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The Forsyth County News
Opinion
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Kerry’s environmental
record may haunt him
WASHINGTON Last
Oct. 20, Sen. John Kerry, in
nonstop derision of President
Bush, declared: "Where we see
a beautiful mountaintop,
George Bush sees a strip mine."
That environmentalist rhetoric,
backed by Kerry's Senate vot
ing record, injects the senator
into confrontation with the coal
industry that could defeat him
for president. That is his burden
in Wheeling, W.Va., Monday,
on a campaign swing that
includes visiting a coal mine.
Coal is a side issue in
Congress, but it is critical to
two states won by Bush in 2000
that could decide the 2004
presidential election. Coal pro
duction is important for Ohio
and absolutely vital to West
Virginia. If Kerry is perceived
as anti-coal, he could lose both
states and the presidency
On this week's visit to West
Virginia. Kerry is likely to con
demn as inadequate Bush's
investment for clean coal tech
nology (currently $2 billion
over 10 years). He echoes the
anti-Bush line by the stye's
most powerful Democrat, Sen.
Robert Byrd. Mine owners
laugh it off, noting you can't
have clean coal if Kerry-backed
measures eliminate all coal.
While governors (Jimmy
Carter. Ronald Reagan. Bill
Clinton and George W. Bush)
have obscured their positions
on delicate questions. Kerry
cannot escape the impact of
thousands of votes during 20
senate years.
One such vote came in
1999. Byrd, grand protector of
West Virginia, proposed an
amendment to preserve coal
production. It was designed to
override liberal U.S. District
Judge Charles Haden's deci
sion, since reversed, to end
mountaintop mining in West
Virginia.
Byrd told the Senate that his
amendment was intended "to
allow for the continuation of
our coal industry and the jobs it
provides white better protecting
the mountains and hollows of
the state we love." With the
United Mine Workers strongly
behind Byrd’s amendment, it
passed the Senate Nov. 18,
1999, by 56 to 33. Kerry was
one of the 33.
Kerry also co-sponsors
environmentalist Sen. James
Jeffords's Clean Power Act,
which the coal industry regards
as a death sentence in eliminat
ing 90 percent of mercury
emissions by 2008. The non
partisan Energy Information
On your payroll
CITY COUNCIL
Mayor, H. Ford Gravitt
RO. Box 3177, Cumming, GA 30028; (770) 887-4342
Mayor Pro-Tern, Lewis Ledbetter
205 Mountain Brook Dr., Cumming, GA 30040; (770) 887-3019
Ralph Perry
1420 Pilgrim Rd., Cumming, GA 30040; (770) 887-7474
Quincy Holton
103 Hickory Ridge Dr., Cumming, GA 30040; (770) 887-5279
Rupert Sexton
705 Pine Lake Dr., Cumming, GA 30040; (770) 887-4332
John Pugh
10813th St., Cumming, GA 30040; (770) 887-3342
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
Charles Laughinghouse, Post 1
3550 Rosewicke Dr., Cumming, GA 30040
(770) 8867937; office, (770) 886-2810
David “AJ.” Pritchett, Post 2
4840 Chesterfield Court, Suwanee, GA 30024
(404) 392-6983; office, (770) 886-2809
John A. “Jack” Conway, Post 3
6130 Polo Club Dr., Cumming, GA 30040
(770) 886-9226; (770) 8862807
Marcie Kroeger, Post 4
9810 Kings Rd., Gainesville, GA 30506
office, (770) 8862806
Eddie Taylor, Post 5
4195 Morningside Dr., Cumming, GA 30041
o (770)8862802
\ r
Administration (EIA) estimates
the Jeffords bill would reduce
coal consumed for electricity
by 43 percent, losing 1 million
jobs.
Last year, Kerry voted for
(while Byrd was voting
against) the Lieberman-
McCain Climate Stewardship
Act. which would move the
U.S. toward the Kyoto global
warming protocol. The EIA
estimated the bill would reduce
coal's share of electricity from
50 percent down to 11 percent,
eliminating 50,000 coal indus
try jobs.
Kerry has not deviated from
this environmentalist standard.
And he must find away to
defend it in Ohio, where huge
industrial job loss could por
tend Republican disaster and
Democratic bliss. Republicans
never have elected a president
without carry ing Ohio.
The Ohio Coal Association,
which orchestrated the state
legislature’s passage of a reso
lution condemning the Jeffords
bill, is preparing to put Kerry's
record in the hands of every
coal industry worker in the
state (and neighboring states,
including West Virginia).
