Bush leads 'pep rally' for GOP lawmakers

By Dana Milbank and Charles Babington
The Washington Post

STEPHEN JAFFE / AFP/GETTY IMAGES President Bush walks with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, left, and Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert in the Capitol yesterday. Bush was meeting with Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

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Bush gave a 35-minute, closed-doors version of his standard stump speech covering Iraq, the economy and energy policy. The 200 or so participants then filed past a bank of microphones to announce they were unified in support of Bush and that there had been no dissent expressed at the meeting. Bush, however, took no questions.

"The president was great," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. "We saw the determination and spirit of a great leader," said Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa. "There were several standing ovations," said Sen. George Allen, R-Va.

The rare trip by Bush to the Capitol — he makes such appearances once or twice a year — gave Republicans a chance to circle the wagons as the violence and prison-abuse scandal in Iraq have pushed Bush's standing to the lowest of his presidency and beneath that of Sen. John Kerry, the president's Democratic challenger.

	Nancy Pelosi

Democrats have become increasingly pointed in their attacks on Bush. Minutes after Bush's morning visit to the Capitol, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., accused him of incompetence and blamed him for the deaths of U.S. soldiers.

"I believe that the president's leadership in the actions taken in Iraq demonstrate an incompetence in terms of knowledge, judgment and experience, in making the decisions that would have been necessary to truly accomplish the mission without the deaths to our troops and the cost to our taxpayers," she said.

Republicans responded to the unusually strong language by suggesting Pelosi was aiding the enemy in Iraq. "We are in the middle of a war and in the middle of a political campaign," said House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill. "Mrs. Pelosi's comments were meant to inspire her political base, but who else do they inspire?"

Bush campaign chairman Marc Racicot sought to tie Pelosi's remarks to Kerry, who has been relatively quiet about recent events in Iraq. "Her remarks are now advancing a blame-America-first attitude that Kerry himself has come dangerously close to advocating," Racicot said in a statement.

The president de-emphasized the troubles in Iraq during his appearance with the GOP caucus, making only passing reference to the prison-abuse scandal. "He did not dwell on that at all," said Rep. Deborah Pryce, R-Ohio.

The lawmakers said Bush reiterated the firmness of the June 30 handover to Iraqis, likening it to riding a bicycle, and warned that violence is likely to worsen as that transfer approaches. "He talked about 'time to take the training wheels off,' " Pryce said. "The Iraqi people have been in training, and now it's time for them to take the bike and go forward."

Rep. Sherry Boehlert, R-N.Y., said House members are especially concerned about how the state of the economy and jobs will affect their congressional districts. Bush's recitation of the latest, sinking unemployment figures drew hearty applause.

Several Republicans were surprised the president took no questions, noting that he had answered questions at a GOP lawmakers' retreat in Philadelphia in late January. Bush's reluctance to field queries appeared to be a matter of some sensitivity.

Allen, for example, called it a "good team meeting" with no dissent "that I heard." But asked whether Bush allowed questions, Allen replied: "I don't care to answer that question."

The meeting did not satisfy dissidents in the party. "There was nothing you haven't heard at other, public appearances," said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., whose commitment to the GOP was questioned this week by Hastert. Asked whether he felt better because of Bush's assurances about improvement in Iraq, McCain replied with feigned relief: "Oh, much better."

Rep. John Duncan Jr., R-Tenn., one of only six House Republicans who voted against the 2003 resolution authorizing war in Iraq, said he saw opinion shifting toward his position. "You'd be amazed how many people have come up to me lately and said this war was a mistake," he said.

But Bush's allies in Congress pronounced the meeting a success. Rep. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said: "He did what he had to do. He had to give members increased confidence about Iraq." As for reports of panic within GOP ranks, Portman said, "I honestly do not see it."

Jano Cabrera, a spokesman for the Democratic National Committee, mocked the GOP-only meeting as evidence that Bush can't work with Democrats.

"But having misled his own party on the scope of his deficit spending, how much the Medicare bill would cost and the rationale for the Iraq war, we understand why Bush would want some alone time with his fellow Republicans," Cabrera said.

Comments by Boehlert and Cabrera were reported by Knight Ridder Newspapers.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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