Kerry calls for a break from Bush
By Will Richmond
Herald News Staff Reporter
Posted Aug 06, 2008
Fall River -

John Kerry visited the city Wednesday to drum up support not only for his bid for a fifth term in the U.S. Senate, but for Barack Obama's run for the White House.

"I bring the best news of all," the Massachusetts Democrat proclaimed as he received the microphone from U.S. Rep. James McGovern. "There are only 166 more days of George Bush."

With that news, Kerry shifted from handshaking to delivering a message of what a Democratic Party-controlled Washington, D.C., can do for the nation.

He rallied against presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain as Bush clone, saying the Arizona senator has voted in line with the sitting president over 90 percent of the time during the past eight years.

"We don't need a president that is 90 percent George Bush. We don't need a president that is 10 percent George Bush," Kerry said. "We need people like Barack Obama and Jimmy McGovern."

The annoyance of Bush's presidency was also voiced by McGovern, who fired up the crowd by hurling some unkind monikers on the president.

"I'm so happy to be out of Washington, D.C., and away from George Bush, the worst president in the history of he United States of America," McGovern said. "We're going to be on the verge of changing the country for the better. ... But in order for us to change things, we need to make dramatic changes and fix this mess that Bush has made."

McGovern called on the crowd to put out the word for a Kerry re-election and help him win by his largest margin yet.

"This is our opportunity to say thank you," McGovern said as Kerry sat casually on a desk behind him.

Mayor Robert Correia hoped that a Fall River-led landslide for Kerry on election day would also come back to benefit the city.

"After he has a great smashing victory, he's going to look at the list of communities that put him over the top. And when he looks at that list, I want him to see Fall River on the top," Correia said. "John Kerry's interests is Fall River's interests."

Along with raising support for his Capitol Hill colleagues, Kerry also spoke to an issue likely on the minds of those making up the audience.

Kerry said he would work to make it possible for prescription drugs to be purchased in bulk, making them more affordable for seniors on Medicare.

"We have got to make sure we can make prescription drugs affordable," Kerry said.

But Kerry said fights with Washington, D.C., Republicans make completing such a task, and several others, difficult. He called on the city's residents to help him close that gap by putting the right people in office.

"I'm asking you for your help here," Kerry said. "This is a great city, Fall River, and a great part of the country, but you've been fighting for its piece of economic pie."