Bolding mine.
Bush, in Ohio, Paints Kerry as Unreliable
President Turns to Humor to Criticize Presumptive Opponent as a Vacillator
By Mike Allen and Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, May 5, 2004; Page A08
LEBANON, Ohio, May 4 -- President Bush, campaigning by bus through a crucial slice of the state that could decide the election, sharpened his attack on Sen. John F. Kerry as unreliable on Tuesday and charged that vacillation by a president could undermine the nation's security.
Bush, on the second day of the first overnight swing of his reelection campaign, alternated attacks with assurances that his economic policies will eventually spark robust job creation in Ohio, which has been one of the prime victims of the disappearance of manufacturing jobs during his term.
Bush generally has allowed his campaign's advertising and Vice President Cheney to carry most of the attacks against Kerry, but he took the lead Tuesday. The day began with a pancake breakfast in Maumee outside Toledo. It continued with an "Ask President Bush" forum in Dayton and remarks in the middle of the street here outside Ohio's oldest hotel. The day concluded with a rally that drew 10,500 boisterous supporters to a Cincinnati hockey arena that had been studded with a giant banner that said "Integrity."
Bush used humor and scorn to draw sharp contrasts with Kerry over fighting terrorism, working with other countries, taxation and health care.
"My opponent says he approves of bold action in the world, but only if other countries do not object," he said in Maumee early Tuesday, adding, "I'm all for united action, but I will never turn over America's national security decisions to leaders of other foreign countries."
Bush did not mention Kerry by name, but constantly referred to "my opponent" as he sought to frame the choices in the election. With his advisers seeking to undermine Kerry as a candidate who has shifted positions on some issues, the president portrayed himself as a straight-talker whose word is always good.
"In order to keep the peace, there must be truth in the words of the president," Bush declared in Lebanon, the red, white and blue bus parked behind him as he began a discussion of attacking the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Bush made the same point about Iraq, calling it "essential that when an American president speaks, he speak clearly and when he says something, means what he says."
Bush's decision to plunge in even deeper reflects the belief by his advisers that they are gaining traction with their portrayal of Kerry as a flip-flopper, and that they have a chance to cement that image before Kerry can tell his story with record spending on a biographical ad that began Tuesday.
The National Annenberg Election Survey, based at the University of Pennsylvania, released a study Tuesday concluding that Bush's $60 million ad campaign attacking the Democratic senator had worked and had caused opinions of him to decline nationally and especially in the battleground states. In those battleground states, where Kerry has just launched a $25 million ad campaign, voters were evenly split, with 35 percent viewing Kerry unfavorably and 36 percent viewing him favorably. In March, 41 percent had a favorable view of him.
For weeks, Bush has needled Kerry about his suggestion that he had met privately with foreign leaders who had endorsed him, and the incident has become a crowd-pleaser in presidential speeches. At several of his bus stops, Bush suggested that the claim calls Kerry's loyalties into question by citing with relish Kerry's explanation on NBC's "Meet the Press" last month that "you can go to New York City and you can be in a restaurant and you can meet a foreign leader."
"I got a hunch this whole thing might be a case of mistaken identity," Bush said to laughter and applause. "Just because somebody has an accent and a nice suit and a good table at a fancy restaurant in New York doesn't make them a foreign leader. But whoever these mystery men are, they're not going to be deciding this election. The American people will be deciding this election."
Bush said Kerry's campaign promises add up to more than $1 trillion in new spending and said Kerry will raise taxes on all Americans to pay for those promises.
Kerry's campaign disputes that figure, and says Bush has made promises and set in motion programs that would total at least that much. Kerry spokesman Phil Singer called Bush's various new attacks "ridiculous."
Bush's three-day, four-state bus journey, which resumes Friday after he returns to the White House for two days, is a remarkable investment of presidential time six months before the election. But one of Bush's chief vulnerabilities lies in job losses that have been concentrated in crucial swing states, including Ohio.
Although optimism is a touchstone of Bush's campaign, and his bus bears the slogan "Yes, America Can," aides said one of his missions was to show struggling and unemployed workers that he cares about them and wants them to benefit from his policies. "The people of Ohio are going to feel the economic vitality that's occurring across the country," Bush said.
It turns out the "Yes, America Can" bus was made in Canada, by Quebec-based Prevost Car. On Monday night, Bush took the bus into suburban Detroit, where foreign-made vehicles have been anathema. Bush campaign spokesman Scott Stanzel said the tires, paint and engine were made in the United States. Nevertheless, the discovery provides fodder for Democrats, who have sought to make Bush responsible for the jobs lost abroad during his term.
"Seeing the president drive around in this Canadian-made luxury bus is just another reminder of George Bush's failed economic policies," Singer said.
© 2004 The Washington Post Company
