Just in case you thought that bush was above politics and didn't listen to polls...can you believe this shameless guy?
Al
=======================================
Bush Says: 'I Want to Be the Peace
President'
Tue Jul 20, 2004 08:32 PM ET
Printer Friendly | Email Article | Reprints | RSS
(Page 1 of 2)
By Adam Entous
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (Reuters) -
After launching two wars, President
Bush said on Tuesday he wanted
to be a "peace president" and took
swipes at his Democratic rivals for
being lawyers and weak on
defense.
With polls showing public support for the war in Iraq in decline, Bush cast himself
as a reluctant warrior and assured Americans they were "safer" as he
campaigned in the battleground states of Iowa and Missouri against Democrat
John Kerry and his running mate, former trial lawyer John Edwards.
"The enemy declared war on us," Bush told a re-election rally in Cedar Rapids.
"Nobody wants to be the war president. I want to be the peace president... The
next four years will be peaceful years." Bush used the words "peace" or "peaceful"
a total of 20 times.
Bush has called himself a "war president" in leading the United States in a battle
against terrorism brought about by the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America. "I'm a
war president. I make decisions here in the Oval Office in foreign policy matters with war on my mind," he
said in February.
Despite a surge in attacks in Iraq and U.S. warnings that al Qaeda is plotting another major strike, Bush said
U.S.-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq had already made America safer, and that his re-election would let
him finish the job.
Ahead of the release of a report detailing the breakdown in intelligence and security before the Sept. 11
attacks, Bush said, "We reorganized this government of ours to be better protect the people."
"For a while we were marching to war. Now we're marching to peace. ... America is a safer place. Four
more years and America will be safer and the world will be more peaceful," Bush said.
But a few hours later, at an evening rally in St. Charles, Missouri, Bush warned "the world will drift toward
tragedy" if America shows "weakness."
Bush was joined on the stump by his twin daughters, Jenna and Barbara, and campaign spokesman Scott
Stanzel said the twins would pair up for campaign appearances away from their father starting Tuesday
night in Missouri, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Stanzel said the events will be closed to the press.
Bush and Kerry are fighting hard in Iowa, which Bush lost to Democrat Al Gore in 2000 by just 4,144 votes,
or roughly two votes for every precinct. Recent polls give Kerry a narrow lead, but a Kerry aide said the Iowa
race and the one in Missouri remain a dead heat.
Bush won Missouri by 3 percentage points in 2000, and acknowledged in St. Charles that it would be a
tough race this year. Continued ... |
