Bush to visit Phoenix Friday By HOWARD FISCHER, 3/23

[White House Press Aide Taylor] Gross said that did not make this a campaign trip — one that would have to be paid for from Bush’s reelection warchest.

”There’s no political component to this trip in the way of a fundraiser or a campaign rally,” he said.

”This is the president discussing and highlighting his policies, with specifics, his housing agenda,” Gross explained. ”The president has done this since he’s been in office, since before there was a campaign under way.”

Gross said he will not debate the issue with others.

“This president is president 24 hours a day, seven days a week and he will continue to press forward policies that he feels are beneficial to America and will continue to reach out to Americans to discuss those policies.”

The difference between an official trip and a campaign trip is cash. While the president and his staff still get to use Air Force One, they have to pay the equivalent of the lowest unrestricted first class airfare for everyone in the entourage, not counting security.

On Monday, America West was offering unrestricted round-trip flights from Reagan National Airport in Washington to Phoenix for $2,424 [mjh: times dozens of staffers].

President Bush Plans Albuquerque Fund-Raiser 3/20

The White House said President George W. Bush would head to Albuquerque next week to raise money for his re-election campaign.

Bush plans a conversation Friday on homeownership, employing one of the White House’s favorite formats. The staged back-and-forth features hand-picked citizens who talk about their support for Bush’s policies.

The president has already reached his campaign goal of raising $170 million.

Supporters believe Bush can easily raise $200 million for the primary season. That would double what he raised in 2000.

Bush also plans fund-raisers next week in New Hampshire and Boston.

So, Bush will fly to Albuquerque, then to Phoenix. Because he doesn’t plan a fund-raiser in Phoenix, the trip is ”official” (you and I pay for it), not a campaign trip he has to pay for out of his $200 million.

But wait, he is having a fund-raiser in Albuquerque on that same trip.

So, is White House Press Aide Gross uniformed or a liar. Neither would be a surprise, any more than a rich guy sticking America with the bill. Still, somebody should be outraged. mjh

Kerry Gets Boost From Surprising Sources By Jim VandeHei, Washington Post Staff Writer

In the past week, GOP Sens. John McCain (Ariz.) and Chuck Hagel (Neb.) have broken ranks and defended Kerry against President Bush’s assertion that the Massachusetts senator is weak on national defense. …

Republicans are unintentionally assisting Kerry on the domestic front, too. Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and other congressional conservatives are accusing Bush of driving up deficits, a top Kerry campaign message, and misleading the country about the cost of the new Medicare law, another Kerry target. Kerry’s campaign is circulating Flake’s recent remark that Congress would not have passed the Bush Medicare law if members had been told of its projected cost. The Office of Management and Budget estimated the law would cost about $130 billion more than advertised, but those numbers were kept secret until well after the House passed the legislation by one vote. The flap over the Medicare number threatens to turn the law into a campaign liability for Bush. …

Some Bush campaign officials privately fumed about the GOP comments as party strategists expressed concern. ”Bush has some clear enemies that were part of his team,” said GOP strategist Scott Reed. ”It hurts Bush temporarily, but, while these are distractions, Kerry still has a long way to go to get into the game.”

For Bush, who rarely ran into criticism from within his party during his first three years in office, the timing and tone of these GOP defections are undercutting his reelection message just as the presidential campaign is heating up.

”Even Republicans can’t defend what the Bush-Cheney campaign says or does, particularly when the president is caught red-handed misleading America on the true cost of the war and covering up the real cost of his Medicare giveaway plan,” said Stephanie Cutter, a Kerry spokeswoman. …

Kerry, who cruised through the nominating process with scant damage by historical measures, appeared rattled last week by Bush’s attacks on national defense and terrorism — until McCain stepped in and stepped on the Bush-Cheney message. McCain, who ran against Bush in the GOP primary four years ago, said on NBC’s “Today” show that he does “not believe that [Kerry] is, quote, weak on national defense.”

On Sunday, Hagel, a maverick Republican with a reputation similar to McCain’s for speaking his mind, criticized the Bush campaign ad that called Kerry “weak on defense.” Speaking on ABC’s “This Week,” Hagel said: “The facts just don’t measure [up to] the rhetoric.” He said it is unfair to isolate one or two votes over a 19-year career to make such a sweeping assessment of Kerry. “You can . . . take any of us, and pick out the different votes, and then try to manufacture something around it,” he said.

Grover Norquist, a GOP lobbyist close to the White House, said, “McCain is just full of bitterness. Hagel is McCain’s only friend in the Senate.”

Steve Schmidt, a Bush campaign spokesman, said the president remains “comfortable” with his assessment of Kerry, despite the brush- backs from fellow Republicans. “We will continue to make that argument throughout the campaign,” he said.

In the 2000 primary, Bush’s campaign slaughtered McCain, who has some respect from Democrats as well as Republicans. So, don’t be surprised if Bush’s crew tries to crush anyone for ‘disloyalty’. You’re with him or you’re against him — like the rest of us. mjh

FactCheck.org Bush accuses Kerry of 350 votes for ”higher taxes” — higher than what?

Summary

The President misled voters and reporters in a March 20 speech when he claimed that Kerry ”voted over 350 times for higher taxes on the American people” during his 20-year Senate career. Bush spoke of ”yes” votes for ”tax increases.”

But in fact, Kerry has not voted 350 times for tax increases, something Bush campaign officials have falsely accused Kerry of on several occasions. On close examination, the Bush campaign’s list of Kerry’s votes for ”higher taxes” is padded. It includes votes Kerry cast to leave taxes unchanged (when Republicans proposed cuts), and even votes in favor of alternative Democratic tax cuts that Bush aides characterized as ”watered down.”

Bush’s defenders will sneer at this analysis by the independent FactCheck.org, with copious supporting documentation. The Radical Right despises nuance, subtlety, anything that is not black and white. Apparently, they’re not too concerned with a President who lies. As one apologist said, ”it’s not a lie if Bush believes it.” No, that would make it a stupid remark instead of a lie. So much better. Bush may not understand everything he says, but he is responsible for its truth.

I’ve heard Republicans say Bush will say anything to get (re)elected. And yet they’ll vote for him, won’t they. mjh

ABQjournal: Bush To Talk Up Homeownership

The exact time, location and format for the president’s mid-morning visit in Albuquerque have not been released yet by the White House. But Gross said Bush plans to give remarks on homeownership during his stop here.

mjh’s Dump Bush weBlog: Exercise Your Right to Free Speech!

Alpert’s Truth: Automatic Thinking by Arthur Alpert

First, the idea of a war on terrorism is stupid. Terrorism is a tactic, not a gang or a state, which will survive long after we are all dead.

Secondly, there are ways to combat alQaeda’s terrorism without appeasement and without conducting war the way George W. Bush is, in a manner that probably is fostering terrorism rather than diminishing it.