Kerry Sticks to Claim of World Support; reporter erred

Charges traded on foes' honesty; reporter error
Charges traded on foes' honesty
By Glen Johnson, Boston Globe Staff, 3/16/2004

WASHINGTON -- The White House yesterday suggested John F. Kerry was "making it up" by claiming unnamed foreign leaders want him to replace President Bush, but the presumptive Democratic nominee challenged the president's own credibility. He asserted that Bush failed to provide the military and front-line terrorism defenders with promised equipment, did not level with the American people about the cost of his Medicare bill, and failed to match his antiterrorism rhetoric with action.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan, building off comments made against Kerry a day earlier by Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, said: "Either he is straightforward and states who they are, or the only conclusion one can draw is that he is making it up to attack the president."

Vice President Dick Cheney also noted that Kerry rebuffed a heckler Sunday who sought the names by stating that it was none of his business. "But it is our business when a candidate for president claims the political endorsement of foreign leaders," Cheney said during a campaign event in Phoenix for Representative Rick Renzi. "At the very least, we have a right to know what he is saying to them that makes them so supportive of his candidacy."

Kerry later shot back. "They're trying to change the subject from jobs, health care, the environment, and Social Security," he said as he entered a meeting with Gerald W. McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, Country, and Municipal Employees. "They don't have a campaign, so they're trying to divert it."

Kerry's meeting with McEntee did not result in an immediate endorsement of the 1.4-million-member AFSCME. However, Kerry did receive the endorsement of the Rev. Al Sharpton of New York, who ended his campaign for the Democratic nomination.

But the tenor of the day was dominated by the charges and countercharges between the White House and Kerry.

McClellan repeated three times the charge that Kerry was "making it up." He also broadened the criticism to rebut Kerry's recent assertion that the administration delayed, for political reasons, a deal for Libya to dispose of its weapons of mass destruction, and comments last year that the administration rebuffed last-minute offers from Russia and France to avert the Iraq war. "This is not the first time he has refused to back up his assertions," McClellan said.

Kerry's staff later released a statement challenging the propriety of McClellan's making political comments while on the government payroll.

Though the general election battle is only two weeks old, the Republicans have already shown their strategy against Kerry. They have presented Bush in TV ads as a clear and decisive leader, while depicting their rival as indecisive and duplicitous. Powell, who usually avoids partisan commentary, criticized Kerry for stating at a Florida fund-raiser last week -- without naming names -- that some leaders have told him they hope he wins the White House.

A Globe reporter was present for the fund-raiser as a representative of the newspapers covering the campaign. The reporter initially sent out a report to his colleagues saying that Kerry had told the crowd, "I've met foreign leaders who can't go out and say this publicly but, boy, they look at you and say, `You gotta win this, you gotta beat this guy, we need a new policy' -- things like that."

Yesterday the reporter listened again to the tape, previously transcribed on a bus and campaign airplane, and said Kerry actually said: "I've been hearing it, I'll tell ya. The news, the coverage in other countries, the news in other places. I've met more leaders who can't go out and say it all publicly but, boy, they look at you and say, `You gotta win this, you gotta beat this guy, we need a new policy' -- things like that."

Kerry never used the term "foreign" or, as some accounts have reported, said he had "met with" foreign leaders. His comments were preceded by a statement from Milton Ferrell, Kerry's Florida fund-raising chairman, voicing foreign displeasure with the current president. Ferrell said, "Europeans and elsewhere, they're counting on the American people. They hate Bush, but they know we're going to get rid of him."

The senator, committed to taking the fight to Bush and leaving no charge unchallenged, unleashed his broadside at the administration yesterday during a high-octane appearance before 900 people at a legislative conference for the International Association of Fire Fighters.

The aggressive posture is expected to continue today, as the Massachusetts senator holds a celebration with veterans in West Virginia and tomorrow with a speech in Washington about protecting military families in times of war.

In each case, Kerry is trying to answer and even upstage Bush and Cheney as they attend events this week marking the first anniversary of the Iraq War.

The 263,000-member firefighters union, the largest of its kind in the nation and the first major labor group to endorse Kerry, greeted him as a hero.

"I do not fault George Bush for doing too much in the war on terror, as some do; I believe he's done too little and done some things he didn't have to do," Kerry told his audience. "When the focus on the war on terror was appropriately in Afghanistan and breaking Al Qaeda, President Bush shifted his focus to Iraq and Saddam Hussein. He's pushed away our allies at a time when we need them the most. He hasn't pursued a strategy to win the hearts and minds of people around the world and win the war of ideas against the radical ideology of Osama bin Laden. And time and again, George Bush has failed to give those fighting the war on terror -- whether they're overseas or here -- the weapons, equipment, and support that they need."

He also said the nation's defenders, whether firefighters who lack radios or soldiers in Iraq who have had to buy their own enhanced body armor, have been let down by the administration.

Bush-Cheney campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt said: "John Kerry is completely detached from the reality of his own record and past statements on homeland security. Earlier this year, he said that the terror threat was `exaggerated,' and his record on security includes six votes against the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and votes against providing body armor for our troops in Iraq."

