Democrats demand ‘proof’ from Bush .... [LOL, LOL ! ]

MSNBC AND NBC NEWS SERVICES ^ | 1/27/2003 | NBC Staff

[ex-Texan]

Democrats demand ‘proof’ from Bush

Daschle, Pelosi sharply assail president on eve of State of the Union speech

WASHINGTON, Jan. 27 — On the eve of President Bush’s State of the Union address, congressional Democratic leaders challenged the president to show “proof to the world” that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction.

Jan. 26 — Presidential aides indicate that Bush’s State of the Union address will deal with a growing federal deficit and will require cuts to some programs. NBC’s Joe Johns reports.

IN WHAT WAS billed as a “pre-buttal” to Bush’s address to Congress and the nation Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET, Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the party’s leader in the House, sharply criticized Bush for taking what they said was a “hurry-up approach on Iraq” and charged that he was creating a “credibility gap” by saying one thing and doing another across a range of issues.

“If we have proof of nuclear and biological weapons, why don’t we show that proof to the world — as President Kennedy did 40 years ago when he sent Adlai Stevenson to the United Nations to show the world U.S. photographs of offensive missiles in Cuba,” Daschle said at the National Press Club news conference.

“At a time when we have only just begun to fight the war on terror, the American people deserve to hear why we should put hundreds of thousands of American troops at risk, spend perhaps hundreds of billions of dollars, risk our alliances, and inflame our adversaries to attack Iraq,” said Daschle, D-S.D.

CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS CITED

Daschle’s reference to Cuba related to the Cuban missile crisis of four decades ago. At the time, the Kennedy administration unveiled reconnaissance photographs at the United Nations to prove its claim that the Soviet Union had dispatched missiles to an island 90 miles off the United States mainland.

“The state of our union today is anxious,” he said. “The triple threat of war, terrorism and recession are combining to make Americans unsure about their future and unclear about the course our nation is taking.

Pelosi’s criticism of Bush was directed largely at domestic issues, including the president’s proposed elimination of the tax on corporate dividends and his record on the environment.

[CyberAnt]

As usual, John, your "2cents" is worth a million.