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February 25, 2004 Senator Kerry, good morning to you. Senator JOHN KERRY (Democratic Presidential Candidate): Good morning to you. SYLER: You had some pretty convincing victories last night, though not a whole lot of delegates at state. Coming up on Super Tuesday, you've got 1,000 up for grabs. Can you wrap this up by next Tuesday? Sen. KERRY: I honestly don't kn-that's up to the voters, and I'm just campaigning hard. I'm grateful to the citizens of Hawaii and Utah and Idaho. As I've said many times, I'm running a national campaign. I'm not picking one or two states here or there. And I'm very grateful for those votes. But I'm campaigning hard. I'm here in Ohio today. They've lost 270,000 jobs out here, 150,000 manufacturing jobs. And-and they really-you know, people want a president who's gonna stand up and fight for health care, for job creation, to give us an even playing field to compete on, and that's what I'm gonna keep talking about over the course of the next days. SYLER: All right. Want to get your comments on something that happened yesterday, gay marriage. The president... Sen. KERRY: Sure. SYLER: ...calling for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex unions. Your reaction to that. Sen. KERRY: Right. I think the president's trying to divide America. I think that he's in trouble, and so he's reaching for an issue to try to, you know, sort of change the topic. He can't come out here to Ohio and talk to people about the jobs. He can't talk about a foreign policy that's making us stronger as our allies are-are moving away from us and angry at us. He can't talk about health care for all Americans, 'cause he doesn't have a plan to provide it. And so he's trying to divide America and go the low road. I think that to use the Constitution of the United States for those purposes to flip from his own position where he said we didn't need a constitutional amendment, and now he's trying to do that, I think it's the wrong kind of leadership in the wrong direction. SYLER: Do you think this is going to be a major issue in the race for the White House? Sen. KERRY: Well, I don't think it's the issue that's on everybody's minds. For 200 years, the states have the power, and they have it today, to regulate marriage in each of the states of our country. What people are really concerned about is whether their kids can go to a school that's functioning as well as possible. They care about whether or not they wake up in the morning and they've got the health-care coverage or they're living in terror of getting sick. There are people I've met all over this country who are out of work and don't have health care and they're living lives of fear on a daily basis. That shouldn't happen in the richest country on this planet, and when I'm president, it won't happen. SYLER: Senator, President Bush attacked your record on the issues on Monday. He says you have flip-flopped on a number of issues. You voted for and against tax cuts... Sen. KERRY: Yeah. SYLER: ...NAFTA, the Patriot Act, liberating Iraq. Your reaction to those comments? Sen. KERRY: Very simple. Those are issues where indeed I'm for them, but the president has done a terrible job of implementing them. The fact is the president is a walking contradiction. He promised he wouldn't create a deficit; we have the largest deficits in history. He promised he wouldn't dig into Social Security; he's digging into Social Security. He promised with this tax cut he'd create 500,000 jobs; we lost a million. The next tax cut he promised another million jobs; we lost another million and a half. He promised that he would not leave any children behind. SYLER: OK. Yeah. Sen. KERRY: He's leaving millions of children behind because he hasn't funded education. SYLER: All right, Senator. Sen. KERRY: He's a walking contradiction and a trail of broken promises. SYLER: All right. Senator John Kerry, we'll have to leave it at that. Thanks for your time this morning. Sen. KERRY: Thank you. SYLER: Now here's Harry and Julie. HARRY SMITH, co-host: All right. Thanks very much, Rene. Coming up next, why so many churches are flocking to the theaters to catch “The Passion of the Christ.” JULIE CHEN, co-host: And in our next half-hour, why Michael Jackson may be in danger of losing his children. You're watching THE EARLY SHOW on CBS. (Announcements) Copyright 2004 CBS Worldwide Inc. |
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