Bush and Kerry step up the war of words
Oct 17, 2004
PRESIDENT Bush questioned Sen. John Kerry’s fitness to lead and the Democrat said Bush had ignored the middle class as they took their close presidential race on Saturday to two crucial states.
By Peter Cooney
PRESIDENT Bush questioned Sen. John Kerry’s fitness to lead and the Democrat said Bush had ignored the middle class as they took their close presidential race on Saturday to two crucial states.
With polls showing a virtually deadlocked contest just 17 days before the Nov. 2 election, Bush toured Florida where he called Kerry a political opportunist unfit to lead amid “great threats†to America. He said Kerry’s vote a year ago against a request for $87 billion to fund the Iraq war was at odds with his earlier vote to authorize the use of force.
“His contradictions call into question his credibility and his ability to lead our nation,†said Bush, accompanied by his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, on a bus tour of the state that sent him to the White House in 2000 after a recount battle ultimately decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Bush also criticised comments by Kerry in the Des Moines Register that there was “great potential†for a military draft if Bush were re-elected — even though Bush said in a televised debate with Kerry this week there would not be one.
“We will not have a draft,†Bush told a rally in Daytona Beach, Florida. “No matter what my opponent tries to tell people and scare them, we will have an all-volunteer army. The only person talking about a draft is my opponent.â€
Kerry was in Ohio, another electoral battleground, where he ripped Bush’s economic record. The Massachusetts senator has paid 20 visits this year to the closely contested state that went narrowly for Bush in 2000 but has lost 173,000 manufacturing jobs during his presidency.
“Mr. President, the millions of Americans who have lost jobs on your watch are not ‘myths,’ they are middle-class families — and for four years, you’ve turned your back on them,†Kerry told a town hall meeting. His comments followed remarks this week by Treasury Secretary John Snow that “Claims like the one that Bush will be the first president to end a term with fewer jobs than when he started are nothing more than ‘myths.â€â€™
Kerry picked up the editorial endorsement of The New York Times, which in its Sunday editions characterized Bush’s presidency as “disastrous†and accused him of “turning the government over to the radical right.â€
It said Kerry “has qualities that could be the basis for a great chief executive, not just a modest improvement on the incumbent.â€
Bush held a 4-point lead over Kerry among likely voters for the second consecutive day, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Saturday.
Polls published on Saturday by Time and Newsweek magazines showed the two candidates virtually deadlocked. Newsweek’s poll, conducted on Thursday and Friday, showed Bush leading Kerry by 48% 46% among registered voters. Time’s survey, conducted the same days, showed 48 percent support for Bush among likely voters, versus 46 percent for Kerry. Both polls had a 4-point margin of error.
The two candidates have accused each other of being out of touch with reality on domestic issues like the economy and health care and on Iraq and the war on terror.
Reuters
PRESIDENT Bush questioned Sen. John Kerry’s fitness to lead and the Democrat said Bush had ignored the middle class as they took their close presidential race on Saturday to two crucial states.
With polls showing a virtually deadlocked contest just 17 days before the Nov. 2 election, Bush toured Florida where he called Kerry a political opportunist unfit to lead amid “great threats†to America. He said Kerry’s vote a year ago against a request for $87 billion to fund the Iraq war was at odds with his earlier vote to authorize the use of force.
“His contradictions call into question his credibility and his ability to lead our nation,†said Bush, accompanied by his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, on a bus tour of the state that sent him to the White House in 2000 after a recount battle ultimately decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Bush also criticised comments by Kerry in the Des Moines Register that there was “great potential†for a military draft if Bush were re-elected — even though Bush said in a televised debate with Kerry this week there would not be one.
“We will not have a draft,†Bush told a rally in Daytona Beach, Florida. “No matter what my opponent tries to tell people and scare them, we will have an all-volunteer army. The only person talking about a draft is my opponent.â€
Kerry was in Ohio, another electoral battleground, where he ripped Bush’s economic record. The Massachusetts senator has paid 20 visits this year to the closely contested state that went narrowly for Bush in 2000 but has lost 173,000 manufacturing jobs during his presidency.
“Mr. President, the millions of Americans who have lost jobs on your watch are not ‘myths,’ they are middle-class families — and for four years, you’ve turned your back on them,†Kerry told a town hall meeting. His comments followed remarks this week by Treasury Secretary John Snow that “Claims like the one that Bush will be the first president to end a term with fewer jobs than when he started are nothing more than ‘myths.â€â€™
Kerry picked up the editorial endorsement of The New York Times, which in its Sunday editions characterized Bush’s presidency as “disastrous†and accused him of “turning the government over to the radical right.â€
It said Kerry “has qualities that could be the basis for a great chief executive, not just a modest improvement on the incumbent.â€
Bush held a 4-point lead over Kerry among likely voters for the second consecutive day, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Saturday.
Polls published on Saturday by Time and Newsweek magazines showed the two candidates virtually deadlocked. Newsweek’s poll, conducted on Thursday and Friday, showed Bush leading Kerry by 48% 46% among registered voters. Time’s survey, conducted the same days, showed 48 percent support for Bush among likely voters, versus 46 percent for Kerry. Both polls had a 4-point margin of error.
The two candidates have accused each other of being out of touch with reality on domestic issues like the economy and health care and on Iraq and the war on terror.
Reuters