"I`m John Kerry and I`m reporting for duty" - Is he targeting mod Rep/Ind voters

[nomorelies]

Last night John Kerry set at to show to America what a real fighter he is. He has been accused of being aloof and boring but last night even I felt how important America is to John Kerry.

Has George Bush ever spoke so passionately about being an American. The sense of Patriotism and usage of the stars and strips must hit moderate Republicansas these are the values that Republicans run on.

Will moderate Republicans consider to vote Kerry?
Has Kerry`s determination and passion for America show to Independents that indeed he too will tough on terror?
Will the Republicans negative tactics backfire on independents?

Alot of things have come out of this convention. MSNBC WERE BIASED TOWARDS DEMOCRATS. FOX NEWS WERE BIASED TOWARDS REPUBLICANS. but no American can tell me that John Kerry is not a patriot and is less determined to keep America safe from terrorism.

[MODU]

"Has George Bush ever spoke so passionately about being an American[?]"

Does he have to?  Acta non Verba - Deeds not words.

Kerry could have been there with a mega phone, and he still wouldn't have been heard over the Americanism Bush's actions shouted on, and following, 9/11.  Kerry is a year late and $87 million short in his patriotism.

[nomorelies]

MODU - YOU DONT mind that the top 2% of this country didnt pay their way when this country was at war.

Is it ok that the rich get a tax cut when 3 million more people are put into poverty?
Is it ok that the rich get a tax cut when the deficit rises to huge levels?
Is it ok that the rich get a tax cut when many families can`t afford healthcare.
Is it ok that the rich get a tax cut  when millions of americans have lost a job thats replaced by a job that pays $9,000 on average less.

OF COURSE IT IS MODU (SARCASTIC) REPUBLICANS ONLY CARE FOR THEMSELVES NOT FELLOW AMERICANS. MODU you need to question your President and stop supporting him. you are on the wrong side. you are losing this battle.

[agcatter]

The salute and "reporting for duty" act was really lame.

[MODU]

MODU - YOU DONT mind that the top 2% of this country didnt pay their way when this country was at war.

Is it ok that the rich get a tax cut when 3 million more people are put into poverty?
Is it ok that the rich get a tax cut when the deficit rises to huge levels?
Is it ok that the rich get a tax cut when many families can`t afford healthcare.
Is it ok that the rich get a tax cut  when millions of americans have lost a job thats replaced by a job that pays $9,000 on average less.

OF COURSE IT IS MODU (SARCASTIC) REPUBLICANS ONLY CARE FOR THEMSELVES NOT FELLOW AMERICANS. MODU you need to question your President and stop supporting him. you are on the wrong side. you are losing this battle.

You obviously missed my comment in the other thread (and why you need to not listen to political rhetoric).

The top 2% of our population pays over 40% of all taxes to the government.  This leaves 98% to pay under 60%.  Yeah, the top 2% are pulling their weight.  We should tax them even more.  

AND . . . many of those in the top 2% are not "rich," since they run their own small companies, and most of their income is reinvested right back into their business.  Taxing them even more won't add to the tax revenue since they'd have to cut back or shut down their businesses all together, and their personal value would fall down to the next tax bracket.  So not only are you losing income tax, but also business tax revenue.

So, don't go telling me to question my President.  Why don't you question your candidate for details on all their "fantastic" campaign promises, and exactly how will overtaxing the top 2% of the population is going to pay for those programs AS WELL AS cutback on the deficit.

Use your brain.

[ijohn57s]

The salute and "reporting for duty" act was really lame.

Agreed.

[khirkhib]

The top 2%.  The people that earn over $300,000 a year.

The Top 2% may pay 40% of the taxes.  I have seen similiar statistics before but the top 1% of the population has about 40% of the wealth.  So dollar in dollar out the top 40% has a confortable load.

[khirkhib]

Some Republicans Defect to Kerry's Camp

Fri Jul 30,12:23 PM ET  
By Michael Conlon

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Ohio resident Bob Stewart says of President Bush (news - web sites): "He's been a world-class polarizer. I don't know if I can stomach four more years with him as president. He misled us into the war in Iraq (news - web sites) and has mismanaged everything since."

A raging Democrat? No, Stewart is a Republican, one of an unknown number of such voters who plan to back John Kerry (news - web sites), out of despair over the war in Iraq and disappointment over budget deficits and social policies.

