Posted on 10/24/2004 9:01:34 PM PDT by Libloather
Kerry's Latest Attacks on Bush Borrow a Page From Scripture
By DAVID M. HALBFINGER and DAVID E. SANGER
Published: October 25, 2004
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Oct. 24 - Appealing to late-deciding voters in explicitly religious terms, Senator John Kerry used the Bible on Sunday to accuse President Bush of trying to scare America, and said his own Catholicism moved him to help those in need but not to "write every doctrine into law."
"The Scripture teaches us - John says, 'Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid,' " Mr. Kerry said, alluding to Mr. Bush's strategy of portraying Mr. Kerry as too weak to defend against a terrorist attack. "What these folks want you to do is be afraid. Everything that they're trying to do is scare America."
Rebuking one of the most openly religious presidents in recent history, Mr. Kerry said that Christians believed in caring for the sick, housing the homeless, feeding the hungry and stopping violence but that the administration was not heeding those teachings.
Mr. Kerry's South Florida swing came on a day when Mr. Bush did not campaign until late in the day, in Alamogordo, N.M., near the site of the nuclear tests that led to the end of World War II. Mr. Bush argued that the war of this generation could only come to an end under his leadership.
"He considers the war on terror primarily an intelligence-gathering and law enforcement operation," Mr. Bush said of his rival, as several thousand booed the notion. "You cannot win a war if you are not convinced that you are even in one."
The two candidates continued a series of sharp exchanges about who would prove tougher on terror - exchanges that have flared whenever either has acknowledged that eradicating terrorism altogether is highly unlikely.
In an interview on Saturday with the conservative commentator Sean Hannity of Fox News, Mr. Bush seemed to forget his lines briefly when he was asked whether the nation would always have to live with a terrorist threat. "Whether or not we can be ever fully safe is up - you know, is up in the air," Mr. Bush said, according to a transcript.
Mr. Kerry pounced on the remark late in the day, telling thousands in Boca Raton, Fla.: "You make me president of the United States, we're going to win the war on terror. It's not going to be up in the air whether or not we make America safe."
Mr. Kerry's Bible-based thrust, at first from the pulpit of a black church here and later in a lengthy speech on values, was the latest effort by the Democratic candidate, who is generally reticent about his religious beliefs, to demonstrate his core principles to religious voters.
At the very least, Mr. Kerry demonstrated a wide liturgical reach, quoting from Matthew, James, John, Luke, the Ten Commandments and "Amazing Grace" before recalling for cheering Jews in Boca Raton how he once shouted "the Israeli people lives" in Hebrew atop Masada.
In a particularly partisan talk from the pulpit of the Mount Hermon A.M.E. Church here, Mr. Kerry said Mr. Bush had chosen profits for drug companies over lower prices for the elderly and had spurned veterans and the unemployed while giving tax cuts to the rich.
"Oh, no, they didn't choose the least among us, they chose the most powerful among us," he said. "They keep on thinking it's the most powerful who deserve the most, some kind of entitlement."
But it was in his afternoon speech in a concert hall here, where Mr. Kerry did not mention Mr. Bush's name except to ask for prayers for whomever won the election, that his audience erupted in thunderous chants of "No more Bush!"
In the speech, Mr. Kerry alluded to his own religious upbringing, which he said was "put to the test" in Vietnam, as some of his closest friends were killed in combat.
"Faith was as much a part of our daily lives as the battle was," he said. "I prayed, as we all did. And I even questioned how all the terrible things that I saw could fit into God's plan. But I got through it. And I came home with a sense of hope and a belief in a higher purpose."
Mr. Kerry said his faith meant "holding to a vision of a society of the common good."
"Catholics call this solidarity," he said, adding that as president, "I will put middle-class families, and those who are struggling to join the middle class, ahead of the interests of the well-to-do and the well-connected."
A senior adviser, Mike McCurry, said the speech was aimed at middle-of-the-road, churchgoing voters who like Mr. Kerry's talk of change but are unsure about him personally.
