Bush bashes Kerry in Dallas broadside
By Richard Tomkins
UPI White House Correspondent
Published 3/8/2004 5:11 PM
upi.com
WASHINGTON, March 8 (UPI) -- President George W. Bush was in full campaign mode Monday, slamming presumptive Democratic Party candidate John Kerry for policy flip-flops and for promoting an agenda of old bitterness and anger.
The United States, Bush said, needed strong leadership and "I will confront the big issues with optimism and resolve and determination. And Dick Cheney and I stand ready to lead this nation for four more years."
Bush's broadsides were delivered in Dallas at a campaign fundraiser near the end of a weekend at home on his Prairie Chapel Ranch in Crawford following policy and campaign events late last week in California.
Bush, who for a month had said it was not time to engage in campaigning, came out swinging last week once Kerry, the junior Democratic senator from Massachusetts, all but tied up his party's nomination in a tidal wave of primary victories.
"My opponent spent two decades in Congress," Bush said reprising an earlier attack. "He spent a long time in Washington and he's build up quite a record. Senator Kerry has been in Washington so long that he has taken both sides on just about every issue.
"Senator Kerry voted for the Patriot Act, for NAFTA, the No Child Left Behind Act and the liberation of Iraq," he added. "Now he opposes the Patriot Act, NAFTA, the no Child Left Behind Act and the liberation of Iraq.
Bush, speaking before a friendly audience, raised the banner on his leadership and his willingness to tackle tough issues.
Tax cuts were helping an economy rebound from recession, he said, the war on terrorism was being prosecuted, the military -- "under-funded and under-appreciated" -- when he came to Washington was gaining resources and respect, and his administration had tackled education reform and prescription drugs for seniors.
Kerry, he said, would cut back on his tax cuts, in effect raising taxes on the American people. Kerry talks about job creation, he added, but opposes the administration agenda for economic rebound, including tort reform, permanent tax cuts, cheaper health care and a new energy policy.
Bush said his policies had helped create 350,000 jobs over the past six months. Democrats point out, however, that more than 2 million have been lost since Bush came to office.
Throughout his remarks, Bush alluded to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the war on terrorism, the liberation of Afghanistan and the toppling of Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
"On national security, Americans have the clearest possible choice," he said. "My opponent says he approves of bold action in the world, but only if other countries don't object.
"I'm all for united action, and so are the 34 coalition partners we have in Iraq right now. America must never outsource America's national security decisions to the leaders of other countries."
Bush repeatedly contrasted his stand on issues with that of Kerry, considered one of the Senate's most liberal legislators.
Bush, who boomed in polling following the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, has been in pollster doldrums for weeks as Democrats on the campaign trail have slammed his policies and leadership without let up.
Bush is either even, or within a statistical tie, with Kerry in many of the surveys, but repeatedly tops the Massachusetts senator on issues of national security and combating terrorism.
U.S. economic growth has picked up recently. Bush cites that unemployment is down and holding at 5.6 percent, or 8 million people, but the uptick has failed to result in new hiring, leaving Democrats an issue upon which to hammer him.
The deficit is climbing and will top the $500 billion mark this year, but Bush claims his growth plans will halve the deficit within five years.
The United States had overcome adversity -- the recession, corporate scandals, the economic fall out of terrorist attack and war -- Bush said, and much remains to do, but "I've been witness to the character of this nation ... for our country, the nest days lie ahead."
In the past months when extolling policy achievements, Bush has adopted a conversation-style appearance template. In it, Bush meets privately with people and then appears with them in front of a larger audience of their friends and co-workers as flesh-and-blood testament to the benefits of his tax, education or medical policies.
In each he preaches a message of optimism. In each, he figuratively rolls up his sleeves, saying he was anxious to take his case to the American people.
"The voters have a very clear choice in this election, between keeping the tax relief that is moving this economy forward, or putting the burden of higher taxes back on the American people." He said. "A clear choice between an America that leads the world with strength and confidence, or an America that is uncertain in the face of danger.
"I look forward to setting the alternative squarely before the American people."
Bush, in response to the pummeling he has received during the Democratic primary process, released his first television campaign ads of the election year -- four 30-second blinks that extol his leadership in a time of trial and extol America overcoming adversity.
Although the ads do not attack his opponent, Democrats have slammed Bush for using images of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The Bush-Cheney campaign organization, meanwhile, has been working to establish a grass-roots campaign machine for what they predict will be an election as close as 2000.
Bush has raised more than $140 million for a campaign that is still eight months away from the finish line. Figures for Monday's Bush-Cheney luncheon in Dallas were still not available, but his California appearances boosted campaign coffers by an additional $1.5 million.
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