What does John Kerry stand for? [forum post from the left]

The dems are asking yet again for Ralph Nader to step down from the race. Why? Better yet, why don't the Dems step down? Hell, at least I know what Ralph Nader intends to do when he's President. At least he has a plan for America. It's been months since Kerry has effectively been the Democratic candidate and I don't know any plan he has for America. All he's running on is undoing Bush's policies. How does that help? His only plan is to send us back four years? Are you kidding? His whole agenda is based on undoing rather than doing. And everything else is just empty rhetoric. Here, I'll show you what I mean: (Taken from Johnkerry.com - on the issues)

1. On the economy: "John Kerry is unveiling a comprehensive economic agenda that will unleash the productive potential of America's economy to help it create 10 million jobs in his first term as President."
-Thanks John, let me know when it's actually unveiled okay?

2. Winning the Peace in Iraq: "What’s needed now is leadership – to finish the job in Iraq the right way – because America can and must do better."
-I know it's fun to guess and all, but could you be a little more specific about what the right way is? Oh wait, here it is: "the establishment of a high commissioner for governance and reconstruction, and the creation of a NATO mission for Iraq."
-Ahhh, more beauracracy - thanks Kerry, that's exactly what we need more red tape and paper pushers. Let me know how that works out for you. Sure seems to be working pretty well for the environment.

3. Access to Affordable Health Care: "John Kerry believes that your family’s health is just as important as any politician's in Washington. Our nation needs a leader who has the courage to take on the big insurance and drug companies to make that same health care plan affordable for every American."
-Agreed, but if only we had, oh I don't know, a specific plan to achieve that.

4. Education: "By supporting teachers, reducing class sizes, rebuilding crumbling schools, and standing up for high standards in our public education system, John Kerry has the courage to fight for our children’s future every day."
-Is this a policy or an answer from a Ms. America pageant? And where does this money come from during a war?

5. "John Kerry is for the children of America."
-Thank God! With all those Anti-children candidates out there I think it's great that Kerry sets himself apart

....and it goes on like that. I'm not trying to bash Kerry, but why should I vote for a guy with hollow policy ideas who tells our country that for four years we've been wrong. His only specific policies are in direct opposition to Bush's policies. I can't stand Bush, but he least he has a specific plan and vision...so did Dean, but I guess that doesn't matter to the Democrats. I just feel betrayed. I know we need to get rid of Bush, but if this is the best they can come up with I'd rather spend my vote elsewhere. You want me to vote for a Democrat give me someone I can believe in. I'm not voting for Kerry simply because I don't like Bush - that's not enough of a reason for me. I'm a voter not an anti-voter.

Great find! I have to think the Kerry campaign is getting very nervous looking at the last WP/ABC poll that showed over 55% of Kerry voters are only anti-Bush voters. Nader has a very good chance of picking up a lot of those votes.

Kerry is running the worst campaign I have ever seen. By this time in 1992, Bill Clinton had already published a book with all of his proposed programs that was a best-seller. Clinton understood that even though people were dissatisfied with Bush Sr., they were not going to vote for him unless he put forward some concrete alternatives to solve the problems that were making people turn against Bush. Kerry's people seem to have no clue about this. It is going to cost them votes, and a lot of them. Most voters DO want to vote "for" something, not just "against" someone.

so true:

Gasoline Tax
by Patrick Burns
Activist Handbook 2000
Btu Tax. In 1993, the Clinton-Gore administration proposed a new tax on energy known as the Btu tax. The Btu tax would have raised the cost of gasoline by 7.5 cents per gallon. Congress rejected the tax, but in a press conference one year later Vice President Gore left no doubt that he would try to impose the Btu tax at a later date... In place of the rejected Btu tax, Congress voted to increase the federal gas tax by 4.3 cents per gallon. As president of the Senate, Vice President Gore cast the deciding vote to approve the tax hike... Among the many radical ideas in Vice President Gore’s book Earth in the Balance, is a proposal for a new tax on carbon-based fuels. The tax would hit energy sources such as gasoline, heating oil, coal, and natural gas. Although it is difficult to predict how much, the carbon tax would undoubtedly cause higher prices at the pump... Even as gas prices rose, the Clinton-Gore administration imposed a new mandate on domestic oil producers. In a classic example of one-size-fits-all regulation, the administration demanded a reduction in the sulfur content of fuel from 300 parts per million to 30 parts per million. This mandate is expected to increase gas prices by 5-6 cents per gallon... In June, regulations pushed by the Clinton-Gore administration for reformulated gasolines (RFG) like ethanol went into effect. These have raised prices by at least an additional 5 cents per gallon. Rather than issue waivers for areas facing dramatic price spikes, the administration has insisted on rigid adherence to the RFG mandate... In March 2000, the Clinton-Gore administration raised the royalties charged on companies that produce oil on government-owned land - this at a time when gas prices were already rising... The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) consists of 19.5 million acres in Alaska north of the Arctic Circle. Seventeen and one-half million acres of this area are closed to development. The remaining 1.5 million acres may hold as much as 16 billion barrels of oil. This could replace all oil imported from Saudi Arabia for close to 30 years. But, the Clinton-Gore administration opposes any oil production in this area.
Whose ties to oil cause high prices?
[anonymous]
Democrat Discussion Forum
According to IRS records, the family of Vice President Albert Arnold Gore, Jr. owns between $500,000 and $1,000,000 worth of stock in Occidental Petroleum. Gore's spinmeisters (most of whom are holdover Clinton search-and-destroyers) insist the stock is not really the Vice President's. The shares originally belonged to Gore's late father Al Sr., who left them to the former Veep's mother Pauline. The stock is now in a trust for her, controlled by....Al Gore, Junior. The Gore mouthpieces have the nerve to say their boss "doesn't own stock because he's trying to avoid conflicts of interest," demonstrating again that Clintonian double-talk will survive long after the Clinton Administration perishes.

Pauline Gore has one heir to which she will leave the oil stock when she dies. Care to guess who it is?

So Gore had substantial interest in the oil industry long before this year's price explosion. But that interest became greatly enriched just over a few years ago, when Occidental bought the Elk Hills oil field in California from the federal government (Gore recommended the deal as part of his "reinventing government" scheme). Occidental stock jumped 10 percent. So did Al Gore's (sorry-Pauline Gore's) stock holdings. But the Occidental windfall didn't stop there. Occidental now pumps and sells oil from that oil field. The oil gets refined into gasoline, which is sold at higher and higher prices. For Al Gore, the gift keeps on giving.

Incidentally, the Elk Hills purchase was the largest privatization of federal land in American history. How ironic that it was engineered by a man who frowns on private land ownership by people other than himself.

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