Dear Blogger,
George Bush thinks this is his big week, but we're going to prove him wrong. We're just hours away from the Democratic Party's end-of-August fundraising deadline. It's essential that you act right now.
You can beat the Republican's big money fundraising machine. Every dollar you contribute to the Democratic Party before midnight will be matched by a group of committed Democrats, doubling the impact of your contribution.
https://www.democrats.org/support/kerry.html
A strong Democratic Party is critical to our efforts because they are responsible for running essential programs in battleground states like Florida and Ohio. Even a $25 contribution makes a huge difference.
https://www.democrats.org/support/kerry.html
Finally, I need you to forward this message to all your friends and family right now, and ask them to join us in our efforts. We don't have any time to waste.
Sincerely,
Mary Beth Cahill
Campaign Manager
“Four years ago, George Bush claimed to be a compassionate conservative,” said Edwards. “But there is nothing compassionate about leaving millions of hard working families behind. And there is nothing conservative about a fiscal policy that turns record surpluses into record deficits by combining an ill-planned war with reckless tax cuts for the wealthy. The American people will not be fooled by slogans.”--John Edwards, August 31, 2004 in West Virginia.
Tonight's schedule is a little lighter than last night for those of you who are looking for something to distract you from the Republican convention. Here's tonight's lineup:
FOX:
8:00 pm ET – O’Reilly Factor
Terry McAuliffe, Chairman, Democratic National Committee
9:00 pm ET – Hannity & Colmes
Rep. Charles Rangel
CNBC:
7:00 pm ET – Capitol Report
Terry McAuliffe, Chairman, Democratic National Committee
CNN Headline News:
11:00 pm ET –Convention Coverage
Rep. Gregory Meeks
Dear Blogger,
We're closing in on one of the most important deadlines of this presidential election year. Tonight at midnight, the Democratic Party will reach its critical August fundraising deadline. Every dollar you contribute today will be matched by a group of dedicated Democrats.
This program was only supposed to match $2 million in contributions -- but these supporters have upped their challenge, and now will match EVERY dollar that you contribute before midnight tonight. Make your contribution today and double your impact:
https://www.democrats.org/support/kerry.html
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Bush Fails Again
The World Trade Organization ruled that the so-called Byrd amendment, named after its principal sponsor, Sen. Robert Byrd, was illegal, and that a number of countries were entitled to charge higher tariffs on millions of dollars of U.S. goods.
John Kerry released the following statement today on the inability of the Bush administration to fight hard enough in the World Trade Organization (WTO) to gain acceptance for the Byrd amendment, which allows companies to be compensated when they suffer from unfair foreign trade practices:
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George Bush spoke at to the American Legion today, but he can't hide the fact that his Administration has been bad for veterans. He has failed to keep the promises he made to our veterans. And back when Dick Cheney was a member of the House of Representatives, Cheney voted consistently in the minority to cut funding for the Veterans Administration (now the Dept. of Veterans Affairs).
Here's the Bush/Cheney record of not living up to our country's commitment to those who served, along with the Kerry-Edwards proposals for honoring our veterans with better health care for all veterans.
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The Nashua Telegraph published a glowing account of Cate Edwards' first day campaigning on her own in New Hampshire last Thursday ("Daughters of politics: Candidates’ children campaign on their own"). Vanessa Kerry, a more experienced campaign hand, was with Cate part of the day, as they talked with nurses and teachers, did radio and TV interviews, and spoke at a Kerry-Edwards rally. Click here for the story and photos.
After all the emphasis on 9/11 on the opening day of the Republican convention, the New York Daily News published a biting letter from Lorie Van Auken, a 9/11 widow, criticizing President Bush for not having held a single person accountable for the intelligence failures of 9/11 or the ensuring debacle in Iraq.
