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.
I think you are wrong. I was at the grocery store this afternoon and I over heard two women about my age (50s) and one said, "I think John Edwards looks like a ken doll."
The other replied, "I'd rather have a Cheney doll. He looks like he has all his parts and knows how to use them!"
Now, I'm male and think the Veep looks like a Vice-President should. John Edwards looks like a... Well, a crooked laywer!
Cheney might as well ask Edwards if he wants to stand on the same stage with him every day, so that he can jump and whine even QUICKER whenever Cheney says anything.
Edwards reminds me of someone's little brother always hanging around and aping the big boys, but louder, and always finishing off with "my brother can beat you UP!"
Edwards is not ready for prime time, and anyone who pretends that he is might take a few minutes to reflect upon what doo-doo our country would be in if a not-completed-one term Senator, former trial lawyer, were suddenly in charge of the country.
John Kerry: The political equivalent of a dildo.
(Think about it for a minute)
"Who loves ya, baby?"
I do
**Re: "He may not be as good looking or as personable as Edwards..."
I think you are wrong. I was at the grocery store this afternoon and I over heard two women about my age (50s) and one said, "I think John Edwards looks like a ken doll."
The other replied, "I'd rather have a Cheney doll. He looks like he has all his parts and knows how to use them!" **
I like it I am sure Lynne would agree but seriously Edwards tries to look and act much younger than he is so does Kerry and it just does not cut. The VP is 63 and acts 63 that does not mean he is out of touch and old in his thinking but behaves in a dignified manner.
Furthermore as the VP he has every right to warn people on security and to elect Kerry as your President IMHO would be a threat to your security.
If this campaign were Happy Days, Dick Cheney would be the Fonz and Edwards would be Potsie Webber.
Although I agree with the point I think Cheney was trying to get across, he definitely worded this wrong. He is setting the Bush administration up as saying if Bush is re-elected there will be no terrorist attacks on us. As good as a job Bush is doing with terrorism, its foolish to project the idea it won't happen on his clock.
No worse than Democrats scaring seniors about losing SSI. (another truism BTW).
BUMP
While I totally agree with our Vice President, I am not so sure its wise to play on the fear factor of if Kerry wins we'll get attacked
TRUTH is frequently "inelegant".
Do you consider Gore's words of calling Bush a traitor, "elegant"?
Go Bigtime!
Now Edwards is trying a different tactic -- if I hadn't heard this on The 700 Club last night I wouldn't have believed it. Edwards actually twisted Cheney's words and interpreted them to mean that "if you don't vote for our side, if there is terrorism it will be your (the people's) fault."
So, when your campaign is going badly, absolve yourself of any responsibility, twist the other guy's words, blame the American people and get them mad so they will vote for your side??
Kerry/Edwards have twisted minds. I hope this tactic backfires.
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