John Kerry quotes….
Abortion…
Oct 11, 1972: “I think the question of abortion is one that should be left for the states to decide,” Kerry said during his failed 1972 Congressional bid. (“John Kerry On The Issues,” The [Lowell, MA] Sun, 10/11/72)
During the same interview: “It's a tragic day in the lives of everybody when abortion is looked on as an alternative to birth control or as an alternative to having a child. I think that's wrong. It should be the very last thing if it has to be anything, and I say that not just because I'm opposed to abortion but because I think that's common sense.”
1994: The right thing to do is to treat abortions as exactly what they are — a medical procedure that any doctor is free to provide and any pregnant woman free to obtain. Consequently, abortions should not have to be performed in tightly guarded clinics on the edge of town; they should be performed and obtained in the same locations as any other medical procedure…. [A]bortions need to be moved out of the fringes of medicine and into the mainstream of medical practice. And by the same token, if our children are to be safe from the danger of fanaticism, tolerance needs to spread out of the mainstream churches, mosques, and synagogues, and into the religious fringes. Congressional Record
Jun 7, 2003: “The Republicans want to criminalize the right of women to choose, take us back to the days of back alleys, gag doctors and deny families the right to plan and be aware of their choices - we Democrats want to protect the constitutional right of privacy and make clear that at the center of this struggle is our commitment to have a Supreme Court that will protect the equal rights, the civil rights, and the right to choose in this nation.” Keynote Speech to Massachusetts Democratic Issues Convention Jun 7, 2003
Jun 20, 2003: “I am prepared to filibuster, if necessary, any Supreme Court nominee who would turn back the clock on a woman's right to choose…” FoxNews
Nov 7, 2003: Do you support the ban on partial-birth abortions recently signed into law? “I don't support the President's law because it doesn't allow the exception for situations where the health of the woman is at risk. I believe this is a dangerous effort to undermine a woman's right to choose, which is a constitutional amendment I will always fight to protect. ” Concord Monitor / WashingtonPost.com on-line Q&A
Jul 5, 2004: I oppose abortion, personally. I don't like abortion. I believe life does begin at conception. Washington Post
Jul 30, 2004: “The Bible itself - I mean, everything talks about different layers of development. That's what Roe v. Wade does. It talks about viability. It's the law of the land.” newsmax
Ok, I think I finally understand you! Here it is: As a lawmaker, you cannot insert any of your own moral beliefs into lawmaking. And since current law permits abortion, you too, MUST support it. That begs the following question: By what standards do YOU make law if not by a moral code? The highest bidder??? By popularity poll??? By what position at the moment moves you up the political food chain??? Maybe this explains why you've just finished the demoncratic convention and I am unable to name a single piece of major legislation that you have personally introduced and pushed through. Without the help of a moral compass, this would be a difficult task….
Civil Rights…
Nov 5, 2003: “I have always fought for the right of people to be able to be treated equally in America. Long before there was a television show or a march in Washington. In 1985, I was the sole sponsor of the Civil Rights Act to make sure we enforced that in America. I am for partnership rights. I am for civil union. I am for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. I am for the hate crimes legislation” Democratic Debate
Jan 25, 2004: “Our country is defined by the rights we protect, and those of us who fought for freedom and put our lives on the line defended the right of people to do things that we disagree with. I would not be pleased to see someone burning the flag because I love the flag, but the Constitution that I fought for preserves the right of free expression.” Associated Press policy Q&A (top)
Crime…
Jan 25, 2004: “I oppose the death penalty other than in cases of real international and domestic terrorism.” Associated Press policy Q&A, “Death Penalty” Jan 25, 2004 (top)
Economy…
Dec 3, 2002: “And to encourage investments in the jobs of the future - I think we should eliminate the tax on capital gains for investments in critical technology companies - zero capital gains on $100 million issuance of stock if it's held for five years and has created real jobs – and we should attempt to end the double taxation of dividends.” City Club of Cleveland Speech
Oct 27, 2003: “I'm going to do what Clinton did. I'm going to cut the deficit in half in the first four years. Clinton's plan was to balance the budget in 10 years, not the five Governor Dean says. The reason we decided not to do it in five was because it required extraordinary cuts in the things we just talked about doing investing in the city of Detroit, investing in our schools, investing in health care, making our economy move.” Democratic Presidential 2004 Primary Debate in Detroit
Jan 11, 2004: Do you agree that the economy is recovering? “It's a recovery for the people in the corporate boardroom. It's a recovery for corporations, to some degree, by compacting, by increasing productivity. But if you go across America, it's not a recovery This recovery is a recovery for those people who have stock. It's a recovery for those people who are able to walk away with the highest salaries. But workers have only seen a three-cents-an-hour increase in their wages.” Iowa Brown and Black Presidential Forum (top)
Apr 7, 2004: “I have showed exactly where my money comes from, I have showed exactly how much it has cost and I have promised to pay as you go and to lower the deficit in half in four years.” Kerry proposes $1.9 trillion in new spending over the next ten years, but his proposal to raise income taxes for the top bracket, bring back the death tax, and close “corporate loopholes” would only raise $658 billion, leaving a $1.25 trillion gap. (FoxNews’ “Your World With Neil Cavuto”)
Aug 25, 2004: “The truth, which is what elections are all about, is that the tax burden of the middle class has gone up while the tax burden of the middle class has gone down,” Newsmax
Energy & Environment…
Jan 22, 2002: The following contradictions occur in the same speech on the senate floor:
“America take note: if we enact the entire Bush energy plan we will find ourselves twenty years from now more dependent on foreign oil – than we are today.” blah blah blah and then: “…we must enter this debate understanding that for 30-50 years in the future, like it or not, we will continue to have major dependency on fossil fuels.”
“During the 1970s, America created the Corporate Average Fuel Economy – or CAFE – program to increase auto efficiency. This was the right decision.” blah blah blah and then “our vehicle fuel efficiency is worse now than it has been in twenty years.”
Apr 18, 2004: While on “60 minutes”, Kerry claimed that President Bush and Saudi Prince Bandar had a “secret White House deal” on manipulating gasoline prices “tied to the election.” “Unlike George Bush and his friends at the big oil companies, I'm going to work for a real energy policy for this country that decreases America's dependence on foreign oil and helps lower the costs to American families,”. newsmax
“President Clinton asked us to keep the prices down in the year 2000,” Bin Sultan told CNN's “Larry King Live,” responding to a claim by Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward that the Bush administration made a similar request this year.
Bin Sultan said President Carter also made a request for lower oil prices to save his reelection bid in 1979, explaining that he did so "to avoid the [US's economic] malaise.“
Apr 21, 2004: ”Being responsible about the environment is not some goo-goo, do-gooder, silly notion that you embrace once a year on Earth Day,“ railed Kerry to a Florida crowd. ”It's important to life itself." Interesting statement coming from JFK, since he & his mega-rich wife own a gas guzzling private jet, an energy-eating power yacht, owns five mansions that consume thousands of gallons of oil to heat and cool - and keep a fleet of SUVs running night-and-day outside their Beacon Hill mansion. newsmax (top)
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