THE REAL DEAL ON KERRY'S HUMAN PROPS
Mary Ann Knowles is a woman Kerry's been referring to on the stump as a classic example of an American squeezed by Bush's policies. Kerry mentioned her in his convention speech, saying she "had to keep working day after day through her chemotherapy, no matter how sick she felt, because she was terrified of losing her family’s health insurance."
Now the Manchester (N.H.) Union Leader reports that the Knowleses’ own account differs from Kerry’s in one key detail. John Knowles told the New Hampshire Sunday News that Mary Ann could have taken disability leave without losing her health insurance, but needed to keep earning her full salary.
Cady Goldfield, a spokeswoman for Mary Ann Knowles’ employer, Elderhostel, said full-time employees are eligible for 26 weeks of paid disability leave, or more in some cases. And the company pays 90 percent of health insurance premiums.
“It wasn’t really the best example of what to cite for people who don’t have access to health care coverage,” Goldfield said.
John Knowles said taking disability leave would have meant living on about 70 percent of Mary Ann’s regular paycheck — not an option when he was unemployed.
The Knowles were in a tough spot, no doubt, but one gets the feeling Kerry shared their tale with Americans to illustrate his belief about an insurance system that is collapsing and employers who are heartless and stingy with their employees. I'm sure getting by on 70 percent of your income is difficult, but the way Kerry told the tale, it sounded as if the employer would cut off her health insurance if she stopped working.
I wonder if they know Al Gore's designated human prop, er, example, 79-year-old (in 2000) Winifred Skinner, a former auto worker who told a Gore town meeting that she “scavenges cans by the side of the road to make ends meet.” Of course, it turned out that Skinner had a previously unmentioned wealthy son, who owned an 80-acre ranch, and who had repeatedly offered to support his mother. Skinner steadfastly refused her son's generosity, declaring: “I'm no moocher.” Mooching off taxpayers is apparently another story.
A FEW LIGHTER NOTES
A selection from Jay Leno last night:
"This past weekend, Kerry met with leaders of the Navajo Indian tribe. He's been traveling by train across the country. He's traveling by train, he's meeting with Indians ... what is this, 1882? What, is he going to try and get a treaty so they don't tear down our telegraph poles?"
"At a meeting of thousands of minority journalists, John Kerry was asked if he would have gone to war if Saddam had refused to disarm and he said, and this is an exact quote, 'You bet we might have!'"
"First Lady Laura Bush said that people shouldn't be saying that the benefits from stem cell research are 'right around the corner' because it gives people false hope. Then later her husband said that the economic recovery is 'right around the corner.'"
"In a huge upset, Ralph Nader has failed to gather enough signatures to get on the ballot in California. How embarrassing is that for Nader? You can't get on the ballot in California? Remember our governor's race? Imagine finding out you're not up to the legal qualifications of porn star Mary Carey or Gary Coleman."
BACKLASH AGAINST MUSICIANS FOR KERRY?
Apparently, some fans of rock stars are getting irritated with their political efforts:
Many listeners who lean to the right have turned music discussion groups on the Internet — which normally detail unexpected set lists and rumored tour dates — into arenas of combative political debate. "I thought Campaign Finance Reform was supposed to fix the problem of big money corrupting our system," one fan wrote on a Dave Matthews newsgroup. "Dave has millions. I don't. I don't like John Kerry. I can't use my money to raise millions to reelect Bush."
Terry Holt, a Bush campaign spokesman, has an observation that tiptoes out of the usual realm of spin and makes a bit of interesting analysis.
“Kerry’s already been burned by the entertainment industry,” said Terry Holt, the Bush-Cheney campaign’s national spokesman. “It caused a grass-roots reaction that even we were surprised by. We started showing up for events after that and people had made their homemade signs saying ‘We are the heart and soul of America.’” “[These musicians] are entering a world in which they're not entirely familiar,” says Holt. “They’re accustomed to almost universal accolades. In politics, it’s a different world.”
KERRY'S RECENT STATEMENT ON THE WAR
The Boston Globe appears to grasp how big the Democratic candidate's statement was yesterday, in this front-page article:
John F. Kerry for the first time yesterday said he still would have voted to give President Bush the authority to go to war in Iraq, even if he had known in October 2002 that US intelligence was flawed, that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction, and that there was no connection between Saddam Hussein and the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001...
The Massachusetts senator also sought to clear up a conflict in his campaign rhetoric about partially withdrawing US troops from Iraq. Kerry has said throughout the year that, by the end of his first term in 2008, he hoped to replace some US troops with new military complements from European and Muslim nations. In an interview on National Public Radio on Friday, however, he said he would aim to achieve that goal by next summer.
SCHEDULES
Bush has three events in Florida with John McCain today. Bet the cameras for the campaign ads will be rolling. He attends a rally with McCain in Pensacola, Fla., participates in an "Ask President Bush" event with Sen. McCain in Niceville, Fla. (what a pleasant name for a town) and addresses a rally with Sen. McCain in Panama City, Fla.
Yesterday I mentioned that a Republican who was in town for the Boston convention was pessimistic about Bush’s chances in Pennsylvania. This smart elephant seemed much more confident about the president’s numbers in Florida, and even seemed to think Kerry might give up on the Sunshine State to focus on some better opportunity elsewhere. We will see…
Cheney is campaigning in Clive, Iowa. It’s a busy day for Laura Bush, who is scheduled to talk about the economy with women who own small businesses in Grafton, Wisconsin, then St. Cloud, Minnesota, and Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (Note: Three Gore states that apparently the Bush team feels optimistic about.)
Kerry is in Nevada, rallying at UNLV and meeting with first responders about the Yucca Mountain dump site.
John Edwards is on vacation at home in North Carolina until Friday. Some Kerry Spot readers are wondering if the Democratic veep nominee has been rather quiet lately.
No comments:
Post a Comment