Bush hurries back to the campaign trail

In his convention speech, the president focused on the future security of the nation.
COMBINED DISPATCHES
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. -- Even before the balloons had stopped falling, President Bush hurried back to the campaign trail today to peddle the main message of his Republican convention speech: that he has the steadiest hand to guide the nation in perilous times.
For his first post-convention stop, Bush chose the battleground state of Pennsylvania, where he has already visited 33 times. He was to speak at a rally at a minor-league ballpark near Scranton before making appearances at a convention center outside Milwaukee and a park in Iowa, signaling the breakneck pace he plans to keep until Nov. 2.
Bush sought to reassure a nation sorting out a controversial war and slowly recovering from economic hard times, as he accepted the renomination for president at the Republican National Convention Thursday night.
"This moment in the life of our country will be remembered. Generations will know if we kept our faith and kept our word. Generations will know if we seized this moment, and used it to build a future of safety and peace," Bush said.
"The freedom of many, and the future security of our nation, now depend on us. And tonight, my fellow Americans, I ask you to stand with me."
Bitter divide
Bush marches into the last 60 days of the campaign locked in a close race with Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate. America's bitter political divide was even evident on the convention floor. When hecklers disrupted the president's speech, the GOP delegates drowned them out with chants of "Four More Years!"
Thousands of protesters marched through the streets of Manhattan during the convention as they denounced the president's policies and the U.S. death toll in Iraq, which could reach 1,000 by Election Day.
Undaunted, Bush carried on with tough words for the Democrats, saying Kerry was running on a platform of raising taxes. "That's the kind of promise a politician usually keeps," he said.
His overarching message was security in a post-Sept. 11 world -- an issue known all too well in New York.
"My fellow Americans, for as long as our country stands, people will look to the resurrection of New York City and they will say: 'Here buildings fell, and here a nation rose,'" Bush said. "I believe the most solemn duty of the American president is to protect the American people. If America shows uncertainty and weakness in this decade, the world will drift toward tragedy. This will not happen on my watch."
Differences
New York Gov. George Pataki, one of the many Republican moderates handed speaking roles, contrasted Bush with Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic nominee:
"Senator Kerry says, 'America should go to war not when it wants to go to war but when it has to go to war.' Well, excuse me, Senator. The firefighters and cops who ran into those burning towers and died on Sept. 11 didn't want to go to war. They were heroes in a war they didn't even know existed," Pataki said. "America did not choose this war. But we have a president who chooses to win it."
Kept his promise
Four years ago, when he accepted the GOP nomination the first time, he vowed to cut taxes -- and he has. "The last time taxes were this high as a percentage of our economy, there was a good reason -- we were fighting World War II," Bush told Republicans gathered in Philadelphia in 2000. "Today our high taxes fund a surplus. The surplus is not the government's money. The surplus is the people's money."
Today, there is no surplus. In its place there is a significant deficit, created in part by Sept. 11 and the ensuing war on terrorism and the war in Iraq.
Proposals
In his address, Bush issued an array of proposals for a second term:
USocial Security: Meet an unfulfilled 2000 campaign promise by letting younger workers save some of their taxes in a personal account -- "a nest egg you can call your own, and government can never take away."
UEconomy: Create jobs by encouraging investment, curbing federal spending, cutting regulation and making tax cuts permanent. He vowed to expand trade, end frivolous lawsuits and simplify the tax code, which he described as a "complicated mess filled with special interest loopholes." Create "opportunity zones" that would use tax incentives to spur investment in poor neighborhoods.
UEducation: Require states to add two tests in reading and math in high school and provide money to help reward good teachers.
UHealth care: Spend $1 billion to help children get coverage, and make sure a health center is open in every poor community.
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