Kerry courts approval from women voters - support is lacking, Democrats worry

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, WI ^ | October 23, 2004 | ALAN J. BORSUK aborsuk@journalsentinel.com

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry said Friday that while President Bush doesn't understand the struggles of American women to make ends meet and fill their demanding roles, he does, and he'll ease their burdens as president.

Kerry made the sweeping appeal to women before an audience of about 1,000 at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, seeking to improve his standing among women voters who, in polling to date, have been supporting Bush in numbers that bode well for the Republicans and worry Democrats.

Kerry said women still are paid 76 cents for every dollar men are paid, and promised that, as president, "We'll close the pay gap once and for all because in America, equal work should mean equal pay, no ifs, ands or buts about it."

He said, "George W. Bush turned back the clock on equal pay, and today, the gap between women and men is actually growing wider."

Bush is insensitive to the real lives of women in the workplace and at home, Kerry said, and the current economy meant "too many hard-working women falling further and further behind."

Kerry was introduced at UWM by Caroline Kennedy, daughter of President John F. Kennedy. Kerry, who arrived in Milwaukee late Thursday night, was making his 10th visit to Wisconsin since clinching the Democratic nomination. He will return for a rally Monday night and a speech on Tuesday, both in Green Bay. Running mate John Edwards will lead a rally that same day in Racine. Kerry also will visit Madison on Thursday for a rally on Capitol Square.

Speaking Friday on a stage at the Zelazo Center where about 180 women sat on bleachers behind him, and hundreds more in the predominantly female audience before him, Kerry called on women to turn out in big numbers this year.

"The women of America can write the future of America if they go to the polls and make their voices heard," he said. He said an estimated 38 million women who were eligible to vote did not do so in 2000.

The clear context for Kerry's speech was the urgency Democrats see in getting their poll numbers among women into better shape.

Recent presidential elections have shown a consistent gender gap in which Republicans outdraw Democrats among men, but the reverse is true among women.

This year, Bush is running strongly among men but Kerry and Bush have been about even or Bush has been ahead among women. A Washington Post poll this week showed women nationwide favoring Bush at 50% and Kerry at 46%. A Badger Poll in Wisconsin last month had Bush preferred by 44% of women and Kerry by 37%, but the race in general has tightened since that poll was taken.

Four years ago, exit polls showed that nationally, then-Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore outpolled Bush by 54% to 43% among women.

Kerry trained his fire heavily on what he described as Bush's unresponsiveness to the needs of middle-class or lower-income women.

"Unfortunately, facing reality is not exactly this president's strong suit," Kerry said. "When confronted with a problem, he's got a simple strategy: Just pretend it's all fine and hope that no one notices."

But the reality, he said, is that "today, for far too many women, the American dream seems a million miles away, because you've barely got time to sleep, and if you've barely got time to sleep, you've barely got time to dream."

Referring to recent comments from Bush about how hard he works, Kerry said: "Before the president complains about his job, he ought to come here and spend a day with you. He might learn something about how, day after day after day, the women of this country juggle so much with grace and with strength. What you do every day, now that's hard work."

Responding to Kerry's speech on behalf of the Bush campaign, state Rep. Leah Vukmir (R-Wauwatosa) said in a statement, "John Kerry is on the wrong side of issues that matter to Wisconsin women, and we're not going to buy into the false attacks and misleading promises of a candidate who will say anything for political gain."

Vukmir said, "We are rejecting Kerry's proposals for job-killing tax hikes, and we are not going to trust a candidate whose $1.5 trillion big government health care plan would take decision-making power from us and our doctors and give it to government bureaucrats in Washington."

Kerry described the pursuit of full equality for women as part of "the unfinished march of civil rights in America."

Kerry outlined a program related to needs of women that included raising the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7 an hour; improving availability of health care and health insurance, especially for children; improving education programs, particularly by increasing funding for meeting demands of the No Child Left Behind Act; and by shoring up the Social Security system and rejecting efforts to privatize some of it.

Kerry did not mention a remark from his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, reported earlier this week, that first lady Laura Bush had never held "a real job." Laura Bush has been a librarian and a teacher, as well as a mother of two, which many would refer to as a real job. Heinz Kerry apologized for the remark.

Later Friday in Reno, Nev., Kerry said Osama bin Laden would be in captivity or dead if Kerry had been president during the early days of the war in Afghanistan. Kerry accused Bush of allowing bin Laden to escape because he "outsourced the job of capturing him" to Afghan warlords at the caves of Tora Bora in December 2001.

Bush spokesman Steve Schmidt responded: "During the time of when the United States was engaged in offensive operations in Tora Bora, John Kerry praised that strategy and tactics."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

...Kerry made the sweeping appeal to women...

Well, he doesn't appeal to anyone so he's offering everyone everything and lying through his teeth.

