Kerry, Not EIB, Has Problem With H. J. Heinz

And it goes on to say that there’s no connection between any philanthropic programs of the H. J. Heinz Company and its foundation and the Heinz family interests, including various members including Teresa Heinz. “Currently 60% of the sales of the H. J. Heinz Company are outside the United States, and to accommodate those customers by providing facilities closer to those markets, the company maintains a number of overseas facilities that provide products for consumers in those markets. This allows Heinz to pack the freshest ingredients, tailor its recipes to local tastes, and deliver the final products in a timely and efficient manner.”
Maybe pay cheaper labor, too, but I guess this is true because I haven’t seen the Heinz Canned Goat’s Eyes that might be available in other parts of the world where they might have factories. You can’t find Heinz Canned Fried Goat’s Eyes in any U.S. supermarket. They’re just not there. So that would be, you know, why they have to tailor to specific diets and tastes around the country. Now, that’s the fax. Here’s the — what a great headline, and this is the Associated Press business writer — great headline: “Heinz Seeks to Disavow Kerry Connection.” This is what I saw last night. Said, “Whoa, what is this?” I thought, “Maybe they’re going to disavow themselves to John Kerry!” and in a way they are.
“H. J. Heinz Company has launched an election year campaign of its own, this one to distance the ketchup maker from what is shaping up to be an acrimonious presidential rate. The company has sent nearly 50 letters to radio and TV talk shows nationwide to tamp down chatter on the airwaves and Internet suggesting revenue from the ketchup sales will benefit the campaign of pending Democrat presidential nominee John Kerry.” I hate to… This is naturally the AP take, but I just read you the fax, and it doesn’t specifically say that. It says that the Heinzes and the Heinz-Kerrys and the Kerrys have nothing to do with H. J. Heinz Company, but the word “disavow” isn’t in this.

I think it’s about something else. I think the Heinz people are starting to get a little concerned because Kerry, who’s married to Heinz, is out there talking about “Benedict Arnold corporations” and “outsourcing” and all that, and so the news has been filled lately with the fact. And try this. Of the — What is it? I don’t know, 72, something like I don’t know what. Fifty-seven. I don’t know what the total is. Fifty-seven Heinz factories are located overseas. Have you’ve seen the label? Fifty-seven varieties. Fifty-seven of their factories are located overseas. The number in the United States is in the twenties, and so I think the purpose of this is to defend their foreign operations, and if they’re trying to disavow anything, it’s that they are a Benedict Arnold corporation as the husband of one of their heirs, heiresses — whatever, inheritors — is out saying.
So, however the disavowal you want to take it, how you want to take the disavowal, the fact is that here’s a guy — what would you call this? He’s actually, you know what the old phrase is. [pause] Pardon me on this, folks. He’s “going to the bathroom where he eats.” You know, here he is. He’s ripping all these companies. That’s what he’s doing, Dawn. All of these outsourcing and Benedict Arnold complaints and ripping on these corporations. Lo and behold, one of them is H. J. Heinz and they want to make it clear, “Hey, we got nothing to do with that campaign. We’ve got nothing to do with her. She’s got nothing to do with the way this company runs, publicly held,” which we appreciate, by the way. But here they are telling us why they have all these factories over there, because they need fresh ingredients and different recipes for different diets and this sort of thing. Quite fascinating. The headline is what got me though: “Heinz Seeks to Disavow Kerry Connection,” first of many of these, probably.
Let me say one thing about this Heinz business. I don’t want the Heinz people to misunderstand me here, and I just want to clear this up. By the way, they have 79 factories, 57 of them overseas. So my advanced math capabilities tell me, that means they’ve got 22 domestic factories; 57 factories overseas. My problem? I don’t have a problem with American companies that have factories overseas, and I don’t want anybody to think that I do. Zilch, zero, nada. I don’t have one problem with the way Heinz conducts business. None — zip, zero, nada — and I’m honored that they sent me a fax to explain themselves. My problem with this story is that Teresa Heinz and her husband live extremely well off of money that has been made by this company for which they had nothing to do with earning.

And yet they, who have benefited for doing nothing to get this money that Heinz actually produced and earned itself, they go around and condemn the practices of companies like Heinz and call them “Benedict Arnold corporations” and “tax evaders” and this sort of thing. The problem is between H. J. Heinz and Teresa and John Kerry, as far as I’m concerned, not H. J. Heinz and the media. If Teresa Heinz and John Kerry are so upset with Benedict Arnold corporations — which is their name, by the way; that’s Kerry’s name for these outfits — then you’d think that they’d divest themselves of all the assets and associations that they have with H. J. Heinz. Benedict Arnold sought to overthrow his government, he was a traitor. [Kerry]’s calling these corporations traitors. He’s living off of H. J. Heinz! Let’s be honest: John Kerry is living off of H. J. Heinz while he sits there and condemns them.
He had nothing to do with producing and earning the money that he lives off, but he sits there and condemns it. It is typical of liberal Democrats to place themselves as “men of the people” and they understand what things are like at the corner of 15th and Highland outside the black church, but when it comes to their money, they have this absolutely no interest in you knowing how they got it. They don’t want you to know they’ve got it. They want you to think this is just the exact opposite about it. They want you to think that you’re one of them, when they’re part of the elite, condescending group looking down on everybody. It’s just hypocrisy run amuck. So just everybody understand: I don’t have one problem with H. J. Heinz, how they do business. Not me, not me. It’s John Kerry that does, and if he were really serious about it, he would refuse to live off any of that ill-gotten, Benedict Arnold corporation money? Am I not right? (shuffling papers) Of course I’m right.
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