"We know that Americans are a very faithful people; the vast majority believe in God and worship," Mr. McCurry said. "Over 70 percent tell pollsters routinely that they want a president who is deeply grounded in faith and speaking to those issues."
Mr. Kerry also answered those Roman Catholics who have said that it is a sin to vote for politicians who, like him, support abortion rights and embryonic stem-cell research.
"I know there are some bishops who have suggested that as a public official I must cast votes or take public positions, on issues like a woman's right to choose or stem-cell research, that carry out the tenets of the Catholic Church," he said, as audience members shouted "No!"
"I love my church; I respect the bishops; but I respectfully disagree," he said to a standing ovation.
The speech was the sixth of a series of "closing arguments" that Mr. Kerry is delivering on major issues in the campaign. His last, on Tuesday in Green Bay, Wis., will cover domestic security, aides said.
Aides said Mr. Kerry would campaign in Ohio or Pennsylvania almost every day between now and the election and said the campaign was dominating the airwaves with far more commercials than Mr. Bush in Florida and Ohio. They canceled plans for a Tuesday trip to Colorado. On Monday, Mr. Kerry is heading to Michigan, which was believed to be relatively safe for him, but where a new poll on Sunday showed Mr. Bush with a five-point lead.
In Alamogordo, meanwhile, as Mr. Bush spoke under a brilliant sun, castigating Mr. Kerry for everything from his defense policy to Social Security, the president's communications director, Dan Bartlett, told reporters that at the end of the week the Bush campaign would release its last commercial, a direct appeal from Mr. Bush for a second term.
"In a very emotional, heartfelt way," Mr. Bartlett said, voters "will see why they have rallied around the president in a post-9/11 world."
Mr. Bartlett also argued that Hawaii "is becoming competitive" but indicated that Mr. Bush planned no last-minute visit there. Instead, he is headed to Colorado, Iowa and Wisconsin on Monday.
Just like the New York Times -- which believes a Democrat invoking God and scripture is nothing short of divine.
But will arch its back and spit "Inquisition" when a Republican does the same.
Piss on both of 'em -- Kerry and the Times.
Even Satan used scripture in trying to tempt Jesus in the desert.
Excuse me mr. kerry, but I seem to recall a commandment about "Thou shalt not steal" Which is exactly the thing that government does through income taxes that go toward social issues. I can't believe that people are actually buying his garbage.
So if JFKerry doesn't win this election will he take up preachin full time???
"Catholics call this solidarity," he said, adding that as president, "I will put middle-class families, and those who are struggling to join the middle class, ahead of the interests of the well-to-do and the well-connected."
And then he says ...
"I know there are some bishops who have suggested that as a public official I must cast votes or take public positions, on issues like a woman's right to choose or stem-cell research, that carry out the tenets of the Catholic Church," ...
"I love my church; I respect the bishops; but I respectfully disagree,"
The contradictions and hypocrisies of this man boggle the rational mind. On one hand Kerry argues for heeding the Catholic tenets on solidarity in creating public policy (even chastising the Bush administration for not heeding these Christian teachings); while on the other, he argues against heeding the more critical tenets of Church regarding the destruction of innocent human life.
Hopefully, Kerry's heretical evasions and double-talk will motivate Catholics who genuinally follow the faith to vote against this man.
This is something coming from a guy who says he believes in God but chooses not to follow God's laws.
If he wants to help the poor and homeless so much why doesn't he just donate part of the billions that he has at his disposal instead of STEALING it from the people.
And then he supports abortion as well... Has he heard of thou shalt not murder?
God will not be mocked and used in this way. Watch out Kerry....
Yes, Satan often comes as an angel of light. What I can't believe is how these so called "Christian" churches allow this guy into their church! If they have a shred of Biblical knowledge, they would understand that his positions and his and Theresa's lifestyle run contrary to the very God they are meeting to worship.
Me too, what, what, when, huh?
He may know the words but he does not know the author!
The guy really gets around, doesn't he?...;))
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