GOP hopefuls bash Bush
MANCHESTER, N.H. —President Bush drew sporadic, startling criticism Tuesday night from Republican White House hopefuls unhappy with his handling of the Iraq war, his diplomatic style and his approach to immigration.
"I would certainly not send him to the United Nations" to represent the United States, said Tommy Thompson, the former Wisconsin governor and one-time member of Bush's Cabinet, midway through a spirited campaign debate.
Arizona Sen. John McCain criticized the administration for its handling of the Iraq War, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said, "I think we were underprepared and underplanned for what came after we knocked down Saddam Hussein."
Rep. Duncan Hunter of California said the current administration "has the slows" when it comes to building a security fence along the border with Mexico.
Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado recalled that White House aide Karl Rove had once told him "never darken the door of the White House." The congressman said he'd tell George W. Bush the same thing.
The criticism of Bush was more in keeping of the type of rhetoric that could be expected when Democratic presidential contenders debate.
Its prominence at the GOP event — while Bush was traveling overseas — was a reflection of his poor poll ratings and the need of even members of his own party to campaign on platforms of change.
The Republicans sprinkled the criticism of Bush throughout a two-hour debate that ranged over topics from war to immigration legislation pending in Congress to religion. The debate was the third of the accelerated primary campaign.
None of the 10 men on the debate stage raised their hand in agreement when moderator Wolf Blitzer of CNN asked if anyone favored allowing gays to serve openly in the military.
Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas and Hunter both said they would pardon Vice President Dick Cheney's former aide Lewis I. "Scooter" Libby, sentenced to 30 months in prison earlier in the day for lying and obstructing a CIA leak investigation.
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a former prosecutor, said the sentence was excessive, which "argues in favor of a pardon."
The debate drew the announced Republican presidential contenders — but not former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee, an actor apparently poised to join the race in a month's time.
"My name is Thompson. I'm the candidate, not the actor," said Tommy Thompson in a jab at the man who wasn't there.
Fred Thompson, appearing on Fox News after the debate, said he had watched part of the give-and-take among his potential rivals. "They did all right from what I saw," he said.
Much of the debate focused on Iraq.
McCain and Brownback both admitted they voted to authorize the U.S. military invasion of Iraq without reading the formal, nearly 90-page National Intelligence Estimate in advance.
The confession drew a jab from former Gov. Jim Gilmore of Virginia. Members of Congress "ought to read at least that kind of material," he said.
Bush's support for the pending immigration legislation is the source of Tancredo's criticism, and the issue figured prominently in the debate.
McCain, alone among the contenders on the St. Anselm College debate stage, supports the measure, and he sought to fend off criticism from some of his rivals.
"We cannot have 12 million people washing around America illegally, my friends," he said.
But Giuliani said the legislation was flawed, "a typical Washington mess."