While Ohio long has been
pivotal in presidential elections.
West Virginia has been a back
water until recently. George
W. Bush visited Morgantown,
W. Va„ the last weekend of the
2000 campaign to pin down
five electoral votes from the
overwhelmingly Democratic
state, which Al Gore had alien
ated partly because of his per
ceived anti-coal position.
Nearly all the early political
maps made for 2004 have West
Virginia swinging back to the
Democratic column this year,
but the most recent poll by the
American Research Group
shows a flat-out tie at 46 per
cent. Kerry does not help by
lauding his endorsement by the
League of Conservation Voters,
an organization that has labeled
coal as one of the "inefficient,
destructive fossil fuels of the
past that pollute our air and
water." John Kerry on the cam
paign trail this week pre
dictably will avoid embracing
that position.
Robert Novak is a national
ly syndicated columnist.
/kMANCEoX
' »
Vi--** —>»•—»»--
xTWoiIT A **
Voters can’t escape talk of war records
WASHINGTON There
is no law that says elections
have to be about anything
important.
Most would agree that the
presidency is a significant job
since Sept. 11, 2001. our
president is now also viewed
as Protector of the Homeland
and we would like to be
believe that the way we elect
presidents is significant, also.
But if modem presidential
elections have taught us any
thing. it is how trivialized the
process has become.
Not every presidential
election has to be about war or
peace, prosperity or poverty,
leadership or drift.
But I would like to think a
presidential election is about
something.
The election of 1988, one
of the worst elections in mod
em history, was about nothing
nothing that mattered any
way. It was about flag facto
ries and Willie Horton and the
Pledge of Allegiance and who
really was the wimp.
It was so bad that George
H.W. Bush felt he had to
promise "a kinder, gentler
nation" if he won.
Bush's media adviser,
Roger Ailes, described his the
ory of dealing with the media
during that campaign this
way: "You try to avoid as
many mistakes as you can.
You try to give them as many
pictures as you can. And if
you need coverage, you attack,
and you will get coverage."
Judy Woodruff, then with
the "MacNeil/Lehrer News-
Hour." responded. "So you're
saying the notion of the candi
date saying, I want to run for
president because I want to do
something for this country,' is
crazy."
"Suicide," Ailes replied.
As David Von Drehle of
The Washington Post wrote
NATIONAL LEGISLATORS
< U.S. Sen. Zell Miller
Russell Senate Office Building, Room C-3
Washington, DC. 20510
(202) 224-3643; Fax: (202) 2262090
U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss >
1019 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C.20515
(202)224-3521
. < U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal, 10th District
2437 Rayburn House Office Building,
Washington, D.C.20515
Gainesville: RO. Box 1015, Gainesville, GA 30503
Gainesville, (770) 5362592; Washington: (202) 226
5211; Fax: (202) 2268272
U.S. Rep. John Linder, 7th District >
1727 Longworth House Office Building,
Washington, D.C. 205161011
Washington: (202) 2264272; Fax: (202) 2264696
STATELEGISLATQRS
< Sen. David Shafer, 48th District
109 State Capitol
Atlanta, GA 30334
(404)651-7738
Sen. Casey Cagle, 49th District >
421 State Capitol, Atlanta, GA 30334
Telephone: (404) 6566578; (tax) (404)
651-6768
< Sen. Dan Moody, 27th District
(770)495-3127;
Off ice (404) 463-8055
Roger
Simon
this Sunday, our nation is not
sharply divided today by acci
dent. The presidential candi
dates, he writes, no longer are
trying to unite Americans but
are trying to divide them.
"Occasionally, speeches
may pay homage to broad,
unifying themes," he writes,
"but the campaign day to day
seems intended to deepen,
rather than erase the rift."
Nor is that the only prob
lem. While hot-button issues
(abortion, affirmative action
and so on) are often used to
divide people, at least those
issues are about something.
As 1988 shows, campaigns
don't have to be about any
thing at all, and there are signs
the 2004 campaign is heading
in the same direction.
The John Kerry campaign
had to spend precious time
last week defending Kerry
against charges that the first
Purple Heart he was awarded
in Vietnam (he ended up with
three, as well as Bronze and
Silver Stars) was for a trivial
rather than a serious wound.
Even though there is noth
ing funny about Purple Hearts,
I had to smile when I first
heard that accusation. As any
one in the military can tell
you. Purple Hearts have over
the years been awarded for all
kinds of reasons.
