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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Also I am from another country and I don't know why scumbag is such a bad word? I thought it was common to use.I have lived here for more than 13 years but I still don't understand why some words are tabboo. I don't even know what is meaning of koolaid drinker? So I think it is very inappropriate to criticize her for expressing herself when you give a free pass to President for saying "catastrophic success".
Do you think anyone would pay attention if an average american started speaking out against public policy? Hardly.
Perhaps I haven't explained my point clearly enough. I'm trying to say something along the lines of this: suppose there WAS no such thing as abortion. Now some would say women would never enjoy the rights and equality they do now if it weren't for abortion, but the other side of the coin is that perhaps we would have managed to acquire those rights without having to sacrifice the child bearing part of being a woman. Perhaps businesses would have no choice for example, but to make allowances in time off, flexible schedules, etc. for those who have children. Perhaps more focus would have to be put on making MEN more responsible for raising their children as well. Perhaps better childcare would be more of a priority. Perhaps if instead of fighting to be able to abort our children all that time and energy was put into supporting and assisting those who WANT to bear their children, we would actually have the choice to be able to do so. But as it stands now, there is really not as much reason to make the work environment more hospitable to those raising children, because raising children is seen as just a choice, and if you choose to do it, you choose to put yourself at a competitive disadvantage.
Do I think there are many mothers who say "I really want this child but I'll have an abortion just so I don't stall my fabulous career?" No. (Some, but not many). But I think there are HUGE numbers of women who say, "I really want this child but I'll have an abortion because I really can't afford childcare, possibly losing my job or being demoted, and having a child with a father is not going to be expected to bear anything but the financial burden, and chances are it's going to take a long drawn out battle even to get him to do that". That is very sad to me, for mother and child.
That is what I mean when I say forced to have an abortion-forced by financial and cultural realities that may have long ago been improved upon if child bearing and child rearing (after conception, I'm talking about of course)was not seen as just a simple choice.
< feel anyone who is against abortion should not have one. beyond that, it's such a personal decision from person to person.>
I left the abortion debate boards long ago because it is a futile debate-it really all comes down to whether one believes an unborn fetus is a human being deserving of rights or not. If one believes that abortion takes a human life than the "don't like abortion? don't have one" argument doesn't hold water. My purpose here though is only in answering the fallacy posed that anyone who opposes abortion must want all woman subservient to men. It's simply false.
As I said in a previous post, I didn't mean literally forced, I explained at length what I meant. I'm sorry if the term I used caused some misunderstanding. I know no one is PHYSICALLY FORCED to have an abortion. What I am saying in a nutshell is that our culture is such that women who DO have children are at a competitive and financial disadvantage to men. I would like to see a society that supports and rewards motherhood instead of financially penalizing it, but in my view easy access to abortion has basically gotten rid of the necessity for creating that kind of culture. Understand now?
You know as well as I do that I provided sources and quotes. You simply don't want to believe them. Admit it.
Sorry, after you posted she was born in Mozambique, I realized I wasn't so sure she was an African-American. I looked it up and proved to my satisfaction she is and posted it. I didn't mean to imply you didn't know. It's been a long time since Geography for me.
I dont recall exactly where I read it, or heard it as it is now 12 years later, but I do recall that she was seeking to be appointed to the position, only to learn that she is not allowed to hold any position in the government while her husband was President.
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