yeahwho
10-20-2004, 06:17 AM
October 20, 2004 NYTimes
Cheney, Invoking the Specter of a Nuclear Attack, Questions Kerry's Strength
By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD
CINCINNATI, Oct. 19 -Vice President Dick Cheney cast doubt Tuesday on whether Senator John Kerry was strong enough to fight terrorism, and asserted that the nation might one day face terrorists "in the middle of one of our cities with deadlier weapons than have ever before been used against us,'' including a nuclear bomb.
As he toured southern Ohio by bus seeking to energize Republican supporters, Mr. Cheney hit hard on a central theme of the Bush campaign: that the president has a better grasp than Mr. Kerry of the threats facing the nation, and the will to stymie terrorists. As in previous campaigning, the vice president invoked the specter of terrorists' attacking an American city.
"The biggest threat we face now as a nation,'' he said, "is the possibility of terrorists' ending up in the middle of one of our cities with deadlier weapons than have ever before been used against us - biological agents or a nuclear weapon or a chemical weapon of some kind - to be able to threaten the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans.''
"You have to get your mind around that concept," he added.
Mr. Cheney, seated on a stool at a forum in Carroll, Ohio, went on to list steps President Bush had taken, including the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, to protect the country and diminish terrorism abroad. He then questioned Mr. Kerry's judgment and strength.
"John Kerry would lead you to believe he has the same kind of view that George Bush has, that he would be tough and aggressive," Mr. Cheney said. "I don't believe it. I don't think there's any evidence to support the proposition that he would, in fact, do it."
The remarks brought big cheers from partisan crowds and an instant reaction from the Kerry campaign, which said the senator had demonstrated his toughness in combat during the Vietnam War and would focus on nuclear threats posed by Iran and North Korea.
Mark Kitchens, a policy adviser to Mr. Kerry, said of Mr. Cheney in a statement, "He has the audacity to question whether a decorated combat veteran who has bled on the battlefield is tough and aggressive enough to keep America safe."
"He wants to scare Americans about a possible nuclear 9/11,'' Mr. Kitchens added, "while the Bush administration has been on the sidelines while the nuclear threats from North Korea and Iran, the world's leading sponsor of terrorism, have increased."
Campaigning in Eau Claire, Wis., Mr. Kerry's running mate, Senator John Edwards, said: "You don't keep this country safe by giving a speech. You keep it safe by what you do."
But Mr. Cheney struck his theme time and again throughout his bus tour in this crucial state, arguing that Mr. Bush's approach to national security had borne fruit. Within a week after the capture of Saddam Hussein, he noted, the Libyan leader, Muammar el-Qaddafi, gave up his country's uranium development program, which intelligence agencies had suspected was intended to produce weapons.
"He did not call the United Nations," Mr. Cheney said of Colonel Qaddafi. "He called George Bush and Tony Blair."
While Mr. Cheney stumped on the terrorism issue in Ohio, Attorney General John Ashcroft suggested in a speech before the United Sates Chamber of Commerce in Washington that Providence was partly responsible for the United States' freedom from another attack since Sept. 11, 2001.
"For three years, our nation has been blessed," Mr. Ashcroft said. "But the hand of Providence has been assisted by the dedicated men and women of the Department of Justice. In three years, we have compiled a record of achievement that is impressive by peacetime standards."
Though Mr. Cheney focused primarily Tuesday on national security, he did depart from his theme to rebut Mr. Kerry's claims that Mr. Bush would take away benefits by privatizing the Social Security program.
"It's not true,'' Mr. Cheney said in response to a question at a meeting here with supporters. "It's a distortion. I can think of stronger words to use.''
Mr. Cheney said he could not remember an election in the nearly 40 years he has worked in government and politics when Democrats did not resort to such "desperation."
In an article published Sunday in The New York Times Magazine, Mr. Bush was quoted as having told a group of Republican donors that privatizing Social Security would be among his immediate goals if he won a second term.
The president has long supported the idea of allowing younger workers to divert part of their Social Security payroll taxes into private investment accounts. Those workers' taxes pay benefits for today's retirees, and neither Mr. Bush nor Mr. Cheney has explained whether the idea would mean government borrowing or cutting benefits to bridge the gap.
But the primary mission of Mr. Cheney's day was to fire up supporters in a region of Ohio that leans Republican.
Most of the counties he visited - with his wife, Lynne, at his side - voted overwhelmingly for Mr. Bush four years ago, and he made a special effort to reach out to those who see the president as being on the right side of moral issues.
On the way from Carroll to Xenia, the vice president's bus stopped along Route 22 to greet several dozen fervent supporters outside Circleville Bible College.
He also used some razzle-dazzle, with his bus - emergency lights flashing - pulling into a large hall at fairgrounds in Xenia that was full of hundreds of boisterous supporters chanting to the beat of throbbing techno dance music under dimmed lights.
"You saw the bus come in the door," Mr. Cheney said, looking over the crowd. "I wasn't quite sure what was on the other side of the door, but now I'm glad."
