<a href="http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/welch-mccarthy.html"><h3>Mr. Bush......You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?</h3></a>
Three republican party stalwarts, and ardent Bush supporters; Giuliani , Kristol,
and Ingraham are on record placing the blame for the missing explosives in Iraq
squarely where they must believe that it belongs, and far away from Bush:
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<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/200410280003">Conservatives launch baseless verbal attacks on U.S. troops</a>
On October 27, Bush accused Kerry of "denigrating the actions of our troops and commanders in the field without knowing the facts." But in defending the president, Giuliani, Kristol, and Ingraham engaged in precisely the kind of finger-pointing at the troops of which Bush falsely accused Kerry.
From the October 28 edition of NBC's Today:
GIULIANI: The president was cautious. The president was prudent. The president did what a commander in chief should do. And no matter how much you try to blame it on the president, the actual responsibility for it really would be for the troops that were there. Did they search carefully enough? Didn't they search carefully enough?
From the October 28 edition of FOX News Channel's FOX News Live:
KRISTOL: The Bush campaign was actually slow to respond, I think, but finally yesterday pointed out that Kerry was launching very serious charges against the president of the United States, based on a thinly sourced New York Times article, charges that really impugn the competence of the U.S. military. [President] George [W.] Bush didn't decide, you know, "skip that dump" [the Al Qaqaa military installation, where the missing explosives were supposedly housed]. That was 101st [Airborne Division] or the 3rd ID [Infantry Division], "skip that arms dump." That's not a decision made by the president, that's made on the ground. Even if there were some weapons there, this is what happens in war. You know you have to make tough decisions, leave some stuff to take care of later.
From the October 27 edition of FOX News Channel's Hannity & Colmes:
STEVE MURPHY (FORMER MANAGER OF REP. DICK GEPHARDT'S (D-MO) PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN): Laura, Laura, John Kerry did not question the troops. John Kerry questioned the leadership of --
INGRAHAM: Oh, really? Who was looking for those weapons, Steve?
MURPHY: He questioned the leadership of George [W.] Bush. George Bush did not send enough soldiers.
[CROSSTALK]
INGRAHAM: Was George Bush on the ground there? The military commanders were on the ground there, Steve.
MURPHY: He [Bush] didn't send enough soldiers to Iraq. He didn't secure the borders.
INGRAHAM: That's not how the soldiers see it, Steve.
MURPHY: He didn't secure the weapons.
INGRAHAM: Why don't you talk to the soldiers for a change?
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Quote:
<a href="http://www.boston.com/dailynews/302/politics/Iraq_mom_riled_by_Giuliani_rem:.shtml">Iraq mom riled by Giuliani remark</a> By Associated Press, 10/28/2004 17:07
BEDFORD, N.H. (AP) Rudolph Giuliani stumped for President Bush in New Hampshire on Thursday, but the former New York mayor riled some residents even before arriving.
In a morning television appearance, Giuliani criticized Democrat John Kerry for blaming President Bush for the disappearance of hundreds of tons of explosives in Iraq.
''No matter how you try to blame it on the president, the actual responsibility for it really would be for the troops that were there. Did they search carefully enough? Didn't they search carefully enough?'' he said on NBC's ''Today'' show.
That rankled Eleanor Kjellman of Henniker, an Air Force veteran whose son Kurt is an Army reservist in the Mideast.
''That was such a demoralizing, destructive statement for Rudolph Giuliani to make. Once again they (the troops) are scapegoats for the administration's failures,'' she said at a Democratic protest before a planned appearance by Giuliani in Bedford.
As Kjellman was speaking out, Giuliani was at a GOP event in Gilford. There, he said that in blaming Bush for the missing explosives, Kerry himself was implicitly blaming the troops.
Giuliani said the country must ''continue on the offense'' against terrorists and ''stop them before they kill more of us.''
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