Mislead about Kerry and Heinz Co?

[CagedTroll]

From a closed thread:

Originally Posted by bwsmom

<SNIP> Heinz is not owned by John Kerry, but he is a direct beneficiary of it. <SNIP> He reaps a ton of benefits from his wife's companies and fortune, and he's not afraid to flaunt it <SNIP>. As with his constituents, he's more than happy to attack the President for something that he himself is doing behind America's back.

Okay, it's not like GWB wasn't born into money. Segway scooters aren't cheap.

Second, isn't there something about "conflict of interest" that requires politicians to sell stock they own in companies? Theresa Heinz late husband sold his shares before entering the Senate.

[Only registered and activated users can see links. Either login above or Register Now] Citing casual references on television and talk radio shows and in political cartoons, H.J. Heinz Co. said it is concerned the public might be misled into believing it has connections to the likely Democratic nominee, John Kerry and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry. "We have noticed a lot of conversations where in an off-hand way Heinz is referred to as the 'family business,' and we wanted to set the record straight," said spokeswoman Debbie Foster. Heinz said that the H.J. Heinz corporate foundation has no connections with the Howard Heinz Endowment, the Vira Heinz Endowment and the Heinz Family Philanthropies, which are controlled to varying degrees by Theresa Heinz Kerry. The non-corporate Heinz foundations collectively hold less than four percent of Heinz's stock, Foster said, adding that H.J. Heinz is a non-partisan organization.

[mayor]

Personally, I could give a rip about Heinz Ketchup, or how Kerry has become wealthy. He has been on the public dole for something like 35 years and never held a real job, that I know of.

[CagedTroll]

Originally Posted by mayor

Personally, I could give a rip about Heinz Ketchup, or how Kerry has become wealthy. He has been on the public dole for something like 35 years and never held a real job, that I know of.

A real job? GWB had one WHEN??? From '77-'82 Kerry was a District Attorney. That's not working? And where''s the "35 years" coming from? What "public dole"? Are you talking about "veteran's benefits"???

I'm bouncing around the web trying to find a source for the "Heinz Ketchup Outsourcing"="Kerry Hypocricy" story. It's utter nonsense, with nothing supporting it, but bwsmom is hardly the only one thinking it's worth spreading. Actually, she's among the more polite commentators. Where did you guys get this one from??? (I'm guessing Rush or somebody on FoxNews... )

[Taxman]

Originally Posted by CagedTroll

A real job? GWB had one WHEN??? From '77-'82 Kerry was a District Attorney. That's not working? And where''s the "35 years" coming from? What "public dole"? Are you talking about "veteran's benefits"???

I'm bouncing around the web trying to find a source for the "Heinz Ketchup Outsourcing"="Kerry Hypocricy" story. It's utter nonsense, with nothing supporting it, but bwsmom is hardly the only one thinking it's worth spreading. Actually, she's among the more polite commentators. Where did you guys get this one from??? (I'm guessing Rush or somebody on FoxNews... )

I think that Mayor was referring to the fact that Kerry has been a public servant for the past 35 +/- years while GWB has spent the majority of his life in the private sector.

As for the Kerry outsourcing thing, the mentions of it that I've seen broke down all the places that Heinz has moved factories to. However, like you mentioned, Mrs. Kerry has little ownership in the company.

What I'd like to talk more about is the Kerry campaign's tactic of using Mrs. Kerry's various nonprofits to produce attack ads in an effort to portray those attacks as being nonpolitical in nature.

[CagedTroll]

Originally Posted by Taxman

I think that Mayor was referring to the fact that Kerry has been a public servant for the past 35 +/- years while GWB has spent the majority of his life in the private sector.

As for the Kerry outsourcing thing, the mentions of it that I've seen broke down all the places that Heinz has moved factories to. However, like you mentioned, Mrs. Kerry has little ownership in the company.

What I'd like to talk more about is the Kerry campaign's tactic of using Mrs. Kerry's various nonprofits to produce attack ads in an effort to portray those attacks as being nonpolitical in nature.

Okay, "Comp time" and "tequila" are synonamous so the math is Far East Fuzzy right now, for ME. But I'm not 35 years old. I caught bits of Kerry's '71 appearance on Dick Cavett on C-Span last night. By '71 he was out of Viet Nam, so unless I'm older than I think I am, that's closer to 30 years than 35.

As for Private Sectoring... GWB's Harken Oil/Baseball Team/Funeral Home adventures all had something to do with the Bush/Walker family enterprise connections. To say that he was in the "Private Sector" kind of begs the question of how I get members of the Bin Laden family to invest in MY corporate ventures... (There's a lot spin on that, I know... Doesn't negate the point.)

As for 3rd parties producing campaign attack ads, if that was important why didn't the Right Wing vote for John McCain, who actually wanted to do something about that??? Roger Aisles (of FoxNews) is linked to 3rd party ads about Willie Horton (that helped Bush, Sr.). Sr.'s win helped Jr later. Do we really wanna change the rules now? Why not then???

[Taxman]

Originally Posted by CagedTroll

Okay, "Comp time" and "tequila" are synonamous so the math is Far East Fuzzy right now, for ME. But I'm not 35 years old. I caught bits of Kerry's '71 appearance on Dick Cavett on C-Span last night. By '71 he was out of Viet Nam, so unless I'm older than I think I am, that's closer to 30 years than 35.