New YorkDaily News
August 31, 2004
Jersey widow demands some accountability
BY LORIE VAN AUKEN
With their convention set here in the city, the Republicans want to send a message that America should remember 9/11. I am reminded, though, that Nov. 2 is Election Day and that accountability should be our top priority.
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"It matters who leads us in our battle against terrorism. And it matters whether or not the world still looks to America and its flag as a beacon of hope. The hard truth is that the world does not look up to our president this way any more. They did for a moment after September 11th, but that moment was lost. With John Kerry, that moment can be found again."--John Edwards, August 30, 2004
Check out the Mission Not Accomplished website for info on the Republican convention.
John Edwards gave a powerful speech in North Carolina today, laying out the details of the Kerry-Edwards plan to make America stronger at home and respected in the world. As president, John Kerry will provide America new leadership to strengthen and restore alliances. With our friends and allies by our side we can effectively fight the war on terror, keep weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of terrorists, finish the job in Afghanistan and win the peace in Iraq.
You can read the full text of the speech online here.
John Edwards will be on Nightline tonight at 11:30 PM EDT to talk about Bush's comments about not being able to win the war on terror. You can read what Edwards said earlier today about Bush's remarks here.
As the Republican Convention grinds into its first evening, we thought you might like a few Democratic breaths of fresh air. Here are some news shows that will be carrying Kerry-Edwards campaigners and other Democrats this evening:
CNN:
7:00 pm ET – Anderson Cooper
Al Sharpton
9:00 pm ET – Larry King Live
Mario Cuomo
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Today in New Hampshire, George W. Bush will be trying to make the case that he has a plan for health care, starting with malpractice premiums. And what have Americans gotten for it? Health care costs have skyrocketed with American families paying 49% more for health care than they did four years ago. The typical health care premium has increased more than $2600 a year, and 5 million more Americans have no health insurance coverage. Like he did in Iraq, when it comes to health care, Bush has miscalculated.
Kerry-Edwards spokesman Phil Singer said: "The Bush health care plan doesn't help families deal with skyrocketing costs or bring down insurance rates. In fact, the states that have tried approaches comparable to what Bush is suggesting haven't seen lower premiums for their doctors, or seen health care costs overall decrease. With most experts deriding the Bush proposals as exaggerated or incomplete, George Bush is the miscalculator-in-chief when it comes to health care and so many other issues."
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New York, NY - In a shameful display of opportunism yesterday, Dick Cheney arrived at the Republican National Convention through Ellis Island, New York, with complete disregard to the Bush-Cheney Administration’s record of broken promises on immigration.
The Bush-Cheney Administration did not address immigration reform for almost three years, and when it did, it offered a proposal reminiscent of the “Bracero” program of the 1940s, 50s, and 60s that provides no path to permanent residency or naturalization and keeps families apart. The Bush-Cheney plan creates a permanent underclass of second-class workers who are subject to abuse, and will drive down wages and labor standards for all Americans.
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On NBC's Today show this morning, George Bush flip-flopped on whether he thought the U.S. could win the war on terror. Asked by host Matt Lauer, "Can we win it [the war on terror], Bush replied:
"I don’t think you can win it. But I think you can create conditions so that the - those who use terror as a tool are - less acceptable in parts of the world.”John Edwards released the following statement in response to Bush’s comments today on the war on terror:
“After months of listening to the Republicans base their campaign on their singular ability to win the war on terror, the president now says we can’t win the war on terrorism. This is no time to declare defeat -- it won’t be easy and it won’t be quick, but we have a comprehensive long-term plan to make America safer. And that’s a difference.”
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Speaking in Wilmington, NC on Monday, John Edwards outlined the fundamental national security choice facing voters in this election: four more years of a go-it-alone foreign policy that undermines the war against terror or the Kerry-Edwards plan to make America stronger at home and respected in the world.