Cheney, Invoking the Specter of a Nuclear Attack, Questions Kerry's Strength
By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD
CINCINNATI, Oct. 19 -Vice President Dick Cheney cast doubt Tuesday on whether Senator John Kerry was strong enough to fight terrorism, and asserted that the nation might one day face terrorists "in the middle of one of our cities with deadlier weapons than have ever before been used against us,'' including a nuclear bomb.
As he toured southern Ohio by bus seeking to energize Republican supporters, Mr. Cheney hit hard on a central theme of the Bush campaign: that the president has a better grasp than Mr. Kerry of the threats facing the nation, and the will to stymie terrorists. As in previous campaigning, the vice president invoked the specter of terrorists' attacking an American city.
"The biggest threat we face now as a nation,'' he said, "is the possibility of terrorists' ending up in the middle of one of our cities with deadlier weapons than have ever before been used against us - biological agents or a nuclear weapon or a chemical weapon of some kind - to be able to threaten the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans.''
"You have to get your mind around that concept," he added.
Mr. Cheney, seated on a stool at a forum in Carroll, Ohio, went on to list steps President Bush had taken, including the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, to protect the country and diminish terrorism abroad. He then questioned Mr. Kerry's judgment and strength.
"John Kerry would lead you to believe he has the same kind of view that George Bush has, that he would be tough and aggressive," Mr. Cheney said. "I don't believe it. I don't think there's any evidence to support the proposition that he would, in fact, do it."
The remarks brought big cheers from partisan crowds and an instant reaction from the Kerry campaign, which said the senator had demonstrated his toughness in combat during the Vietnam War and would focus on nuclear threats posed by Iran and North Korea.
Mark Kitchens, a policy adviser to Mr. Kerry, said of Mr. Cheney in a statement, "He has the audacity to question whether a decorated combat veteran who has bled on the battlefield is tough and aggressive enough to keep America safe."
"He wants to scare Americans about a possible nuclear 9/11,'' Mr. Kitchens added, "while the Bush administration has been on the sidelines while the nuclear threats from North Korea and Iran, the world's leading sponsor of terrorism, have increased."
Campaigning in Eau Claire, Wis., Mr. Kerry's running mate, Senator John Edwards, said: "You don't keep this country safe by giving a speech. You keep it safe by what you do."
But Mr. Cheney struck his theme time and again throughout his bus tour in this crucial state, arguing that Mr. Bush's approach to national security had borne fruit. Within a week after the capture of Saddam Hussein, he noted, the Libyan leader, Muammar el-Qaddafi, gave up his country's uranium development program, which intelligence agencies had suspected was intended to produce weapons.
"He did not call the United Nations," Mr. Cheney said of Colonel Qaddafi. "He called George Bush and Tony Blair."
While Mr. Cheney stumped on the terrorism issue in Ohio, Attorney General John Ashcroft suggested in a speech before the United Sates Chamber of Commerce in Washington that Providence was partly responsible for the United States' freedom from another attack since Sept. 11, 2001.
"For three years, our nation has been blessed," Mr. Ashcroft said. "But the hand of Providence has been assisted by the dedicated men and women of the Department of Justice. In three years, we have compiled a record of achievement that is impressive by peacetime standards."
Though Mr. Cheney focused primarily Tuesday on national security, he did depart from his theme to rebut Mr. Kerry's claims that Mr. Bush would take away benefits by privatizing the Social Security program.
"It's not true,'' Mr. Cheney said in response to a question at a meeting here with supporters. "It's a distortion. I can think of stronger words to use.''
Mr. Cheney said he could not remember an election in the nearly 40 years he has worked in government and politics when Democrats did not resort to such "desperation."
In an article published Sunday in The New York Times Magazine, Mr. Bush was quoted as having told a group of Republican donors that privatizing Social Security would be among his immediate goals if he won a second term.
The president has long supported the idea of allowing younger workers to divert part of their Social Security payroll taxes into private investment accounts. Those workers' taxes pay benefits for today's retirees, and neither Mr. Bush nor Mr. Cheney has explained whether the idea would mean government borrowing or cutting benefits to bridge the gap.
But the primary mission of Mr. Cheney's day was to fire up supporters in a region of Ohio that leans Republican.
Most of the counties he visited - with his wife, Lynne, at his side - voted overwhelmingly for Mr. Bush four years ago, and he made a special effort to reach out to those who see the president as being on the right side of moral issues.
On the way from Carroll to Xenia, the vice president's bus stopped along Route 22 to greet several dozen fervent supporters outside Circleville Bible College.
He also used some razzle-dazzle, with his bus - emergency lights flashing - pulling into a large hall at fairgrounds in Xenia that was full of hundreds of boisterous supporters chanting to the beat of throbbing techno dance music under dimmed lights.
"You saw the bus come in the door," Mr. Cheney said, looking over the crowd. "I wasn't quite sure what was on the other side of the door, but now I'm glad."