CANDIDATES ATTACK BUSH

The candidates meeting in Manchester, New Hampshire, on June 5 to debate did not have much good to say about George Bush. Three of them criticized his handling of the war. One of them criticized his diplomatic style, saying, “I would not send him to the U.N.”

One of them quoted Karl Rove, who had said to him, “Never darken the door of the White House.” This congressman would say the same to George Bush. Another, a former governor, said that the Bush administration had “lost credibility” after Katrina.

That’s the kind of thing you would pretty much expect from a bunch of Democrats, but these critics of the Bush administration were not Democrats. They were the men running for the Republican nomination for the presidency.

Tommy Thompson (who said he was the candidate, not the actor) was once a member of Bush’s cabinet. He was the one who criticized the president’s diplomatic style. John McCain, Mitt Romney, and Mike Huckabee all criticized Bush’s handling of the war. Romney said, "I think we were underprepared and underplanned for what came after we knocked down Saddam Hussein." Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo was the one who would tell Bush “Never darken the door of the White House.”

How can the Democrats criticize the president when the Republicans are already doing for them?