Former vice-presidential candidate visits area promoting Kerry
JEFFERSON TWP. – Former vice-presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro and the Democratic leadership from southwestern Pennsylvania gathered Saturday to rally support for those seeking office as the clock ticks toward Nov.2. Ferraro, the keynote speaker at the Greene County Democratic Committee fall banquet to honor U.S. Rep. John P. Murtha as the county Democrat of the Year, stressed the need for the party faithful to cast their vote Tuesday and “send George Bush back to Texas.”
Now an analyst for Fox News, Ferraro said that it is vital to the future of the nation that Sen. John Kerry be elected as president.
“This guy (Bush) is a loose cannon,” she said. “There was absolutely no reason for us to go into Iraq.
“We are leaving our grandchildren a legacy of hate throughout the world and it is not going to get better unless we get someone in the White House who understands that we have to deal with the rest of the world.”
The New York-born Ferraro was first elected to Congress in 1978 and served three terms in the House of Representatives. In 1984, she was tapped by presidential candidate Walter Mondale to be his running mate.
The two were defeated by Ronald Reagan and George Bush, who were seeking reelection.
Ferraro, who was interrupted numerous times with applause by the several hundred that had gathered at the Jefferson Township Volunteer Fire Department social hall, said that Kerry offers a better plan than the present plan be carried out by the Bush administration.
“George Bush has made the wrong choices for the American people on education, on health care, on the economy, on the budget and most of all on the war against terrorism.
“Take a look at how many people are suffering from lack of healthcare. 337,000 Pennsylvanians have lost their health insurance, and those that still have health insurance have premiums that have gone through roof. Medicare premiums have gone up an astronomical 57-percent.
“George W. Bush put through the highest premium hike in the history of the (Medicare) program. There is only one prescription to deal with our health care system in the United States, and that is to send George Bush back to Texas.”
Although she limits her speaking engagements due to her health, Ferraro had earlier participated in a rally in Pittsburgh.
The state and the region have been a prominent stomping ground for both parties throughout the nearly 18-month campaign, with Vice-President Dick Cheney at Washington and Jefferson College and Democratic Senator Joseph Lieberman at California University of Pennsylvania last week, encouraging students to get out and vote for their respective parties.
Along with Michigan and Iowa, Pennsylvania is one of the largest battleground states with its 21 electoral votes key to winning the 2004 presidential election.
The most recent Rasmussen poll indicates Kerry with a three-point lead over Bush in Pennsylvania, while the Quinnipiac University poll gives the president a 2-point advantage among likely voters.
In a Fox News national poll, Bush leads Kerry by a 47- to 45-point margin.
Murtha, who is running unopposed in the fall general election, said he has made himself available to the Kerry/Edwards ticket when they or members of their families visit his district or across the state.
“I’ve gone anywhere they asked me to speak,” he said.
Murtha said while the polls indicate a near dead-heat, he believes Kerry will be victorious in carrying Pennsylvania and be elected to the presidency.
He attributes Bush’s inevitable loss to his and the Republican Party’s neglect to reach across party lines on domestic issues and to the rest of the world on international matters.
“They’ve gone forward (in Iraq) without considering an exit strategy. What will happen to the already-troubled economy when you cut taxes?
“We’re going to have a real problem in finding money to fund this war and get the deficit under control.”
Ferraro, meanwhile, encouraged the gathered Democrats to take time Tuesday to cast their vote.
“In three days, you have the power to chose a president who will put us on the right path to prosperity and security,” concluded Ferraro. “You have the power to give the nation a fresh start.”