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Lieberman
meets local diners
Anti-poverty
message is focus of stop in Greenwood
January
19, 2004
By WALLACE
McBRIDE
Index-Journal
senior staff writer
 |
| From left, Taryn Palmore,
10, and grandmother Gwendolyn Gray meet Sen. Joseph
Lieberman Sunday at Workman’s Restaurant in Greenwood.
The Democratic presidential candidate visited the state
to unveil plans to reduce the nation’s poverty rate, but
spent much of the afternoon meeting voters in Greenwood
and the Lakelands area.
| Shirley Moggins waited
patiently near the exit of Workman’s Restaurant. Wearing a
red, white and blue sweater and a “Lieberman in 2000” pin, it
was no mystery why she was there.
Moggins drove four hours
from her home in Tennessee to meet Sen. Joseph Lieberman, but
was the last person in the restaurant to get to speak with the
Democratic presidential candidate.
“I drove all this way
just to tell him that Al Gore’s not always right,” she
said.
Lieberman was in Greenwood and the Lakelands area on
Sunday, trying to bolster his campaign for the Feb. 3
first-in-the-South Democratic primary. Lieberman’s South
Carolina stops were aimed at rural areas, as his “WinnebaJoe”
recreational vehicle brought his anti-poverty message to
Greenwood, Saluda and Aiken.
His tour began in Columbia,
where he unveiled his anti-poverty message at the historic
home of civil rights leader Modjeska Monteith Simkin. The
Connecticut senator said he would pick up where former
President Clinton left off and vowed to cut the poverty rate
to the lowest in history.
Lieberman’s plan calls for
expanding Individual Development Accounts, special savings
accounts that match investments dollar for dollar — on
the condition that proceeds be used to buy a home, invest in a
small business or upgrade education.
He said he wanted to
increase the earned-income tax credit and take the next steps
of welfare reform by increasing childcare funding and
expanding aid for legal immigrants.
The number of people
living in poverty is a “moral scandal,” Lieberman said. The
number has grown by 3 million people during President Bush’s
last two years in office and is now the size of the population
of California, nearly 35 million residents, he said.
In
South Carolina, one in seven people — and one in five children
— is living in poverty.
“The campaign is about restoring
the American dream for the American middle class,” Lieberman
said. “The Bush administration has turned its back on working
people and middle class people — jobs have been lost and
insurance can’t be afforded. I’m going to bring the country
together, keep it safe and create 10 million new jobs in four
years. That’s my promise.”
His visit to Greenwood was less
formal than his Columbia presentation. He arrived shortly
after lunch to speak with diners at Workman’s Restaurant,
lingering for an hour before heading on to his next campaign
stop.
“I was told you can’t run for president without
coming to Greenwood,” Lieberman told the crowd, many of whom
were surprised by the visit from a presidential
candidate.
“This is our favorite eating place,” said Linda
Carroll. Shortly before lunch, she and husband Marvin learned
that the senator would be visiting.
“When we heard he was
going to be here, we stayed around a little while longer so we
could meet him,” she said.
Those who simply expected to
meet the candidate got another surprise, as well. Lieberman’s
staff filmed the Workman’s event for use in upcoming
television campaign advertisements.
Because of its timing,
South Carolina’s primary will give voters in the Palmetto
State the opportunity to trim the numbers of Democratic
hopefuls, Lieberman said.
“This is the first time in a long
time — maybe the first time ever — you will be able to
determine who will be the next president of the United
States,” Lieberman told diners. “I can take this president on
where he’s supposed to be strong, on security and values,
where he hasn’t delivered for the American people.”
During
his stop at the American Legion Post 65 in Saluda, Lieberman
continued some of the themes he discussed in Greenwood, but
also talked about other issues, such as the Medicaid program.
“Medicaid is a good program,” he told the people gathered
at the American Legion.
“The program is being squeezed a
bit. We have to turn that around. We are promising to help
people on Medicaid,” he said.
Lieberman voted against a
Medicaid program he says would make it difficult for senior
citizens to get needed drugs.
“Fortunately, this doesn’t
go into effect until 2006. So, when I get into office in 2005,
I’ll fix that,” Lieberman said.
Saluda County Councilman
Sherman Lott asked Lieberman what he would do about helping
the homeless in this country.
“I love the space program,
but if you gave me a trillion dollars, I’d find a better use
here on earth,” he responded to a laughing
audience.
President Bush last week announced a proposal for
missions to the moon, and, eventually Mars.
“It’s a scandal
that about four million people and children are homeless,”
Lieberman said.
One issue raised was that soldiers weren’t
being treated fairly and not getting benefits after their
return from Iraq.
Lieberman, who served in the military,
gave his word that the “veterans will get what they need.”
Index-Journal staff writer Shavonne Potts and The
Associated Press contributed to this story.
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