“After months of saying he’d done everything right on Iraq and foreign policy, the president acknowledged just the other day that he miscalculated the way in which he waged the war in Iraq,” Edwards said. “He believes that he may have won the war too quickly and that was a miscalculation. I want to talk to you about the other ways in which this president has ‘miscalculated’ our approach to foreign policy. The Bush administration miscalculated by rushing to war without a plan for the peace. The Bush administration miscalculated by deciding to go it alone without strong allies. The Bush administration miscalculated when they waited three years after September 11th to start to reform our intelligence.”
For more information on the speech and a fact sheet, click here.
John Edwards will be delivering a foreign policy speech at 11:00 AM EDT that C-SPAN will carry live. General Wesley Clark will introduce Edwards, whose speech will detail how the Bush-Cheney administration has made our country less safe, and how a Kerry-Edwards administration will make America more secure with strong alliances, a more effective war on terror, and a powerful military.
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Kerry Volunteer Nell Spreads the Word Wherever She Goes
In America, anyone who works hard, lives responsibly, and does right by their family and their country – anyone who does the best with what they’ve got – should be rewarded with the opportunity to build a better life for themselves and their families. That principle is what has made the American middle class the greatest engine of economic strength the world has ever known – and it’s the heart of John Kerry and John Edwards’ vision for a stronger America.
Read the Kerry-Edwards plan to strengthen America's middle class
To Protect Coal Miners
George Bush was in West Virginia today, claiming to be a friend of the steel and coal industries. But as Kerry-Edwards spokesperson Phil Singer said, "There’s nothing complicated about the fact that George Bush broke his promise to invest in coal’s future and failed to protect coal miners. The fact is that George W. Bush broke his promise to the voters of West Virginia. Sen. Byrd says he just 'walked away.' No wonder he's lashing out on the campaign trail, misleading the public about his record. John Kerry knows that coal mining creates jobs and believes that with the right investment and commitment coal will be an even cleaner part of America’s energy future."
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With the Campaign Kids
If you are a college student in Florida, North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia, check out the schedule below and see if the campaign's Back to School Tour is coming to your school or some place nearby next week.
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John Edwards today released the following statement in response to President Bush’s statement that the challenges we face in Iraq are a result of a “catastrophic success – being so successful so fast that an enemy that should have surrendered or been done in escaped and lived to fight another day:” [Time magazine, 8/29/04]
“President Bush now says his Iraq policy is a catastrophic success. He’s half right. It was catastrophic to rush to war without a plan to win the peace. It was catastrophic to ignore the warnings of the military leadership about the risks of an unstable post-war Iraq. It was catastrophic to dismiss warnings of creating chaotic terrorists havens as today’s New York Times accurately describes. And it was catastrophic to tell the American public that rebuilding Iraq would not burden the American taxpayers with a bill of $200 billion and rising.
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With less than seventy days until the election, the Bush campaign is scrambling to define a domestic agenda for the next four years. Yesterday, a Bush aide said that the President would make social security privatization a pillar of his Thursday night speech. Social security privatization would cut benefits and add $2 trillion to the deficit.
Kerry spokesman Phil Singer said: “The last thing seniors want to hear from George Bush is a rehash of his flawed social security privatization scheme. The fact is that the Bush presidency has done more to endanger social security than it has to protect it. His deficit-busting tax cuts have threatened the future of the program and cost three times more than saving Social Security. John Kerry will make the tough choices needed to restore fiscal responsibility and cut the deficit, ensuring that ever-increasing deficits are not passed on to America’s children.”
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Poll Shows Bush Losing Ground with Cuban Americans
Facing with declining ratings from Cuban Americans, George Bush has launched more negative attacks. Kerry spokesman Phil Singer said: “George Bush has watched his standing in Florida plummet which is why he is launching these negative attacks. For three and a half years, he did nothing on Cuba, waiting until an election year to enact a policy that will do nothing to bring down the Castro regime but will hurt the Cuban people. His policy has back-fired, his support among Cuban Americans has dropped, so now he's launching negative attacks.”
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