|
Archive for October, 2004
October 1, 2004
- White House communications director Dan Bartlett suggested Bush delivered a knock-out blow when he "again renewed his pledge to the American people about doing everything he could in his power to protect them."
- Bartlett told ABC television that Bush "felt he clearly articulated to the American people clearly that he has the strategy, the plan and the resolve, as commander in chief, to continue to fight this war on terror and protect the American people."
- Kerry’s running mate, Senator John Edwards , told NBC television, "I think what the American people saw last night is what I have known all along: which is John Kerry has strength, he has conviction, he’s completely prepared to be commander in chief … The problem is the president.
- "The president, even in the debate last night, still does not acknowledge what the American people see on their television screen everyday.
- "This man (Kerry) is so ready to keep this country safe and to lead America, and the American people saw that last night."
- "They went out of their way, I believe, to lie to the American people about Iraq and made us feel so unsafe that we felt we had to do this when we really didn’t," Vedder said.
- “I think George Bush will be elected to his second term,” Armitage said. “I think the American people like his clearer vision, his strength of views, even if they don’t agree with him sometimes. They like that.”
October 3, 2004
- “The next four weeks will tell if the American peoplereally want change,” said House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, aMaryland Democrat. “We do have a wind at our back in the sensethat we are on the right side of the issues.”
October 4, 2004
- “These are questions the president must face, these are the questions that a president has to answer fully to the American people and to the troops,” Kerry told a town hall meeting in Ohio on Sunday.
- “Can Dick Cheney honestly look the American people in the eye and say that he and President Bush and the rest of the administration would have done absolutely nothing differently?” asked Susan Rice, a foreign policy adviser to Kerry-Edwards.
October 5, 2004
- "There has been an attempt by the president’s opponent to launch false attacks and mislead the American people on these big priorities," the paper quotes White House press secretary Scott McClellan as saying. "There are some big differences facing the American people, and the president wants to highlight those differences."
- "There is a long list of mistakes and I am glad that Paul Bremer has finally admitted at least two of them. And the president of the United States needs to tell the truth to the American people.
- "When I saw the mistakes I stood up," he said. "When I came back (from Vietnam, where he served as a patrol boat captain) I had the courage to point them out to the American people.
- "The American people need that truth today."
- “We went into Afghanistan and very quickly the administration made a decision to divert attention from that and instead began to plan for the invasion of Iraq. And these connections — I want the American people to hear this very clearly. Listen carefully to what the vice president is saying. Because there is no connection between Saddam Hussein and the attacks of September 11th — period. The 9/11 Commission has said that’s true. (Secretary of State) Colin Powell has said it’s true. But the vice president keeps suggesting that there is. There is not. And, in fact, any connection with al-Qaida is tenuous at best.”
- “What John Kerry said — and it’s just as clear as day to anybody who was listening — he said: ‘We will find terrorists where they are and kill them before they ever do harm to the American people, first.’ We will keep this country safe. He defended this country as a young man, he will defend this country as president of the United States. He also said very clearly that he will never give any country veto power over the security of the United States of America. Now, I know the vice president would like to pretend that wasn’t said, and the president would too. But the reality is it was said.”
- “The Kerry record on taxes is one basically of voting for a large number of tax increases — 98 times in the United States Senate. There’s a fundamental philosophical difference here between the president and myself, who believe that we ought to let the American people keep more of what they earn and we ought to empower them to have more control over their own lives — I think the Kerry-Edwards approach basically is to raise taxes and to give government more control over the lives of individual citizens. We think that’s the wrong way to go.”
- Edwards accused Cheney of “not being straight” with the American people about the war, pointing out that U.S. casualties are rising monthly and the United States has suffered 90 percent of coalition casualties and 90 percent of the costs.
- Edwards: “Mr. Vice President, you are still not beingstraight with the American people.”
- Edwards: What the vice president has just said is just acomplete distortion. The American people saw John Kerry onThursday night. They don’t need the vice president or thepresident to tell them what they saw.
