"Kerry Says Bush Has Forgotten Real 9/11 Heroes"

Democrats in Self-Destruct Mode CXC

I don't suppose these unions switching from Gephardt & Dean will make "John Kerry: Our Second Choice" their campaign slogan.

A Reuters story (ellipses in original).

Democratic White House front-runner John Kerry on Tuesday accused President Bush of showing up "when the bagpipes are wailing" and then forgetting America's real heroes — firefighters, police and other emergency personnel.

With voters going to the polls in Wisconsin's pivotal primary, the senator from Massachusetts ignored his Democratic rivals and looked ahead to a potential matchup with Bush in November, slamming the president's "creed of greed" and "extreme radical administration."

Kerry, and U.S. Rep. Richard Gephardt of Missouri, former competitors for their party's presidential nomination, headlined a rally with union members who have flocked to Kerry's campaign since his winning streak began in Iowa last month.

With 14 victories in the first 16 contests, Kerry is in firm command of the Democratic race to challenge Bush. Opinion polls have also showed him the prohibitive favorite in Wisconsin where he is leading nearest rival Howard Dean by double digit margins.

Deriding Bush as "the worst president for jobs in this country since Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression," Kerry said the consequence was written in more than just the 75,000-plus jobs lost in Wisconsin over the past three years.

"It is written ... in the countless number of victims seeing their pensions blown away because of the Enrons and WorldComs and an entire creed of greed that has been licensed by the Bush administration," he said.

With several hundred union members chanting "Send Bush to Mars," Kerry said the president had failed to live up to his commitment to firefighters, police officers, emergency medical personnel and other union members who sacrificed in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

"I'm tired of these politicians who show up when the bagpipes are wailing and the flags are at half-staff and they talk about heroes in America," Kerry said. "And then when they go back to Washington, the flags are at full-staff again and the bagpipes have stopped playing, they forget."

Kerry and Gephardt appeared with leaders of the Alliance for Economic Justice, a coalition of 19 unions representing 5 million workers. On Thursday, Kerry will receive the backing of the AFL-CIO, an umbrella labor organization of 64 unions with 13 million members.

Gephardt, who built his campaign on strong labor support nationwide, had the backing of 20 unions before he pulled out after a disappointing fourth place finish in the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 19. Most of them have now thrown their support behind Kerry.

"My name is Dick Gephardt and I am here because we've got to beat George Bush," the Missouri lawmaker declared. "I said throughout my campaign that this was not about me or any other candidate, it's about our future, it's about our jobs, it's about our education and it's time we put someone in the White House who cares about what happens to the working people of this country."

Dean, the former Vermont governor who once led the Democratic race in money and momentum but has tumbled out of contention, recently lost the support of the 1.4-million member American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME, who switched to Kerry.

With the future of his campaign hanging on the results in Wisconsin, Dean is still benefiting from the organizational muscle of the Service Employees International Union's 1.6 million members.

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Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Tue. 02/17/04 06:08:35 PM
Categorized as Democrats in Self-Destruct Mode & John Kerry & Political.