"Kerry Urges Democrats To Fight Values 'Assault'
E-Mail to Supporters Renews Battle Against Bush
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63697-2004Nov19.htmlSen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) signaled a return to partisan warfare with President Bush yesterday in an e-mail to supporters in which he accused the administration of preparing a "right-wing assault on values and ideals" and called on Democrats to fight back against what he labeled Bush's extreme agenda.
Two weeks after delivering a generous concession speech that called for a lessening of the bitter partisanship that had marked the contest with Bush, Kerry picked up where the campaign left off and demonstrated his determination to be the leader of the opposition, in spite of his defeat.
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The e-mail message represented a call to arms to Democrats. At a time when many Democrats are looking inward to examine the reasons for Bush's victory and to take stock of what they need to do to make their time in the political wilderness as short as possible, Kerry said Democrats should in no way give Bush a pass at the beginning of his second term. "This is not a time for Democrats to retreat and accommodate extremists on critical principles," he wrote. "It is a time to stand firm."
Kerry's decision to challenge Bush so directly suggested that he hopes to return to the Senate as a much more aggressive and forceful legislator than he was in the years before he ran for president. By staking out health care as the first issue on his post-election agenda, Kerry showed he is also willing to tread on turf long claimed by other Democrats, particularly Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts's senior senator, in whose shadow Kerry has spent his entire Senate career.
I think we are all ready to fight. "Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) signaled a return to partisan warfare" - are they kidding - like it ever left?