Making a rare appearance at Faneuil Hall yesterday, U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) lambasted the Bush administration’s continuing support for the war in Iraq as being responsible for rising taxes on the middle class and the absence of funds for affordable college programs.
Kerry compared the tax system to the one imposed on colonists by King George III that inspired patriots to rise up against Great Britain in the American Revolution.
“We can’t continue to allow this administration’s assault on America’s middle class,” he said. “We must turn our economy around.”
Kerry, who supported the war in 2003 but has since become one of its most vocal opponents, renewed his call to the administration to withdraw from combat.
“Bring our heroes home from the wrong war, in the wrong place and at the wrong time,” he said. “The future belongs not to fear but to freedom.”
Kerry also stressed the importance of halting global warming, which drew cheers from the crowd.
“Climate change is as serious and as real a problem as ever, but the rules are still being written for the special interest,” he said. “Choice is simple. We can be a leader or we can fall behind. We cannot afford not to act.”
Ian Pajer-Rogers, a Greenpeace representative, said he wished Kerry had focused more of his presentation on the environment.
“We’re here to be a visual presence,” Pajer-Rogers said. “Kerry is usually such an environmental supporter.”
Most attendees, who said they were already Kerry supporters, said the speech reaffirmed their support for the 2004 Democratic presidential candidate, who gave his concession speech that November from the same hall.
“He is firmly entrenched in the commonwealth,” said Clint Bramesco, a Danvers freelance audio technician who has worked with Kerry’s past election campaigns.
Some attendees said they were drawn by the mere presence and name recognition of Kerry, a well-known Capitol Hill veteran.
“I don’t go to a lot of political events,” said Laura Larson from the South Shore. “But I think he’s got a lot of experience and steam in him. He doesn’t mind going up against the opposition.”
David Kibbe, a reporter for The Cape Cod Times, said he believes Kerry will focus his legislative efforts to directly benefit Massachusetts after announcing earlier this year he would not make another bid for the presidency.
“Now that he’s not going to run for president, I think he’s trying to raise his image as a state politician,” Kibbe said. “He wants to keep his national profile, but raise his state profile . . . It’s been harder for him to get his message out, because certain things are [U.S. Sen. Edward] Kennedy’s. Kerry has to carve out his own areas.”