Kerry's Lip Service - from Dean Campaign

[sandnsea]

This is the press release in question. Kerry did not oppose flood relief legislation. He voted against Freedom to Farm. He supported new legislation recently. The argument is those massive corporate ag subsidies that we all bitch about. To be frank, Harkin is always going to vote for the most ag money he can possibly get; he's a real whore for ethanol subsidies and most of us know ethanol is rather a crock to start with. Kerry knows it too and has actually fought the big corporate ethanol subsidies in the past which is the most that anybody could truthfully claim he's hurt Iowan farmers. His campaign has been clear that he supports family farms and wants to end corporate ag subsidies. This release is just a lie and either they got Kerry/Kerrey mixed up or they just didn't care about the truth to start with.

Iowa Deserves Better Than Kerry's Lip Service

For Immediate Release:

December 30, 2003

Contact: Sarah Leonard, 515-243-5433

Iowa Farmer's Union Official Writes to Members: Rural Iowa Deserves

Better Than Kerry's Lip Service

Des Moines -- Chris Petersen, Vice President of the Iowa Farmer's Union and a key Rural Iowa activist, sent the following letter to members of his organization today:

Dear Colleagues, family farmers and all rural residents,

You may recall my role in the debate between Vice President Al Gore

and U.S. Senator Bill Bradley in 1999. I stood up during the debate to ask why, in 1993, Bill Bradley opposed important flood relief that would have made a world of difference to farmers like me. Now, four years later, we again have a Democrat U.S. Senator from an industrial state running for President in Iowa who voted against the very same flood relief legislation that would have benefited rural Iowans.

Senator Kerry also opposed our farmers in the fight over Freedom to Farm in 1996. Rather than stand with Senator Harkin and rural America, Kerry stood up for the failed farm policies of Freedom to Farm that have played a large role in destroying family farms and depopulating rural areas across the country. I question the judgment of Senator Kerry who said in opposing the critical farm safety net: "I am certain that the farm programs of the past have outlived any usefulness."

Rural Iowa deserves better.

That's why I am supporting Democratic Presidential candidate Governor Howard Dean, MD.

As a longtime activist on rural issues in Iowa, I believe Governor Dean is offering the most comprehensive and progressive farm and rural policy of any candidate. As the Governor of one of the most rural states in America, Dean has done more than pay lip service to rural issues. He has condemned the Bush administration's efforts to kill or gut important elements of the 2002 farm bill, like COOL and the CSP, and he strongly opposed the Smithfield/Farmland merger.

Howard Dean has taken the strongest stance of any candidate against the consolidation in agriculture brought on by corporate agribusiness, a concentration that is strangling the family farmer and rural communities.

He has also shown a true commitment to helping family farmers achieve a fair price for their product in the market, to helping rural economies thrive, and to investing in conservation programs that help our farmers and our environment. Most important for me was the time I spent touring north central Iowa with the Governor, showing him the impact of hog confinements on rural Iowa. This is a man who is obviously knowledgeable about and committed to rural issues.

We need a president who will fight for all Americans, including rural Iowans and family farmers. Governor Dean understands that Rural America has some troubling, very complicated and controversial issues that must be addressed. He is honest, candid and positively seeks the truth and solutions for the common good of all.

Chris Petersen,

Vice President of the Iowa Farmers Union

Chris Petersen has chosen to personally endorse Gov. Dean. Title listed for identification purposes only

[JI7]

1. i remember mccain got booed

i remember mccain got booed (at a gop primary debate i believe) when he spoke out against ethanol and how he would not support fed funding for it. hillary clinton is also against it. i don't k now much about the issue other than how important it is to iowa.

