Home>News Center>World
         
 

Edwards: Kerry ready to build one America
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-07-29 10:29

US Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards praised John Kerry Wednesday night as a man tested by war and ready to take command, determined to "build one America" no longer divided by income or race.

Edwards accused Republicans of waging a campaign of "relentless negative attacks," and told the Democratic National Convention and a nationwide prime-time audience that they hold the power to reject it.

Edwards: Kerry ready to build one America
US Democratic vice presidential candidate Senator John Edwards gestures to the crowd as he speaks before being confirmed as his party's vice presidential nominee during the third night of the 2004 Democratic National Convention at the FleetCenter in Boston, July 28, 2004. [Reuters]

"Instead you can embrace the politics of hope, the politics of what's possible because this is America, where everything is possible," Kerry's ticketmate said in prepared remarks.

"The truth is, we still live in two different Americas," said Edwards, the son of a Carolina mill worker and the first in his family to attend college.

"It doesn't have to be that way," he added, reprising the theme that fueled his own surprisingly strong challenge for the Democratic presidential nomination last winter.

Edwards had his turn at the podium a few hours after Kerry campaigned his way to the convention city and into the eager embrace of his Vietnam War crewmates. A dozen fellow veterans greeted him, including Jim Rassmann, a retired Special Forces soldier whose life Kerry saved from a muddy river in the Mekong Delta while under enemy fire.

Edwards: Kerry ready to build one America
US Democratic vice presidential candidate Senator John Edwards gestures to the crowd as he arrives to be confirmed as his party's vice presidential nominee during the third night of the 2004 Democratic National Convention, at the FleetCenter in Boston, July 28, 2004. [Reuters]
"We're going to write the next great chapter of history in this country together," Kerry vowed at a welcome-home rally in the city that
has nourished his political career for a quarter century.

In keeping with the overwhelming security arrangements for the first national political convention since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Kerry's ferry was escorted by Coast Guard vessels armed with machine guns as it made the brief trip across the open harbor.

Like dozens of other speakers, Edwards stressed the overriding national security theme at the convention. He recalled Kerry's service in Vietnam a generation ago, saying he ordered his swiftboat turned around despite enemy fire and plucked a fellow American from the river to safety.

"Decisive. Strong. Aren't these the traits you want in a commander in chief?" he asked rhetorically.

But Edwards' speech also marked something of a pivot to other issues that have received scant attention during three nights of convention oratory.

In one of the few references of the convention to Kerry's economic program, Edwards said it relies on tax hikes on Americans in top 2 percent of income and offers the hope of benefits to millions.

"We can build an America where we no longer have two health care systems," he said. "... We can build one public school system that works for all our children. ... We can create good paying jobs in America again," he added, by stopping the tax breaks that give companies an incentive to send jobs overseas.

Recalling a childhood in the segregated South, Edwards said he and Kerry want "our children and our grandchildren to be the first generations to grow up in an America that's no longer divided by race."

Edwards: Kerry ready to build one America
US Vice presidential candidate John Edwards reacts to the applause of delegates before speaking at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday, July 28, 2004, in Boston. [AP]

In a slap at the Bush administration, he said Kerry will "build and lead strong alliances and safeguard and secure weapons of mass destruction ... We will always use our military might to keep the American people safe."

"And we will have one clear unmistakable message for al-Qaida and the rest of these terrorists. You can run. You cannot hide. And we will destroy you."

The convention program called for the delegates to formally bestow their presidential nomination on Kerry in the midnight hour, after his running mate's prime-time oratory.

"He understands the urgent need to bring this country together toward a common purpose, a united America," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, who placed Kerry's name in nomination.

Kerry's speech Thursday marks the finale of a unified party convention but also the kickoff of a bruising, closely contested fall campaign to wrest the White House from President Bush.

By orders of the Kerry command, this was a Democratic convention unlike any other in memory. While one convention speaker after another extolled the candidate's war record, they skipped lightly over controversial issues that Democrats traditionally support — abortion rights, gun control, gay rights and affirmative action among them.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, a liberal lawmaker who challenged for the nomination, was something of an exception. "We are the party of workers' rights, civil rights and women's rights. ... When we show up holding the banner of social and economic justice, we win," he said.

