single sentence is to your choice on November 2nd."

-Grant (Ok, I might enjoy playing Kerry in these little hypotheticals a little too much... that one kind of stretched on.)

[DoYouEverWonder]

1. Kerry is either the biggest liberal on the planet

or he's a moderate flip flopper. Pick One, George.

[XanaDUer]

2. DAMN! Shrub looks nuts in that picture on the right...

like pea soup is gonna come flying out of his mouth any second...

[DoYouEverWonder]

13. Some one needs to make a video of that idea

Just W's head spinning around with pea soup flying out of his mouth. Ew.:puke:

[olddem43]

3. I like it and I hope he says it.

[Barney Rocks]

4. It is awesome!

But--from arguing with RWers--it seems that they claim he is consistantly liberal on his votes--but flip-flops in what he tells the people based on who he is talking to. So they do indeed claim that he is the most liberal and a flip flopper.

Crazy isn't it? I mean anyone can look at his record--he is consistantly liberal (and I am proud of his Senate voting record). Plus--I don't think he flip-flops or is wishy washy--he is very very consistent on the issues.

[gcomeau]

9. Except...

Bush undermined himself on that angle by tying the "flip-flopper" charge to Kerry's voting record. He did it in his attacks on the vote on the 87 billion in the last week. Him and Cheney have been desperately trying to say that in that vote he "flip flopped" from his vote on the use of force authorization because it was politically advantageous for him to vote anti-war.

Nevermind that voting against the 87 billion didn't have anything to do with being anti-war... Bush still said it and he can't disown it now.

-Grant

[Barney Rocks]

11. yes he did.

I was just trying to point out how undefendable their position is from any angle. (I probably was not very effective.) I am certain that Kerry will humiliate Bush the next time the flip-flop charge comes up!!!

[SeanQ]

22. I agree

Bush provided the opening. Kerry can keep a direct quote of that in his pocket in case Bush tries to back off linking 'flip-flopping' directly with Kerry's voting record. Getting out the word that Bush threatened to veto the bill if 'we' didn't borrow the money from from foreign governments (at interest!) would be a very powerful statement, IMHO.

[David Dunham]

5. Kerry needs to call Bush a right-wing reactionary.

[gcomeau]

16. Nah... it'll just be spun post-debate as Kerry being too "negative".

-Grant

[bain_sidhe]

6. Oh, this is beautiful!

It does it all! It kills the flip-flopper & liberal charges, explains and counter attacks on the 87 billion "support the troops" vote, and finishes it off with a zinger about admitting mistakes! Send it to the Kerry campaign. I don't know how much they read the thousands of emailed "suggestions" they get, but it's certainly worth a shot.

[gcomeau]

14. I'll fire it off to them...

...but I have no idea how much e-mail they have to sort through so who knows if they'll even read it.

-Grant

[Old and In the Way]

7. Liberal

Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin liberalis suitable for a freeman, generous, from liber free; perhaps akin to Old English lEodan to grow, Greek eleutheros free
1 a : of, relating to, or based on the liberal arts <liberal education> b archaic : of or befitting a man of free birth
2 a : marked by generosity : OPENHANDED <a liberal giver> b : given or provided in a generous and openhanded way <a liberal meal> c : AMPLE, FULL
3 obsolete : lacking moral restraint : LICENTIOUS
4 : not literal or strict : LOOSE <a liberal translation>
5 : BROAD-MINDED; especially : not bound by authoritarianism, orthodoxy, or traditional forms
6 a : of, favoring, or based upon the principles of liberalism b capitalized : of or constituting a political party advocating or associated with the principles of political liberalism; especially : of or constituting a political party in the United Kingdom associated with ideals of individual especially economic freedom, greater individual participation in government, and constitutional, political, and administrative reforms designed to secure these objectives

[gcomeau]

12. Hey, I don't think it's a dirty word...

...that's why I don't think he should try denying he's a liberal. Just point out he's not the Number One Alpha Liberal... because let's face it. The GOP has managed to attach sufficiently negative connotations to the word that getting painted as the Alpha Liberal could hurt... and the final few weeks before the election is not the time to take a gamble on whether or not you can correct public perception of the term in time by embracing it. Plenty of time for that after the election is over.

-Grant

[brainshrub]

8. If he says this, I'll buy you a pizza.

(Give me the phone number, and have it delivered to you.)

Alas, what you wrote will only stay in you imagination... because it will never be said at the final debate.

[gcomeau]

17. Nah, buy one for some Kerry staffers.

They'll probably be working hard enough to become malnourished in the last few weeks before the election. :)

-Grant (Not that I think it'll actually get used... but it makes for a fond daydream)

[brainshrub]

19. That's a great idea!

I just sent a pizza to the Kerry volunteers in my city. (I called them in advance, and told them to order wherever they wanted and I would call the Pizza Shop a few minutes later with a card #.)

[gcomeau]

20. I thought so.

Everyone send your local Kerry staffers a pizza!

(Well, not everyone. Don't want to bury the poor people under the things.) ;)

-Grant

[mzmolly]

10. Great! Call the campaign with this idea.

:hi:

[gcomeau]

18. Sent them an e-mail...

...don't know if they'll get to it though. They must have a lot to sort through.

