The first not-anti-Bush post
Bush Mocks Kerry's 'Nuance' on Iraq
[P6: And rightly so]
The president says his Democratic challenger is hedging to please both sides on the war issue.
By Maura Reynolds
Times Staff WriterAugust 11, 2004
PANAMA CITY, Fla. — Having called on Sen. John F. Kerry to explain his position on the Iraq war, President Bush on Tuesday derided Kerry's answer as disingenuous, accusing him of finding "a new nuance." The Kerry campaign responded by accusing Bush of distorting Kerry's words and resorting to desperate tactics.
…Kerry said Monday that he would have voted to give the president the authority to go to war even if he had known there were no stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, but that he disagreed with the way Bush used that authority.
But in his remarks, Bush asserted there was no such distinction. "My opponent has found a new nuance," the president said Tuesday. "He now agrees it was the right decision to go into Iraq.
"After months of questioning my motives, and even my credibility, Sen. Kerry now agrees with me that even though we've not found the stockpiles of weapons we believed were there, knowing everything we know today, he would have voted to go into Iraq and remove Saddam Hussein from power," Bush said to cheers and jeers from the crowd.
"I want to thank Sen. Kerry for clearing that up."
Then he added: "Be careful, there's still 84 days left in this campaign for him to change his mind."
