To: MrLucky who wrote (51080 ) 9/12/2006 9:27:58 PM From: Lazarus_Long Respond to Go to Election GuideMore Politics News“The president was not making partisan remarks,” Tony Snow, the chief White House spokesman, said at a briefing. He said the president’s address, marking the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks, was “not a speech designed to single anyone out for partisan reasons.” Senators Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts and Charles E. Schumer of New York, who heads the Democrats’ Senate campaign drive, denounced Mr. Bush’s speech almost immediately. And Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader, sharply criticized Mr. Bush today. “On the fifth anniversary of Sept. 11, President Bush continued to try to justify the invasion of Iraq by drawing nonexistent links to the 9/11 attacks,” Ms. Pelosi said. “To try to make partisan gain out of such tragedy dishonors all those we lost on Sept. 11.” There were additional signals as the afternoon wore on. Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic minority leader, said he stood by his initial reaction that Mr. Bush’s speech was “partisan,” no matter how the White House described it. Mr. Reid was asked for his reaction to remarks by Representative John A Boehner of Ohio, the Republican majority leader, who wondered aloud at a news conference “whether Democrats are more interested in protecting the terrorists than protecting the American people.” “He’s a good guy,” Mr. Reid said during a question-answer session. “I like him. But haven’t we moved beyond that? Haven’t we moved beyond, the Republicans are more religious than Democrats? “I don’t know that that’s controversial,” Mr. Snow said. Democrats have long accused Mr. Bush and his top aides of disingenuously implying a link between the Iraq of Saddam Hussein and the 9/11 attacks. But on Monday night, Mr. Bush said, “I am often asked why we are in Iraq when Saddam Hussein was not responsible for the 9/11 attacks. The answer is that the regime of Saddam Hussein was a clear threat.”
