Bush lambastes ‘Kerry Doctrine’

COLUMBUS, Ohio – President Bush on Saturday continued to portray John Kerry as a man who would relinquish U.S. sovereignty to foreign powers, arguing that under a “Kerry Doctrine” the Democratic nominee would seek approval from other countries before taking military action.

“I have a different view,” the president said, drawing applause here from a supportive crowd numbering about 2,000. “When our country is in danger, the president’s job is not to take an international poll. The president’s job is to defend America.”

Bush repeated an assertion he began making Friday, the day after he and the Democratic nominee held their first debate. The president has seized on a comment Kerry made when asked whether he would be willing to launch a pre-emptive strike, as Bush did in Iraq.

Kerry said he would not cede the right to pre-empt “in any way necessary to protect the United States of America” that right. But he added, “if and when you do it … you have to pass the global test where your countrymen, your people, understand fully why you’re doing what you’re doing, and you can prove to the world that you did it for legitimate reasons.”

The Republicans have interpreted the comment to argue that Kerry would subject U.S. military decisions to foreign entities, such as the United Nations. Bush began using the phrase “Kerry Doctrine” while campaigning in Ohio and in a new ad released Saturday.

Kerry responded to Bush’s comments from Washington, D.C. He said he would “never cede the security of the United States to any nation or any institution,” but that he believes the United States can be a stronger leader when “we lead allies, and when we do what we need to do with other countries.”

The Kerry campaign also counterpunched by producing a television ad that says, “George Bush lost the debate. Now he’s lying about it.”

Bush’s comments about Kerry came while campaigning here by bus Saturday, his 28th visit as president to Ohio.

Addressing a national convention of homebuilders, the president also asserted that Kerry would have to raise taxes in order to pay for his proposals.

“It makes no sense to tax the job creators as our economy is getting stronger,” he said.

No Republican has won the White House without carrying Ohio. Bush won Ohio with a less than 4 percent margin in 2000, and his campaign is taking nothing for granted in the outreach to the Buckeye State.

Bush acknowledged times have been tough for families here, but he said the economy is on the mend. And he extolled the benefits of free trade and less regulation on business.

Directing his remarks to the many small business owners in his audience, in a state that has lost 230,000 jobs in the last four years, Bush said Kerry’s tax repeal plan would raise only $600 billion, leaving a huge “tax gap.”

He added: ” Guess who gets to fill the tax gap? You do.”

Kerry has said he would repeal the Bush tax cuts on the wealthiest 2 percent of the population, those earning more than $200,000 a year, in order to expand health insurance coverage, promote education reforms and increase spending on domestic security measures against terrorism.

Recent polls show Bush and Kerry running even in the campaign to win the state’s 20 electoral votes.

Later in the day, Bush hosted a town-hall style “conversation” in Mansfield on his initiative to expand America’s “ownership” society. In Mansfield, the president reiterated his message that “John Kerry’s economic policies will hurt this economy.”

The format, in which invited participants joined the president on stage to speak of their experiences, is one of Bush’s favorite campaign settings. And it provided him another chance to tune up for Friday’s debate with Kerry, which also is to be a town-hall style session, hosted by one moderator, ABC’s Charles Gibson.

At the fall meeting of the homebuilders association’s huge board of directors here in Columbus, several thousand members turned out on a dreary and overcast morning to hear the president. But shortly before Bush arrived, scores of empty chairs were removed from the ballroom, leaving gaping empty spaces in the hall.

The audience greeted Bush with considerable fervor amid chants of “Four More Years!” Bobby Rayburn, the association president, said the housing industry “has achieved unprecedented growth” during Bush’s term, with the country now enjoying a 69.2 percent homeownership – the highest ever.

Before he launched into a sustained discussion of the economy, Bush also continued rebuking Kerry for enunciating a “pattern of confusing contradictions” on the Iraq war.

“If America shows weakness or uncertainty in this decade, the world will drift toward tragedy. This is not going to happen on my watch,” he said. America is fighting terrorists around the world, he continued, “so we do not have to face them here in America.”

The president also criticized Kerry for saying in Thursday night’s debate that he, Kerry, would consult more extensively with foreign leaders, both in restoring peace in Iraq and in waging the war on terrorism. Charging that Kerry would “give foreign governments veto power over (U.S.) national security decisions,” Bush vowed: “Our foreign policy decisions will be made in the Oval Office, not in foreign capitals.”