Another duo comprising a pretty face and power brain visited UCF yesterday to persuade students to vote for John Kerry.
Actress Meg Ryan, popularly known for romantic comedies such as Sleepless in Seattle and When Harry met Sally, said she was concerned with how the current administration was treating the environment, "amongst other things."
In the standing-room only crowd that spilled out of the Student Union Key West Room, Ryan continued, "This administration seems to say that we have to choose between a healthy economy and a healthy environment. This seems all wrong to me."
She then introduced Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an environmental lawyer and the nephew of President John F. Kennedy.
Kennedy didn't waste any time jumping into problems he said have been caused by the current White House, claiming President George W. Bush and his administration have "mounted an all-out attack" on the environment during Bush's tenure.
The lawyer added that over the last four years, more than 400 environmental laws and policies have been dismantled or diminished due to the "concealed radical agenda" of Bush.
One such change relates to the amount of mercury in freshwater fish. "In 19 states, it's unsafe to eat freshwater fish, including Florida ... I had my levels of mercury tested and it's way over the level that's considered safe, and that's from eating fish," he said. Kennedy said that one out of six pregnant women have such high mercury levels in their wombs that it causes an average permanent loss of five to seven IQ points in their unborn children.
"This is the worst administration in the history of the presidency," Kennedy said in a phone interview prior to his campus visit. "He is in the pockets of his corporate contributors and has been carrying out a stealth attack on the environment even before he took office."
Kennedy detailed that attack, mentioning several Bush-placed administration officials who are slated to protect the environment but were previously paid by the people who now "subvert" the laws set in place.
"We've never seen anything like this in America," he said, concerning the corporate control the United States has experienced under Bush.
Urging students to vote for Kerry, Kennedy said a Bush win on Nov. 2 would be "hard to imagine" and "a catastrophe." He said that not only would the environment be dealt a permanent blow, but Bush's win would literally result in "children with lower IQs."
Not everything will be perfect if Kerry is elected, Kennedy said. "He's going to have a big job in reversing Bush's environmental record." He cited Bush's poor ranking by the League of Conservation Voters, which has awarded Kerry a 96 percent lifetime rating for his votes on environmental issues in the Senate. Kennedy contrasted this with Al Gore, who had a lifetime rating of only 73 percent.
"Let's be honest, anybody would be better than Bush," Kennedy said, "but Kerry will actually make the world a better place."
Not only would Kerry be a better vote because of his environmental record, Kennedy said that he is the person to vote for on most of the other issues in the election.
"Kerry has a record that's not based on chasing phantoms in Iraq ... he will bring fiscal responsibility back to the country," Kennedy said.
"The most important national security issue is our wasteful use of energy," Kennedy said, "which has led to our entanglement in Iraq. The faster we can make ourselves more fuel-efficient, the faster our country will be on the road to repair."
The media was to blame for Bush's chance at a re-election, he said. "There's no way this president could be considered for re-election, much less avoid impeachment, if the press was doing its job," Kennedy said.
Kennedy is touring dozens of colleges and other venues in swing states to convince students and environmentalists to vote for Kerry on Tuesday. His and Ryan's joint visit followed a campus appearance last week by the actor Leonardo DiCaprio and former EPA Administrator Carol Browner, who spoke on similar themes.
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