Bush Camp Welcomes Showdown on Security

[papau]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-gamble28jul28.story

Bush Camp Welcomes Showdown on Security
Kerry highlights an issue that is a strength for the president. Such a strategy carries risks.
By Ronald Brownstein
Times Staff Writer

July 28, 2004

BOSTON — With the intense assault on President Bush's national security record during the Democratic convention's first two nights, Sen. John F. Kerry's campaign is taking the risk of highlighting a debate in which his opponent now holds the upper hand in almost all polls.

Bush campaign strategists, surprised by the fervor of the criticism, signaled Tuesday that they intend to strike back hard and fast.

"Is there a willingness to accept the gauntlet thrown down and make the campaign about national security issues?" asked one senior GOP strategist familiar with Bush's campaign planning. "You bet."

One response will come today when the Republican National Committee releases in Boston an 11-minute video detailing what it calls shifts in Kerry's position on the war in Iraq. <snip>

And Bush aides quickly insisted that Kerry's military service in Vietnam, however laudable, was less relevant to his qualifications as commander in chief than his Senate voting record on national security issues — which the Bush campaign has tried to portray as soft on defense. <snip>

Fanning an issue that has smoldered all year, prominent Democrats have suggested Bush's lack of combat experience leaves him less prepared, and with less moral standing, to lead the nation in war.<snip>

Republicans also are preparing to challenge the repeated Democratic argument that Bush has endangered America's security by alienating allies and isolating the U.S. in the world. While Kerry is playing on the public's desire for America to attract international support, Republicans hope to tap the public's reluctance to accept international direction.<snip?

[lancdem]

1. A strategy that carries risks?

I'm all for it. You never cede an issue to your opponent, even one he's supposed to be strong on.

[papau]

2. I agree - and I think we win against AWOL on this.

:-)