YORK, Pa. – President Bush hopped on a Harley-Davidson at a motorcycle factory Wednesday as he made an election-year pitch for Republican stewardship of the economy.
The president also was in Pennsylvania to raise cash for a GOP hopeful in the state’s gubernatorial campaign.
Cheers and applause erupted inside the Harley-Davidson Inc. vehicle operations plant in York when Bush straddled a high-end model painted blue and white and revved its engine again and again. Climbing down, he ripped off blue-tinted safety glasses that he insisted made him look like rock star Bono and jokingly struck a pose intended to show a hip side.
“I’m just looking so far,” Bush said during a tour of the plant where 3,200 employees work around the clock on shiny motorcycles that move slowly around the assembly floor on tracks. “I’ll let Josh Bolten ride these things,” Bush said of his chief of staff, known as a motorcycle enthusiast.
After the tour, Bush held a round-table discussion with Harley-Davidson workers about the U.S. economy, which has showed recent signs of slowing. The president said he discussed with the workers the need for government to open up markets for U.S. products around the world.
“The more Harleys sold in a place like Vietnam or China or India, the more likely that somebody is going to be able to find work,” Bush said.
An AP-Ipsos poll in early August showed about 37 percent supported Bush’s handling of the economy. That matches his lowest level in May 2006 and November 2005, but is not that different from the last few months.
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