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Posted on 07/30/2004 9:13:54 AM PDT by buzzyboop
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - President Bush (news - web sites) launched his counterattack Friday against John Kerry (news - web sites), saying his Democratic rival spent 18 years in the U.S. Senate with "no signature achievements."
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"My opponent has good intentions, but intentions do not always translate to results," Bush told thousands of supporters who repeatedly interrupted his remarks with standing ovations.
Appearing at a baseball stadium at Southwest Missouri State University, Bush said that during eight years on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Kerry voted to cut the intelligence budget but had no record of reforming America's intelligence-gathering capability. Problems with the intelligence agencies have been blamed for many of the failures surrounding the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Bush also said Kerry has no significant record for reforming education or health care.
The president said that Kerry and running mate John Edwards (news - web sites) consistently oppose reforms that limit the power of Washington and leave more power in the hands of the people.
"This week members of the other party gathered in Boston," Bush said. "We heard a lot of clever speeches and some big promises. After 19 years in the United States Senate my opponent has had thousands of votes but very few signature achievements."
Bush also mounted a defense of his record, saying that Kerry would erase gains made in the past four years in the economy and U.S. security.
"We are turning the corner and we are not turning back" in the war on terrorism and on issues from improving education and health care to maintaining the tax cuts he has put in place, said Bush, declaring: "Results matter."
"They're going to raise taxes, we're not," Bush said of Kerry.
He said the Bush administration has "a clear vision on how to win the war on terror and bring peace to the world."
Bush also contrasted the longtime government service of Dick Cheney (news - web sites) to Edwards, a first-term senator.
"I appreciate my running mate," said Bush. "He's not the prettiest man in the race, but he's got sound judgment."
Offering broad outlines of his re-election agenda, Bush promised better times and fresh ideas, declaring "we have more work to do."
In response to Bush's speech, the Kerry campaign said "results do matter" and that Bush's policies have led to record deficits, skyrocketing health costs, lower quality jobs, a military that is stretched too thin and a nation isolated from its allies.
In his acceptance speech Thursday night, Kerry hit hard at the president's handling of the Iraq (news - web sites) war and the war on terror.
"Saying there are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq doesn't make it so," said Kerry. "Saying we can fight a war on the cheap doesn't make it so. And proclaiming mission accomplished certainly doesn't make it so."
Outside the minor-league baseball stadium where Bush spoke, hundreds of protesters carried signs and chanted.
"I'm so frightened about what's happening to the country," said Joan Wagnon, 72, of Springfield. She held a sign reading, "Don't waive your rights while waving your flag."
Bush did not stay up to watch Kerry's convention address but read and saw reports about it, spokesman Scott McClellan said. Adviser Karl Rove watched the speech, McClellan told reporters.
"I think the senator of Massachusetts is a walking contradiction," McClellan said. Although he called Kerry's speech "nicely crafted," he criticized Kerry's Senate record and said he is "running as fast and as far as he can from that record."
In a trip focused on the Midwest, the president campaigns Saturday by bus in Ohio, the second bus tour he has made in the state in three months. He will wrap up two days of campaigning with a rally Saturday afternoon in Pittsburgh, just hours after Kerry speaks in a nearby suburb. It will be his 31st visit to Pennsylvania since being elected.
Bush won Missouri in 2000 with 50 percent of the vote to Al Gore (news - web sites)'s 47 percent, and in Springfield, Mo., the president appeals to some of his strongest supporters in the state.
"This is a turnout game and whoever mobilizes their base most effectively is going to win the state," says political science professor Martha Kropf of the University of Missouri at Kansas City.
Missouri has lost nearly 40,000 manufacturing jobs since Bush took office, but the picture has improved markedly in the past year, with the labor force as a whole adding 83,000 jobs.
The main point is that it's fri afternoon, I'm bored, and I really like to give people a chance to vent against someone they probably figure is a liberal jerk. I also enjoy the answers/reactions.
There is no focus for me, as I really don't want to see either of them in office.
Majority owner of a major league baseball team; popular governor of the 2nd largest state for 6 years; led a complete Republican takeover of all statewide offices in Texas; pushed through education reforms in Texas... shall I go on? That is with only 6 years in public office, while Kerry has spent 20 years in the Senate with nothing to show for it. And let's not forget what Bush has accomlished since becoming President! Sorry, no contest.
So you don't know ANYTHING about either candidate? Aren't you starting a little late in the game?
Of course. And since they will, he should attack Kerry forcefully.
Actually, the people of the state of Texas executed those criminals. They passed the laws, through their representatives, and they sat on the juries that sentenced those criminals to death. Bush enforced the rule of law and the will of the people, just as a good elected official should. You have a problem with that?
BTW, spell check is your friend...
From what his daughter said last night in her speech, I got the impression that he's been planning to run for president his whole life. While his mom was dying, he told her he was going to run for president. She told him it was about time. That, taken with the way he filmed re-enaction scenes of his VN experiences, and married money that could bankroll his campaign, seems to indicate that he's been planning this his whole life. Just like Gore did. So he probably didn't vote so that he couldn't be pinned down for it. This man has avoided responsibility his whole life. I find it astounding that he's even running for anything other than dog-catcher (and hamster rescues).
Suffering cats, keep up, already. I've apologized for the misspelling and have offered additional material to review regarding the subject. And no, I don't have a problem with it, do you?
Oh, sorry. And no, I don't have a problem with it. Do you?
better.
Another typical AP distortion of a title. He DID NOT criticize his ACHIEVEMENTS. President Bush highlighted the fact that Kerry doesn't have any REAL achievements after 20 years. Damn the AP makes me so mad.
Incidently, what word was misspelled?
Really? Is that why he is able to carry his own state, unlike Algore or Edwards?
Sorry for my being prickly over that.
I've got a liberal acquaintance who kinda sneers my name that way whenever she gets especially condescending toward me.
I'm really looking forward to November 3rd. You know what they say about payback. :=)
I didn't figure you to be a liberal jerk, just a jerk. It was obvioius from your question that you were trying to be provocative, which is why I asked you what your point was. Thanks for the answer and confirming my assumption.
Ahem.
Bump...
No problem. I'm just used to saying (and apparently typing) the name bobby. I'll refer to you as Bob, here to fore.
Regarding the claim Bush executed criminals, I am not championing the claim, I was simply not convinced it is incorrect. But thank you for offering your comments none the less.
No problem at all. I may be trapped here in the land of fruits and nuts, but I am, first and always, a native son of Texas, and I had the privilege to help elect GWB to his first term as governor. I wish CA had the same judicial system that Texas has!
That issue is settled. No one but bush haters really care.
There is an unusual confidence within the Republican party.
Really ? I don't think they are confident enough. We will see, the real campaign starts today. Today Bush has stopped the rope-a-dope and began the fun.
Not true, he nailed Morgan Fairchild. He accomplished more than John Lovett.
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