GOP ad emphasizes anti-terrorism fight

By Mark Z. Barabak
Los Angeles Times

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Concerned about President Bush's slipping popularity and criticism from rivals who want his job, the Republican Party is questioning Democrats' commitment to fighting terrorism in its first TV ad of the 2004 race.

The 30-second spot, set to begin airing tomorrow in Iowa, casts Bush as a leader in the fight against terrorism and a victim of partisan sniping. The ad shows footage of the president's State of the Union speech in January.

As dirgelike music plays in the background, Bush describes the war on terror as "a contest of will, in which perseverance is power."

Flashed on the screen are phrases criticizing Bush's opponents, who go unnamed. "Some are now attacking the president for attacking terrorists," the ad states. "Some call for us to retreat" — that last word in red letters — "putting our national security in the hands of others."

Although the spot never mentions Sept. 11, 2001, or the war in Iraq, it features a national-security theme likely to recur throughout Bush's re-election bid.

It also comes as numerous surveys, including a Los Angeles Times poll, show the president's popularity ebbing and doubts about the war in Iraq growing.

Some Democratic presidential hopefuls denounced the ad.

Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina called the spot "morally reprehensible." Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts said Bush and Republicans were trying to "distract Americans from a failed foreign policy that has left our relationships with friends and allies in tatters."

Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean began an online fund-raising drive to counter the spot, with a goal of collecting $360,000 by midnight Tuesday, or "$5,000 for every hour they are going to lie to the American people with their ad."

Rep. Dick Gephardt, who backed the attack on Iraq, said Bush has chosen to "politicize the war on terror for partisan gain." Sen. Joe Lieberman said the ad "cannot paper over almost three years of shortsighted Bush security policies, both at home and abroad."

Matt Bennett, spokesman for retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark, said, "George Bush's political hatchet-wielders are desperate to distract attention from his failed foreign policy."

Republican Party chairman Ed Gillespie said the ad isn't questioning the Democrats' patriotism.

"It's their policies. They are opposed to a policy of pre-emptive self-defense, and they are attacking the president for pursuing that policy," he said. "It takes us back to a policy of responding to terrorism in its aftermath, and that's the wrong policy to pursue in the world after Sept. 11."

The Bush advertisement is set to run for three days in Iowa, coinciding with a televised debate Monday among the Democratic presidential contenders. A similar ad may air next month in New Hampshire, in conjunction with a candidates' debate in that state, said Christine Iverson, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee (RNC) in Washington.

The two states host the first two events of the 2004 presidential nominating season: Iowa caucuses Jan. 19 and the New Hampshire primary Jan. 27.

"There are some bright lines being drawn at this stage of the process," Iverson said. "We're going to begin highlighting those lines between the two parties."

The spot also highlights the role that nominally independent groups like the RNC, which are free to spend unlimited sums of money, are expected to play in the presidential race.

Although the ad defends the president and attacks his opponents, it was not financed or produced by the Bush re-election committee.

A few hours after the RNC announced its ad campaign, the national Democratic Party said it would broadcast an anti-Bush spot all day Monday on MSNBC, which is airing the Democratic candidates' debate.

MoveOn.org, a left-leaning advocacy group, said it would launch a modest five-day run of ads starting today in Washington, D.C., and a handful of politically key states. In that 30-second spot, Bush is blamed for the loss of more than 2 million jobs since taking office.

Material from The Associated Press is included in this report.

Copyright © 2003 The Seattle Times Company