Opinion polls show the country divided over the war in Iraq, with Bush favored over Kerry when it comes to waging war on terrorism. Most polls show a close race for the White House, with Kerry either tied or slightly ahead.

A convention-week lull in the television ad wars was nearing an end. Officials said the Democratic National Committee was launching a fresh round of ads in more than a dozen battleground states beginning this weekend. The cost will reach $6 million in the first week alone, they added.

Bush has spent the week at his ranch in Texas, and spokesman Trent Duffy said the president devoted part of the day to taping television commercials for the fall campaign.

The White House abruptly switched its tune on the Democratic convention, with Duffy saying Bush has been "monitoring closely" and has "watched some of it from time to time" on television. An aide had said earlier in the week that Bush didn't watch on Monday and had no plans to do so on Tuesday.

GOP surrogates, who had set up a political war room a few blocks from the delegates met, spent the week lobbing rhetorical salvos at what they called the Democrats' "extreme makeover" convention.

"There has been a total avoidance of discussion of the voting record of John Kerry, but that's not surprising," said Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga.

Edwards' wife, Elizabeth, drew the prime-time assignment of introducing her husband. And she, too, mentioned that Kerry served in the Navy.

Of her husband, she said in prepared remarks that he was the "smartest, toughest, sweetest man I know" — and the most optimistic, too.



USS Park Royal crew await for Rice
Coffin of Milosevic flew to Belgrade
Kidnapping spree in Gaza Strip
 
  Today's Top News     Top World News
 

Australia, US, Japan praise China for Asia engagement

 

   
 

Banker: China doing its best on flexible yuan

 

   
 

Hopes high for oil pipeline deal

 

   
 

Possibilities of bird flu outbreaks reduced

 

   
 

Milosevic buried after emotional farewell

 

   
 

China considers trade contracts in India

 

   
  Journalist's alleged killers held in Iraq
   
  No poisons found in Milosevic's body
   
  US, Britain, France upbeat on Iran agreement
   
  Fatah officials call for Abbas to resign
   
  Sectarian violence increases in Iraq
   
  US support for troops in Iraq hits new low
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  Related Stories  
   
Bush leads Kerry in US electoral votes
   
Boston rolls out $60 million security plan
   
US Democrats all smiles ahead of convention
   
Clintons vow to make Kerry next president
   
Kerry: 'I can fight more effective war on terror'
   
Kennedy says Bush should be replaced
Manufacturers, Exporters, Wholesalers - Global trade starts here.
Advertisement
         
主站蜘蛛池模板: 亚洲国产激情一区二区三区| jizz性欧美2| a视频免费在线观看| 香蕉网在线播放| 色情无码www视频无码区小黄鸭| 国产成人精品1024在线| 黑人巨茎大战俄罗斯美女| 韩国高清色www在线播放| 1000部拍拍拍18勿入免费视频软件 | 精品人妻久久久久久888| 美女被cao免费看在线看网站| 国产在线a免费观看| 麻豆aⅴ精品无码一区二区| 精品久久久久久无码人妻| 欧美三级黄色大片| 日本免费a级毛一片| 在线观看亚洲成人| 国产精品一区二区三区久久| 国产精品成人久久久| 国产婷婷综合丁香亚洲欧洲| 夜夜高潮夜夜爽夜夜爱爱一区 | 国产精品免费在线播放| 啄木乌欧美一区二区三区| 午夜精品久久久久久| 亚洲高清中文字幕综合网| 久久狠狠爱亚洲综合影院| 久久久国产99久久国产久| 久久精品国产99国产精品亚洲 | 久久免费观看视频| 97久久久久人妻精品专区| 美女网站一区二区三区| 欧日韩在线不卡视频| 天天综合亚洲色在线精品| 国产不卡视频一区二区三区| 亚洲成av人片在线观看www | 蜜臀精品无码av在线播放| 欧美成人看片黄a免费看| 无翼乌r18无遮掩全彩肉本子| 天堂а√在线官网| 国产精品久久久久影院| 免费人成在线观看网站|