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funkybutt Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-17-04 06:34 PM
Original message
DU HELP! Friend wants to know why to vote for Kerry
Can someone help me effectively respond to this email? I'd like to respond with concrete answers and if you can site sources, that'd help as well.

" Not Spam I'm Republican! Tell me why I should vote for Kerry?
" I would consider voting democrat because I feel no great loyalty to
Bush. Please send me something, anything that will give me some idea of
Kerry's vision for America. All I know about Kerry was he served in
Nam and the senate. His voting record is to the left of liberal. No
one I know can think of any legislation he sponsored. For all I know
this man could be planning to run the white house like his career in the
senate"

Thanks in advance DU!
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2Design Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-17-04 06:35 PM
Response to Original message
1. Kerry likes people and isn't afraid of them - Bush hates people and
is afraid of them

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Kierkegaard Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-17-04 06:38 PM
Response to Original message
2. How about this?
www.johnkerry.com

There is a veritable mountain of information there. Go get it...
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MichiganVote Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-17-04 06:39 PM
Response to Original message
3. Repeal of the tax breaks for the rich
A plan to balance the budget by cutting the deficit in half in 4 years

Supreme Court appointees

Health insurance breaks for those who have it and provision for those who don't

No draft, no back door draft

No Halliburton in the WH w/Cheney
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Ruby Romaine Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-17-04 06:43 PM
Response to Original message
4. where to start?-look at the kerry webpage &
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sadiesworld Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-17-04 06:47 PM
Response to Original message
5. A few more:
End tax breaks for outsourcing.

Promote environmental technology and scientific (stem-cell) research.

A competent cabinet.

Won't escalate the Iraq conflict.

More transparent, less corrupt government.

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shockingelk Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-17-04 07:09 PM
Response to Reply #5
17. Kerry's legislation
For starters, he co-authored the Aviation Security Act in the first several dozen hours after the 9/11 attacks.

Whoever says Kerry is a lazy or ineffective legislator is a dolt.

Here are a few examples of legislation sponsored by Kerry - a subset representing legislation directly concerning small business and only things in 2001:

1. Teleworking Advancement Act
Sponsor: Sen Kerry, John F. (introduced 12/19/2001)
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d107:s.01856:

2. Affordable Small Business Stimulus Act of 2001
Sponsor: Sen Kerry, John F. (introduced 11/13/2001)
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d107:s.01903:

3. Small Business Venture Capital Act of 2001
Sponsor: Sen Kerry, John F. (introduced 11/9/2001)
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d107:s.01670:

4. American Small Business Emergency Relief and Recovery Act of 2001
Sponsor: Sen Kerry, John F. (introduced 10/4/2001)
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c107:S.1499:

5. Small Business Procurement Competition Act of 2001
Sponsor: Sen Kerry, John F. (introduced 9/26/2001)
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d107:s.01472:

6. Small Business Technology Transfer Program Reauthorization Act of 2001
Sponsor: Sen Kerry, John F. (introduced 5/9/2001)
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d107:s.00856:

7. Small Business Telecommuting Act
Sponsor: Sen Kerry, John F. (introduced 3/13/2001)
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d107:s.00522:

8. Small Business and Farm Energy Emergency Relief Act of 2001
Sponsor: Sen Kerry, John F. (introduced 2/8/2001)
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d107:s.00295:

9. Microloan Program Improvement Act of 2001
Sponsor: Sen Kerry, John F. (introduced 1/24/2001)
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d107:s.00174:

10. Amending the Standing Rules of the Senate to change the name of the Committee on Small Business to the `Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship'.
Sponsor: Sen Kerry, John F. (introduced 6/29/2001)
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c107:S.RES.123:
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starroute Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-17-04 06:47 PM
Response to Original message
6. His investigations of BCCI and other nefarious types
Kerry probably knows more about the real world of drug-runners, arms-dealers, money-launderers, and terrorists than anybody else in government today. The contrast between him and the starry-eyed ideologues currently in the White House is the best thing about him.


http://www.christiansciencemonitor.com/2004/0303/p02s01-uspo.html

As a fourth term US Senator, Kerry's legislative record is modest; Few bills bear his name. His 6,310 Senate votes, mainly liberal, have enough twists and turns to invite charges of inconsistency. But his signature investigations were models of dogged, even relentless focus, and may tell more about his persona and likely attributes as a president than anything else he has done in his 19 years in the Senate.

<snip>

Elected to the US Senate in 1984, he gave up a prized offer to be on the Senate Appropriations committee and joined the Senate Foreign Relations Committee instead. It was a sign of longstanding interest in world affairs, fed by his father's career involvement in the foreign service. Kerry's internationalist views echo today in his calls for repairing relations with longtime allies in Europe.

