Posted on 09/04/2004 10:04:19 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
BROADVIEW HEIGHTS, Ohio (Reuters) - President Bush said on Saturday that the hostage siege in which 322 people were killed at a Russian school seized by Chechen separatists showed why America has to remain resolute against terrorism.
During a campaign stop in the battleground state of Ohio, Bush emphasized national security, which polls show is his strongest election issue, as he sought to build his image as a strong leader in his bid for another term in the White House.
As Russian President Vladimir Putin called for Russia's security forces to become better at fighting international terror, Bush said the bloodbath half a world away that claimed the lives of 155 school children, was a "grim reminder of the nature of the terrorists we face."
"We saw the horror of terror in Russia and I can just imagine the heartfelt anguish of the moms and dads of those Russian kids," Bush said.
"That is why this country must be strong and diligent and never yielding. We must bring them to justice," he said.
His comments came during a campaign forum at a high school two days after his prime-time speech at the Republican convention as two polls showed him gaining voter support and opening an 11-point lead over Democratic challenger John Kerry.
A Time magazine poll on Friday showed Bush leading Kerry 52 percent to 41 percent and also pointed to strong support for Bush's handling of the war on terror.
A Newsweek poll released on Saturday showed the Bush/Cheney ticket beating Kerry/Edwards 52 percent to 41 percent, with independent Ralph Nader taking 3 percent, representing a 13-point margin bounce for Bush since mid-August.
RESOLUTE LEADER
The polls were taken this week when speakers at the Republican convention focused on the threat of terrorism in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and tried to portray the president as a resolute leader who would keep America safe.
Kerry has been working to undercut that image by describing Bush as someone who misled the nation into war with Iraq where no stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction were found despite the president's assertions that they were there.
Such weapons formed the core of Bush's argument for invading Iraq.
The Massachusetts senator has also tried to play up his own background as a decorated Vietnam veteran to assert that he has the right credentials to set America's national security policies.
As he did in his acceptance speech at the convention on Thursday night, Bush said in Ohio that the United States must remain unyielding in the face of the terror threat.
"You cannot negotiate with the enemy. You can't hope for the best with them. You can't rationalize with them. That's not the way they operate," he said.
Bush officials were reacting cautiously to the Time magazine poll but campaign spokesman Scott Stanzel said it showed Bush was heading into the final two months of the election season "on the right foot."
Bush was to travel to Kirkland, Ohio and Erie, Pennsylvania later on Saturday.
© Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved.
So the choice is.. a slightly better health care system and protected forests OR The survival of the United States as we know it... hmmmm thats a hard choice...
That wimp Drudge has already remove all of the stories relating to this tragedy.
"So the choice is.. a slightly better health care system and protected forests OR The survival of the United States as we know it... hmmmm thats a hard choice..."
Agreed, except of course for the fact that it's unlikely in the extreme that Kerry can/would deliver either better health care (a Hitlery-care clone would certainly worsen it) or "protected" forests.
The only one Kerry can lay claim to is the environment. The socialist environmental extremist - property rights bed damned crowd, is Kerry's crowd.
It also shows how deeply the environmental movement has infiltrated the educational system.
Yeah! Hmmmmm.........do I want to be buried beneath the pretty trees or sit under them. Hard choice.
He's absolutely right.
Nonetheless, coming soon: Wails of leftist horror that the President is politicizing a tragedy.
That must have felt like passing a kidney stone for poor old Reuters.
And for Reuters to use the word TERROR in a headline - the world truly must be coming to an end.
LOL!!! And you're right. The whole point is being alive to see it.
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