Kerry also keyed off two recent stories in an effort to raise further doubts about Bush'scredibility.

One, first reported last week by Knight Ridder, disclosed that a government actuary said the administration threatened to fire him if he revealed the true cost of the $395 billion Medicare bill, now pegged at $530 billion, before Congress voted to approve the plan. The other, reported in yesterday's New York Times, revealed the Department of Health and Human services paid actors to pose as journalists for so-called video news releases the administration is dispersing to TV stations and others in an effort to build support from the Medicare law's prescription drug benefit.

"After already hiring actors to pose as soldiers in the president's campaign commercials," Kerry said, referring to ads that first aired earlier this month, "you have to kind of wonder: How many Oscar-winning performances will it take to convince America that George Bush can actually put America back on track?"

As for the actuarial story, he told the firefighters: "There's no place for silencing the truth that belongs to the American people. If you were a CEO of a company with that kind of overrun, you'd be fired."

He didn't use the word "foreign"? So what? Are we to believe that when he said "leaders", he meant cheerleaders? If Kerry didn't mean foreign leaders, why didn't he say so, instead of just saying he can't name them?

Look, I don't blame Kerry for not naming the leaders, nor do I think the Republicans' complaint that he won't is valid. What is important to me is that I want a President whose primary concern is what the American People want, not what those abroad want.

The fact that Kerry (A) cares what these leaders want and (B) thinks it a positive thing to point it out to his supporters just tells me that he and his supporters don't think as Americans FIRST.

Yesterday the reports coming out said the White House was demanding Kerry give names of the leaders.

The White House as an administration should stay out of re-election campaigns. If Bush wants information let him ask for it, not "the White House". Bush should not be able to use "the white house" as a cover to do his dirty work.

Whatever his private international support, it would be impossible for an Administration under Kerry to be worse than the present neo-Nazi regime - and on the basis of Democrat track-records, far superior for the nation!

And if he wins, at least it will be an honest victory, not a Supreme Court political fix.

There are laws that dictate how the "White House" can and can't be involved. The Clinton White House was famous for skirting and possibly breaking those laws as a matter of policy. If you think the Bush White House has strayed across a legal line, please point to the specific law you think they have broken. Otherwise, what is your point?

Wow, it only took five posts for the uninformed and belligerent to bring up Clinton. You must be competing with McGEntrix for a new record!

Eh boy. Those pesky neocons are going to jump on anything to divert attention away from their lousy leadership. I don't understand why they are so concerned about foreign leaders backing Kerry. They don't have any influence over government, right? Or are they backstabbing the republicans now, and they want to know who it is? Or are the neocons worried that some of their foreign leader friends making decisions in American government might be betraying them?

How about telling us who was in Cheney's secret energy meetings? Any foreign leaders there? Can't tell because they wouldn't come forward if they thought their confidence would be betrayed? Didn't Kerry say the same thing? But now it's wrong?

Bush should just step down. He has failed. Failures shouldn't get a second chance to make things worse.

hbob, that was a pretty uninformed and belligerent comment. C'mon, you know better. You can get your point accross with being perjorative or engaging in Ad Hominem crap.

scrat,

Kerry didn't make the big deal with difference between the words, "foreign" and "more", evidently the Boston globe reporter guy was correcting himself when he reported Kerry's words. If the shoe was on the other foot, we would be making a big deal about it. (we as in any democrat discussing politics with republicans)On the other hand, Kerry has a point. The Bush administration is trying to distract the country away from real concerns by bringing up anything they can on Kerry whereas Kerry is at least bringing up real concerns.

It does matter what other leaders think of whoever is in charge. We need other countries to fight the war on terror and it is just a good idea to have good relations with those around the world.

I personally think the entire statement that Kerry made was a mistake because he couldn't very well name names if it was true because it would put those leaders in an awkward position since Bush is still president and not saying who they are leaves him open to accusations of being a liar. The whole thing is slightly silly and really does not have any bearing on our lives which is why I don't think it will change anyone's vote one way or another.

Another part of this that hasn't been raised yet (as far as I know) is that Kerry, as a Federal employee who holds a security clearance, is required by Federal Law to report any/all contacts with any foreign national.

If he didn't report the contacts then he's violated Federal law.
If he didn't have the contacts then he made false claims.

If either of those holds then he's a liar (and possibly a felon).

If he did report them but refuses to devulge who they were you can bet they were people that wouldn't look good for Kerry (and with the Senate being under Republican control you can bet Bush's team already knows if he reported any contacts and if so, who they were with..).

Why doesn't Kerry run for Kofi Annan's job instead?

He isn't corrupt enough....yet.

Mebbe a little levity is needed here.

LOL!

Foreign leaders for Skerry:
We love you Kerry

damn fishin' I thought that said "Levitation" and I assumed it was a link to some Theosophist URL

These petty little quarrels are so illuminating:

I admit that this issue is not good for my side. I just hope people stay focused on whats going on and why it is ABB. Soon another story will take the place of this one. Unless Ashcroft tries to throw kerry in jail from his bed I doubt it changes anyone's vote no matter if kerry lied or commited a felony for talking to people from other countries.

Yeah, I got that.