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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OJ & Clinton are both irrelevant.
Got anything relevant to the discussion to say?
Thanks for catching that. I referenced another poster and used the word "Your" instead of "Palak's". I've corrected that one word in my post.
You wrote:
"Why are you still talking about Clinton? Do you have some kind of fixation with him? Why compare W to Bubba? You should be comparing W to JFK or Laura to THK."
I answered:
"Someone was obsessing over Bush blunders. I showed that some of the things Clinton said purposefully were MUCH worse than a President who can't pronounce "nuclear".
(corrected) Palak's defense of Clinton that he was elected twice is irrelevant. OJ was aquitted of murder. Do you really think he didn't do it?
After Bush is elected twice, will you begin to forgive his "blunders" because he was elected twice?"
Palak had posted:
"First we are talking about THK who has a possibility of becoming first lady. Second, CLinton's Gone and he was elected two times by the people of USA."
****************
I responded and told you why I was {still} talking about Clinton. I apologize for the confusion.
What a difference one mis-spoken (or mis-posted) word makes.
I think we can honestly say that both candidates mis-speak a word or two at times, but when the message itself is quite clear and would mean pretty much the same thing even if a mis-spoken word or two was re-stated, then IMHO the statement reflects the candidate's true feelings.
Hence my quotes from Bubba.
Edited 9/29/2004 7:11 pm ET ET by liberal_idiot
I'm comparing this President with the last President.
If you mean that he opposes the legality of birth control, I'd like to see where you're getting that information. I've not heard that.
Kerry is running against himself.
The question has been raised in other discussions on this board whether we are better off than we were four years ago. Four years ago, Clinton was president.
I proferred the gems Clinton gave us, in response to attacks on Bush's "blunders".
I repeat myself. I am comparing this President with the last President.
In my opinion the fact that women are in so many instances forced to abort their children in order to be on a level playing field with men .....
Since when are women forced to have abortions to be on a level playing field with men or for any other reason. That is just plain false AND ignorant.
"Patriotism means to stand by the Country. It does not mean to stand by the President." -- Theodore Roosevelt.
I don't hate her, I dislike her, I dislike her political views, and I believe from all I have read and heard about her that she is not a very honest person.
I notice you named only Republican women, none of whom are as smart as Hillary. And I can imagine then, where and what you read to get the opinion she is not honest as for instance, Condi Rice was when she was interviewed about the war (not).
I am way beyond having a first lady just stand there and look pretty, smile and say nice things about her husband. I like one who can contribute, as so many have before, both Republican and Democrat.
"Patriotism means to stand by the Country. It does not mean to stand by the President." -- Theodore Roosevelt.
Why do you think she's stayed married to her a$$hole of a husband for as long as she has?
Try...she loves him and has forgiven him, as both she and Bill have both said in interviews on Oprah and other places, and in his book. They have been together a very long time and raised a wonderful daughter very well in spite of everything.
"Patriotism means to stand by the Country. It does not mean to stand by the President." -- Theodore Roosevelt.
Sheesh. I didn't mean LITERALLY forced. I mean forced in the sense that a woman who decides to bear her child loses ground in the workforce and is no longer on a level playing field with men. Because abortion is so readily accessible we have created a culture that does not NEED to make equality among women who also happen to bear children necessary. Therefore, IMO accessibility to abortion has set women back-those who WANT to bear their children often do not have the viable choice to do so. We haven't really given women more choices, we've taken choices away from them.
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