Kerry Mocks Bush's 'Scowling Faces,' Leadership
Oct 9, 3:21 PM ET
By Patricia Wilson
ELYRIA, Ohio (Reuters) - Democratic challenger John Kerry on Saturday claimed victory over President Bush in their second debate, mocked his rival's "scowling faces" and scoffed at the Republican incumbent's leadership skills.
The Massachusetts senator, campaigning in the vital battleground state of Ohio the morning after he and Bush faced off in a testy 90-minute exchange on Iraq (news - web sites), jobs and taxes, also expressed incredulity at the president's inability to own up to any mistakes.
"Do we want leadership -- as it's called -- that can't face reality and admit mistakes, or do we want leadership that sees the truth and tells the truth to the American people?" Kerry asked thousands of cheering supporters on a sports field at Lorain Community College in Elyria.
Kerry said the United States needed "not a single-minded leader, but a clear-headed leader, not a headstrong leader, but a well-reasoned leader."
Bush was sharper and more aggressive in Thursday night's debate in St. Louis than he was during their first encounter, but many analysts said he sometimes appeared angry and defensive in an effort to compensate for his lackluster performance in Miami on Sept. 30.
Kerry pounced on Bush's demeanor to help make his argument the president had come out second best.
"The reason I thought he was making all those scowling faces was because he saw the latest job numbers and he feels like most Americans -- pretty upset about them," Kerry said.
Hours before their town hall-style confrontation, the U.S. Labor Department (news - web sites) released unemployment figures showing the economy added an anemic 96,000 jobs in September, well short of forecasts for 148,000 new hires.
Bush and Kerry, who are locked in a dead heat less than a month before the Nov. 2 election, meet in Tempe, Arizona, on Wednesday for their final debate.
"Two and 0, and we're moving onto the third and I look forward to it," Kerry said. Opinion polls showed the Democrat won the first matchup easily but most surveys gave him only a slight edge in the second or deemed it a virtual tie.
The Tempe debate will be devoted to domestic issues and Kerry previewed the tack he will take, accusing Bush of making the wrong choices for the U.S. economy as well as on the war in Iraq.
"It's not just in Iraq, it's right here at home, where every day the middle class is struggling to get ahead," he said. " Four more years of the wrong choices or four years of beginning to move America in the direction that creates jobs, creates health care, puts America's respect back where it ought to be."
Kerry portrayed Bush as stubborn and out of touch with reality.
"For me, the most stunning moment of the whole evening was when George Bush (news - web sites) was asked to name three mistakes ... and the president couldn't even name one mistake," Kerry said. "He sort of glossed it over by saying 'I made some mistakes in the appointments that I made but I don't want to tell anybody who they are -- it might embarrass them."'
"Well, now every member of the Cabinet ... is standing around wondering was it that Cabinet member that disappeared or this Cabinet member that didn't tell the truth. I just want him to know I agree with him about those bad appointments.
Senior Kerry adviser Mike McCurry said the Bush campaign had backed itself into a corner by choosing a strategy of not acknowledging any shortcomings in decision-making or miscalculations on policy, especially on Iraq.
"That's a conscious choice and they have to live with that -- they can't backtrack on that now," McCurry said. "But there's point where that walks right into pig-headedness and that's the danger for them." |
