During a speech today in suburban Des Moines, Vice President Dick Cheney questioned whether democratic candidate John Kerry has the intelligence to be president. The Vice President suggested John Kerry’s foreign policy objectives would give the impression of weakness, and would invite more terrorist attacks on US soil. Cheney said Kerry has ” a deep and a dangerous misunderstanding of the world we’re in.” Cheney said Kerry’s off-base by suggesting there’s been an increase in the number of terrorists who want to harm America because the Bush Administration has “gone on offense” against the terrorists. Kerry has suggested his combat experience would make him a better war-time leader than either Bush or Cheney. Cheney said the fight against the terrorists overseas is improving security here at home. Cheney said “freedom still has enemies in Afghanistan and Iraq,” but he said “the rise of democracy in that troubled section of the world will be a crucial set-back for the terrorists.” As for the politics of Iowa and its seven Electoral College votes that are apparently up for grabs in the fall, Cheney used a line similar to one President Bush uttered last week in Davenport. Cheney said he and the President lost Iowa by a few thousand votes, and with the help of those in the room today Iowa would go in the Bush/Cheney column in November, enroute to a nationwide victory for the Republican ticket. Cheney isn’t the only member of the Bush campaign team in Iowa today. First Lady Laura Bush is speaking this afternoon at a forum in Cedar Rapids.
Iowa's Radio News Network
