Kerry dis-owns his SUV's

[bfp]

In the midst of the Environmental debates, Kerry slips up, yet again..


PITTSBURGH (AP) - Does John Kerry, who supports higher automobile fuel economy standards, own a gas-guzzling SUV? He does, but says it belongs to the family, not to him.

During a conference call Thursday with reporters to discuss his upcoming jobs tour through West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan, the Democratic presidential candidate was asked whether he owned a Chevrolet Suburban.

``I don't own an SUV,'' said Kerry, who supports increasing existing fuel economy standards to 36 miles per gallon by 2015 in order to reduce the nation's dependence on foreign oil supplies.

Kerry also has made rising gasoline prices an issue in the campaign against President Bush. In Houston on Thursday, Kerry said the president broke a 2000 campaign pledge to ``jawbone'' oil-producing nations by pressuring them to increase their output.

Kerry thought for a second when asked whether his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, had a Suburban at their Ketchum, Idaho, home. Kerry said he owns and drives a Dodge 600 and recently bought a Chrysler 300M. He said his wife owns the Chevrolet SUV.

``The family has it. I don't have it,'' he said.

Kerry said it's important for his family to buy American cars and pledged to keep car manufacturing jobs in the country if elected. He said he is interested in a hybrid car, and has talked to Ford about making it the ``campaign car.''

``We're going to keep jobs in America and help the industry be more competitive with foreign manufacturers that are building those cars today,'' Kerry said.

The Massachusetts senator said he'll release more details during the jobs tour about his plans to keep jobs in the country.

``I want cars to be made in Michigan, made in America, made'' by the United Auto Workers, Kerry said.

[johnny861]

Yea, if he could get FORD to build a hybrid car, that would be great news...

[bfp]

Originally posted by johnny861
Yea, if he could get FORD to build a hybrid car, that would be great news...

Well, if he gets his way, there won't be any Ford Motor Company in the future. Due to his liberal, high-taxation, anti-capitalist agenda, he will start imposing restrictions and other laws on what he calls 'Benidict Arnold' corporations, to bring many of these companies to the very same state that he was trying to undo from the working people. I think he made it clear when he said a few months ago that he wanted to fix the inequities of society.

[Ryan]

You guys are really fishing for reasons to criticize Kerry now. I couldn't believe this BS when I saw it on Drudge. We have a lying, incompetent idiot in the White House and all you guys can talk about is the kind of car John Kerry's wife drives. You're going to have to try a little harder than that if you want Chimpy back in the White House next year.



PS - Bush does not have a snowball's chance in hell of either winning the environmental debate or winning the environmental vote. You all can go ahead and just let that one go.

[bfp]

Originally posted by Ryan
You guys are really fishing for reasons to criticize Kerry now. I couldn't believe this BS when I saw it on Drudge. We have a lying, incompetent idiot in the White House and all you guys can talk about is the kind of car John Kerry's wife drives. You're going to have to try a little harder than that if you want Chimpy back in the White House next year.



PS - Bush does not have a snowball's chance in hell of either winning the environmental debate or winning the environmental vote. You all can go ahead and just let that one go.

He was for the 87 billion, then he was against it.

He was for taxing big corporations and raking in all of the tax cuts, then he was against it.

He was for abortion, then he wanted the states to decide, and he was against it, now he is pro-choice.

I could go further if you'd like.


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Iraq War

George, I said at the time I would have preferred if we had given diplomacy a greater opportunity, but I think it was the right decision to disarm Saddam Hussein, and when the President made the decision, I supported him, and I support the fact that we did disarm him.”

“I am [explained in link at bottom]– Yes, in the sense that I don’t believe the president took us to war as he should have, yes, absolutely.”

Marriage Penalty For Middle Class

“Howard Dean and Gephardt are going to put the marriage penalty back in place. So if you get married in America, we’re going to charge you more taxes. I do not want to do that.”

In 1998, Kerry Voted Against Eliminating Marriage Penalty Relief For Married Taxpayers

Patriot Act

Kerry Voted For Patriot Act. The Patriot Act was passed nearly unanimously by the Senate 98-1.

