http://www.theolympian.com/home/news/20040...ies/66774.shtmlGore energizes Kerry fans with verbal A*ault on Bush
Ex-vice president rips GOP on war, economy, environment
The A*ociated Press
BRAD SHANNON THE OLYMPIAN
TACOMA -- Former Vice President Al Gore, returning to campaign-combat action, laid out another scathing indictment of the Bush administration Friday night, accusing his 2000 election foe of squandering the nation's economic surpluses and its standing in the world.
Using sharp comments like those he delivered a week ago in New York, Gore made his first return to Washington -- a state he carried -- since his hard 2000 electoral loss.
He said Bush took advantage of the Sept. 11 attacks to "exploit the fears" of the country when he moved resources away from Afghanistan and al-Qaida's stronghold, redirecting them to Iraq.
"When he made that decision, I sincerely believe he betrayed the feelings of trust we put in him ... after 9/11," Gore said.
He also accused Republicans of betraying the public interest and using deception in crafting environmental, economic and energy policies.
"They put George Orwell to shame in their use of the English language," Gore said. "Their single objective ... is to help the wealthy and powerful who have been a part of their electoral and contributor base."
Gore's appearance gave the Democratic audience a charge, raising their hopes that MA*achusetts Sen. John Kerry can replace Bush.
The convention, held at Tacoma's Sheraton, continues today with speeches from major state Democratic candidates and the approval of platforms. It concludes Sunday with selection of the rest of the state's 95 national-convention delegates.
"What it really does for us is it gets everybody fired up to go out and work like hell," state Democratic Chairman Paul Berendt said. "It reminds us all over again that we were robbed in 2000 by the Republicans. We won the election."
Republicans hope otherwise, believing that Washington's vote for president, U.S. Senate and governor could be extremely close. Having Gore show his face as an angry, accusatory man makes President Bush look like a steady, effective leader by contrast, state GOP Chairman Chris Vance said before the event.
"I hope Al Gore rants and raves," Vance said. "I hope he's just as angry as his last speech."
That speech, delivered just over a week ago, included Gore's description of Bush as incompetent and a call for top Bush military aides, including CIA Director George Tenet, to resign.
"When you contrast that with the steady, effective leadership of President Bush, it's a good contrast for us," Vance insisted.
Republicans got good news Friday with a jobs report showing 248,000 new jobs created nationally in May and what Vance called the steady move to transfer power in Iraq. "You can see the president's policies are working," Vance said.
But Kelly Fox, an Olympia firefighter and head of the Washington State Council of Fire Fighters, said Gore didn't get too wild while offering succinct, factual information that many people might not have heard before.
"It was very inspiring," Fox said. "If anybody's not got their blood pumping by now after these speeches, I don't know what it would take."
"Send Bush to Mars in 2004," said a hopeful Jackie Barrett-Sharar, chairwoman of the Thurston County Democrats.
Gore offered two sides in his comments -- first presenting the jocular Tennessee native son with a sense of humor who joked about the nation's economic downturn under Bush, saying he was the first one laid off. But he showed little mercy for Bush.
Gore was headline speaker to a crowd of about 1,100 people who paid $65 for the steak, potato and asparagus banquet.
He noted the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. soldiers, saying the soldiers need to be punished for their actions, but so do others who made "the historic decision that we would no longer honor the Geneva Conventions in the treatment of prisoners of war. That was the Bush White House," Gore said.
"Those soldiers that were there in those pictures that humiliated our nation and brought such dishonor to our country were not the ones that wrote the policy. ... Those policies came out of the White House," Gore said. "I think the abuse of those prisoners came directly from the abuse of the truth in the run-up to that war. I don't believe it was twisted minds. It was twisted facts."
Then he added: "If this nation should in November affirm this administration, then we would be saying, 'Yeah, that's us. Those are the policies we want. We don't really need to know what they are doing.' "
Kerry leads Bush 46 percent to 41 percent in Washington state, according to the most recent poll by Seattle-based Elway Research in April. That is the same 5 percent margin by which Gore beat Bush in 2000, but the advantage is within the poll's error margin, pollster Stuart Elway said.
Nationally, a Washington Post-ABC News poll issued last week showed Bush and Kerry running neck and neck at 46 percent.