- Edwards accused Cheney of “not being straight” with the American people about the war, pointing out that U.S. casualties are rising monthly and the United States has suffered 90 percent of coalition casualties and 90 percent of the costs.
- Edwards: "Mr. Vice President, you are still not being straight with the American people.
- "We’re going to make sure that the American people know the truth about why we are using force and what the explanation for it is.
- "And it’s not just the American people. We’re also going to make sure that we tell the world the truth.
October 6, 2004
- “You are still not being straight with the American people,” the freshman senator from North Carolina said, zinging Cheney on Iraq , his business ties and insinuations that Saddam Hussein is somehow connected to the Sept. 11 terrorist strikes.
- Contrary to the rule meant to ensure that candidates spoke only to the moderator, each of them baldly addressed his opponent, often in feisty fashion. It began with Edwards’ first response of the evening: “Mr. Vice President, you are still not being straight with the American people.”
- “Mr. Vice President, you are still not being straight with the American people,” Edwards replied. He pointed to recent reports questioning U.S. troop strength in Iraq, and said, “It’s not just me that sees the mess in Iraq…we need a fresh start.” (Related: No. 2s try to inflict damage)
- In discussing national defense, Edwards discussed Kerry’s debate performance last week. “What John Kerry said - and it’s just as clear as day to anybody who was listening - he said: ‘We will find terrorists where they are and kill them before they ever do harm to the American people, first.’ We will keep this country safe.” (Related: Debate excerpts)
- Edwards didn’t forget their prayer-breakfast meeting. The Democratic vice presidential candidate noted the discrepancy at a post-debate rally in a Cleveland park, calling it an example of Cheney “still not being straight with the American people.”
- “She reminded him about the truth,” Edwards told the crowd, “and come November, we’re going to remind him that the American people do not want four more years of George W. Bush.”
- “This is not an administration that has made candor with the American people their hallmark. The American people deserve an administration that will tell them the truth,” she said.
- Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said last night: “The fact that Mr. DeLay has now been admonished an unprecedented three times in under a week — in addition to the admonishment issued against him a few years ago — clearly shows that he believes himself to be above the law. Members of the congressional leadership should be above reproach. If the Republican Conference wants the American people to believe that it takes ethics seriously, it must insist that Mr. DeLay resign his post as majority leader.”
October 7, 2004
- “This is just one example of how my opponent’s weak, vacillating views would make for a more dangerous world,” Bush wrote. “In these final days of the campaign, will you make one more contribution to the Republican National Committee so they can help me and the Republican team get our message to the American people?”
- “It’s real simple. The House bill — every single word of it — will make the American people safer,” House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, proclaimed as Congress neared the time for lawmakers to leave for the campaign hustings.
- “This legislation is another important step forward as we do everything in our power to defeat the terrorist enemy and protect the American people,” Bush said of the Senate bill.
- Bush: “I believe my primary responsibility is to protect the safety and well-being of the American people. As such, the security of our drug supply is a priority. Any drug importation plan must guarantee Americans the safety and effectiveness they currently have under the gold-standard of the Food and Drug Administration . I have appointed Surgeon General Richard Carmona to lead a federal task force to determine what resources and authority would be needed to ensure that importation could be done safely. Since 2001, I have worked to lower the costs of medicines for all Americans by passing a new Medicare drug benefit to cut seniors’ drug costs in half. We have also closed loopholes to speed safe and effective generic drugs to market, saving American consumers $35 billion in drug costs over 10 years.”
- “If you’re al Qaeda and you want to do damage to theAmerican people, if you want to kill people in this country andyou have dangerous material or a weapon, you know if you put itin one of these containers, it’s got a 95 percent chance ofgetting in here,” Edwards said.
- Edwards said of the Bush administration: “The American people need to know that they were obstructing the investigation of the 9/11 commission set up for the purpose of keeping this country safe.” He stood before billowing American flags and two giant shipping containers at the Cape Liberty Port on a clear, cool day similar to the one on which terrorists struck just across the Hudson River.
- “Mr. President, the American people deserve more than spin about this war,” he said. “They deserve facts that represent reality, not carefully polished arguments and points that are simply calculated to align with a preconceived perception.”
