President Bush: Kerry Suffers 'Election Amnesia'

Yahoo News ^ | 10/23/04 | DEB RIECHMANN

[Libloather]

Bush: Kerry Suffers 'Election Amnesia'
11 minutes ago
By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer

FORT MYERS, Fla. - President Bush said Saturday that Sen. John Kerry must be suffering from "election amnesia" because he has forgotten that he once viewed Saddam Hussein as a threat to America.

After voting to authorize force against the former Iraqi leader, after calling it the right decision when the Bush administration sent troops into Iraq, Kerry now calls the conflict the "wrong war," Bush said.

"Sen. Kerry seems to have forgotten all that as his position has evolved during the course of the campaign," Bush said at the first stop on a hectic day of campaigning in a state critical for both campaigns. "You might call it election amnesia."

A little more than a week before Election Day, Bush is banking on his base here to win Florida's 27 electoral votes — equal to Ohio and Iowa combined. Marine One will fly in and out of four cities — all in areas that voted for Bush by wide margins in 2000.

First was City of Palms Park, the training camp for the Boston Red Sox, Kerry's home team that plays Saturday night in the first game of the World Series.

As music blared from stadium loudspeakers, the presidential helicopter, carrying Bush, his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, and first lady Laura Bush, landed in left field, dusting the crowd with dirt from the warning track. Bush emerged to the theme of the hit movie "Top Gun."

"The choice in this election could not be clearer," Bush said from a podium set up on second base. "You cannot lead our nation to the decisive victory on which the security of every American family depends if you do not see the true dangers of the post-Sept. 11 world."

The Kerry campaign says Bush's weekend trip here to fire-up supporters shows that he's no longer trying to woo independents and conservative Democrats in the state. Outside the stadium, Kerry supporters shouted "No more years!" and waved signs that said "Fire the liar."

"Bush has given up on outreach to swing voters in Florida," said Kerry spokesman Phil Singer, noting that all four stops are in Republican areas. Singer said voters are "swinging away from Bush."

Bush campaign spokesman Scott Stanzel said Bush has made recent campaign appearances in Democratic-leaning areas of Florida and that the campaign schedule still would allow another visit to the state before Election Day.

All summer, hurricanes that slammed this critical election state restricted Bush to consoling residents and doling out federal storm aid. Bush now is making up for lost time, hoping to avoid a repeat of 2000 when he won the state by just 537 votes.

From Fort Myers and than Lakeland on the western side of the state, Bush moves to Melbourne on the east coast. His last stop before heading to his Texas ranch is in Jacksonville, situated in the heavily Republican Florida Panhandle.

His competition will be close by. John Edwards, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, is campaigning in Orlando and St. Petersburg, and Kerry is scheduled to spend Saturday night in Fort Lauderdale.

Also Saturday, Bush used his weekly radio address as a political tool, accusing Kerry of having a "fundamental misunderstanding" of the war on terror.

"Kerry was recently asked how September the 11th had changed him," Bush said. "He replied `It didn't change me much at all.'"

In fact, Kerry, who made the comment during a recent interview published by The New York Times, went on to say that the attack reaffirmed his belief the nation needed to better protect itself from terrorists.

"To me, it wasn't as transformational as it was a kind of anger, a frustration and an urgency that we weren't doing the kinds of things necessary to prevent it and to deal with it," Kerry said.

[Libloather]

"To me, it wasn't as transformational as it was a kind of anger, a frustration and an urgency that we weren't doing the kinds of things necessary to prevent it and to deal with it," Kerry said.

We actually agree on something - I blame the *Crintons, too...

[raptor29]

By the way, regarding the DNC's ostrich/eagle commercial, how can the Republicans miss the opportunity to hammer Kerry with the same footage? My God, the ostrich has been Kerry and his liberal friends (including Clinton) who beginning with Kerry's vote against the first Gulf War, then not responding to the first Trade Center attack, and all the other attacks during the 1990's, refused to acknowledge that there was a problem. They put their head in the sand and hoped the threat would go away. It took an eagle with vision to see the threat and do something about it. Use the same footage and just re-word the thing.

[etradervic]

One Thousand Points of Fright...

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

"Kerry was recently asked how September the 11th had changed him," Bush said. "He replied `It didn't change me much at all.'"

[etradervic]

Talk about huh. You should have seen D Holbrooke on O'Reilly last night. He was having a Vinnie Barbarino moment.

[demlosers]

"To me, it wasn't as transformational as it was a kind of anger, a frustration and an urgency that we weren't doing the kinds of things necessary to prevent it and to deal with it," Kerry said.

Is this a nuanced sentence? So Kerry, you said 9/11 did not change you, but it still made you angry, frustrated, because you think U.S. security remains inadequate. But I thought you said terrorism is a "nuisance"? Nuisances make you frustrated, huh?

[AFPhys]

One wonders why sKerry's "anger, a frustration and ... urgency that we weren't doing the kinds of things necessary to prevent it and to deal with it" did not come earlier, say during the 8 years he was in the Senate after the '93 WT attack... why didn't that translate to greater attention to our dilapidated intelligence treatment? Why didn't he, who he once portrayed himself as vice-Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, secure support in Congress for that, rather than waiting for 9/11 to finally stimulate his "anger, a frustration and an urgency ..." Why didn't he lead the charge in '98 for "body armor" and vehicle armor after he encouraged Clinton to take out Hussein. Why is he only a Monday morning quarterback?

[Woogit]

Rush played a tape of skerry saying just last April that Iraq needs to be turned over to the U.N. I wish the GOP would use that and his 1994 words against him. skerry's own words over the years would be our best ammo against him. I hope they get more air time in the next 10 days!

[Chi-townChief]

I would say that Ketchup Boy and the democrats depend on "election amnesia."

[wouldntbprudent]

something else skerry has forgotten -

Handout concerning Kerry's association with outsourced Heinz factories

Posted by lea
On 10/23/2004 9:00:54 AM PDT · 4 replies · 105+ views

We have made a handout concerning John Kerry's association with Heinz's outsourced factories. You are welcome to copy and paste it into a word document and give it out at factories, door-to-door, etc. It takes the front and back of one page and you'll want to reformat it for presentation. We have just over a week to reach people. KERRY WANTS JOBS TO STAY IN THE USA??? John Kerry is married to Teresa HEINZ Kerry, heiress to the HEINZ Corporation. Heinz’s own website touts, “Heinz is the most global U.S.-based food company, with a world-class portfolio of powerful brands holding...

[monkeyshine]

Exactly.