“We are a nation of laws and liberties, not of a knock in the night. So it is time to end the era of John Ashcroft. That starts with replacing the Patriot Act with a new law that protects our people and our liberties at the same time.

First Gulf War

“Thank you for contacting me to express your opposition … to the early use of military force by the US against Iraq. I share your concerns.”

“Thank you very much for contacting me to express your support for the actions of President Bush in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. From the outset of the invasion, I have strongly and unequivocally supported President Bush’s response to the crisis…”

Gay Marriage Amendment

We believe it would be a grave error for Massachusetts to enshrine in our Constitution a provision which would have such a negative effect on so many of our fellow residents. … We are therefore united in urging you to reject this Constitutional amendment and avoid stigmatizing so many of our fellow citizens who do not deserve to be treated in such a manner.”

“Asked if he would support a state constitutional amendment barring gay and lesbian marriages, Kerry didn’t rule out the possibility. ‘I’ll have to see what language there is,’ he said.”

Attacking President During Time Of War

“Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts … said he will cease his complaints once the shooting starts. ‘It’s what you owe the troops,’…If America is at war, I won’t speak a word without measuring how it’ll sound to the guys doing the fighting when they’re listening to their radios in the desert.’”

With Troops Just Miles From Baghdad - “What we need now is not just a regime change in Saddam Hussein and Iraq, but we need a regime change in the United States”

Death Penalty For Terrorists

Kerry Attacked Governor Bill Weld For Supporting Death Penalty For Terrorists. KERRY: “Your policy would amount to a terrorist protection policy. Mine would put them in jail.”

“The law of the land is the law of the land, but I have also said that I am for the death penalty for terrorists because terrorists have declared war on your country.”

No Child Left Behind

Kerry Voted For No Child Left Behind Act.

“Between now and the time I’m sworn in January 2005, I’m going to use every day to make this president accountable for making a mockery of the words ‘No Child Left Behind.’”

Affirmative Action

“While praising affirmative action as ‘one kind of progress’ that grew out of civil rights court battles, Kerry said the focus on a rights-based agenda has ‘inadvertently driven most of our focus in this country not to the issue of what is happening to the kids who do not get touched by affirmative action, but … toward an inherently limited and divisive program which is called affirmative action.’

“That’s not what I said. I said there are people who believe that. And I said mend it, don’t end it. He’s [Clark’s] trying to change what I said, but you can go read the quote. I said very clearly I have always voted for it. I’ve always supported it. I’ve never, ever condemned it.

Cuba Sanctions

TIM RUSSERT: “Would you consider lifting sanctions, lifting the embargo against Cuba?” SEN. KERRY: “Not unilaterally, not now, no.”

“Kerry said he believes in ‘engagement’ with the communist island nation but that does not mean, ‘Open up the dialogue.’ He believes it ‘means travel and perhaps even remittances or cultural exchanges’ but he does not support ‘opening up the embargo wily nilly.’”

NAFTA

Kerry Voted For NAFTA.

“If it were before me today, I would vote against it because it doesn’t have environmental or labor standards in it.”

Double Taxation Of Dividends

“[T]o encourage investments in the jobs of the future … we should attempt to end the double taxation of dividends.”

“This is not the time for a dividends tax cut that goes to individuals.”

Raising Taxes During Economic Downturn

“The first priority is the economy of our nation. And when you have a downturn in the economy, the last thing you do is raise taxes or cut spending.”

“Well, I wouldn’t take away from people who’ve already been given their tax cut … What I would not do is give any new Bush tax cuts.”

Small Business Income Taxes

Kerry Voted Against Exempting Small Businesses And Family Farms From Clinton Income Tax Increase.

“I worked to amend the reconciliation bill so that it would … exempt small businesses who are classified as subchapter S corporations from the increased individual income tax.”

50-Cent Gas Tax Increase

“It doesn’t reflect my $43 billion package of cuts or my support for a 50-cent increase in the gas tax.”

