Kerry hits Bush on the environment
DURHAM, N.H. -- Senator John F. Kerry yesterday accused the Bush administration of deceiving Americans -- over environmental policies, in particular -- and urged the public to rise up in response.
The Massachusetts Democrat, opening a new line of attack in his presidential campaign, told a crowd of about 200 gathered under a tree on a campus green at the University of New Hampshire: "They're betting on the fact that their senators and their congressmen who do their bidding can go back to their districts and there'll be no accountability. They're betting on the fact that the amount of money they can raise and spend across this country will obliterate America's ability to be able to think and connect to real choices and real issues."
Kerry also took aim at unnamed rivals for the party's nomination, comparing what he termed their election-year interest in environmental issues with his 35-year record of support for the movement, including his chairmanship of Massachusetts' first Earth Day.
"For me, protecting the environment is not just a cause in a campaign, and when I say those words, I invite you to measure the record," the senator said.
Kerry was not the only candidate to take aim at his rivals during a campaign stop yesterday in the state with the first presidential primary to award convention delegates. Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, speaking before Kerry at a children's forum at UNH, held out his plan to require health insurance for all children as superior to plans of his rivals.
Under Edwards's plan, the federal government would give financial assistance to families and employers to encourage them to provide insurance for children. But parents would ultimately be required by law to provide the coverage. If they did not and were working, they would lose a portion of their child tax credits to recoup the expense of federally insuring their children. Literature distributed by Edwards's aides said the plan was more effective than similar plans offered by Kerry, Representative Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri, and Howard B. Dean, a former governor of Vermont.
"What we don't want is any parent -- any parent -- waking up, no matter where they live, no matter what conditions they're living in, to wake up in the middle of the night to a sick child and worry about whether they can take that child to the hospital or the doctor to get the care that they need," Edwards said.
A spokesman for the Republican National Committee, which has been responding to political criticism on behalf of the White House, brushed off both attacks.
"You don't have a government enforcement agency for health care. What's that all about?" said Jim Dyke, the committee's communications director, in response to Edwards.
As for Kerry, Dyke said, "What I'm betting is that based on his votes against funding our troops in Iraq, based on the fact that he missed all the votes on the Medicare legislation, that he doesn't know what's actually in all these bills."
Glen Johnson can be reached at johnson@globe.com.