-Grant

[Princess Turandot]

15. When people make comments to me about 'liberals'..

I ask them whether when they turn 65 (I'm in the baby-boomer generation) are they going to use Medicare as their health insurance.

When they say 'yes', I tell them thay have Democrats to thank for that, and the most liberal of all, Ted Kennedy, that it even still exists today.

I usually don't get a response to that.

[Texas_Dem]

21. Labels are for canned vegetables and frozen foods

Kerry is not strictly a liberal, moderate or conservative. Nor would the American people want someone who cannot think outside of the box. The only label for John Kerry is AMERICAN.

[Dees]

23. Liberal and proud

This is What I've Learned in My 60 Years: What It Means to be a Democrat

A BUZZFLASH READER COMMENTARY
by Sharon H.

I'm originally from Oklahoma, raised poor and have worked all of my life and feel that I am now lower middle class. I have lived in Tennessee, worked in a truck garden and planted, cut and sorted tobacco. I certainly don't make the money that they consider middle class. I'm now 60 years old and still make less than $30K a year, which I consider pretty good wages. I'm a life-long Democrat and proud to say I'm a liberal. I don't know if age means or experience means anything to you but I would like to share what I have learned:

That black man that works in your area has a mother and father, a wife and children and he loves them just like you love your family. He just wants to make a decent living for them just like you want to for your family. He loves his God just like you do. The only difference between the two of you is the fact that he is black and you are white. He's not out to steal your job and you don't have to be afraid of him.

The person who is trying to drive the wedge between you and made sure you two are at odds all the time is that man you work for who wants both of you to work for as little as he can give you so that he can make more money for himself. You don't live in an upscale neighborhood, in an expensive home and drive an expensive car, do you? Neither does that black man working down the shop floor from you. The man who owns the corporation or company you work for does and he's able to do that on the sweat and labor of both of you. He doesn't care about you or your family but if you and that black man you work with were both in the service and he was standing behind you ready to defend your life with his own, it wouldn't make any difference what color he was, would it?

No one wants to take your guns away. No one wants to take away your right to hunt or protect yourselves. It would just be appreciated if our schools were not a war zone, if our innocent babies were not killed by the careless guns left around the house to be used by a another innocent baby who has no idea what he is doing and I just don't see why a hunter would need an oozie to shoot a deer. I've been deer hunting also rabbit hunting, squirrel hunting, coon hunting and frog giggin'. I wouldn't have taken a shot gun to go frog giggin' but I found a shot gun certainly sufficient to kill a deer, rabbit and squirrel.

I believe gays and lesbians have rights as human beings. I do not believe because of their sexual orientation they should be condemned to a loveless companionless life nor be ridiculed or be considered less than human. I am not gay but I certainly wouldn't want to live my life alone and without someone to love and love me in return. I wouldn't want anyone else to either, no matter what their sexual orientation. It doesn't rub off, really. They should be able to serve in the military, work and exist without shame or harassment just as any other law abiding citizen in the United States is allowed to do. Again, if that gay man and you were both in the service and he was standing behind you ready to defend your life with his own, it wouldn't make any difference what his sexual orientation was, would it?

I truly believe that “all men are created equal” and all should have a right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” ALL!!!

Why would you condemn your children or grandchildren to a life of struggle, strife and poverty just because you think we Democrats are Godless heathens, that the black man is trying to steal your jobs, the Democrats are trying to take their guns away and that God belongs to the Republicans when none of that is true at all. The Republicans don't care any more about you than they do about that black man. They want you to be poor and struggle because that way you will work for them for any kind of wages and be happy to do so. They are not going to help you out of the abyss of poverty.

You think George W. Bush is like you, he's not. He owns a huge ranch in Crawford, Texas, but he didn't struggle for it nor did he earn it nor does he work it. He got his money from doing the same thing with his stock that they are trying Martha Stewart for right now. He's a privileged man whose father is rich, very rich. He's rich, very rich. His Corporate friends are rich, very rich. You, on the other hand, are not rich and never will be as long as you depend on the Republican's to give you a hand up. They won't now, never will and never have.

It was a Democrat that gave us Social Security and the WPA and helped the common man when he needed help. It is the Democrats that try to raise the minimum wage, try to provide health care for everyone, try to keep your Medicare benefits and Social Security in tact, not the Republicans.

I'm a life-long Democrat and proud of it. I care, we all do. We want you to be whatever you can be. We don't want to hold you down or keep you down. We want to lift you up so you can be everything you can be. We want to help you educate your children with a good education so that they can have good paying jobs. We want you to work your family farms and be able to make a decent living on them. We want you and your family to have health care so you don't have to worry when one of your children gets sick or when you get sick. We want your parents to be able to buy their medicine and pay their bills and not have to choose between one or the other. We want you to be able to live in a decent home and drive a decent car. We want you and your children to be able to live in a country where the air is fresh, the water is clean and the skies are blue. We want this for ALL Americans...All Americans, not just the privileged or the ones born to money. I want all of this for you and for me and for the black man and the gay man and the red man and the Jewish man, and the Islamic man and even the man who doesn't believe in anything.

That's what I've learned in my 60 years. Think about it!!

Sharon H.

A BUZZFLASH READER COMMENTARY