Then of course there is the OTHER card...similar to your pathetic accusastion that someone that speaks up isn't AMERICAN....Bush is doing the same foul thing
Bush Campaign Chief Calls Democrats
Weak on Security
By Michael Finnegan, Times Staff Writer
BOCA RATON, Fla. — The manager of President
Bush's reelection campaign portrayed Democratic
candidates Saturday as weak on terrorism and defense,
saying the 2004 race would offer a choice between
"victory in Iraq or insecurity in America."
The remarks by campaign chief Ken Mehlman
underscored the prominent role that the Bush team
expects national security to play in the president's
reelection effort. But his comments also led Democrats
to renew accusations that Bush was exploiting the Iraq
war and the fight against terrorism for political gain.
In a speech to Republican governors at a conference in
Palm Beach County, Mehlman spoke at length about
Bush's response to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. He
said the administration had dismantled terrorist cells in
Detroit, Seattle, Portland, Ore., Tampa, Fla., Buffalo,
N.Y., and northern Virginia; filed criminal charges against 286 people; and
detained more than 3,000 suspects in 90 countries.
"As long as George W. Bush is president, the front lines of the war on terror will
be Baghdad and Kandahar, not Boston and Kansas City," Mehlman said.
He went on to accuse unnamed Democrats of trying to "weaken the very laws
that bring terrorists to justice."
"When liberty's survival is threatened by terrorists in Iraq and elsewhere, our
leading critics offer weakness and vacillation," he said. "Instead of support, they
would cut and run." While touching on tax cuts and other issues, Mehlman made
war and terrorism the centerpiece of his campaign overview for 2004.
"Eleven months from now, we will choose between victory in Iraq or insecurity in
America," he said. "Eleven months from now, we will choose between more
money in the pockets of America's families or more money in the coffers of the
federal government in Washington. And 11 months from now, we will choose
between a leader of principle or a politician of protest, of pandering and of
pessimism."
Mehlman's remarks came a day before the Republican Party was to start running
a television ad that also trumpets Bush's record on terrorism. Democratic
candidates for president have denounced the ad, and aides were quick to criticize
Mehlman's comments for much the same reasons.
"Clearly, President Bush has made a decision to politicize the war on terror," said
Erik Smith, a spokesman for Rep. Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri. "Not only is
it beneath this president to do so, but it's particularly repugnant while we have
troops in the field of battle." Bush, he added, is using troops "as political pawns."
Tricia Enright, a spokeswoman for Democratic candidate Howard Dean, said the
president's advisors "obviously recognize that the American people are concerned
about Bush's handling of foreign policy" — most of all the war in Iraq.
"We're not safer here at home, and the American people are certainly feeling that
way," she said.
In January 2002, Karl Rove, Bush's top political advisor at the White House,
touched off a similar clash with Democrats when he spoke openly about the
political influence of the war in Afghanistan.
In a speech to Republicans in Austin, Texas, Rove urged GOP congressional
candidates to stress the war in their campaigns. Democrats expressed outrage,
but Republicans followed his advice — and went on to pick up seats in the
November election.
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