Jersey coverage on Kerry/Menendez event

[karynnj]

Some comments:
"My opponent relies on so much empty rhetoric when talking about Iraq, sometimes I think we're listening to George Bush," Menendez said.

Kean, a state senator from Union County, scoffed at the plan pushed by Kerry and Menendez, calling it "fringe."

Kerry said opinion in America has shifted toward the Democrats' withdrawal plan but would not make predictions whether the party can wrest control of either the U.S. Senate or House of Representatives. He did offer a zinger at Kean, whose father was a popular governor and chairman of the 9/11 Commission.

"I knew his dad, and I liked his dad, and his dad has served this country well," Kerry said. "But the last time people voted for somebody because they liked his dad, we got W."

(The paper didn't mention that it should have been at Seton Hall. It looks like they still got people out - which is amazing given that Menendez had nothing about ANY appearances on his lame website and the Kerry site said NJ utill the day before when it became "South Orange, NJ")







http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061026/NEWS02/610260312/1123&GID=FdI0mIPWLDFX1hLLypOP+zX+tj6qDSkpIrYrCcp6bQo%3D

[ProSense]

1. Ouch!

That should go in GD-P for the quote alone!

[karynnj]

2. Will do -

That is a fantastic quote.

[whometense]

3. Whoa.

Good one!!!!

[Island Blue]

4. Oh, snap!

He really said "...we got W."? That's brilliant.

[wisteria]

5. Wow, good one!! n/t

[karynnj]

6. Star Ledger article (this is the big Newark based paper)

http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-5/1161842116208600.xml&coll=1

This may be the NJ election in a snapshot:

"Menendez and Kerry both said they believe Iraq is the key issue in the New Jersey Senate race. Menendez accused Kean of downplaying his support for the war.

"Everywhere he goes on the campaign trail, he refuses to acknowledge that the war is a central issue," Menendez said.

Hazelbaker said Kean has made his positions on Iraq quite clear, but added, "We'd accuse Menendez of refusing to acknowledge that corruption is a central issue in this campaign."


Kean's answer to what he would do in the future (or even what he did in the past) has been, "Menendez is corrupt")

[WildEyedLiberal]

7. A DUer got to go and took pix at the event:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2907419

He took some great pix, you guys should check it out.

He also said the turnout was depressed by about 500 because of Seton Hall's sleazy bait-and-switch. x(

[karynnj]

9. The candidate he is supporting, Wyka, is the one I get

to vote for for the House..

[Inuca]

8. Question

What do you guys think about Menendez and all this corruption thing? Info and/or gut feeling? I do not have the time to do the research, sorry...

[karynnj]

10. It seems mostly circumstantial

The first claim that he was in league with the corrupt Hudson county machine when he was just entering politics is a lie. He was praised by 2 prosecutors because he helped them - even wearing a wire so they could get evidence. He apparently wore a bullet proof vest for a while - that is an area where standing up to corruption takes guts.

The claim about renting space, that Chris Christie is "investigating", sounds like a charge that will disappear on Nov 8. Christie (who names their kid Christopher with this last name?) is a hot shot Mendham DA who is likely to run for the Lautenberg seat in 2008. This was a non-profit that was funded for years, the funding is based on a formula, and the rent paid was market rate.

The newest claim is that a friend of Menendez used his name when pushing people to do things - the friend may be a slime, but this proves nothing about Menendez.

Kean signaled this attack in his first or second debate. He said if you want to see who he is look at Wesfield which he represents - and that Menendez will not say to look at Hudson county. At the time, on a thread here - we thought that was a pathetic elitist thing to say. This seems to be a Kean attempt to say that Menendez is corrupt because of living in a diverse area of corrupt NJ.

[Inuca]

11. Thanks

Your info helped, though I did not understand the last paragraph. He is probably not squeaky clean, but I guess that there are so many grey areas that not many in politics are. I am still taking a half-parochial interest in what is happening in he NJ and NY, the two other states I lived in.

[karynnj]

12. The last sentence was incoherent

I think he is unusually clean for Hudson county - but Hudson county is corrupt.