“Kerry no longer supports the 50-cent [gas tax] hike, nor the 25-cent hike proposed by the [Concord] coalition.” (Michael Grunwald, “Kerry Gets Low Mark On Budgeting,” The Boston Globe, 4/30/96)

Leaving Abortion Up To States

“I think the question of abortion is one that should be left for the states to decide,”

“The right to choose is the law of the United States.”

Litmus Tests For Judicial Nominees

This threat is that of the appointment of a judiciary which is not independent, but narrowly ideological, through the systematic targeting of any judicial nominee who does not meet the rigid requirements of litmus tests imposed …”

“Any president ought to appoint people to the Supreme Court who understand the Constitution and its interpretation by the Supreme Court. In my judgment, it is and has been settled law that women, Americans, have a defined right of privacy and that the government does not make the decision with respect to choice. Individuals do.”

Federal Health Benefits

Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, said he was not sure that the Federal program worked all that well.” (Adam Clymer, “Hillary Clinton Says Health Plan Will Be Familiar,” The New York Times, 12/8/93)

“As a U.S. Senator, I could get the best health care in the world.”

Tax Credits For Small Business Health

Kerry Voted Against Amendment Providing $70 Billion For Tax Credits For Small Business To Purchase Health Insurance.

“Refundable tax credits for up to 50 percent of the cost of coverage will be offered to small businesses and their employees to make health care more affordable.”

Health Coverage

“[Kerry] said Kennedy and Clinton’s insistence on pushing health care reform was a major cause of the Democratic Party’s problems at the polls.” (Joe Battenfeld, “Jenny Craig Hit With Sex Harassment Complaint - By Men,” Boston Herald, 11/30/94)

“Sen. John Kerry says expanding coverage is ‘my passion.’” (Susan Page, “Health Specifics Could Backfire On Candidates,” USA Today, 6/2/03)

[bfp]

Welfare Reform

In 1993, Kerry and Kennedy voted against a welfare-to-work requirement that was supported by many Democrats.

In 1996, Kerry Voted For Welfare Reform.

Stock Options Expensing

“Democratic Senator John F. Kerry was among those fighting expensing of stock options.” (Sue Kirchhoff, “Senate Blocks Options,” The Boston Globe, 7/16/02)

Kerry applauded steps by Microsoft Corp. to eliminate stock options for employees and said all publicly traded companies should be required to expense such options. (Dan Balz, “Kerry Raps Bush Policy On Postwar Iraq,” The Washington Post, 7/11/03)

Medical Marijuana

Mr. Kerry did say his ‘personal disposition is open to the issue of medical marijuana’ and that he’d stop Drug Enforcement Administration raids on patients using the stuff under California’s medical marijuana law. (Jennifer Harper, “Inside Politics,” The Washington Times, 8/8/03)

“The Massachusetts Democrat said Wednesday he’d put off any final decision on medical marijuana because there’s ‘a study under way analyzing what the science is.’” (Jennifer Harper, “Inside Politics,” The Washington Times, 8/8/03)

Burma Sanctions

“‘I question whether isolation is a successful means of promoting political change,’ Kerry told a constituent in a 1995 letter justifying his opposition to a Burma sanction bill.”

Kerry … describes the Burma regime as a ‘semi-criminalized dictatorship … which should not be treated with respect by other nations, but should be instead subject to limitations on travel, investment, and access to the most developed nations.’

Military Experience As Credential For Public Office

“Mr. President, you and I know that if support or opposition to the war were to become a litmus test for leadership, America would never have leaders or recover from the divisions created by that war.”

“And more than ever, Mr. Kerry is invoking his stature as a Vietnam veteran as he challenges the stature of his Democratic opponents – none of whom, he frequently points out, have ‘worn the uniform of our country’ – to withstand a debate with Mr. Bush on national security.” (Adam Nagourney, “As Campaign Tightens, Kerry Sharpens Message,” The New York Times, 8/10/03)

PACs

“I’m frequently told by cynics in Washington that refusing PAC money is naive,"Kerry told his supporters in 1985. “o you agree that it is “naïve” to turn down special interests and their PAC money?”