October 8, 2004
- Later, at a rally in Wausau, Wis., Bush said: “Today my opponent tries to say I made up reasons to go to war… . Just who’s the one trying to mislead the American people?”
- Of Kerry, she said, “I think he has the greater good of all the American people, whether they’re poor or rich, at heart.” Still she worries how he would handle Iraq.
October 9, 2004
- “The 108th Congress has failed, and the American people know that we can, and must, do better,” the Maryland congressman said in the Democrats’ weekly radio address.
October 13, 2004
- "Yet the American people deserve something more from their candidates than an invitation to a free lunch — even if that is what they want to hear."
October 14, 2004
- House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi described Snow’s manoeuvre as "a shameful admission" that the administration’s economic policies had failed the American people.
- Bush played down negative reviews of his debate performances. “The pundits and the spinners — they all have their opinions but there’s only one opinion that matters and that’s the opinion of the American people on Nov. 2,” he told reporters during a rare visit to the press cabin on Air Force One. “I feel great about where we are.”
October 15, 2004
- An overriding theme of Kerry’s speech — and his message for the final days of the campaign — was that Bush is disconnected not only from the problems facing Americans but also from reality altogether. “He has spent this entire campaign trying to make us believe the unbelievable,” Kerry said. Moments later, he added: “The president just does not seem to get it. He can spin until he’s dizzy, but, at the end of the day, who does he think the American people are going to believe: George Bush or their own eyes?”
- “The pundits and the spinners will all have their opinion, but there’s only one opinion that matters, and that’s the opinion of the American people on November the 2nd,” he said. “And I feel great about where we are.”
October 17, 2004
- The US Justice Department has not produced any successful terrorism prosecution and has "squandered much of the trust and patience the American people gave so freely in 2001."
- Bush’s rationale for the war on Iraq has been "debunked," but "none of the president’s chief advisers have ever been held accountable for their misrepresentations to the American people or for their mismanagement of the war that followed," the Times charged.
- "Well, it’s least worst. Because they’re both so out of it, both parties, in terms of the necessities of the American people, in terms of standing up for them, instead of knuckling under these corporate lobbyists that control Washington as corporate-occupied territory," he said.
October 18, 2004
- Despite making clear he wanted to see Bush returned to theWhite House, the pragmatic Putin carefully balanced hiscomments by adding: “We will, of course, respect any choice bythe American people.”
- “Truly, President Bush has stolen the symbolism and bodylanguage of religion and used it to disguise the most radicaleffort in American history to take what rightfully belongs tothe American people and give as much of it as possible to thealready wealthy and privileged,” he said.
- One of the things that, obviously, that we’re now being confronted with are shameless scare tactics. My opponent has said to youngsters that if George W. is elected — re-elected, there will be a draft. The American people heard me in the debates say clearly, we will not have a draft, we will have an all-volunteer army.
- “It is beyond incompetence — it is recklessness that risks the safety and security of the American people,” the former vice president said during a speech at Georgetown University.
October 19, 2004
- “This whole thing about WMD and connection with Al Qaeda … were [just] the rhetorical tools he was using to persuade the American people,” Clarke said. “He knew if he got up and said ‘I have this ambitious project for changing the face of the Middle East,’ people wouldn’t have bought into that. So you had these immediate rationales being rolled out, but no great attachment to them.”
October 20, 2004
- “That is precisely why the American people understand thathe has a fundamental misunderstanding of the war on terror andwhy his position on the war on terror will make this world amore dangerous place,” Bush said.
- "Regardless of whether it’s an election year, she has a job to do, and part of that job is to make herself accessible, to talk to the American people about foreign policy," McCormack said.
- "The president both publicly and privately was preparing the American people for the possibility of a military conflict and the possibility that sacrifice may be necessary," he said.
- "Mr. President, you had better prepare the American people for casualties," Robertson said he told the president.
- In Iraq, every week brings fresh evidence that President Bush just doesn’t see what’s happening. And he isn’t leveling with the American people about why we went to war, how the war is going and he has no idea how to put our policy back on track.