Teresa was conspicuously absent and Caroline Kennedy had to fill in.

______________________________________________________________

SHAME SHAME is right Sen. Kerry.

Remarks of Senator John Kerry (scaring old people while hiding facts)***....George Bush didn't raise the medicare premium for seniors, John Kerry did when he voted for the balanced budget agreement. But now he uses the premiumn increase that George Bush had nothing to do with to attack his opponent. ...***

___________________________________________________________

Oct. 22, 2004. (AP Photo/Scott Martin)

[Cincinatus' Wife]

***This year, Bush is running strongly among men but Kerry and Bush have been about even or Bush has been ahead among women. A Washington Post poll this week showed women nationwide favoring Bush at 50% and Kerry at 46%. A Badger Poll in Wisconsin last month had Bush preferred by 44% of women and Kerry by 37%, but the race in general has tightened since that poll was taken. ***

[AbramsGunnerE5]

Is Teresah sick? Or just sick of the campaign
and needs to get loaded?

[AbramsGunnerE5]

OK OK OK IS KERRY WEARING COVER-UP? HE LOOKS LIKE A MANAQUIN!

[Question Liberal Authority]

You know what REALLY impresses women? Rent some camoflage and pretend to shoot a goose.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Kerry's problem is that women don't cotton to wafflers.

[onyx]

OMG!
That Heinz-Kerry woman is a mess.
And with all that money.
She must sorely lack self-esteem.
To be seen in public like that?

WOW.

[dagogo redux]

Oh, whew! Read it wrong. I'm relieved to see he said

"make ends meet and fill their demanding roles"

[GeronL]

Tah-RAY-Zuh is carrying around multiple bottles of beer and John Kerry is wearing make-up. John Edwards is somewhere fiddling with his hair and his wife is pigging down on children.

PLEASE PLEASE don't make me watch this for 4 more years!!!!

[Avenger]

His makeup is TERRIBLE. Good Lord! He has more make-up on than all the other women in the picture combined. It looks like his face might crack off it someone touches it.

[devolve]

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Kerry has more makeup on than Caroline Kennedy.

[hinckley buzzard]

"Kerry's problem is that women don't cotton to wafflers."

Well, half of them do, but he needs a good 60% or more.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Kerry on a "wild goose chase" for manly votes.

[AZLiberty]

Who's going to vote for John Kerry?

Not Republicans.
Not the military or Veterans.
Not married women.
Not Southern Democrats.
Not as many Catholics as usual.
Not as many Jews as usual.
Not as many blacks as usual.
Not the people who really believe "wrong war, wrong place, wrong time".
Not anybody with any common sense.
Not anybody who prefers the Internet to TV news.
Not the PETA crowd or the Naderites.

Who's left? Gay Hispanics? John Edwards?

[Cincinatus' Wife]

He has the anarchist vote.

He has the communist vote

He has the angry muslin vote.

He has the hippie vote.

He has the elite vote.

He has NEA teacher vote.

He has the trial lawyer vote.

BUT

He doesn't have the Christian vote which includes a HUGE Christian youth vote.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

***...Responding to Kerry's speech on behalf of the Bush campaign, state Rep. Leah Vukmir (R-Wauwatosa) said in a statement, "John Kerry is on the wrong side of issues that matter to Wisconsin women, and we're not going to buy into the false attacks and misleading promises of a candidate who will say anything for political gain."

Vukmir said, "We are rejecting Kerry's proposals for job-killing tax hikes, and we are not going to trust a candidate whose $1.5 trillion big government health care plan would take decision-making power from us and our doctors and give it to government bureaucrats in Washington."

Kerry described the pursuit of full equality for women as part of "the unfinished march of civil rights in America." ...***

[Cutterjohnmhb]

What a Eunuch/grin....I bet the minimum wage idea was Trezza's....I'm sure she thinks every woman who isn't jet-set is some poor woman... I'm sure her stable of maids and cooks were elated to hear the news. Real American women are the driving force of whats good in the USA, and quite a few of them are business owners as well as moms. They look at Kerry's and Trezza's glass and see if half full, if not empty.

[Catmom]

Kerry appeals only to hysterical, clueless females (regardless of IQ or education) who just don't have the judgment or common sense to know a loser male when they see one. Include in this number the perpetually single, the unwed mommies, and the acrimoniously divorced. All of these types either don't know how to get and/or keep a decent man in their lives and, as a result, look toward men in government to give them what they couldn't or wouldn't get from a man on their own. This, dear readers, is the essence of the so-called marriage gap.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Beware the man behind the curtain...and the makeup and lies.

Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry takes the stage for a speech at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, Wisconsin October 22, 2004. Senator Kerry spoke about women and the economy. REUTERS/Brian Snyder US ELECTION