“A week after repeating that he has refused to accept donations from political action committees, Senator John F. Kerry announced yesterday that he was forming a committee that would accept PAC money for him to distribute to other Democratic candidates. … Kerry’s stance on soft money, unregulated donations funneled through political parties, puts him in the position of raising the type of money that he, McCain, and others in the campaign-finance reform movement are trying to eliminate.” (Federal Election Commission Website, www.fec.gov, Accessed 2/10/04; Glen Johnson, “In A Switch, Kerry Is Launching A PAC,” The Boston Globe, 12/15/01)

$10,000 Donation Limit To His PAC

… The statement also declared that the new PAC would voluntarily limit donations of so-called soft money to $10,000 per donor per year and disclose the source and amount of all such donations. (Glen Johnson, “In A Switch, Kerry Is Launching A Pac,” The Boston Globe, 12/15/01)

“Senator John F. Kerry, who broke with personal precedent last year when he established his first political action committee, has changed his fund-raising guidelines again, dropping a $10,000 limit on contributions from individuals, a cap he had touted when establishing the PAC.” (Glen Johnson, “Kerry Shifts Fund-Raising Credo For His Own PAC,” The Boston Globe, 10/4/02)

Using Personal Funds In 1996 Race

One key element of the agreement limited the candidates to spending $500,000 in personal wealth, a clause Weld favored because Kerry is married to a millionaire, Teresa Heinz.” (Glen Johnson, “In Kerry’s Plan For A Pac, The Resolution Of Opposites,” The Boston Globe, 12/18/01)

“[P]ost-election reports showed a last-minute infusion of $1.7 million from Kerry’s wife, heiress Teresa Heinz. … [K]erry denied that his campaign violated its agreement. The money had been loaned–not contributed–by his wife, he explained. ‘There was nothing in the agreement that restricted us from taking a loan … and we paid it back in $1,000 and $2,000 chunks.’” (“Global Ecology Lobby Rocked By Defection,” Political Finance, The Newsletter, 1/02)

Israel Security Fence

“And I know how disheartened Palestinians are by the Israeli government’s decision to build a barrier off the green line, cutting deeply into Palestinian areas. We do not need another barrier to peace.”

“US Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, the frontrunner in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, described Israel’s construction of a security barrier as a ‘legitimate act of self defense.’"(Janine Zacharia, “Kerry Defends Security Fence,” The Jerusalem Post, 2/25/04)

[Keith P]

Well, if he gets his way, there won't be any Ford Motor Company in the future. Due to his liberal, high-taxation, anti-capitalist agenda, he will start imposing restrictions and other laws on what he calls 'Benidict Arnold' corporations, to bring many of these companies to the very same state that he was trying to undo from the working people. I think he made it clear when he said a few months ago that he wanted to fix the inequities of society.

lol
BFP
the defender of big business
you should feel patriotic for defending general motors and everybody else in detroit.
these guys come in to a close second behind the big oil crooks

[Dionysos]

Originally posted by johnny861
Yea, if he could get FORD to build a hybrid car, that would be great news...

At the risk of missing some sarcasm, Ford already builds hybrid cars. There's a 2005 Ford Escape that's going to be hybrid that I know of, and more are on the way as well(the names escape me at the moment).

[bfp]

Originally posted by Keith P
lol
BFP
the defender of big business
you should feel patriotic for defending general motors and everybody else in detroit.
these guys come in to a close second behind the big oil crooks

Im the defender of a free-market.

Speaking of oil

can anyone confirm or disaffirm this argument I recently heard?


here it is in brief...

1) the value of proven reserves is diminishing in real dollars (actually fact - not argument)

2) there have been recent and heavy increases in Indian and Chinese crude oil demand - associated with their emerging economies (also fact - not argument)

which means that

1) the world isn't running out of oil

2) price increases are following market principals based on fairly static levels of productions coupled with dynamic (increasing) demand


prolly should have started a nwe thread but...