It remains to be seen whether they can tip the scales in hotly contested middle American states like Ohio as the Democratic nominee courts them and battles Bush in the final three-month dash to November's election. In past elections defections from both parties have sometimes canceled each other out.


Kerry and running mate John Edwards (news - web sites) kicked off that fight on Friday, leaving Boston and the concluded party convention for a two-week campaign swing across 21 states.

Stewart, 44, an insurance agent from Anderson Township near Cincinnati, voted for Bush in 2000 and is a registered Republican.

"I just have a gut feeling that Kerry can be trusted to make the right courageous decisions and will make a good president. He showed that with his heroism in Vietnam," he says.

Bush is "supposed to be a conservative and yet he's run up the biggest federal deficit in history. One thing that really turned me (away from Bush) as a lifelong Catholic ... was to see Bush go to the Vatican (news - web sites) and try to get the pope to come down hard on Kerry for his stand on abortion. That is absolutely appalling."

In Michigan, Dan Martin has run for local office as a Republican. He says his biggest disappointment is that Bush's reputation as a "compassionate, conservative" governor of Texas hasn't proven true in the White House.

"The foreign policy is a mess. The offensive in Iraq is reckless and built on bad decision making. On the domestic front I understand that terrorism has struck and he's occupied but any real progress on a domestic agenda has ground to a halt," added Martin, 32, a customer service manager at a health maintenance organization who lives in Rochester Hills.

In Tennessee, Brian Boland, a young music company manager shopping at a market near Nashville, said: "I've always voted Republican and my folks will just kill me if they find out I'm switching to Kerry this year ... but I am just frustrated with the way Bush has mishandled everything. All the untruths."

His wife said she too was switching. The Republicans carried Tennessee in 2000, even though it was the home state of Democratic nominee Al Gore (news - web sites).

At the same market Ron King, a black Vietnam Veteran, said: "I always voted Republican before but I'm against Bush ever since I found out that he doesn't love this country. His so-called military record is a sham. And the worst part is that he lies so much. He lied about weapons of mass destruction."

Lloyd Huff, 64, retired director of the Dayton Research Institute in Ohio, says he has "voted for a Republican in every presidential election I can remember" but it will be Kerry this time because "the Bush administration has been the most deceitful, duplicitous, secretive administration this country has ever had."

"Going to war in Iraq was a horrible, horrible mistake," he said. He accused Bush of "an arrogant, swaggering cowboy mentality ... he has done more than anyone to inflame the Muslim world by his words and actions,"

Kenneth Warren of St. Louis University, who has studied and taught about voter behavior for three decades, said turning a trickle into a trend will be a tough job for Kerry because historically Republicans tend to be faithful. Democrats are more diverse and divided, a "party of factions," and more easily hived off, as former President Ronald Reagan (news - web sites) did with the "Reagan Democrats," he said.

Clay Richards, assistant director of the Polling Institute at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut, says Kerry is getting about 11 or 12 percent of the Republican vote in Pennsylvania and New Jersey while Bush is drawing 9 or 10 percent of his support from Democrats, not a statistically significant crossover.

Before any Kerry draw could be rated similar to the "Reagan Democrats" effect, he said "the gap would have to be a lot bigger."

[Jake]

Excellent MODU.  If Kerry could deliver all his social programs it would be great. But he can't without raising taxes. Not on just the rich 2%, but next it will be on the upper middle class.  We are returning to the Clinton years but only in the sense of high taxes and bigger government.

[agcatter]

A Reuter's story.  How surprising.  Find one or two Republicans who plan to defect to Kerry and another in Tennessee and build a story around them.  The clear inference being that Republicans are crossing over to Kerry in droves.

How many Republicans did they have to interview before they found these examples.  The article is strangely silent on that.  Fair and balance and total sh**t.

Given that Bush is up around 10 in Tennessee instead of the 4 he won by in 2000, one might be a tad questioning about the objectivity of this story.  Just a little.

[khirkhib]

Excellent MODU.  If Kerry could deliver all his social programs it would be great. But he can't without raising taxes. Not on just the rich 2%, but next it will be on the upper middle class.  We are returning to the Clinton years but only in the sense of high taxes and bigger government.

I think your wrong.  I don't think that he will.  He is for pay as you go and he has some really original ideas about how to get the programs to pay for themselves.  Like closing the loop-holes that encourages companies to move jobs over sees and reward businesses with incentives to keep employees here.  On an even playing field their is no country in the world that the US can't out produce.