Cheney Questions Kerry’s Ability to Lead America

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The New York Sun

MEADVILLE, Pa. -Vice President Cheney yesterday questioned whether the Democratic presidential candidate, Senator Kerry, is serious enough to be president, saying that someone who refers to terrorists as a nuisance isn’t ready to be commander in chief.


For a story published Sunday in The New York Times Magazine, a reporter asked Mr. Kerry what it would take for Americans to feel safe again. “We have to get back to the place we were, where terrorists are not the focus of our lives, but they’re a nuisance,” Mr. Kerry said.


Speaking to about 600 supporters at a town hall meeting in northwestern Pennsylvania, Mr. Cheney said: “It doesn’t strike me that you can ever think of terror or what it strikes at as a nuisance. That says to me that the individual who entertains those thoughts isn’t as serious as I want my commander in chief to be.”


An adviser to President Bush, retired Lieutenant General Brent Scowcroft, used the word “nuisance” when he described approaches to terrorism two years ago, according to the Kerry campaign. Mr. Scowcroft said America can break the back of terrorism “so that it is a horrible nuisance, and not a paralyzing influence.”


Mr. Scowcroft, the chairman of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, was national security adviser under Presidents Ford and George H.W. Bush and served with Mr. Cheney in those administrations.


Mr. Cheney was appearing at three campaign events in Pennsylvania, including a presidential debate-watch party in Pittsburgh. The latest Quinnipiac University poll of Pennsylvania voters showed Mr. Kerry with 46% to Mr. Bush’s 42%.


Meanwhile, Senator Edwards, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, accused Mr. Bush of failing to recognize the nation’s problems and being unable to address its woes.


“George Bush is out of touch…The truth is, you can’t fix a problem until you first see a problem,” Mr. Edwards told some 3,000 supporters in traditionally conservative southern Oregon.


The North Carolina senator argued that Mr. Bush is out of touch with Americans who have lost jobs or are struggling to pay for health care.


Asked how he and Mr. Kerry would pay for improved health care, Mr. Edwards said they would strengthen the existing system, provide coverage to children and families, and help employers offer benefits to workers. He also promised to work toward reducing prices for prescription drugs by allowing imports from Canada and bargaining with drug companies for lower prices.


“They talk about costs. It doesn’t cost anything to allow prescription drugs to come into this country from Canada,” Mr. Edwards said.


Senator Smith, a Republican of Oregon, said Mr. Kerry’s plan would mean, “rationing, less access, fewer choices, and long waits.”


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