- And, finally, the American people have learned that nine months ago the top U.S. commander in Iraq pleaded with the Pentagon for critical supplies to counter the growing insurgency, all of which our troops should have had before they went to war, including 36,000 sets of body armor and spare parts for tanks, helicopters and fighting vehicles.
- Before the president’s address on terrorism earlier this week, Edwards charged that Bush was making “one last stand to con the American people into believing that he is the only one who can fight an effective war on terror.” And, he added, Bush was “exploiting a national tragedy for personal gain.”
- Earlier this month, Edwards defended Kerry by contending that Bush and Cheney were “completely out of touch with reality” about the Iraq war and the economy, and were “refusing to level with the American people.”
- “I had deep misgivings about this war, deep misgivings. And I was trying to say, ‘Mr. President, you better prepare the American people for casualties.’ ‘Oh, no, we’re not going to have any casualties.’ ‘Well,’ I said, ‘it’s the way it’s going to be.’ And so, it was messy. The Lord told me it was going to be, A, a disaster and, B, messy.”
October 21, 2004
- "My reforms will lower costs and give more control and choices to the American people."
- “Ralph Nader’s latest complaint — he says he’s being held back by special interest groups working against him. I think they’re called the American people.”
October 23, 2004
- “The argument is that the singular preoccupation with eradicating evildoing in the world … it creates blinders that allow you to miss the other things that are important to the American people,” McCurry said.
- The next day he joked to supporters in Florida: “In the last few years, the American people have gotten to know me. They know my blunt way of speaking. I get that from Mother. They know I sometimes mangle the English language. I get that from Dad.”
October 24, 2004
- “It’s time for us to join together, to unite America, to come together around the ideals and hopes and aspirations of the American people, not the fears,” Kerry said.
- “Some calculate that he’s going to try to show the American people that he’s not going to be a bull in a China shop, or that if he is, he’s going to be a kinder, gentler bull,” said Julianne Smith, an international security analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
- "Secondly, I think all this vitriol ends up inuring to my benefit. I think most American people want to see a civil discourse. Most of the people are interested in policies that will keep us secure and keep us prosperous," he said.
October 26, 2004
- White House communications director Dan Bartlett said the missing weapons story was no last-minute surprise, having been reported earlier this month — although without the graphic details of the new report. Moreover, he said, “The American people are well informed about the issue about Iraq and the fierce battles that are taking place there.” He said the deaths of the Iraqi recruits were “dramatic” and “catastrophic” but would have a much greater impact if they had been Americans.
- “Companies with a large consumer base should be in the business of offering quality products,” said Randy Sharp, the AFA’s director of special projects. “When they become politically involved in an agenda opposed by a majority of the American people, they’re alienating their consumers.”
- Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate, calls the failure to secure the material “one of the great blunders of Iraq, one of the great blunders of this administration.” He says it threatens U.S. troops and the American people.
October 27, 2004
- "I want to remind the American people: if Senator Kerry had his way, we would still be taking our global test, Saddam Hussein would still be in power, he would control all those weapons and explosives, and could share them with out terrorist enemies," Bush charged.
- In this Miami suburb, Edwards answered: “Here’s the truth, and the American people know it. Our troops, our military did their job. George Bush is not doing his job.”
October 28, 2004
- "The intransigence of House Republicans has produced a failure by Congress in its primary responsibility to protect the American people," she said, adding that "President Bush did not provide the necessary leadership to break the impasse."
- Kerry has called it "a growing scandal and the American people deserve a full and honest explanation of how it happened and what the president is going to do about it."
- “I want to remind the American people if Senator Kerry had his way, we would still be taking our global test, Saddam Hussein would still be in power, he would control all those weapons and explosives, and could have shared them with our terrorist enemies,” Bush said Wednesday.
- In a dueling news conference on the same spot as that ofthe rights groups, Republican adviser Robert Traynham accusedthe Democratic National Committee of deploying 10,000 triallawyers across the United States “to cause chaos, to subvertthe will of the American people, so this election will bedecided by lawyers instead of the actual voters.”