[sandnsea]

2. Ethanol is really iffy

There is some basis in its use as a fuel, but it isn't a long term solution. But the subsidies are great for midwest farmers and it's tough to go there and tell the truth about ethanol. Kerry frames his support carefully, ethanol subsidies for small farmers and research into ethanol and biomass fuels as part of energy in the future. He really is against these massive corporate ag subsidies and it's kind of sad that his fight is being twisted as a negative on this board. These are the same corporate ag subsidies that DU people usually bitch about because they hurt 3rd world farmers as well. But I gave up expecting consistency with the Dean campaign a very long time ago.

[zulchzulu]

3. Expose Dean for his intellectual dishonesty

Chris Petersen mixing up JK for Bob Kerrey is one thing.

Dean not sending an apology in Iowa as a commercial is something that would prove that he has any decent character in his bones.

I won't hold my breath waiting for Dean to prove anything more than being a liability to the Democratic party's chances of beating Bush this year.

[FXDS]

4. 100% Agree!

*

[Brian_Expat]

5. Enhhhh. . .

Normally I'd agree that Dean's being too aggressive here. However, after Kerry's little "anonymous Dean cannot stop Osama commercial" in Iowa, I don't think he's got much of a basis to complain. What's good for the goose is good for the gander. . .

[moz4prez]

6. he disavowed any involvement and suggested it be taken off the airwaves!

everyone knows that God awful commercial was Gephardt's doing.

edit: well, not everyone. but a lot of people suspect as much.

[sandnsea]

9. That's not true either

I have no idea whether Gephardt was involved in that ad, but he said he wasn't. Whether some unions decided to go with it knowingly, I don't know. But it isn't right to stick it on Gephardt when there's no proof.

[moz4prez]

11. well the producers of the ad had donated generously to Gephardt's campaign

that was my understanding anyhow.

Either way, no need to throw around vague, unsubstantiated accusations at a perfectly honorable guy, that Kerry.

[sandnsea]

12. That's not true

A group produced the ad, we don't know exactly who is directly involved. Some unions, that support Gephardt, gave money to that group. Whether the union even knew the ads were going to be produced is questionable. Whether Gephardt knew the unions contributed to the group with knowledge of what the group was going to do, or knew himself what the group was going to do is very questionable. It's a vague, unsubstantiated accusation thrown at both Gephardt AND Kerry. And Joe Trippi and Howard Dean know it and keep throwing it at them anyway. They're behavior is ten times more despicable than the ad at this point.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[sandnsea]

13. This information is not true

You may not know it's not true, but Joe Trippi does. That Osama crap went through the media a couple of weeks ago. John Kerry, himself, disavowed that ad, called for it to be taken off the air, and said he has always been against those kinds of 3rd party ads. For Joe Trippi to drag this up when he knows FULL WELL it's been refuted is the slimiest thing yet. I don't know what has become of this country when people just don't care what kind of filth comes out of a Presidential candidate's mouth. It isn't a right or left problem, it's a character problem and it's rampant.

[blm]

15. Kerry was the fIRST to denounce the ad and Trippi STILL won't acknowledge

it publicly and insyead keeps his troops frothing about it and blaming the innocent because LYING works for them in the primaries. Their troops have no qualms about Dean's lying.

[corporatewhore]

7. Dean needs to issue Kucinich and Kerry an apology

I am tired of misleaders

[mouse7]

10. Looks like Dean and Kerry are wrong here

"Kerry’s vote, though, came only hours after he and Harkin were on differing sides of procedural votes tied to the additional disaster aid, which is what Dean’s campaign cited. Dean’s campaign said those measures also would have helped farmers with earlier crop losses."

http://www.qctimes.com/internal.php?story_id=1022307&l=1&t=Iowa+%2F+Illinois&c=24,1022307

Kerry didn't support the additional aid Harkin wanted.

[blm]

14. But he compared Kerry's vote to BRADLEY'S which was the untrue comparison

and one INTENDED to mislead as being JUST LIKE Bradley's vote. I think they knew that Bob Kerrey's vote was like Bradley's and they INTENDED to mislead and confuse their audience just as they do on so many issues.