Republicans acclaim Bush as 'rock solid'
Republicans are turning to conditions at home today after saluting President George Bush as a wartime president whose leadership is “rock solid”.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger gets star billing on the second day of the party’s convention in New York as the party extends its outreach to moderate Democrats and independents.
But as the Republican National Convention headed for today’s session at Madison Square Garden under heavy security, Bush supporters scrambled to explain the president’s day-old comments that the war against terror could not be won.
Democrats pounced on the remarks in hopes of stealing some convention-week spotlight from Republicans. Asked by reporters whether the war on terror could be won, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry replied, “Absolutely”.
With polls showing Bush and Kerry in a virtual tie, party delegates yesterday began a three-day process to formally nominate Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney to a second term . The election is on November 2.
In the opening session, Republicans invoked the memory of the September 11, 2001, attacks – the World Trade Centre stood about four miles south of the Garden – as a test of Bush’s mettle as a strong and decisive leader.
“Since September 11th President Bush has remained rock solid,” former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said, likening the president to Winston Churchill and Ronald Reagan. “We need George Bush more than ever.”
Schwarzenegger was sharing billing today with first lady Laura Bush and Education Secretary Rod Paige. The actor-turned-politician was the latest in a march to the convention podium of moderates and other politicians with broad popular support.
Bush was addressing the American Legion in Nashville, Tennessee, before heading to Iowa to campaign.
Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican, drew enthusiastic cheers – and a standing ovation – when he voiced strong support for his 2000 Republican presidential rival.
McCain heartily endorsed the president’s Iraq and anti-terrorism policies, saying the United States had little choice but to invade Iraq.
“Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Not our critics abroad. Not our political opponents. And certainly not a disingenuous filmmaker,” McCain said in a clear dig at filmmaker Michael Moore that delighted his audience. Moore, who was sitting in the press section, was roundly booed by the crowd.
Moore’s box-office hit, Fahrenheit 9/11, sharply questions Bush’s motives for invading Iraq.
McCain said the filmmaker, whom he did not name, “would have us believe that Saddam’s Iraq was an oasis of peace when in fact it was a place of indescribable cruelty, torture chambers, mass graves and prisons that destroyed the lives of the small children held inside their walls.”
On the streets outside the convention, at least 10 arrests were made yesterday in a clash between police and protesters attempting to push through barricades. A plainclothes detective was knocked off his scooter and taken to the hospital with head injuries that were not said to be life-threatening.
Bush, meanwhile, gave Democrats unexpected ammunition when he suggested in a television interview that the war on terrorism could not be won, forcing his aides to defend his remarks on a day they had hoped he could bask in convention accolades.
Appearing on NBC’s Today, Bush was asked whether the war on terrorism was winnable.
“I don’t think you can win it. But I think you can create conditions so that the – those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world,” Bush said.
“To suggest that the war on terror can’t be won is absolutely unacceptable,” said Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware, the senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and one of a chorus of Democrats denouncing the comments.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan sought to clarify the president’s remarks, telling reporters, “He was talking about winning it in the conventional sense ... about how this is a different kind of war and we face an unconventional enemy.”
During the convention’s second day, speakers were expected to proclaim that the United States is on the right track, with a bright future – a theme expected to be driven home by Schwarzenegger, the first lady and Paige.
Schwarzenegger is popular among both Republicans and Democrats, even though the California governor’s moderate stands on a variety of social issues have sown distrust among some GOP conservatives.
Laura Bush is a former public school teacher and librarian who has been active on a variety of education issues. Lately, she has also been an outspoken defender of Bush’s efforts to restrict federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.