- "If they won’t tell the truth in an ad, they won’t tell the truth about anything else," Kerry campaign adviser Joe Lockhart said. "This doctored commercial is fundamentally dishonest and insults the intelligence of the American people."
- It was not until Sept. 14 that the American people and therest of the world would see another side to Bush, when hevisited the smoking ruins at Manhattan’s Ground Zero, steppedup on a crumpled fire engine and addressed cheering police,firefighters and rescuers.
October 29, 2004
- Kerry’s running mate John Edwards said on the campaign trail "today we learned that the FBI is investigating the awards of no-bid contracts to Halliburton. Good people came forward to tell the truth about these contracts because they — like the American people — know that the administration’s special treatment of Halliburton was wrong.
- Kerry spokesman Phil Singer said the delay, coming just days before the election, was an example of the administration withholding bad news from the American people. “It is absolutely unacceptable for the government to hold back information like this from the public,” Singer said.
- DOHA (AFP) - Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden told the American people that their security is not in the hands of either George W. Bush or his Democratic challenger John Kerry , but depends on US policy, in a video aired by Al-Jazeera TV.
- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Osama bin Laden , the man PresidentBush vowed to capture “dead or alive,” tossed a bombshell intothe deadheat U.S. presidential campaign on Friday in a videoaddress to the American people which some political analystssaid could actually help Bush.
- “My visceral reaction is that it could hurt Kerry. I don’tthink the American people will take kindly to Osama bin Ladenstepping into our election,” said St. Louis Universitypolitical scientist Joel Goldstein.
- "I also want to say to the American people that we are at war with these terrorists. And I am confident that we will prevail."
- US television news channels broke into their programs to show the Al-Qaeda leader’s ominous message to the American people broadcast by the Al-Jazeera network. US intelligence officials and the White House said the tape appeared authentic.
- He added: "I will fight these enemies with every asset of our national power. We will do our duty and we will protect the American people."
- "I also want to say to the American people that we are at war with these terrorists. And I am confident that we will prevail."
- Bin Laden told the American people that their security is not in the hands of either Bush or his Democrat challenger in the November 2 presidential vote but depends on US policy.
- But his message was likely to be overshadowed by the airing of a new videotape from Osama bin Laden , in which the Al-Qaeda leader threatened new attacks and told the American people that their security was not in the hands of either Bush or Kerry, but depends on US policy.
- “We are not setting aside the debate we have been having infront of the American people,” Kerry adviser Mike McCurry said.”The American people are not going to let Osama bin Laden denythem the opportunity to hear the candidates.
- “In this election, the safety of the American people is onthe ballot,” he told supporters earlier in Orlando.
- Bush said Kerry had “insulted the American people.”
- “The American people are awake,” he said. “Their eyes arewide open. They’re seeing more clearly every day the criticalchoices in this election.”
October 30, 2004
- “In this election, the safety of the American people is onthe ballot,” the Massachusetts senator told supporters inOrlando.
- “My opponent has an interesting idea of how to win friends,” Bush said in Toledo, Ohio. “Earlier today, my opponent even insulted the American people saying, you need to, quote, ‘wake up.’
- “Well, the American people are awake,” Bush said. “Their eyes are wide open. They are seeing more clearly every day the critical choices in this election: the senator’s failed, out-of-the-mainstream policies, or my commitment to defend our country, to build our economy and to uphold our bedrock values.”
- After months of accusing Kerry of being an unreliable opportunist, Bush told thousands of supporters in Wisconsin: "In less than 72 hours, the American people will be voting, and the decision comes down to: Who do you trust?"
- “In less than 72 hours, the American people will be voting and the decision comes down to, who do you trust?” Bush said in Green Bay.
- “In less than 72 hours, the American people will be votingand the decision comes down to: Who do you trust?” Bush askedmore than 5,000 supporters in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Theyshouted back: “You.”
- “He will not be successful if he is,” Bush told Cleveland television station WKYC, in an interview conducted aboard Air Force One. “The American people will not be influenced or intimidated by an enemy of the people.”
HOME |
ARCHIVE
|