On that committee, he pursued some of the most complex investigations in Senate history. On a tip from a Vietnam vet, he investigated reports that mercenaries were dealing arms to contra rebels in Nicaragua. The threads led to the White House.

Kerry, seen as too opinionated in this case, was not included on the congressional panel that investigated Iran-contra. Still, he used his position on the Senate subcommittee on terrorism, narcotics, and international operations - a panel not known for deep investigations - to continue his investigation of dirty guns, drugs, and money. He tracked leads from Colombia, the Bahamas and Haiti to Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega, who is now serving time in a federal prison. The Noriega probe led to the downfall of BCCI, where the money was laundered.
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faithnotgreed Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-17-04 06:48 PM
Response to Original message
7. maybe you should check out www.ontheissues.com or factcheck.org
nonpartisan websites that cover positions of the candidates. give yourself some background on what they both say


if anyone has an open mind there is no doubt they would vote kerry

kerry has done lots of work in the senate incl checking out (with john mccain) vietnam pow status, bcci, iran contra

edwards has worked on patient bill of rights

is your friend close to anyone 18-34 yo?
do they think bush has handled even one thing right. every single topic your friend could name, has bush done anything to put us forward on that, or is it one disaster after another
has her premiums or health costs gone up
does she see people with jobs and benefits all around
do they see what is going on?

do they really listen to what bush says (its a cliche merry go round). theres no substance. and not one promise kept, unless you count no call list. thats the highlight
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blm Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-17-04 06:48 PM
Response to Original message
8. Seriously. Send him this article.
The question from reporters SHOULD be WHY did so many in the Bush1 administration try to STOP Kerry from exposing the funding of terrorism?

And isn't there a likely relationship between those efforts and the Bush2 administration's attempt to stop the 9-11 investigations?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2004/0409.sirota.html

September 2004
Follow the Money
How John Kerry busted the terrorists' favorite bank.
By David Sirota and Jonathan Baskin
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two decades ago, the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) was a highly respected financial titan. In 1987, when its subsidiary helped finance a deal involving Texas oilman George W. Bush, the bank appeared to be a reputable institution, with attractive branch offices, a traveler's check business, and a solid reputation for financing international trade. It had high-powered allies in Washington and boasted relationships with respected figures around the world.

All that changed in early 1988, when John Kerry, then a young senator from Massachusetts, decided to probe the finances of Latin American drug cartels. Over the next three years, Kerry fought against intense opposition from vested interests at home and abroad, from senior members of his own party; and from the Reagan and Bush administrations, none of whom were eager to see him succeed.

By the end, Kerry had helped dismantle a massive criminal enterprise and exposed the infrastructure of BCCI and its affiliated institutions, a web that law enforcement officials today acknowledge would become a model for international terrorist financing. As Kerry's investigation revealed in the late 1980s and early 1990s, BCCI was interested in more than just enriching its clients--it had a fundamentally anti-Western mission. Among the stated goals of its Pakistani founder were to "fight the evil influence of the West," and finance Muslim terrorist organizations. In retrospect, Kerry's investigation had uncovered an institution at the fulcrum of America's first great post-Cold War security challenge.

More than a decade later, Kerry is his party's nominee for president, and terrorist financing is anything but a back-burner issue. The Bush campaign has settled on a new strategy for attacking Kerry: Portray him as a do-nothing senator who's weak on fighting terrorism. "After 19 years in the Senate, he's had thousands of votes, but few signature achievements," President Bush charged recently at a campaign rally in Pittsburgh; spin that's been echoed by Bush's surrogates, conservative pundits, and mainstream reporters alike, and by a steady barrage of campaign ads suggesting that the one thing Kerry did do in Congress was prove he knew nothing about terrorism. Ridiculing the senator for not mentioning al Qaeda in his 1997 book on terrorism, one ad asks: "How can John Kerry win a war if he doesn't know the enemy?"
>>>>>>>>>

But legislation is only one facet of a senator's record. As the BCCI investigation shows, Kerry developed a very different record of accomplishment--one often as vital, if not more so, than passage of bills. Kerry's probe didn't create any popular new governmental programs, reform the tax code, or eliminate bureaucratic waste and fraud. Instead, he shrewdly used the Senate's oversight powers to address the threat of terrorism well before it was in vogue, and dismantled a key terrorist weapon. In the process, observers saw a senator with tremendous fortitude, and a willingness to put the public good ahead of his own career. Those qualities might be hard to communicate to voters via one-line sound bites, but they would surely aid Kerry as president in his attempts to battle the threat of terrorism.
>>>>>>>>

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clydefrand Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-17-04 06:51 PM
Response to Original message
9. The short and sweet of it! Kerry is smart; Bush is ignorant
Do you want an ignorant president or one who knows how to think through complex situations? Do you want a president who sits for 7 minutes in a second-grade classroom after being told of an attack on our country or do you want one who would respond immediately? Do you want a president who leads us into an unjust war because he wants to get even and then say this country's dictator was aiding and abetting the Saudis in the 9/11 attacks?
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clydefrand Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-17-04 06:52 PM
Response to Original message
10. Deleted dupe
Edited on Fri Sep-17-04 06:55 PM by clydefrand
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LynnTheDem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-17-04 06:54 PM
Response to Original message
11. Your friend is lying.
Kerry's record most definitely IS NOT LEFT of liberal; Kerry is very center.