The military is in the public sector.

As for Private Sectoring... GWB's Harken Oil/Baseball Team/Funeral Home adventures all had something to do with the Bush/Walker family enterprise connections. To say that he was in the "Private Sector" kind of begs the question of how I get members of the Bin Laden family to invest in MY corporate ventures... (There's a lot spin on that, I know... Doesn't negate the point.)

So he didn't run a Mom 'n Pop joint. The private sector is still more rigorous than the public anyway you cut it, even if he did get a leg up due to his family (unlike that poor Massachusetts boy, right? )

As for 3rd parties producing campaign attack ads, if that was important why didn't the Right Wing vote for John McCain, who actually wanted to do something about that??? Roger Aisles (of FoxNews) is linked to 3rd party ads about Willie Horton (that helped Bush, Sr.). Sr.'s win helped Jr later. Do we really wanna change the rules now? Why not then???

That's not the point. I don't like the 3rd party attack ads from anyone. What I really took issue with was the subterfuge that was employed to hide the fact the Teresa Heinz-Kerry was the ringleader in it all.

[chippers21]

All politics is dirty. All politicians are corrupt. You just have to decide which corrupt politician you like better. Good luck.

[bassmount]

Originally Posted by CagedTroll

Okay, "Comp time" and "tequila" are synonamous so the math is Far East Fuzzy right now, for ME. But I'm not 35 years old. I caught bits of Kerry's '71 appearance on Dick Cavett on C-Span last night. By '71 he was out of Viet Nam, so unless I'm older than I think I am, that's closer to 30 years than 35.

As for Private Sectoring... GWB's Harken Oil/Baseball Team/Funeral Home adventures all had something to do with the Bush/Walker family enterprise connections. To say that he was in the "Private Sector" kind of begs the question of how I get members of the Bin Laden family to invest in MY corporate ventures... (There's a lot spin on that, I know... Doesn't negate the point.)

As for 3rd parties producing campaign attack ads, if that was important why didn't the Right Wing vote for John McCain, who actually wanted to do something about that??? Roger Aisles (of FoxNews) is linked to 3rd party ads about Willie Horton (that helped Bush, Sr.). Sr.'s win helped Jr later. Do we really wanna change the rules now? Why not then???

2004- 1971=33
Which could be considered close to either 30 or 35.

[luvmetender]

Originally Posted by mayor

Personally, I could give a rip about Heinz Ketchup, or how Kerry has become wealthy. He has been on the public dole for something like 35 years and never held a real job, that I know of.

Me thinks Mr. Mayor is getting a wee bit testy

Both candidates are wealthy. GWB from his family, JFK from his wife, who cares? Yawn.... move on people....

I'm not sure what "public dole" means. I thought "on the dole" was an english term for welfare.

[bwsmom]

Originally Posted by CagedTroll

The non-corporate Heinz foundations collectively hold less than four percent of Heinz's stock, Foster said, adding that H.J. Heinz is a non-partisan organization.

Okay, I'll bite.... exactly how much (in dollars) does that 4% equate to? And, if she didn't get her money from the Heinz companies, where did it come from....?

The point I was making in the other thread was that Kerry's criticizing the Bush administration for allowing jobs to be outsourced to other countries, and yet 59 of the 74 Heinz product factories are in nations other than the U.S.! How can he stand in judgment on this issue when he has ties to a company that does the same thing (and on a rather large scale at that)?

[luvmetender]

Originally Posted by bwsmom

Okay, I'll bite.... exactly how much (in dollars) does that 4% equate to? And, if she didn't get her money from the Heinz companies, where did it come from....?

The point I was making in the other thread was that Kerry's criticizing the Bush administration for allowing jobs to be outsourced to other countries, and yet 59 of the 74 Heinz product factories are in nations other than the U.S.! How can he stand in judgment on this issue when he has ties to a company that does the same thing (and on a rather large scale at that)?

But, bwsmom, he has no control whatsoever over the Heinz factories. He happened to marry the widow of Senator Heinz, who inherited her late husband's part of the Heinz family fortune. Is it really fair to expect Kerry to be accountable for that company?

[bwsmom]

Originally Posted by luvmetender

But, bwsmom, he has no control whatsoever over the Heinz factories. He happened to marry the widow of Senator Heinz, who inherited her late husband's part of the Heinz family fortune. Is it really fair to expect Kerry to be accountable for that company?

No, I don't expect him to be accountable for it, but I do expect he'd think twice before "casting stones", considering the "glass house" (or is that "houses"?) he's living in...

[luvmetender]

Originally Posted by bwsmom

No, I don't expect him to be accountable for it, but I do expect he'd think twice before "casting stones", considering the "glass house" (or is that "houses"?) he's living in...

I can understand why people might feel that way, but maybe he did think twice. For all we know, he hates the way the Heinz Company is run. I'm just saying, I don't think we should judge his viewpoints by looking at the practices of a company that he really has nothing to do with except he happened to marry one of the inheritants of that company.

[crazytimes]

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I'm surpised no one has posted this yet. This puts everything in perspective.

[bwsmom]

Originally Posted by crazytimes

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I'm surpised no one has posted this yet. This puts everything in perspective.

Any chance you could copy & paste the text from that? My computer takes forever and a day to load up Adobe...