Bush defends jobs and anti-terrorism steps
BOSTON (AP) — On rival John Kerry’s home turf, President Bush defended his record on both the jobs and terrorism fronts on Thursday and prodded the Massachusetts senator against taking his own state for granted.
“The man who sits in the Oval Office sets the course of the war on terror and the direction of our economy,” Bush told supporters at a $1.2 million fund-raising dinner in Kerry’s hometown. “The other side hasn’t offered much in the way of strategy to win the war or policies to expand our economy.”
Accusing Kerry of vacillating on key issues, Bush said: “His answers aren’t always so clear, but the voters will have a clear choice in November.”
At the $2,000-per-person fund-raiser, which brought more money into a campaign that has raised $170 million, Bush added: “Some people would think I wouldn’t have a lot of support here. But they’re wrong. Nobody should take any state for granted in 2004.”
In a lighthearted remark that drew laughter, Bush recalled his graduate studies at Harvard. “I spent some quality time here in the 70s, mostly in the library of Harvard, of course.” Bush, a Yale graduate, also has an MBA from Harvard.
Both at the fund-raiser, and earlier in New Hampshire, Bush defended his administration against new allegations that he underestimated the threat from the al-Qaida terror network and then rushed to blame Iraq’s Saddam Hussein for the Sept. 11 terror attacks. He also defended his overseeing of an economy that has lost 2.3 million jobs.
“We’re trying to do our solemn duty to protect America,” he said at a community college in Nashua, N.H., that specializes in teaching automotive repair.
“Had I known that the enemy was going to use airplanes to strike America, to attack us, I would have used every resource, every asset, every power of this government to protect the American people,” Bush said to loud applause from an audience of about 300 people.
It was Bush’s first extended response to allegations by Richard Clarke, his former counterterrorism adviser. Clarke has alleged that Bush ignored the threat from al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden before the Sept. 11 terror attacks and then rushed to try to blame the attacks on Saddam.
The criticism, along with preliminary findings of a bipartisan Sept. 11 commission have fueled Democratic attacks that Bush was so obsessed with Saddam that he led the nation into an unnecessary war.
In the audience was Cheryl McGinnis, widow of Thomas McGinnis, pilot of American Airlines Flight 11, the first hijacked plane to hit the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
Bush recognized her and said actions by his administration since then, including creation of the Department of Homeland Security, had helped the United States and its allies “find terrorists before they try to harm us again.”
Bush promoted his plans for retraining laid-off workers while accusing Kerry of pushing higher taxes. He said jobs were beginning to return, and cited recent signs of recovery, like Thursday’s Commerce Department report showing a solid 4.1 percent pace of economic growth in the last three months of 2003.
Bush shared the stage with several local business owners who said they had benefited from his job retraining programs and tax cuts.
“Hiring anybody?” Bush asked George Kassas, whose company makes electronic switches for cable companies.
“We are in the process of doing that right now,” Kassas said. Bush and the audience applauded when Kassas said he planned to hire 25 people, bringing his company’s work force to 116.
Speaking in front of a 1992 Chevy pickup truck, with two truck engines alongside on jacks, Bush said increased support for community colleges would help them train workers for industries that are creating the most new jobs. Democrats countered by noting that Bush’s 2005 budget proposal would cut funds for job training by more than one-third.
New Hampshire was Bush’s only victory in the Northeast in 2000.
The state lost 17.8 percent of its manufacturing jobs since he became president, the greatest percentage decline for any state.
Bush instead emphasized that the present New Hampshire unemployment rate is 4.1 percent — below the national rate last month of 5.6 percent. “That’s good, real good,” Bush told his audience.
The trip came as Bush’s campaign aired a new television commercial accusing Kerry of voting to increase taxes on Social Security benefits, opposing small business tax credits and supporting a 50-cent-a-gallon tax increase.
Kerry has accused Bush of distorting the facts.