When your friend is truly willing to open his/her mind to FACTS, then your friend won't need any help in deciding to vote for Kerry and exactly why bush must go. :)
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SalParadise Donating Member (244 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-17-04 06:54 PM
Response to Original message
12. bush lives in a dreamworld
His latest comments on Iraq are that it's not so bad over there, that we're making progress, that he doesn't believe his own intelligence agencies that Iraq's on the way to being a failed state.

He didn't listen to military commanders who said we needed more troops on the ground in Iraq. He ignored pre-war intelligence that said Saddam didn't have nuclear weapons, didn't have chemical weapons, didn't even have an active nuclear program. Once we had defeated the Iraqi army, the nuclear material we knew about that was in the country was left unsecured & unguarded for a year after we were there.

He didn't adequately equip the troops when they were first sent over - this is made painfully obvious by the bush campaign with their claims that JK voted against the 87 million dollar bill (check that amount) to provide troops with body armor (these are troops already in Iraq) - this is the bill JK said he voted for before voting against - he voted for it when the bill was funded by real money & voted against it when the bill came back through & relied on borrowed money.

The jobs issue: bush is the only president since Herbert Hoover who's going to finish his first term with a net loss of American jobs. The typical repub is going to play the 9/11 card & say that it's the reason all these jobs are gone - but somehow, past presidents have fought WWII, Vietnam, endured the Oklahoma city bombing (terror attack), even Jimmy Carter made it though the oil embargo in the 70's with a net job increase!

The irresponsible "Bring 'em on" comment - count how many Americans have died since he invited attacks on our troops with that comment.

The stop-loss "backdoor draft".

The deficit created by tax cuts - don't let anyone tell you the war caused it - google it & you can find some real numbers to prove this.
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Bundbuster Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-17-04 06:58 PM
Response to Original message
13. Send them here:
1300 subject-organized Links to articles, editorials, analysis, speeches, videos, timelines. 1000 visual images too:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bushbusting_ammo/
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shockingelk Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-17-04 07:03 PM
Response to Original message
14. Because he's not Bush
if that doesn't work, briefly outline Jr's failures and Kerry's successes and expectations for the future.

http://fearofclowns.com/text/kerry_accomplishments_expectations/

George W. Bush

The "soft bigotry of low expectations" is a phrase president Bush used in both his 2000 and 2004 acceptance speeches as part of an argument for federally mandated testing. He used it to describe people who think minority students don't have the ability to succeed in school. Nobody thinks that other than racists. If there are racist teachers and school administrators, the solution is to fire them, not to give their students a test.

But our president is clearly fond of being what he may call a "soft bigot" with low expectations of himself and his policies in many areas.

Bush took advantage of the "soft bigotry of low expectations" as a blue blood member of the National Guard during Vietnam. To his defenders, the core of the issue isn't whether Bush may have been allowed to work on a political campaign instead of showing up for duty. Nor is it that he was suspended from flying for failing to take a physical. They dispute neither of those claims. Instead, the boiler plate response is, "Bush was discharged honorably" - to Bush and his vocal supporters, it doesn't matter that less may have been expected of him.

Each year, the Bush administrations' budgets presented to Congress expect less from his fiscal policies. In 2002, after the terrorist attacks and stock market plunge, they expected their economic policies to produce a $61 billion surplus in 2005. In 2003, they lowered that expectation to a $208 billion deficit. Their budget presented in 2004 lowered the expectation further to a $363 billion deficit.

Bush expected his "tax cut package" to produce 306,000 jobs each month starting in July 2003. To date, his policy of tax cuts has fallen short of accomplishing his expectation by over 2.6 million jobs. Yet he and his administration are trumpeting a 144,000 increase in employment in August as a success - less than have of what they expected to see every month. They give themselves a passing grade because they've lowered their expectations.

What the administration expected to find in Iraq doesn't have to be enumerated. But yet, they're pointing to a country experiencing frequent suicide car bombings as evidence of their success in making the world safer from terror tactics.

I want a president that achieves what he expects to do. It's time to fire this one who has a habit of not living up to his own expectations and presenting his failures as successes.

