Bush warms up his new campaign speech
Bush Takes a Brief Break From Relaxing to Rake in $7 Million
By DAVID E. SANGER - NEW YORK TIMES
CRAWFORD, Tex., July 20 - President Bush never seems happier or more relaxed than when he is back here at his ranch. But this weekend, unwinding proved particularly profitable: He raised $7 million from Texas Republicans with minimal effort and was whisked back to his own living room by sunset ? exactly how the rest of his summer is shaping up.
Mr. Bush spoke at two fund-raisers, one on Friday night in Dallas and another on Saturday evening in Houston, delivering a version of his new campaign speech at each stop. The speech is about 2,700 words long. So, if this weekend was representative, his campaign coffers swell by about $1,300 a word ? not bad for a weekend, especially one primarily devoted to tending to the ranch.
The new speech starts with an elephant joke: Mr. Bush says that, at a nature reserve in Botswana during his recent Africa trip, "I learned a lot about our party's mascot."
In Houston, he next told the crowd of about 700 that "you're laying the groundwork for what is going to be a great national victory in November of 2004." Then he praises his staff and refers to Vice President Dick Cheney, no slouch at fund-raising either in recent weeks, to set up his other laugh-line of the night.
"Our country has had no finer vice president than Dick Cheney," Mr. Bush said at both fund-raisers, and then, after waiting for the applause to die down, he added: "Mother may have a different thought." It is a reference, of course, to President Bush's father, who served as a far less influential vice president to Ronald Reagan than Mr. Cheney is to the current president.
But what is most interesting about Mr. Bush's new speech is the way that he puts the two brief wars of his presidency ? first in Afghanistan, then in Iraq ? to political use. Mr. Bush makes no references to the troubles American forces have encountered in each country or the near-daily attacks on American troops around Iraq. Instead, he portrays himself as a liberator.
"Fifty million people in those two countries once lived under tyranny," Mr. Bush said in Houston. "Today, they live in freedom."
He has a riff on the economy as well, one that describes himself as inheriting a mess, facing a war, combating corruption and taking decisive action. It is hardly the spin that Mr. Bush's political opponents might put on the same era.
"Two and a half years ago, we inherited an economy in recession," Mr. Bush said in Houston. "And then the attacks on our country, and scandals in corporate America, and war affected the people's confidence," he added, speaking in shorthand about the major headlines of the past 2 1/2 years. "But we acted. We passed tough new laws to hold corporate criminals to account. And to get the economy going again, we have twice led the United States Congress to pass historic tax relief for the American people."
There is no mention, not surprisingly, of the record deficits or the rising unemployment rate ? though clearly those issues are at the forefront of his political team's concerns as Mr. Bush prepares to travel this week to Philadelphia and Michigan to make the case for his economic policy. (It is a trip he will combine with more fund-raising.)
Mr. Bush is expected to return here next weekend and stay until Labor Day, though leaving for more trips to press his economic agenda and raise money.
Mr. Bush did not dally in Houston on Saturday evening ? he flew straight back to the ranch. Around noon today, he led selected victims on his staff in a three-mile run in the 100-degree heat, with a medical team keeping pace. He then showed up late this afternoon to greet Italy's embattled prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, as he landed on the president's helicopter pad for an overnight visit.
Mr. Berlusconi was one of the few European supporters of the war in Iraq, and his visit here underscored the fact that France's president, Jacques Chirac, and Germany' chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, who opposed American efforts to build a broader coalition, are not likely to find themselves dining under the stars in Crawford anytime soon.
Mr. Bush could not resist tweaking the members of the news media as they stood in the blazing sun awaiting a glimpse of a Crawford tradition: the president, driving his white pickup truck with Texas plates, arriving to pick up his guests.
As he passed a collection of sweating American and Italian reporters, Mr. Bush, showing his compassionate conservative side, rolled down his window, waved, and said: "Let me turn down my air conditioner ? how y'all doing out there?"
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