Heinz Kerry rebukes heckler; crowd cheer
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| Mon, 09-27-2004 - 2:10pm |
PUEBLO, Colo. (AP) - A group of 600 Democrats crowded the 4H Auditorium at the State Fairgrounds Friday hoping to see for themselves whether presidential candidate John Kerry's wife was as outspoken and sharp-tongued as some have described her.
Teresa Heinz Kerry delivered for her supporters when she talked back to a heckler who implied her husband's a flip-flopper.
During a question and answer session, a young man demanded to know why Kerry voted to give Bush authority to attack Iraq but voted against an $87 billion appropriation bill to support the war effort there.
"Is that the kind of thing he would do as president?," the man asked.
Heinz Kerry sharply asked the man whether he had read the legislation that was voted on.
When he said no, she told him that Kerry had supported $60 billion in military appropriations for Iraq, but would not vote for the full $87 billion because he considered it a "blank check." Kerry was one of 11 Democrats to vote against the bill.
"And we knew they'd already given Haliburton millions in no-bid contracts," she snapped, referring to the company formerly led by Vice President Dick Cheney.
"If you want to say (Kerry) flip-flopped, just say so, don't try to hide," Heinz Kerry scolded.
The young man responsed with chanting "Four more years!" as he walked out of the auditorium. The partisan crowd's cheer of "Six more weeks!" quickly drowned him out.
Roberto Costales of Canon City liked the way she dealt with her heckler.
"Did you notice how she handled that one guy? I bet she doesn't back down from anybody," he laughed.
In appearances here and before a crowd of 1,700 in Fort Collins, Heinz Kerry echoed her husband's views about terrorism, national security, crime, health care and education.
She said the United States needs a different approach in the world.
"The way we live in peace in a family, in a marriage, in the world, is not by threatening people, is not by showing off your muscles. It's by listening, by giving a hand sometimes, by being intelligent, by being open and by setting high standards," she said at the CSU rally.
In Pueblo, Heinz Kerry sounded a similar theme, criticizing the Bush administration for sending warning signals to Iran about developing nuclear weapons.
"There are about 50 countries in the world that have the capability to build nuclear weapons. Are we going to attack them all?" she said.
Gina Maggrett, of Pueblo, liked what she heard.
"(She's portrayed) as this caustic person but I thought she was really warm and intelligent. A lovely person," she said.

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Do you really think everyone who decides to become a naturalized American does so immediately? I don't care to speculate other than to say I believe she would not have become an American citizen had she not married Republican Heinz.
What is your point in continuing to argue this?
I'm sure
he/she keeps diverting the topic to clinton and missing the point of my post..
Oh, now it's my argument.
Where is it written that the first lady is to stay out of politics and is NOT allowed to hold a position of political office?
I never heard before that Hillary wanted to be Atty General, or that she was upset she couldn't be, where did you read that?
If you did not hear about the Hillary / AG thing then perhaps you were not paying attention to it back in 1992.
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