Home>News Center>World
         
 

Bush ready to accept GOP nomination
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-09-02 14:18

U.S. President Bush was reaching out to Americans to keep him on the job, recalling the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks "when one era ended and another began," and offering himself as a resolute wartime commander in chief with ambitious plans for a second term.

The four-day Republican National Convention was coming to a close Thursday with a speech by Bush that will touch off a two-month dash to the finish line in a nation that seems as closely divided now as it was four years ago.

Bush ready to accept GOP nomination
US President Bush speaks at a rally before 20,000 people at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2004. [AP]

"Optimistic," "future-oriented" and "visionary," Bush's longtime adviser Karen Hughes said when asked for adjectives to describe the president's 40-minute-plus speech.

Bush, who arrived in this fortified convention city Wednesday night at the end of a three-day, six-state campaign dash, will boast of his record and sketch the domestic agenda he would pursue if elected to a second term, a goal that eluded his father. He'll also talk — sometimes in personal terms, his advisers said — about how the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks changed him and the world order.

"Government must change with the changing world to make people's lives easier — to give people a chance to be able to realize the full promise of tomorrow," Bush told thousands of cheering supporters at a campaign rally Wednesday in Columbus, Ohio.

The speech also will offer an agenda that includes initiatives to simplify the tax code and help people buy homes, start businesses, hone job skills and set up tax-free retirement and health care accounts, aides said.

Ahead of Bush's acceptance address, Vice President Dick Cheney and convention keynoter Sen. Zell Miller, a Georgia Democrat, unleashed a scathing barrage of attacks on Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.

"His back-and-forth reflects a habit of indecision and sends a message of confusion," Cheney told GOP delegates in a prime-time address Wednesday night. "Senator Kerry says he sees two Americas. It makes the whole thing mutual. America sees two John Kerrys."

Delegates roared their approval of Cheney's broadside against Kerry, some joining in the taunts by shouting "flip flopper, flip flopper" and waving flip-flop sandals in the air.

Kerry, vacationing on Nantucket island in Massachusetts, was asked whether he took some blows from the speeches.

"I don't think so," Kerry said.

Within minutes of his arrival here Wednesday, Bush was embracing New York City firefighters. At a community center in Queens, the president's eyes misted as he stood among the firefighters and held a black fire helmet that read "Commander in Chief." The firefighters chanted "four more years."

"To see the courage and compassion and decency of our fellow Americans during an incredible time of stress has shaped my thinking about the future of this country," Bush said.

Much has changed since Bush stood at Ground Zero three days after the Sept. 11 terror attacks and told construction workers through a bullhorn: "I can hear you. ... And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon."

That bullhorn speech helped lead to a surge of national unity before the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan that went after al-Qaida terrorist leader Osama bin Laden and his Taliban supporters.

But as Bush seeks re-election, he is confronted by a death toll of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq that is likely to reach 1,000 by Nov. 2; a failure to find bin Laden; investigations into pre-Sept. 11 and prewar intelligence lapses; and a struggling economy.

Cheney promoted the administration's first-term successes, asserting that "businesses are creating jobs, people are returning to work, mortgage rates are low and homeownership in this country is at an all-time high. The Bush tax cuts are working."

The Democratic National Committee fired back with a statement noting that in his speech Cheney "said the word `job' only twice, and once was in reference to his own."

Miller's keynote address praised Bush's performance in office while blasting his Massachusetts colleague's two-decade Senate record.

"For more than 20 years, John Kerry has been more wrong, more weak and more wobbly than any other national figure," Miller said.

Reacting to the pounding by Cheney and Miller, Kerry spokesman Joe Lockhart said: "Slash and burn politics didn't work in 1992. They won't work now. Dick Cheney and Zell Miller looked like angry and grumpy old men."

Outside the high-security Madison Square Garden convention site, protests continued in the streets. And while demonstrators were mostly peaceful, the arrest total as of late Wednesday had soared beyond 1,700 for the week, surpassing those made in much more violent events at Chicago's 1968 Democratic convention.

Kerry was hitting the campaign trail again late Thursday in Ohio. On Wednesday, he defied tradition by making an appearance while his rival's national convention was in progress, telling a national convention of the American Legion in Nashville, Tenn., that "extremism has gained momentum" as a result of Bush's missteps in Iraq.

Bush advisers saw the convention culminating in the president's speech as an effort to cast him as a strong leader, to further discredit Kerry and to reach out to independents and swing voters. They also sought to tamp down expectations of a convention "bounce" heading into Labor Day.

"The incumbent party which has its convention second generally gets two-thirds of the bounce of the challenger party which holds its convention first. And since their bounce was zero, two-thirds of zero is zero," said Bush chief political strategist Karl Rove.

Bush aides said they'd be happy to be even on Labor Day, but privately suggested they hoped for more.

Trying to slow Bush's momentum, the Kerry campaign plans a seven-state advertising blitz in Ohio, Florida, Iowa, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Wisconsin as the first installment of a $45 million, 20-state ad buy.



USS Park Royal crew await for Rice
Coffin of Milosevic flew to Belgrade
Kidnapping spree in Gaza Strip
 
  Today's Top News     Top World News
 

Australia, US, Japan praise China for Asia engagement

 

   
 

Banker: China doing its best on flexible yuan

 

   
 

Hopes high for oil pipeline deal

 

   
 

Possibilities of bird flu outbreaks reduced

 

   
 

Milosevic buried after emotional farewell

 

   
 

China considers trade contracts in India

 

   
  Journalist's alleged killers held in Iraq
   
  No poisons found in Milosevic's body
   
  US, Britain, France upbeat on Iran agreement
   
  Fatah officials call for Abbas to resign
   
  Sectarian violence increases in Iraq
   
  US support for troops in Iraq hits new low
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  Related Stories  
   
Text of Schwarzenegger's speech at RNC
   
NYC police arrest some 400 GOP protesters
   
Text of Laura Bush's speech at RNC
   
Iran poses vexing problems for US
   
Cheney, Miller unleash rage against kerry
Manufacturers, Exporters, Wholesalers - Global trade starts here.
Advertisement
         
主站蜘蛛池模板: 国产女主播喷水视频在线观看| 男人天堂网在线| 国产精品自产拍2021在线观看| 亚洲va在线va天堂va不卡下载| 秋霞免费理论片在线观看午夜| 国产乱子伦精品视频| 精品四虎免费观看国产高清午夜| 欧美aaaaaabbbbb| 日本成人福利视频| 亚洲欧美中文字幕在线网站| 男人边吃奶边摸下边的视频| 和主人玩露出调教暴露羞耻| 7777奇米影视| 日批日韩在线观看| 九色在线观看视频| 欧美午夜艳片欧美精品| 亚洲精品tv久久久久久久久| 男爵夫人的调教| 午夜dj在线观看免费视频| 色婷婷久久综合中文网站| 国产国产人精品视频69| 久久久久777777人人人视频| 国产精品久久国产精麻豆99网站 | 日本黄网站动漫视频免费| 俄罗斯小小幼儿视频大全| 欧美三级香港三级日本三级| 国产麻豆剧传媒精品国产AV| 99精品热女视频专线| 好吊日免费视频| 一级做a爰片久久毛片16| 最新国产福利在线观看| 亚洲国产综合网| 精品国产一区二区三区不卡在线| 国产一区免费视频| 蜜臀精品国产高清在线观看| 国产免费午夜a无码v视频| 高h黄全肉一女n男古风| 国产成人综合久久久久久| 99热精品久久| 天天操天天射天天操| jizz国产精品|