CNN reports that President Bush's campaign plans a new ad based on what Kerry is quoted as saying in a New York Times Magazine article about "what it would take for Americans to feel safe again:"
''We have to get back to the place we were, where terrorists are not the focus of our lives, but they're a nuisance,'' the article states as the Massachusetts senator's reply.
''As a former law enforcement person, I know we're never going to end prostitution. We're never going to end illegal gambling. But we're going to reduce it, organized crime, to a level where it isn't on the rise. It isn't threatening people's lives every day, and fundamentally, it's something that you continue to fight, but it's not threatening the fabric of your life.''
Bush campaign Chairman Marc Racicot, in an appearance on CNN's "Late Edition," interpreted Kerry's remarks as saying "that the war on terrorism is like a nuisance.
BLITZER: What's your biggest problem, though, with Senator Kerry? Why doesn't he necessarily have the backbone to be president of the United States?
RACICOT: Well, I think he's completely impotent to articulate a clear position on Iraq. I mean, if you were to say to him -- if somebody was to say to you, "I agree with Senator Kerry's position on the war on terror," what would you discern that to be? Does it mean you are for the intervention, as you voted for, to go into Iraq? Does it mean you're the anti-war candidate? Does it mean it's the wrong war at the wrong time at the wrong place?
This morning, Wolf -- let me add, this morning, a new approach to this in the Sunday New York Times magazine, where Senator Kerry said that the war on terrorism is like a nuisance. He equated it to prostitution and gambling, a nuisance activity.
You know, quite frankly, I just don't think he has the right view of the world. It's a pre-9/11 view of the world.
Republican Party Chairman Ed Gillespie, on CBS' "Face the Nation," used similar language:
Ms. EASTON: But do you consider Iraq a drag on the president's re-election efforts?
Mr. GILLESPIE: You know, it's all speculative, Nina, with the hypothetical what if, what if,
what if. I don't know what if, I know what is. And what is the president made the right
decision. He's demonstrating resolve in winning the war on terror. Senator Kerry is not. I
think it's very disturbing what he is quoted as saying in The New York Times today, if I
might, Bob.SCHIEFFER: Sure.
Mr. GILLESPIE: Because this is critically important. He says that `We have to get back to the
place where we were where terrorists are not the focus of our lives, but they're a nuisance.
As a former law enforcement person, I know we're never going to end prostitution. We're
never going to end illegal gambling, but we're going to reduce it--organized crime to a level
where it isn't on the rise. It isn't threatening people's everyday lives. And, fundamentally, it's
something that you continue to fight but it's not threatening the fabric of your life.'
Terrorism is not a law enforcement matter as John Kerry repeatedly says. Terrorist activities
are not like gambling. Terrorist activities are not like prostitution. And this demonstrates a
disconcerting pre-September 11 mind-set that will not make our country safer. And that is
what we see relative to winning the war on terror and relative to Iraq.
According to Reuters the new Bush commercial's script asks "How can Kerry protect us when he doesn't understand the threat?"
Looks like we may have a real choice in November. Continue an active war against terrorism with a strategy of bringing democracy and freedom to the greater Middlle East, or going back to the pre 9/11 strategy of a mostly law enforcement approach like that against drugs, organized crime, and prostitution.
UPDATE: You can watch the new ad "World View" at GeorgeWBush.com.
Comments