Letter:Republicans use Kerry quotes out of context (Daily Lobo)

Editor,

In today’s political forum, so much of what is passed through the media contains partial information and disinformation.

Nowhere is this more true in than the recent Republican attempt to portray John Kerry as a flip-flopper. Using partial and out-of-context information, conservative pundits have tried to cast doubt on Kerry’s political career. The great majority of the 37 flip-flops the Republican media cling to are based on superficial information or quotes, which are then juxtaposed against another quote selectively tailored to meet the needs of the flip-flop argument.

In these articles, dissimilar, dated and unrelated events are whittled down and cast as the whole story.

The conservatives would have us believe that Kerry flipped from a stance that abortion is a states’ issue to the stance it is a federal issue. That’s No. 17 on the GOP’s list of flip-flops, and a simple look at the facts dissolves this argument. The purported flip-flop uses a statement Kerry made in 1972 and one he made in 1985 when he said “Those of us in (federal) government have a special responsibility to protect this right (abortion).”

A seeming flip-flop right? Why would Kerry say abortion should be left to the states in 1972? Probably because it was not until 1973 that the Supreme Court decreed abortion was a federally-protected right for women. Before that, it was left for the states to decide.

The difference in Kerry’s statements is not a reflection of change in his policy, but a change in the laws of the United States and the rights of Americans. Bush may not respect the decisions of the Supreme Court in regards to abortion, but that doesn’t make them irrelevant.

Another tool in the conservative media’s attempt to slander Kerry’s record is to use simple disinformation. Their account of Kerry’s purported flip-flop on the No Child Left Behind Act – No. 8 on the GOP’s list – is a cold-cut example of this tactic.

The act was one of the cornerstones of Bush’s 2000 campaign in which he billed himself as an “education president.” In 2001, Kerry voted in support of the act. Conservatives contend Kerry then flip-flopped when he recently said he was going to “make the president accountable for making a mockery of No Child Left Behind.” Even on its face, this argument can hardly be taken as a legitimate flip-flop.

Kerry’s statement is an obvious criticism of Bush’s support for his administration’s legislation, not a criticism of the act.

Further, history backs Kerry’s criticism of Bush. After the passing of the bill, the Bush administration failed to even propose adequate funds to support the No Child Left Behind act. In every fiscal year since the passage of the bill, the Bush administration’s budget has fallen $6-7 billion short of funding the obligations set forth in Bush’s legislation.

Not funding a bill that was the cornerstone of his presidential campaign? Sounds more like a Bush flip-flop.

Terri-Nikole Baca
Morgan Pierce
Nathan Cobb
UNM College Democrats

AP: Bush Leads Kerry in Electoral Votes By RON FOURNIER, AP

With three months remaining in a volatile campaign, Kerry has 14 states and the District of Columbia in his column for 193 electoral votes. Bush has 25 states for 217 votes, according to an Associated Press analysis of state polls as well as interviews with strategists across the country. …

Bush and Kerry are running even in 11 states with a combined 128 electoral votes. Florida, Ohio, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Michigan and West Virginia are the toughest battlegrounds. Two other tossups, Pennsylvania and Oregon, could soon move to Kerry’s column. …

All total, 21 states are in play. Some will bounce between “lean” to “tossup” throughout the campaign.

Four years ago, Bush won 30 states and their 271 electoral votes _ one more than needed. Gore, who won the popular vote, claimed 20 states plus the District of Columbia for 267 electoral votes.

Since then, reapportionment added electoral votes to states with population gains and took them from states losing people. The result: Bush’s states are now worth 278 electoral votes and Gore’s are worth just 260.

Even if Kerry consolidates Gore’s states, no easy task, the Democrat must take 10 electoral votes from Bush’s column to close the electoral vote gap.

Kerry’s best prospects may be in the five tossup states won by Bush in 2000: Ohio, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire and West Virginia.

Winning either Ohio’s 20 electoral votes or Florida’s 27 would do the trick.

Current Electoral Vote Predictor 2004

Kerry 332 – Bush 195

USATODAY.com – White House to move to Texas for a while
By Laurence McQuillan, USA TODAY
08/03/2001

WASHINGTON — Six months after taking office, President Bush will begin a month-long vacation Saturday that is significantly longer than the average American’s annual getaway. If Bush returns as scheduled on Labor Day, he’ll tie the modern record for presidential absence from the White House, held by Richard Nixon at 30 days. Ronald Reagan took trips as long as 28 days. …

[S]ome Republican loyalists worry about critics who say Bush lets Vice President Cheney and other top officials do most of the work. They’re also concerned about the reaction of the average American, who gets 13 vacation days each year.

“It can foster other images,” says William Benoit, a professor of political communication at the University of Missouri-Columbia. “Maybe he’s lazy, maybe he’s not determined. It feeds into the impression that he’s not in charge.”

Bush, who is scheduled to return to Washington on Sept. 3, is taking his vacation while Congress is in recess. Cheney will be in Wyoming. …

President Bush’s father was criticized in 1990 for remaining on vacation in Kennebunkport while dealing with the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq.

Bush has described playful plans for his days at the ranch, which was finished in the spring. Talking to members of the agricultural youth group FFA last week, Bush joked that he looked forward to “seeing the cows. Occasionally they talk to me — being the good listener that I am.”

But White House image-makers worry a lot, and Bush was a bit more serious a few days later when he spoke on videotape to the Boy Scouts of America Jamboree. He read from written remarks: “I’ll be going to my ranch in Crawford, where I’ll work and take a little time off. I think it is so important for a president to spend some time away from Washington, in the heartland of America.”

Some observers say Bush taking a month off could feed a perception fostered by critics that he is disengaged and does not work hard enough.

However, a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll of 1,015 people taken in April found that many don’t take that view. Of those surveyed, 70% said Bush was working hard enough.

I wonder how many people NOW think he was working hard enough. mjh

SENATE VOTES NO ON ANTI-GAY AMENDMENT outcomebuffalo.com

”The rabid, reactionary religious right has rarely looked more ridiculous. They know they don’t have the votes to come even close to passing this amendment. But they have sufficient stranglehold on the White House and the Republican leadership in Congress to force the issue to a vote anyway, in a desperate effort to arouse their narrow-minded constituency and somehow gain an advantage in the elections this year.” — Senator Ted Kennedy (D, Mass.)

The Party of Lincoln has been hijacked by a small band of zealous thugs. mjh

Remember this when Bush accuses Kerry of not understanding the West. mjh

National parks need help DenverPost.com – EDITORIAL

America’s national parks groan from decades of neglect and deferred maintenance. On that point, the Bush administration and environmental groups agree. What they don’t agree on is whether the situation is worsening or improving.

Interior Secretary Gale Norton says the parks will get $4.9 billion by 2006 to help reduce the maintenance backlog.

The National Parks Conservation Association, a leading interest group on the issue, says the increase is smoke and mirrors. Most of the money isn’t new but was diverted from other projects, NPCA says. The real increase will be about $662 million and help just a handful of the country’s 388 parks, monuments, recreation areas and historic sites.

The NPCA’s analysis has become campaign fodder not only because of President Bush’s overall environmental record. When he ran for office and in his 2001 State of the Union address, Bush promised to fix what ails the national parks. Four years ago, the backlog was a little over $1 billion; today estimates range up to $6 billion. …

The Interior Department is trapped by the same fiscal vise gripping most federal domestic programs. Huge tax cuts and military operations in Iraq added billions to the deficit, and many programs took big hits – including adequate funding for national parks, forests, wildlife refuges and other public lands.