Posted on 08/10/2004 4:28:34 PM PDT by Former Military Chick
President Bush mocked rival John Kerry's stand on the Iraq war Tuesday and rejected the Democrat's timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops as the Republican campaigned with Kerry pal and Vietnam War hero Sen. John McCain.
Seeking to shore up his support in the military rich, GOP-leaning Florida panhandle, Mr. Bush assailed Kerry on the dominant issue of the campaign as the incumbent made his 24th trip to the swing state that narrowly ensured his election in 2000.
"Now, almost two years after he voted for the war in Iraq, and almost 220 days after switching positions to declare himself the anti-war candidate, my opponent has found a new nuance," Mr. Bush said. "After months of questioning my motives and even my credibility, Sen. Kerry now agrees with me."
Mr. Bush added sarcastically that Kerry still had time to change his position: "There are still 84 days left in the campaign."
In October 2002, Kerry voted to give the president the military authority to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein — a vote he said Monday that he stands by despite the failure to find weapons of mass destruction. But the four-term Massachusetts senator added that Mr. Bush used the authority poorly, rushing to war with limited allied support and little thought to an end game.
Kerry's national security adviser, Rand Beers, said Tuesday that "the issue has never been whether we were right to hold Saddam accountable, the issue is that we went to war without our allies, without properly equipping our troops and without a plan to win the peace."
Beers was the No. 2 anti-terror official in Bush's National Security Council until he resigned in March 2003, just after the Iraq invasion. He posed questions for Mr. Bush, among them: "Knowing what you know now, do you still believe that you made no mistakes in how you took this country to war?"
Kerry also said Monday that he hoped to begin reducing the number of U.S. forces in Iraq within six months of taking office if he is elected. "It is an appropriate goal to have," he said, but added that achieving it would depend on broader international assistance, better stability within Iraq and other related factors.
Mr. Bush said Tuesday he opposed Kerry's proposal.
"What we don't want is to cut short the mission. We don't want politics to decide the mission," Mr. Bush said at a question-and-answer session with supporters in Niceville, Fla.
"The key is not to set artificial timelines" that would, Mr. Bush said, signal to the enemy, "Gosh, all we've got to do is wait them out."
Kerry was campaigning Tuesday in the swing state of Nevada, where he sought to exploit local opposition to the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste site.
"But this isn't just a Las Vegas issue or a Nevada issue. It's an American issue," Kerry told fire and rescue workers at a school in Las Vegas. "Under the Yucca Mountain plan, more than 50,000 shipments of waste would travel just yards away from homes, hospitals, parks and playgrounds in states across this country."
Kerry charged the president with flip-flopping on the issue, first opposing and now supporting creation of the repository in Nevada. Republicans have leveled the same charge against Kerry, saying he supported the project on several occasions.
But Kerry says those were procedural votes, and when the real votes were taken he opposed the project.
Kerry talked about nuclear waste after leaving his last stop in Arizona, where he pledged that a Democratic White House would listen and respond to financially strained families. He was winding down a Southwestern train trek and steering his coast-to-coast campaign into Nevada and California.
The president was joined in Florida by McCain, the Arizona Republican and forner POW who has come to Kerry's defense on several occasions during the campaign. Most recently, McCain called on the White House to repudiate an ad that accused Kerry of lying about his decorated military record in Vietnam.
The White House declined.
McCain and Mr. Bush were foes in 2000, who displayed little mutual admiration. McCain joked in the 2000 campaign that as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam, he slept more soundly knowing that Mr. Bush was defending the shores of Texas from invasion.
There was no talk of disputes Tuesday.
"My friends, this president understands the challenge," McCain told nearly 10,000 Bush supporters in Pensacola.
"he still has time to change his position"--and more than once.
I was worried that Bush was going to promise McCain that he would comment negatively on the Swiftees in exchange for McCain's continued support.
But since Bush has let the issue ride the last few days it looks like Bush might be going to let the Swiftees have their say. Good.
I saw McClellan denounce the ad and the 527 groups myself. Why is CBS lying about this? Oh...
Sarcasm it may be, but I'd be willing to lay a healthy bet that Kerry will in fact change his position on Iraq at least once in the next 84 days.
. . .and what it means for the United Nations and 'the profit driven - at anyone's expense; save their own' who are the movers and shakers of the UN.
Does there seem to be a really snarky undertone to this article, or is it just me?
Snarky it is.
I'm trying to figure this out. I don't think I have ever heard the President talk like this before. You?
And he did a damn good job of it. How many planes did McCain down? Five wasn't it? But they were all American. America's first reverse Ace.
=== "After months of questioning my motives and even my credibility, Sen. Kerry now agrees with me."
The Democratic convention was one extended pro-war rally.
I think they're hopeful the Dysgenics will enlist and save either head of hydra the headache of instituting a draft.
Imagine that! The flip-flopper in chief accusing GWB of the same. Ha! And when the article uses the terms "mocked", "assailed", and "sarcastically", it certainly does sound snarky.
Kerry's life in one sentence. Where do you want to store it Senator? Or are you going to tell us after if you are elected.
I think CBS means it to be snarky, but they're just making Bush look decisive and Kerry look weak.
Good pic, chick!
Kerry also said Monday that he hoped to begin reducing the number of U.S. forces in Iraq within six months of taking office if he is elected. "It is an appropriate goal to have," he said, but added that achieving it would depend on broader international assistance, better stability within Iraq and other related factors.
This is a crazy statement to make. The enemy can just lay low for 6 mos. if he is elected. Then they can have the place back.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.