NEW YORK – Seven Democratic mayors – five from key battleground states – the Democratic National Committee chairman and a Democratic governor said Thursday that President Bush’s domestic policies that have swelled the ranks of the jobless and uninsured amount to a “mission not accomplished.”
They also had harsh criticism for maverick Democratic Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia, who delivered the keynote speech at the GOP convention Wednesday night.
“Zell Miller left the Democratic Party long ago,” DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe told a group of reporters that included a representative from BlackAmericaWeb.com who were gathered in the DNC’s office on Seventh Avenue Thursday.
“Zell Miller ought to show the courage and go over to the party he greatly loves. Zell Miller is not a Democrat. He is the Darth Vader of the Democratic Party.”
Miller, who endorsed former President Clinton over former President George H.W. Bush in 1992, endorsed the current president and criticized Massachusetts Sen. John F. Kerry, the Democratic nominee, as being weak on defense.
Seven mayors – five of them black – joined McAuliffe and Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack as they responded to Wednesday night speeches that Vice President Dick Cheney and Miller delivered to the Republican National Convention here.
“I hope you could sleep after those speeches last night,” McAuliffe “What you saw were two very angry speeches.”
McAuliffe chided Bush – who Thursday night accepted the nomination of his party to run for a second term as president – for the 1.8 million jobs lost on his watch, under funding the No Child Left Behind Act by $9 billion and a prescription drug bill that McAuliffe said has “made more money for the pharmaceutical companies while 45 million Americans have no health insurance at all.”
Vilsack said the American people haven’t heard much during the convention about Republican deeds “because there aren’t any.”
“We won’t hear about a record that’s been characterized by failure and an inability to lead,” he said.
The mayors spoke after Vilsack, each telling how Bush administration policies have had an adverse impact on their cities.
“They talk about everything except their record,” scolded Mayor Douglas Palmer of Trenton, N.J. “It’s been ‘mission accomplished’ for special interests, mission not accomplished for American cities.”
People in Trenton are less safe now, Palmer said, because the Bush administration cut the funding that would have put more police officers on the streets. Palmer scoffed at the very name of Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act.
“He’s left every child behind,” said Palmer. “My mom told me you take care of home first. We need a president who will help rebuild the cities here at home.”
Philadelphia Mayor John Street said there are fewer homeowners in his city, thanks to Bush administration policies.
“George Bush talks about an ownership society,” Street said. “In Philadelphia, federal funding for housing has been reduced 10 percent. New homes are less affordable. On home ownership in Philadelphia, mission not accomplished.”
Toledo, Ohio Mayor Jack Ford lamented the manufacturing jobs lost in his city during the last three years. Three different companies left town during the Bush administration, Ford said, taking 240 United Auto Workers jobs with them. He added that the Alcoa Company announced this week it is leaving town, which will result in a loss of another 140 UAW jobs.
“The 10 percent unemployment in Toledo is the equivalent of the loss of 16,000 jobs in four years,” Ford said. “For manufacturing jobs in Toledo, Ohio, mission not accomplished.”
Mayor Tom Barrett of Milwaukee and Bob Baines of Manchester, N.H. – the two white mayors in attendance – echoed similar sentiments, along with John Marks of Tallahassee, Fla. and Michael Coleman of Columbus, Ohio. The number of black mayors at the press conference may have prompted the question from a reporter who asked why the Republicans had no “people of color” speaking at their Wednesday night session.
“They’ve run out,” one voice from the podium said.
“It speaks for itself,” chimed in another.
Street criticized the tone of the Republican convention.