It's time to put John Kerry - a man who holds himself to his expectations - at the helm.

John F. Kerry

No matter how much money his opposition spends trying to confuse and discredit Kerry's legislative career, it remains a career of high expectations and distinguished accomplishment - one that Massachusetts voters have endorsed by electing him to the Senate four times straight.

Kerry's work has included authoring or sponsoring 57 bills and resolutions that have passed in the Senate.

In 2001, Kerry authored the Nurse Reinvestment Act, which aimed to help deal with our nation's shortage of nurses. Despite the fact it didn't pass that year, he continued to push his colleagues to act on the problem. He succeeded in enacting his legislation when his language was incorporated into the Nurse Reinvestment Act of 2002, which is now law.

During the first several dozen hours after the 9/11 attacks, John Kerry co-authored the Aviation Security Act which was approved by the Senate within the week. He also was a member of the Conference Committee that allowed the Senate and House to work out the differences between the Senate and House versions of the bill.

During his career in the Senate, Kerry has successfully taken part in the fight for campaign finance reform, expecting campaigns to run on ideas more than large contributions from special interests.

He expects better pay and benefits for the the military, veterans, and other governmental employees we depend on and his voting record shows it.

In the years after the fall of imperial communism and during the era of $600 toilet seats and $400 hammers, he stood along side the George H.W. Bush administration against the powerful military contractor lobby by supporting responsible reductions in military spending - a principled position that we have seen twisted by the lens of his opponents.

John Kerry's work has allowed Congress to improve many laws including the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and Clean Air Act. He has worked to preserve and protect the environment, provide opportunities for small business and entrepreneurs, protect Social Security, guarantee the civil rights of all, reduce the national debt through fiscal responsibility, harness the power of technology and American innovation, and keep our nation strong and safe.

While accomplishing these things, Senator Kerry has consistently voted "no" to raise his own pay.

The Kerry Future: 1,000 Points of Hope

As President, John Kerry expects to launch new alliances in the struggle against militant Islamists, improve the security protections we have at home, create the type of economic swell that lifts all boats, improve the quality of teachers and education in general, bring down the costs of prescription drugs and health care costs and put our nation on the path towards energy independence. And a lot more.

It's an ambitious and optimistic vision. John Kerry believes in America.

Few but John Kerry himself expected him to win the Democratic primary until he proved to America he could do it by succeeding in the first several primaries. And few expected any Democratic challenger to be running a tight race with the sitting president. But we're seeing it with our own eyes. I believe in John Kerry.
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WLKjr Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-17-04 07:05 PM
Response to Original message
15. Tell your friend that he/she
is a decent person who does not tolerate lies and deception. And that you trust they will make the right decision.
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LittleClarkie Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Sep-17-04 07:06 PM
Response to Original message
16. Here
www.republicansforkerry04.org for starters.

www.kerryoniraqwar.com for another.

Also, do a search on www.salon.com for a long profile piece called "Kerry Nation"

Tell your friend that Kerry was only #1 liberal in 2003. He was voted the 11th most liberal overall, but that doesn't sound very dramatic.

www.factcheck.org is fantastic for debunking myths on Kerry.

Tell your friend that Kerry was the man who broke the Iran/Contra scandal. His strength is in investigation, not legislation.

He has voted for military appropriations since 1996. Many, including Cheney, were trimming the military before that. Ever since Kerry became aware of terrorism as a threat, around the time of the Oklahoma bombing, he's been voting to strengthen the military, not weaken it.

Have your friend find "A New War" by Kerry in the library. After reading it I guarantee they will understand that Kerry has knowledge about terrorism and what to do about it.

That's all I can think of for the moment.
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funkybutt Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-18-04 10:30 AM
Response to Original message
18. Thank You all so much...exactly what I needed! n/t
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JPJones Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-18-04 10:33 AM
Response to Original message
19. Ask them what issues they care about
That's the best way to start any political conversation.

Do they have children (near draft age)?

Ask what they like about Bush - then debunk it.
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drdigi420 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Sep-18-04 10:37 AM
Response to Original message
20. Simple: Kerry isn't a COWARDLY WIMP! Bush is.
Bush is a wimp, a pussy, a scared little white man afraid of black ppl, poor ppl, smart ppl, and articulate dissenters.

He is a WIMP. Bush is a WIMP. Bush is a COWARDLY WIMP.

CHEERLEADER in high school

AWOL in Vietnam

AWOL on 9/11 (and the months leading up to it)

AWOL on education

AWOL on the environment

Bush is a lying coward that is not capable of even keeping hecklers out of their own convention, and yet he expects us to trust him to protect us from the terrorists that his business dealings created?

I think not!

Bush is a WIMP.
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