Bush: United Nations, United States share values
UNITED NATIONS, N.Y., Sept. 21 (UPI) -- In a speech at the United Nations Tuesday, President Bush defended his decision to go to war in Iraq as an effort to advance values the world body and the United States hold dear.
"For decades, the circle of liberty and security and development has been expanding in our world," Bush told the opening session of the U.N. General Assembly. "Now we have the historic chance to widen the circle even further, to fight radicalism and terror with justice and dignity, to achieve a true peace founded on human freedom."
Bush's speech touched on a number of issues: human rights, the humanitarian crisis in Sudan, stem-cell research and global AIDS policy. But coming six weeks from the U.S. presidential election, one of the most closely watched topics was Bush's decision to go to war in Iraq, where the security situation has steadily devolved.
"Every nation that wants peace will share the benefits of a freer world, and every nation that seeks peace has an obligation to help build that world," he said.
Kerry ad attacks Bush on healthcare
WASHINGTON, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- In the midst of a weeklong emphasis by Democrats on Iraq, the Kerry campaign unveiled an ad Tuesday cutting into U.S. President Bush on healthcare.
"Uninsured," a 30-second television spot that is scheduled to air beginning this week in presidential battleground states, focuses on the differences between the healthcare plans proposed by Kerry and by Bush.
Kerry's plan, the ad says, lowers costs and expands access to coverage while Bush's program, the ad charges, would increase health-insurance premiums for four out of five U.S. small businesses and increase the total number of uninsured in the United States.
"When it comes to healthcare, George Bush's approach has taken America in the wrong direction," said Kerry campaign spokesman Phil Singer. "John Kerry will move this country in a new direction with lower costs for families and businesses."
In Ohio, Cheney goes after Kerry on Iraq
WAUSEON, Ohio, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- Campaigning in Ohio Tuesday, Vice President Dick Cheney accused Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry of changing positions on the war in Iraq.
Kerry put forward "what I think is his ninth position on the war in Iraq," Cheney said of the Democrat's Monday foreign-policy speech. "He attacked the progress we are making and the policies we've implemented.
"Yet despite all the harsh rhetoric (Kerry) endorsed many of the same goals President Bush has been pursuing in Iraq."
Cheney said Kerry's shifting stands on Iraq are "troubling," with the newest, which the vice president described as Kerry saying he "would not have supported the use of force to remove Saddam Hussein's regime -- and that removing Saddam has somehow weakened our national security" -- being the direct opposite of the position Kerry took in the Democratic presidential primaries while debating former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.
Cheney also took a swipe at Kerry's repeated advocacy of a more multilateral approach to U.S. foreign policy.
Kerry's claim that "under his leadership, more of America's friends would speak with one voice on Iraq," Cheney said, "seems a little odd coming from a guy who doesn't speak with one voice himself."
Edwards: Bush's tax plan is anti-middle class
CLEVELAND, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- Vice presidential hopeful John Edwards slammed the Bush administration's tax agenda in Ohio Tuesday.
"Make no mistake. Bush's tax agenda is the most radical and dangerous economic agenda to hit our shores since socialism a century ago," Sen. Edwards, D-N.C., said in prepared remarks.
"Like socialism, it corrupts the very nature of our democracy and our free-enterprise tradition. It is not a plan to grow the American economy. It is a plan to corrupt the American economy and shrink the winners' circle."
Speaking in Cleveland, Edwards outlined the campaign's plan to create a "strong and growing middle class," which included cutting out tax breaks it said encouraged companies to send jobs overseas, offering tax credits on healthcare for small businesses, enforcing trade agreements and creating a venture-capital fund for technological advances.
"Many of us are angry at what George Bush and Dick Cheney have done to our great country and the values we cherish. But anger never changed America; our actions do," Edwards said. "And this is what we will do: create good-paying jobs, invest in the jobs of the future, and lift up and expand our great middle class."
Brazile to Kerry: Be yourself in debates
WASHINGTON, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- Democratic nominee John Kerry just needs to be himself in the upcoming debates with U.S. President Bush, says former Gore campaign chief Donna Brazile.
Brazile, writing Tuesday in Roll Call, a newspaper that covers Capitol Hill, said for Kerry to counter the Republicans' portrayal of him as "a flip-flopping, weak, indecisive leader" the Massachusetts Democrat needs to "just be himself and stand up for what he believes in."
"President Bush has managed to turn the conversation to Kerry's shortcomings as a candidate," Brazile said, allowing him to avoid answering difficult questions on a number of issues. "Kerry should avoid falling into their traps and keep his answers crisp, pointed and focused."
Brazile, whose political skills are respected by Democrats and Republicans alike, advised both campaigns to remember that presidential debates "are not just about who is the 'smartest' candidate, but also who is more 'likable.'"
In her analysis, the debates could become -- "judging by the pre-debate hype, positioning and the spin" -- a defining moment in the 2004 presidential election. "When the debates are concluded, voters should be in a better position to decide who is best to lead America in the post-Sept. 11 era."
In Iowa, Bush takes lead from Kerry
WASHINGTON, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- Tuesday's Gallup poll has U.S. President George Bush now leading Democratic challenger John Kerry by 6 points among likely voters in Iowa.
The poll, conducted Sept. 16-19, had Bush ahead 50 percent to 44 percent, with liberal independent Ralph Nader at 2 percent and 4 percent undecided. Kerry led Bush among likely voters 51 percent to 45 percent in Gallup's Aug. 23-26 poll of likely voters.
Bush pulled ahead of Kerry by 5 points among registered voters in the latest poll, 48 percent to 43 percent. The August poll had Kerry ahead by 6 points, 50 percent to 44 percent.
The data was collected in interviews with 766 registered Iowa voters and has a margin of error of 4 points. For the subset of 631 voters deemed likely to vote in November, the margin of error is 5 points.
Goss's CIA nomination approved by Senate panel
WASHINGTON, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- A Senate committee Tuesday approved Porter Goss's nomination to head the CIA, opening the door for the expected approval of the full Senate, which could come as early as Wednesday.
The Florida Republican's approval comes over the objections of Democrats who argue that Goss is too much of a partisan for the position. Sen. John D. Rockefeller of West Virginia, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a statement following the vote he opposed Goss because of his past use of intelligence issues for partisan purposes.
"While I appreciate his testimony and commitment to non-partisanship if confirmed, I must vote on his record, not his promises," said Rockefeller.
Panel Republicans and Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., defended Goss as the right man for the job given his past experience as an agency operative and his years of oversight of intelligence matters on Capitol Hill.
Nader's on-again, off-again New Mexico ballot
SANTA FE, N.M., Sept. 21 (UPI) -- A New Mexico judge let third-party presidential candidate Ralph Nader know what it feels like to be on the state's ballot -- but only for a matter of hours.
State District Judge Wendy York Monday withdrew an earlier ruling barring Nader from the ballot after she recused herself from the case due to concerns over a $1,000 contribution she made to Democrat John F. Kerry's presidential campaign. But hours later Judge Theresa Baca stepped in to hear argument before reinstating the ban, the Albuquerque Journal reported.
New Mexico Democratic Party Executive Director Vanessa Alarid and other plaintiffs filed suit against Nader alleging he does not meet state requirements that independent candidates be "without party affiliation," noting his affiliation with other parties in other states ballots.
Nader supporters planned to file an appeal with the state Supreme Court Tuesday, noting Baca also made a small donation to a committee working to elect Democrats to the U.S. Senate.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron said ballots without Nader's name began coming off the presses Monday and that she plans to destroy the 25,000 ballots with Nader's name on them.
