what's the rebuttal for kerry's legislative record..

[toddzilla]

or lack thereof? i'm getting some heat about his lack of sponsored legislation... help.

[yardwork]

1. Take a look at his actual record - it is impressive

Go to johnkerry.com and look at the actual record. If you are a Democrat, I think you will be impressed.

He's sponsored or co-sponsored over fifty pieces of legislation.

[toddzilla]

2. the site is pretty light on actual details..

i'm still digging but what they have to offer is just PR stuff, i need an actual list of bills .

[Armstead]

3. Here's a pretty good overview from Salon

Salkon ran an article about Kerry's Senate record that's pretty good. Worth reading.

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/08/10/kerry_record/index_np.html
John Kerry Senator

[0rganism]

4. "John Kerry has sponsored or cosponsored hundreds of bills"

From Wikipedia:

John Kerry has sponsored or cosponsored hundreds of bills during his time as a Senator. Areas of concern in the bills include small business concerns, education, terrorism, veterans' and POW/MIA issues, and marine resource protection. A full list of Kerry's sponsored legislation is available on his Senate web site; (http://kerry.senate.gov/bandwidth/issues/legislation.html) see also the AFL-CIO web site (http://www.aflcio.org/issuespolitics/politics/kerry_bills.cfm) for a selected list. A chronological list of some significant bills and resolutions sponsored by Kerry follows.

* A concurrent resolution condemning North Korea's support for terrorist activities. Measure passed Senate, amended. 10oth Congress.

* A resolution relating to declassification of Documents, Files, and other materials pertaining to POWs and MIAs. Agreed to without amendment. 100th Congress.

* A bill to authorize appropriations to carry out the National Sea Grant College Program Act, and for other purposes. Signed by President.

* A bill to amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to prohibit certain transactions with respect to managed accounts. Referred to committee. 102nd Congress.

* A bill to authorize appropriations for the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 and to improve the program to reduce the incidental taking of marine mammals during the course of commercial fishing operations, and for other purposes. Became public law #103-238. 103rd Congress.

* A bill to amend the Small Business Act to enhance the business development opportunities of small business concerns owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, and for other purposes. Referred to committee. 103rd Congress.

* A bill to designate a portion of the Sudbury, Assabet, and Concord Rivers as a component of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. Passed without objection. 105th Congress.

* A bill to amend the Small Business Act with respect to the women's business center program. Became Public Law #106-165. 106th Congress.

* A bill to authorize the Small Business Administration to provide financial and business development assistance to military reservists' small businesses, and for other purposes. Referred to committee. 106th Congress.

* A bill to amend the Small Business Act with respect to the microloan program, and for other purposes. Ordered to be Reported. 107th Congress.

* A bill to reauthorize the Small Business Technology Transfer Program, and for other purposes. Became Public Law #107-50. 107th Congress.

* A bill to provide assistance to small business concerns adversely impacted by the terrorist attacks perpetrated against the United States on September 11, 2001, and for other purposes. Referred to committee. 107th Congress.

* A bill to provide emergency assistance to nonfarm-related small business concerns that have suffered substantial economic harm from drought. Referred to committee. 108th Congress.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sponsorship_of_legislation_by_John_Kerry

[toddzilla]

6. thanks

i don't know why it didn't dawn on me to go to his other website.

just what i needed.

[procopia]

5. Read this Salon article

"While the numerical comparison of bills passed makes for an easy tit-for-tat, Congress experts agree that it's a simplistic way of measuring relative senatorial success. "I don't think, taken by itself, that it's a fair way to compare," says Yale political science professor David Mayhew. "It's easy to get your name on something if you're the chairman of a committee." Besides, he says, "legislating is not the only thing that they do that makes them important." Mayhew says there are three ways for a member of Congress to distinguish himself: as a legislator, as a leader of the public discourse -- think Sunday talk regulars like Jesse Helms or Joseph Biden -- or as an investigator."

"Kerry has made his mark as the latter..."

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/08/10/kerry_record/index.html

[librechik]

7. What was Bush doing while Kerry was serving his country in the

Senate?

Bush was getting drunk every single night, and guess what, he had perfect attendance at that!

Kerry passed 57 bills, do you know how hard that was? Ask Cheney, he was in Congress for 8 years and only passed 2!

[joefree1]

8. Here's some other sites to arm yourself with

Great sites for debunking rethuglican lies
http://Snopes.com
http://mediamatters.org
http://www.disinfopedia.org
http://blog.johnkerry.com/rapidresponse/
http://www.dailykos.com/
http://www.misleader.org
http://swiftvets.eriposte.com
http://bushcampaignlies.blogspot.com/


Download the free poster/sign here:
http://ediablo.com/eDiabloGallery.html

[DieboldMustDie]

9. He was very involved in exposing the Iran Contra scandal...

and the break up of BCCI.

[moondust]

10. One mitigating factor.

For 20 years Kerry has lived and worked in the shadow of the most prominent Democratic senator in the country. I'd personally be inclined to make the best use I could of such a powerful vehicle to advance common causes. Let Ted take the bulk of the high profile stuff and concentrate more on the scores of other pressing but smaller issues.

[A_Possum]

11. First one to take down international terrorist/drug/money laundering bank

Against a LOT of pressure in Washington, from both sides of the aisle.

*******

Bush did business with Bin Laden's bankers while Kerry was fighting to shut it down to terrorist and drug connections.

Long before September 11, 2001, George W. Bush got a 25 million dollar loan from the same bankers that dealt with bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, at the same time that John Kerry was fighting to stop this bank's global laundering of money for drug lords and terrorists. John Kerry shut it down. He's been fighting terrorism at its roots since before George Bush ran for office.

"The Bank of Credit and Commerce International was an institution of Middle East origins whose employees asked few questions of their wealthy and powerful customers, making it a favorite of arms merchants, drug dealers, such as Noriega, and intelligence agencies," according to the Boston Globe bio of Kerry. "At the CIA, which sometimes used the bank to launder its own activities, it was known as 'Bank of Crooks and Criminals.'"

In the late 80's, Bush got a loan for $25 million for his failing oil company, Harkin, from a Saudi banker who dealt through BCCI, thereby joining its other customers such as Noriega, Hussein and Osama bin Laden.

At the same time, Kerry was working to investigate it. He used his senate committee powers to shut down this fraudulent banking operation against great opposition from prominent people on both sides of the aisle, including some Democrats who had become involved.

(Kerry came across the bank's shadowy activities, btw, while investigating the Iran-contra scandal, and pursued it.)

So, who has a better record against terror in the 20 years before 9/11, Bush or Kerry?