My 17 year old son and I just got back from hearing Senator Kerry and Congressman Lloyd Doggett speak here in Austin, primarily on children’s access to health care. It was great. Kerry did state an agenda on children’s health care and he tied it to stopping further tax cuts for the ultra-rich – on valuing families instead of letting someone dictate a family’s values.
He managed to work the word DELAY into the Republican agenda over and over again, and the importance of insisting on ethical values in congress. Both he and Doggett addressed DeLay’s redistricting of Texas, which Doggett survived.
Kerry also slammed Frist for presuming to tell people what God thinks, although I cannot recall Kerry’s exact words on this. It sure felt good to hear him do it and to hear everyone roar in unison when he did. Kerry spoke about the values he grew up with in his family and his Church requiring him to value children and their health over tax cuts for the wealthy.
It felt great to hear two of our people in Congress talking about how important 2006 is and how we need to be angry and active and energized now on the grass roots level in order to be ready for 2006. He spoke about Democratic gains on the state levels in Colorado, Montana and New Hampshire, and how these can be replicated all over America, even in Texas – especially in Dallas and Austin.
And he did it while focusing very clearly on the importance of valuing children, and giving every child medical coverage. A local Emergency Room doctor from the Children’s Medical Center in Austin also spoke about the day to day crises she sees because of children having no health care funding.
Kerry fielded questions from the audience for over an hour – and Doggett also responded to one about the bankruptcy bill. Kerry and Doggett both emphasized that the meeting was open and all views were welcome – in stark contrast to the Bush Social Security tour.
I hope there are more meetings like this all over the country with more of our leaders. Kerry kept the focus on 2006 whenever politics came up – not on 2004 or 2008, which was great – and on the need to get ready for 2006 now.
I feel so much better than I did before I went. It was great to see my son get so energized. He ran into several college friends and they got a group picture with Kerry. What a family outing for a Saturday morning here in Austin.
Kerry also slammed Frist for presuming to tell people what God thinks
Did he make any reference for the bill is signed with the wingnuts Santorum and Coburn (who likes to sterilize poor women without their consent)?
Kerry completly disregarded a more reasonable approach and sided with the wingnut to allow phramacist to be able to refuse to sell birth control pills
He did not mention it and no question from the floor addressed it. Sorry, I do disagree with him on this issue as well.
consider what you are trying to accomplish. I have read the bill several times and I think you are misrepresenting it when you characterize it as ” to allow phramacist to be able to refuse to sell birth control pills” or “Kerry aligns with Santorum against women.” There is nothing in the bill that addresses pharmacists or any other job description specifically.
Kerry’s been working on this bill since 1997 and his purpose was, as he says, to address religious leave issues.
Now I agree with the concerns of the ACLU about how this bill could be used by the current wingnuts-in-charge. But it is unfair to imply that Kerry is attacking women or deliberately trying to enable this kind of theocon wingnuttery.
I was at the Town Hall meeting today also. I took notes. Read what he said about the bankruptcy bill. Take his own advice and hold him accountable. Have you written him (a calm, reasoned letter) expressing your concerns about what the unintended consequences of this bill could be and asking why he does not support the more narrowly focused bill suggested by the ACLU? What was his response?
think you are misrepresenting it when you characterize it as ” to allow phramacist to be able to refuse to sell birth control pills” or “Kerry aligns with Santorum against women.” There is nothing in the bill that addresses pharmacists or any other job description specifically.
That is blantantly UNTRUE… one can easily get a sense of this bill knowing that Santorum (A Grand Wizard WingNUT) and Coburn(a Dr. Mengele who performs sterizations without womens consent).
You may want to blind your self to the truths but they are written in Black and white. Even when KErry had the opportunity to protect his constituency at the same to to protect the civil rights of the public at large he chose to side with Santatum and Coburn.
bankruptcy bill you sound like this administration about the liberal media bias in Iraq… “why won’t they show the “good” we are doing instead of concentrating on the hundreds of thousand of people we have slaughtered and the millions of lives we destroyed… how come they won’t show the class room we painted and the school supplies we handed out“
Why this is more important than bankruptcy bill …because it adds to the mounting momentum of turning this country into a theocracy and starts to erode the successed of the Civil RIghts Acts by legalizing discrimination once again in federal laws.
THAT IS WHY
that sounds like fun.
I’d like to see Kerry in Sugar Land 🙂
We took two of our kids, both in John Kerry shirts, and my son was thrilled to be able to give Senator Kerry the origami man he had made for him (with “Go Kerry” written on the front), and to shake his hand. The crowd was large, wildly enthusiastic, and the entire event was wonderful.
I was most impressed by Kerry’s handling of the last questioner. A woman with young child asked about why illegal immigrants get health care, implying that she thought the should not. There were lots of hisses from the audience. Kerry quieted the crowd, acknowledged the emotional issue of fairness underlying her position. He went on to tie it to larger issues and give her a fair hearing. I wish he would have addressed the moral issues and the enlightened self interest of preventing epidemics, but he treated the women graciously and respectfully and attempted dialogue. This is completely the opposite of Bush who is so afraid that his handlers have to protect him from the real world.
You are so right about this. He modeled the value of inclusiveness ina way that should shame the Republican machine.
This morning’s Austin American-Statesman has good coverage of the Kerry event, with two photos.
http://www.statesman.com/metrostate/content/metro/stories/04/17kerry.html
Of special relevance with the upcoming (In)Justice Sunday Neo-Christian Bacchanalic Hate-fest:
“[Kerry] jabbed at the president several times, criticizing Bush’s approach to the Iraq war and his tendency to mix faith and politics.
‘We’re tired of a bunch of politicians in Washington telling us what God really wants us to do,’ he said as the audience roared approval. Republicans should focus on ‘God’s teaching that you never turn your back on the most vulnerable in society,’ he said.”
I will not let them have my God.