WASHINGTON – Republican national chairman Ken Mehlman on Friday outlined a political strategy for the fall elections to portray Democrats as too weak to protect the country, and also to bypass the mainstream media to spread the GOP message.
Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference, www.cpac.org, Mehlman roused the crowd at a Washington hotel as he told them that President Bush had finally responded to decades of terrorist attacks.
“For a generation, terrorists learned they could make war on free nations without fear of war in return,” Mehlman said, adding that Bush understood how to respond. “On Sept. 12, the terrorists got war in return.”
Bush’s stance on fighting terror was very popular with participants in this annual meeting of hard-line conservatives from around the country, and so were his federal court appointments.
But many at the national conference questioned the Bush administration’s spending, deficits, immigration policies, prescription drug plan and increased use of federal power.
The GOP chief said such grumbling is healthy for the Republican Party and the conservative movement.
The fight against terrorism is centered in Iraq, Mehlman said, and the only way to prevent terrorists from taking charge is to stick it out and win.
He quoted Democratic chairman Howard Dean as saying that the idea the United States can win in Iraq is wrong, and reminded that Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., once accused American soldiers of “terrorizing women and children.”
“Democratic leaders always seem to blame America first,” Mehlman said, “especially when a Republican is in the White House.”
Mehlman said the loss in popularity of the mainstream media – both the evening network news and daily newspapers – is an opportunity for conservatives. He pointed to the growing popularity of talk radio and blogging.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist told the group he plans to push for a Senate vote in May on the inheritance tax, called the “death tax” by conservatives. And he said he would push for a vote June 5 on “the marriage protection amendment” that seeks to amend the Constitution to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
John Bolton, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, keynoted the conference dinner, sketching out the Bush administration’s efforts to reform the U.N.
Bolton’s targets included waste and abuse of peacekeeping operations reported by the U.N. itself, which he said virtually matches in losses the amount the United States contributes to the operation.
He also condemned a “culture of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel” that he said was pervasive at the United Nations, and includes offices that exist only as part of an anti-Israel network.
Turning to Iran, whose nuclear programs have been referred to the Security Council for possible punitive action, Bolton said Iran should follow Libya’s lead, which abandoned its pursuit of unconventional weapons and shipped the technology to a U.S. facility at Oak Ridge, Tenn.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