My father, a combat veter
an of the Pacific in World War
11. received a number of
medals including a Purple
Heart. The Purple Heart was
the only one he would talk
about. "We were unloading
sides of beef off a ship," he
J
FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS -Thur»d«y, April 28,2004 -
told me, "and there was an air
raid, and some jerk let go of
his rope, and the side of beef
fell right on top of me. \\hen 1
woke up in the hospital, an
officer was going down the
rows handing out Purple
Hearts to everyone. So that's
how I got my Purple Heart."
According to the
Associated Press: "Kerry got
his first Purple Heart after he
got shrapnel in his left arm
above his elbow. Kerry's third
Purple Heart came from an
incident on March 13, 1969.
when a mine had exploded
near Kerry's swift boat. A
small piece of shrapnel lodged
in his left upper buttock. He
was treated with a tetanus
shot, topical dressing and an
ace bandage. Kerry also was
wounded by a piece of shrap
nel on Feb. 20. 1969. on his
left thigh. Doctors decided to
leave the shrapnel in place
rather than make a wider
opening to remove it."
So here is a guy still walk
ing around with shrapnel in
his thigh that he got while
serving his country in combat,
and he has to defend himself
against charges that his first
wound wasn't big enough?
Which leaves me with two
questions: One. how many of
those who are questioning his
service in Vietnam served in
Vietnam at all?
And. two, who the hell
cares about how big his
wounds were? What's the
standard? The bigger the
wound, the more qualified you
are to be president?
Because if that is the stan
dard, then George W. Bush is
in big, big trouble.
That was last week. This
week began with another
Vietnam accusation. Monday,
Kerry was accused of contra
dicting himself as to whether
he threw away his combat
Sen. Renee Unterman, 45th District >
(770) 466-1507;
Office (404) 463-1368
**
< Rep. Tom Knox, 14th District
Legislative Office Building, Room 504
18 Capitol Square, Atlanta, GA 30334
(404) 6560188, or (770) 887-0400, law office
Rep. Jan Jones, 38th District >
412 Legislative Office Building,
Atlanta GA 30334
(404) 656-0137
< Rep. Jack Murphy, 14th District
Legislative office Building,
Room 612, Atlanta GA 30334
(404) 656-0325; (770) 781-9319, home
BOARD OF EDUCATION
Ann Crow
96 Barker Rd., Cumming, GA 30040
(770) 887-9640; acrow@forsyth.kl2.ga.us
Paul Kroeger
9810 Kings Rd., Gainesville, GA 30506
(770) 889-9971; pkreager@forsyth.kl2.ga.us
Nancy Roche
7840 Chestnut Hill Rd., Cumming, GA 30041
(770) 889-0229; nroche©forsyth.kl2.ga.us
Rebecca K. Dowell
2030 Commonwealth Place, Cumming, GA 30041
(770) 844-0830: rdowell@forsyth.kl2.ga.us
Chairman Jeffrey Stephens
RO. Box 169, Cumming, GA 30028
(770) 889-1470; jstephens@forsyth.kl2.ga.us
medals when he returned from
Vietnam or his combat rib
bons.
Kerry has said frequently
that he threw away his rib
bons. But a TV network found
a tape of Kerry in 1971 saying
he threw away his medals.
Got that? This whole story
hangs on whether it was
medals or ribbons. Do you
know the difference? Do you
care?
Kerry says that he and the
military make no distinction
between medals and ribbons,
but in any case, he is sticking
to the story that he threw away
his ribbons. And he snapped
back that this "comes from a
president who can't even (pro
vide evidence) whether or not
he showed up in the National
Guard."
Perhaps Americans are
bored with discussions of Iraq,
terrorism, jobs, health care
and schools. But are we really
going to spend the next seven
months talking about medals,
ribbons, shrapnel and the
National Guard?
Sen. John McCain. R-
Ariz... put it this way: "I'd like
to see us put the war that was
over more than 30 years ago
behind us. I've spent the last
30 years trying to heal the
wounds of the war. ... We have
enormous challenges facing
America. I believe that Pres
ident Bush served honorably
in the National Guard. I
believe that John Kerry served
honorably, and I wish we
would move forward and face
the challenges that lie ahead of
us. I don't think most Amer
icans are enjoying this."
Well, they may not be
enjoying it, but. boy, oh boy,
are they going to be getting it.
Roger Simon is a national
ly syndicated columnist. He
can be e-mailed at Write
Roger@aol.com.
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