Washington, Mar 11: Democratic White House candidate John Kerry slammed his Republican critics as ``crooked`` liars and met
former rival Howard Dean to discuss ways to work together to beat President George W Bush in November.
Kerry and Dean, bitter opponents in the Democratic primaries, yesterday met for an hour in Kerry`s Washington Headquarters and aides said Dean would make a formal endorsement of the Massachusetts Senator in the next few weeks.
At a morning stop in Illinois, Kerry criticized Bush`s economic record and renewed his promise to repeal tax cuts for the wealthy and boost tax relief for the middle class. He told a worker in
Chicago, in an exchange picked up by television microphones, that his Republican critics ``are the most crooked, you know, lying group I`ve ever seen.``
Spokesman David Wade said Kerry was referring to ``The Republican attack machine`` and not specifically to bush or Vice President Dick
Cheney, although he said Bush had ``a pattern of standing by while other people ... Do his dirty work for him.``
Bureau Report
