Democrats Counter Republican Message

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

Presidential hopeful John Kerry may have taken a break from campaigning yesterday, but his running mate and Democratic officials did not let up on their criticism of President Bush, saying the negative tone of the Republican convention reflects the GOP’s disastrous record on issues ranging from health care to the economy.


Campaigning in West Virginia, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, John Edwards, called the loss of jobs, increased poverty rolls, and stagnant income growth the “real elephant in the room.”


“All they could do was attack,” Mr. Edwards said of the GOP convention speakers.” You know why? Because they don’t have a plan to create jobs, to fix health care, or win the war on terror.”


In New York, Democrats started yesterday on Eighth Avenue and 30th Street, on enemy turf near Madison Square Garden. They unveiled seven large “Mission Not Accomplished” banners before moving on to their “rapid response room,” where they attacked Mr. Bush for falsely labeling himself a “compassionate conservative.”


“How can you say you’re compassionate when people with common ailments, such as blood pressure and unhealthy cholesterol, cannot pay for the medicines that they require,” said Texas Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, one of about a dozen elected Democrats on hand.


Mr. Bush, Democrats said, has slighted the middle class with policies that favor pharmaceutical companies and big business. His agenda, they said, has led to the loss of 1.8 million private sector jobs, 50% increases in health insurance premiums, tax credits for companies that send jobs overseas, more reliance on Middle East oil, and a failed war in Iraq.


The chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Terry McAuliffe, who wore a pink tie with American flags and “JK 2004” logos, rebutted GOP criticism that Senator Kerry was a flip-flopper.


“If you want to talk about flip flops, George Bush flip flops – he didn’t want the 9/11 commission, he didn’t want Homeland Security…George Bush is Mr. Flip Flop.”


Mr. McAuliffe – who has the challenge of breaking through the around-the-clock convention coverage that is almost entirely focused on the Republican message – called Monday night’s Band-Aid incident, during which 250 bandages with purple hearts were distributed on the convention floor, “disgusting” and “disgraceful.”


Blanket e-mail messages to the press throughout the day on that topic and others provided a stream of statements from the Democrats, including one that blasted Mr. Bush for calling conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh a “good friend.”


That e-mail, one of 12 sent out between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. yesterday, included an excerpt from an earlier Limbaugh show in which the host said Abu Ghraib prison torture was justified.


The Democrats ended yesterday with what it dubbed the “masquerade ball,” a crack at a cast of moderate Republican convention speakers, who they say do not reflect the right-wing agenda of the GOP. The ball featured a cowboy-like character name Hal E. Burton, a superhero named Enron Ed, and a beauty queen named Miss Leader.


The New York Sun

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