Kerry slams Bush's actions on 9/11

By Los Angeles Times and The Associated Press

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"Had I been reading to children and had my top aide whispered in my ear, 'America is under attack,' I would have told those kids very politely and nicely that the president of the United States had something that he needed to attend to," Kerry said.

The remarks by the Massachusetts senator — his first on the campaign trail about Bush's initial reaction to the terrorist assault — were in response to a question at a minority-journalists conference in Washington, D.C. Bush's re-election campaign quickly deployed former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani to swipe back at him.

"John Kerry must be frustrated in his campaign if he is armchair quarterbacking, based on cues from Michael Moore," Giuliani said in a statement.

Giuliani was referring to the filmmaker whose documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" features lengthy footage of Bush sitting through a book-reading session with children after chief of staff Andrew Card told him of the attacks. Bush has said he didn't want to alarm the children.

Kerry spokesman David Wade said the candidate had not seen "Fahrenheit 9/11." But Kerry's stump speech for a week has included a line echoing a central theme of the scathing documentary on Bush — the charge that he puts the interests of Saudi Arabia ahead of America's needs.

Later in the day, at a St. Louis rally with his running mate, Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, Kerry drew a roar of applause when he said: "I want America's security to depend on America's ingenuity and creativity, not the Saudi royal family."

His comment alluded to his push for more investment in alternative energy to curb U.S. reliance on foreign oil.

Kerry plans to focus on that issue today, detailing a plan that includes investing $20 billion over 10 years to spur development of clean-burning fuels and environmental technology.

The St. Louis rally was the scene of a theatrical send-off for the train portion of Kerry's two-week journey across the country that began after his party's national convention ended in Boston. Kerry over the past week has traveled by bus through Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa, winding up Wednesday with a rally on the main street of Mark Twain's hometown: Hannibal, Mo.

Following his custom, Kerry also suggested Bush had rushed to war in Iraq without due consideration of the consequences. That charge drew a sharp, personal response from Bush, who was campaigning in Columbus, Ohio.
 
"Committing troops into harm's way is the most difficult decision a president can make," Bush said. "That decision must always be a last resort. That decision must be done when our vital interests are at stake, but after we've tried everything else."

In Iraq, he said, "I felt we had a compelling national need" to attack after diplomacy failed.

Before leaving the White House for Ohio and Michigan, Bush signed a $417.5 billion wartime defense bill providing an additional $25 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan, body armor for troops and reinforced Humvee vehicles.

The president made his second visit to Ohio in less than a week and fifth visit to Michigan in the past four weeks — a measure of how important the two states and their combined 37 electoral votes are to both candidates.

The president also introduced plans that would let employees legally choose time off instead of overtime pay.

"I think the government ought to allow employers to say to an employee, 'If you take some time off and work different hours, you're allowed to do so — if you want to accumulate time to spend with your families, spend with your parents, spend for being re-educated, you're allowed to do so,' " Bush said.