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In Speech, Cheney to Keep Pressure on Kerry
Tue Mar 16,11:32 PM ET Add Politics to My Yahoo!

By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) will keep up Republican pressure on Democrat John Kerry (news - web sites) on Wednesday by saying the next U.S. president must be unwavering in supporting the cause in Iraq (news - web sites) and the war on terrorism and will suggest that Kerry would not be if elected.

Cheney, on a campaign swing through western states, will speak at the Ronald Reagan (news - web sites) Library and Museum in Simi Valley, California, in what aides said would be a major foreign policy speech sprinkled with election-year politics.

Cheney will speak in part on a theme outlined by President Bush (news - web sites) and his re-election team -- that Kerry has a history of taking both sides of the issues and would be weak on defense.

The Bush-Cheney re-election campaign aired a television advertisement in West Virginia on Tuesday that said the Massachusetts senator had opposed a bill to fund military operations in Iraq after originally supporting the U.S. invasion.

"American policy must be clear and consistent in its purposes. And American leaders -- above all the commander in chief -- must be confident in our nation's cause, and unwavering until the danger to our people is fully and finally removed," Cheney will say, according to speech excerpts obtained by Reuters.

The Kerry campaign accused Bush on Tuesday of conducting a "stubborn and arrogant" foreign policy.

"He's squandered the goodwill of our friends and allies across the world, leaving our troops overextended in what looks like an endless occupation in Iraq," Kerry campaign spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said in a statement.

AMERICAN UNITY

Cheney will call for American unity behind the effort to build a democracy in Iraq after the people of Spain tossed out the pro-U.S. government in Madrid in favor of Socialists after a suspected Al Qaeda attack last week killed 200 people.

Spain's prime minister-elect, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, has called the Iraq war a "disaster" and has vowed to pull out Spain's 1,300 troops there unless they are placed under U.N. control.

Bush on Tuesday called on Spain and other allies in Iraq to stick with the United States and not cave in to pressure from al Qaeda by withdrawing their troops.

"Our determination is unshakable. We will stand with the people of Iraq as they build a government based on democracy, tolerance, and freedom," Cheney will say.

In addition, he will say: "All Americans, regardless of political party, can be proud of what our nation has achieved in an historic time, when so many depended on us."

The Bush and Kerry camps, running basically neck and neck in the polls, are lobbing attack after attack at each other to try to gain an edge.

Cheney will say the November election offers a contrast like the 1984 election when Reagan ran for re-election against Democrat Walter Mondale.

"The American people will have a clear choice in the election of 2004 -- at least as clear as any since the election of 1984," he will say.

Cheney, a prolific fund-raiser, has been important to Bush's efforts in maintaining support among the Republican conservative base.

A poll by the Annenberg Public Policy found that 35 percent of Americans have a favorable opinion of him, versus 34 percent with an unfavorable opinion.

"We must support those around the world who are taking risks to advance freedom, justice, and democracy -- just as President Reagan did," Cheney will say.