Posted on 09/07/2004 2:17:21 PM PDT by Stoat
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Vice President Dick Cheney on Tuesday warned Americans about voting for Democratic Sen. John Kerry, saying that if the nation makes the wrong choice on Election Day it faces the threat of another terrorist attack.
The Kerry-Edwards campaign immediately rejected those comments as "scare tactics" that crossed the line.
"It's absolutely essential that eight weeks from today, on Nov. 2, we make the right choice, because if we make the wrong choice then the danger is that we'll get hit again and we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States," Cheney told about 350 supporters at a town-hall meeting in this Iowa city.
If Kerry were elected, Cheney said the nation risks falling back into a "pre-9/11 mind-set" that terrorist attacks are criminal acts that require a reactive approach. Instead, he said Bush's offensive approach works to root out terrorists where they plan and train, and pressure countries that harbor terrorists.
(AP) Vice President Dick Cheney speaks to supporters as he sits with his wife Lynne during a town hall... Full Image
Cheney pointed to Afghanistan as a success story in pursuing terrorists although the Sept. 11 mastermind, Osama bin Laden, remains at large. In Iraq, the vice president said, the United States has taken out a leader who used weapons of mass destruction against his own people and harbored other terrorists.
"Saddam Hussein today is in jail, which is exactly where he belongs," Cheney said.
Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards issued a statement, saying, "Dick Cheney's scare tactics crossed the line today, showing once again that he and George Bush will do anything and say anything to save their jobs. Protecting America from vicious terrorists is not a Democratic or Republican issue and Dick Cheney and George Bush should know that."
Edwards added that he and Kerry "will keep American safe, and we will not divide the American people to do it."
The candidates are campaigning hard for Iowa's seven electoral votes. Democrat Al Gore narrowly won the state in 2000. Bush has campaigned in the state five times in the last month, and Cheney has made three stops.
Hours before Cheney spoke, the Congressional Budget Office said this year's federal deficit will hit a record $422 billion. Cheney, in praising Bush's tax cuts, noted that the CBO said this year's projected deficit will be smaller than analysts had expected.
What Edwards is, in effect, saying is: "Yes, the Vice President is absolutely correct, but it's political suicide to say so and so we will just whine like children instead"
"If Kerry were elected, Cheney said the nation risks falling back into a "pre-9/11 mind-set" that terrorist attacks are criminal acts that require a reactive approach. Instead, he said Bush's offensive approach works to root out terrorists where they plan and train, and pressure countries that harbor terrorists. "
Exactly. The terrorists will win, if Kerry gets elected. Plain and simple truth.
Geez, do all these guys do is whine?
Isn't it true, since 9-11-01, that the countries hit at home by terrorists are those that have displayed some significant degree of weakness? And those being hit in Iraq include the weak in addition to the strong? Based on recent history, a display of weakness is tantamount to begging to be hit.
See Dick speak the truth. Run Dick run.
Give 'em hell Mr Vice President!
I just love Dick Cheney. He is blunt and to the point. He may not be as good looking or as personable as Edwards, but he is smart and knows his stuff. He is truely the right man for the job. He is not aiming to be President in 4 more years. He is actually serving America!
Dick Cheney is right on.
EXACTLY!
What does Edwards know? He is a frickin Tort lawyer for Gods sake. He may know how to make millions from bad mouthing physicians and bamboozling juries ,but we are talking about the future of America here ,not a case where lying to a juy means fabulous rewards.
"Isn't it true, since 9-11-01, that the countries hit at home by terrorists are those that have displayed some significant degree of weakness? And those being hit in Iraq include the weak in addition to the strong? Based on recent history, a display of weakness is tantamount to begging to be hit."
You're absolutely correct of course, and one tangible example is Israel's wall. Although one could hardly say that Israel was "weak" prior to it's construction (unless one suggests that nuking the Palestinians would have been a better response....hmmm I'll get back to you on that LOL) it's easy to see the differences:
1. Before the wall: Near-constant and daily terror attacks from homicide bombers and other vermin.
2. After the wall: Terror attacks MUCH rarer...dramatic change.
Lesson: Tune out the hysterical appeasers of terror and do whatever it takes to protect yourself in a substantive way....and your country will be safer.
The voters need only ask themselves why muslim extremists, terrorists, euro wimps, communists, and Michael Moore and the far left are united in their preference for John Kerry. It's certainly not because they think he would better prosecute the War on Terror.Naturally, all of the aforementioned loathe President Bush.Know ye a man by his enemies.GWB has the best (worst)of them.
Checkmate! Kerry has now been forced to assure the electorate that he will do as much or more to prevent another attack than Bush will.
But Bush uses preemptive military action whereas Kerry is only willing to use military force in retaliation AFTER the attack, thus assuring an attack.
Which of the 2 Americas is he talking to here?
Kerry is constantly flip-flopping on the Iraq issue. We can't have someone with no core beliefs leading us at this moment in history.
I think Roves job is too easy.
"I just love Dick Cheney. He is blunt and to the point. He may not be as good looking or as personable as Edwards, but he is smart and knows his stuff. He is truely the right man for the job. He is not aiming to be President in 4 more years. He is actually serving America!"
Agreed. It will be a tremendous loss for our nation four years from now when our Vice President's next term ends and he retires.
Although he has a supremely intelligent and talented wife (bio here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/mrscheney/bio.html ) I have not heard her make any statements indicating an interest in running for public office. I know that one of his two daughters is an activist homosexual and therefore probably unelectable, at least to a national office, I don't know about the other daughter. Perhaps she is interested in public service also? She would be hard-pressed to find a better inspiration than her father.
"Protecting America from vicious terrorists is not a Democratic or Republican issue..."
Absolutely correct. (for a change) It is an issue for a president with moral clarity, unwavering consistency and the patriotism to put what's good for his country ahead of his own personal ambitions in the face of a brutal onslaught of lies and character assassination.
It's a job for President George W. Bush, not the flapjack man and his boy lawyer.
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