-Caveat Lector-
Has Kerry been assigned the task of making Hillary look like a
moderate?
washingtonpost.com
Kerry Urges Democrats To
Fight Values 'Assault'
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E-Mail to Supporters Renews Battle Against Bush By Dan Balz Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) signaled a return to partisan warfare with
President Bush yesterday in an e-mail to supporters in which he accused the
administration of preparing a "right-wing assault on values and ideals" and
called on Democrats to fight back against what he labeled Bush's extreme
agenda. Two weeks after delivering a generous concession speech that called for a
lessening of the bitter partisanship that had marked the contest with Bush,
Kerry picked up where the campaign left off and demonstrated his determination
to be the leader of the opposition, in spite of his defeat. "Despite the words of cooperation and moderate-sounding promises, this
administration is planning a right-wing assault on values and ideals we hold
most deeply," Kerry said in the message that was sent to about 3 million
supporters who had signed up on the Kerry Web site during the campaign. Kerry accused Bush of moving to eliminate debate and dissent from the State
Department and CIA. He also charged that Bush's Cabinet was being remade "to
rubber stamp policies that will undermine Social Security, balloon the deficit,
avoid real reforms in health care and education, weaken homeland security and
walk away from critical allies around the world." The senator from Massachusetts promised to introduce legislation to provide
health care to every child -- a scaled-back version of his campaign plan for
expanded access to health care coverage -- when the Senate convenes next year.
He asked supporters to sign a pledge to help him in his quest to pass the
legislation in a body firmly in the Republicans' control. The e-mail message represented a call to arms to Democrats. At a time when
many Democrats are looking inward to examine the reasons for Bush's victory and
to take stock of what they need to do to make their time in the political
wilderness as short as possible, Kerry said Democrats should in no way give Bush
a pass at the beginning of his second term. "This is not a time for Democrats to
retreat and accommodate extremists on critical principles," he wrote. "It is a
time to stand firm." Kerry's decision to challenge Bush so directly suggested that he hopes to
return to the Senate as a much more aggressive and forceful legislator than he
was in the years before he ran for president. By staking out health care as the
first issue on his post-election agenda, Kerry showed he is also willing to
tread on turf long claimed by other Democrats, particularly Edward M. Kennedy,
Massachusetts's senior senator, in whose shadow Kerry has spent his entire
Senate career. Kerry's message brought a quick end to the feel-good rhetoric that echoed
from ceremonies marking the opening of former president Bill Clinton's library
in Little Rock on Thursday. There, Bush and Clinton, along with former
presidents Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush, shared praise of one another and
offered up the symbolism of national unity and bipartisan cooperation. Kerry's campaign-style rhetoric also was a jarring contrast to his concession
speech on the afternoon after the election, when he told his despondent
supporters that, in a congratulatory telephone call to the president, the two
rivals had talked about "the desperate need for unity and finding the common
ground, coming together." Yesterday he told supporters that the Bush administration is hoping the
opposition will disappear now that the election is over and said his message
marks "the beginning of a second-term effort to hold the Bush administration
accountable." Stephanie Cutter, who was Kerry's campaign communications director, said
that, Kerry's concession speech notwithstanding, it is up to Bush to demonstrate
his willingness to govern in a way that begins to unify the country. "I think
the nation has lived through four years of divisive policies and politics, and
the president has a lot to prove to the American people that he wants to reach
across party lines and do what's best for the country," she said. "John Kerry's
making clear that, although he is ready to work together on strengthening
America, he is not going to sacrifice what's important, like affordable and
accessible health care." Kerry noted that, while it is customary for a senator to seek a co-sponsor
for legislation of the type he said he plans to introduce next year, he is
reaching first to his base of Internet supporters for assistance. That was an
indication that Kerry hopes to keep those supporters bound together behind him
and his causes as he seeks to avoid the fate of other losing presidential
candidates, whose power and support often dissipate quickly. Kerry's aides have
said he is weighing whether to run again in 2008, and yesterday's message is
consistent with that.
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