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Beatrice1000
Resource Specialist
Joined: 10 Aug 2004
Posts: 1179
Location: Minneapolis, MN
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 Posted: Fri Apr 22, 2005 11:20 pm Post subject: Kerry's Minnesota visit may have wider purpose |
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| Quote: | “Kerry’s Minnesota visit may have wider purpose”
By Rob Hotakainen, Minneapolis Star Tribune Washington Bureau – 4/22/05
(emphasis added)
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- As Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry and his wife prepare to visit Minneapolis on May 3, Sen. Mark Dayton said he has little doubt that Kerry is planning to run for president again in 2008.
When New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton attended the DFL Humphrey Day Dinner in Minneapolis less than two weeks ago, Dayton, D-Minn., told the crowd he hoped he was introducing "the next great president of the United States of America."
Two days later on the floor of the U.S. Senate, Dayton said Kerry approached him "with daggers in his eyes and said, 'What are you doing endorsing my 2008 presidential opponent?'... He was very serious."
Kerry's office disputes Dayton's account. David Wade, his spokesman, said "there was nothing but joshing on the Senate floor" between Dayton and Kerry, who have been friends for 35 years. "Respectfully, some lines must have gotten crossed in his retelling of this particular conversation," Wade said. "If Senator Kerry had anything in his eyes, it was hockey sticks. These two old friends and colleagues spent most of their time joking about pulling on their skates and hitting the rink in Minnesota later this year."
Speculation is growing about Kerry's intentions as he begins traveling the country to promote his "Kids First" legislation, a plan to provide health insurance to 11 million uncovered children. Kerry touted his plan in Atlanta last month and was in Austin, Texas, over the weekend. Aides said he plans to conduct a "town-hall event" in Minneapolis on the morning of May 3 as part of a coast-to-coast tour. Details of the event haven't been released yet. His wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, will speak at a $100-per-ticket YWCA luncheon at the Minneapolis Convention Center on the same day. A starting point?
As a battleground state, Minnesota is a perfect choice for an early visit by Kerry, said state DFL Chairman Mike Erlandson. "I think he'd be the first to admit that he still is looking at the potential for running for the White House again in 2008, so he remains active in Washington, Massachusetts and around the country," Erlandson said.
Said Ron Eibensteiner, chairman of the Minnesota Republican Party: "By visiting Minnesota, Senator Kerry is attempting to buck the long-standing tradition of failed Democratic presidential candidates fading into political obscurity." With Kerry's visit coming on the heels of Clinton's trip, Eibensteiner said, Kerry "is obviously concerned about his standing with Minnesota Democrats."
Early polls show Clinton and Kerry leading the Democratic pack in 2008, but Dayton called Clinton "a national superstar" and said she has "a strong lock" on the nomination if she chooses to run. Asked about his support for Kerry last year, Dayton laughed and replied: "As Winston Churchill once said, I'd rather be right than consistent."
In an interview on CNN last month, Kerry said that "all of this talk about 2008 is unbelievably premature" and that the focus for Democrats should be on the issues. Toward that end, he is promoting a bill that would cost $22 billion a year to pay for health insurance for children. He said it would result in improved school performance and would lower long-term health costs by reducing the amount of time children spend in hospitals. Kerry said he would pay for his bill by not making President Bush's tax cuts for wealthy Americans permanent.
Dayton is cosponsoring Kerry's bill, but he appeared to criticize Kerry when he first recounted his interaction with him on the Senate floor during a weekend interview with KTCA-TV's "Almanac." In the interview, Dayton said that "any politician that embraces children clearly has some motive beyond that, because otherwise they would be doing something about it rather than talking about it." Dayton said his remarks sounded "worse than I intended." He said he has told Clinton that he's ready to help form a committee to help her mount a campaign. He said Clinton has said nothing to him to indicate that she's running, "although coming to Minnesota and reading between the lines, it certainly doesn't discourage" speculation.
Meanwhile, Dayton said he has told Kerry that he won't be able to attend his event in Minnesota because of a scheduling conflict. |
I thought with the election over, we’d be done with kerry in Minnesota, but here he comes again…. It’s so like an old B science fiction movie or a Twilight Zone episode – the monster is defeated …. but wait – no, it’s still moving…  . (Do we really have 11 million children without health insurance? Where does this figure come from? Are these 11 million American children or does this figure include illegals?)
Though I am in general disgusted with Dayton, I tend to believe him about the “daggers” in kerry’s eyes, rather than “hockey sticks” … doubt they’d be talking about hockey in April – that’s a silly cover. Seems like Dayton is becoming a little problem for kerry…. and as a backer for hillary, he’ll be a little problem for her, too – and that’s just fine with me -- amazing (maybe not) that the dems are already fighting over 2008….. Their ambitions are so tiresome.
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coldwarvet
Admiral
Joined: 03 Jun 2004
Posts: 1125
Location: Minnetonka, MN
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| Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2005 2:22 am Post subject: |
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Thanks Beatrice,
I now live on the eastern side of WI and enjoy the input from MN you bring to this forum. I just had to send Mr. Hotakainen this email. Perhaps he will do a story on the topic.
Dear Mr. Rob Hotakainen
The very thought of Commander & Chief John Kerry sends a chill down my back. And I am just one of millions who feel this way. The Swift Vets were their in 2004 to remind America of his treasonous behavior of 1971. John Kerry’s 1971 testimony is a public record of fact and the Veteran/POW community will never stand down.
As a Minnesota native I would like to share this experience with you.
In 1975 as a USAF security specialist I was on patrol in the 90th MSS missile wing. The honorable man sitting next to me had served in Vietnam. Shamefully I admit that I was a little afraid of him because of all of the messages I had received from educators and the media of our service men in Vietnam behaving badly.
The honorable man sitting next to me had just re joined the military after being out for a few years? I asked him, why did you come back in? Suddenly he broke into tears and said; "Steve they just do not understand us out their. We are not monsters we thought we could bring freedom to oppressed people and we could of if the politicians would have let us do our job".
Perhaps John Kerry and Hanoi Jane owe about 3,000,000 men & women who served in Vietnam an apology.
_________________
Defender of the honor of those in harms way keeping us out of harms way.
"Peace is our Profession"
Strategic Air Command - Motto
USAF 75-79 Security Police |
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Beatrice1000
Resource Specialist
Joined: 10 Aug 2004
Posts: 1179
Location: Minneapolis, MN
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| Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2005 5:27 am Post subject: |
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| coldwarvet wrote: | | ...Perhaps he will do a story on the topic.... |
Good try! And I don't think we should give up, but this is the Star Tribune --  who knows tho, if they think he's going to be any kind of threat to hillary, they just might turn on him and actually talk about his real past. Wouldn't that be something?
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