Gephardt Touts Minority Aid, Criticizes Dean, Kerry, Lieberman

[Feanorcurufinwe]

U.S. Representative Richard A. Gephardt outlined a $1.1 billion program aimed at expanding economic development in minority communities yesterday, in the process taking a veiled swipe at three of his Democratic presidential rivals for wavering in the past in their support of affirmative action.

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At one point, the Missouri lawmaker said: "When others in this campaign for president were questioning race-based affirmative action, I was leading the effort in Congress against Republican attempts to eliminate affirmative action." Gephardt said later he was referring to former Vermont governor Howard B. Dean and senators John F. Kerry of Massachusetts and Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut. In 1995, Dean said affirmative action should be based "not on race but on class." Kerry in a 1992 speech at Yale University called affirmative action "inherently limited and divisive." Lieberman endorsed a 1996 California ballot question that wiped out affirmative action in government institutions.

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Gephardt's remarks provoked bristling responses from his rivals.

Dean spokesman, Jay Carson, called it "just more desperate negativity from Dick Gephardt, and it's the kind of politics the American people are tired of." Kerry, campaigning in Red Oak, Iowa, said: "I take no … back seat to anybody in this country in my fights for civil rights, equal protection under the law, and full opportunity for every American. Period." He said the characterization of his Yale speech was "not accurate." Jano Cabrera, Lieberman's spokesman, accused Gephardt of "chucking stones in a glass house." He cited remarks in a 1996 St. Louis Post-Dispatch story in which Gephardt called for "reform" of affirmative action to "focus less on making distinctions based on race and more on expanding opportunities for all."
http://www.hispanicbusiness.com/news/newsbyid.asp?id=13812

[drfemoe]

1. time out for Gephardt

he started it .. no HE did .. he called me a ***

who is attacking who in this example?

We should just put them all in seperate corners until they can hug and make up.

[sandnsea]

2. Kerry response

"I have fought for civil rights and equal opportunity for every American my whole life. As a student, a prosecutor, and a Senator, I have worked to open the doors of opportunity for every citizen so that we all can fully participate in the American dream. Mr. Gephardt is a good man, but on this issue, I take a backseat to no one."

Progressive Group Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting Says Media Distorted Kerry's True Message Supporting Affirmative Action - The self described "progressive, national media watch group" known as Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting noted that there was a detectable level of "distortion" in the reporting of Kerry's 1992 speech to Yale University supporting Affirmative Action. "In the case of Sen. Kerry's comments on affirmative action, however, the spin of some coverage approaches distortion. In his speech at Yale, Kerry did say that affirmative action should not be the overriding focus of a civil rights agenda, because workplace gains do not necessarily touch the lives of those most in need. But he also said, "I want to be clear here. I do support affirmative action, not rhetorically but really." The "negative side" of the policy was, for Kerry, the "perception" it engendered in many whites: He cited a poll by People for the American Way that indicated white people believe they are more discriminated against than minorities. Congress, Kerry said, has an obligation "to correct whatever false data or preconceptions have fed the belief that is evidenced in this poll." Affirmative action, Kerry said, has "made our country a better, fairer place to live," but public misunderstanding of the policy --which Kerry acknowledged has been "exaggerated and exploited by politicians eager to use it" --has created an "obstacle" to interracial communication. http://www.fair.org/extra/best-of-extra/new-candor.html>

http://www.johnkerry.com/pressroom/releases/pr_2003_1125c.html