Bush is 'beyond incompetence'

2004-10-19 08:27

Orlando - President George W Bush and rival John Kerry traded sneering diatribes on Iraq and fighting terror on Monday, as the United States election took another bitter turn two weeks before polling day.

As advance voting opened in Florida, stirring bad memories of the 2000 election debacle, Kerry accused Bush of "arrogant boasting" on Iraq, while the president equated his rival's policies with "giving up" the terror fight.

Their attacks heralded a fiercely partisan countdown to election day on November 2, with some polls showing the race tied, though Bush appeared to have a slight edge in others.

The president travelled to New Jersey, a state bordering New York City, supposedly solid Kerry country, to rekindle memories of his leadership following the September 11 attacks in 2001.

'Giving up the fight'

"Giving up the fight might seem easier in the short run, but we learned on September 11 that if violence and fanaticism are not opposed at their source, they will find us where we live."

The Democrat challenger got his retaliation in first, preempting Bush's speech at a rally in Florida's West Palm Beach.

"Mr President, you can chose to ignore the facts, but in the end you can't hide the truth from the American people.

"The bottom line Mr President: your mismanagement of the war has made Iraq and America less safe and secure than they could have been and should have been today."

Kerry's campaign went even further in a statement.

"The only thing significant about Bush's policy on the war on terror has been his significant failure to focus on terrorism before September 11."

Kerry had three rallies in Florida on Monday and was to campaign in the state on Tuesday morning. Bush flew to Florida for a dinner before a full day on the stump in the crucial state on Tuesday.

Both men are exhorting core voters to use an early voting system so they can concentrate their efforts on the still undecided.

More than half the 50 US states have early voting, and Florida adopted the system after 2000 electoral chaos.

Legal wrangling in Florida held up the result for 36 days until the US Supreme Court ordered a halt to vote recounts, leaving Bush with a 537-vote lead over Al Gore in Florida, which gave him the presidency.

Repeating Bush's mistakes

The former vice-president took his own shot at Bush Monday.

"He is arrogantly out of touch with reality, he refuses to ever admit mistakes, which means that so long as he is our president, we are doomed to repeat his mistakes. It is beyond incompetence. It is recklessness."

Kerry earlier jumped on a Washington Post report that the top US commander in Iraq, General Ricardo Sanchez, complained last year his supplies were so poor that they threatened troops' ability to fight.

According to latest polls, Bush has grabbed a small lead, but the race could hinge on voter turnout.

- AFP