Kerry attacks Bush for being negative

LAS VEGAS — Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry yesterday said President Bush has nothing but negative attacks to offer voters, demanding of the president and his record: “Is that all you got?”

Coming off the final presidential debate, Mr. Kerry taunted the president throughout a speech to the AARP’s national conference here, as he called for a “fresh start in America.”

The speech was the first in what advisers said will be a week of speeches to lay out his complete case for why voters should reject the president on Nov. 2.

“After four years of lost jobs, after four years of families losing health coverage, after four years of falling incomes, is that all you got?” the Massachusetts Democrat demanded of the president, who he said had attacked him yesterday morning by repeating the “He can run but he cannot hide” line.

He also accused the president of being afraid to address the AARP, because Mr. Bush was at a rally across town. Mr. Kerry said even though the AARP supported Mr. Bush’s prescription-drug bill when he signed it, maybe Mr. Bush is afraid to defend it because of the problems that Mr. Kerry said have been exposed.

Instead of Mr. Bush, first lady Laura Bush addressed the conference about an hour before Mr. Kerry.

She received tepid applause that paled in comparison to their welcome of Mr. Kerry, and even that of poet Maya Angelou and the comedy group Capitol Steps, both of whom performed in between the first lady and Mr. Kerry.

Bush campaign spokesman Brian Jones called Mr. Kerry’s charges “more gloom and doom and pessimism from John Kerry.”

“The president has a fantastic record when it comes to seniors’ issues,” he said. “He passed the first prescription-drug effort under Medicare, as opposed to John Kerry, who has voted eight times to raise Social Security taxes and opposed giving seniors more affordable prescription drugs.”

Mr. Kerry seemed to adopt Mr. Bush’s recent style of peppering his speech with barbed jokes at his opponent’s expense.

At one point, he joked that a big lottery tote board he’d seen driving into the city and clicking higher and higher was actually “the Bush gasoline prices that are going up.” And later, attacking Mr. Bush for telling most Americans not to get flu shots during Wednesday’s debate, Mr. Kerry said, “That sounds kind of like his health care plan to me — hope and pray you don’t get sick.”

Mr. Kerry’s campaign yesterday claimed victory in the third debate, saying that win gave them a perfect sweep. They pointed to opinion polls after all three which suggested more viewers think Mr. Kerry won.

Adviser Mike McCurry said the result of the debates was “a sustained impression left with the American voters this is a man capable of being a strong commander in chief and a strong president.”

He said Mr. Kerry’s performance on Wednesday, stressing issues of “social justice” and poverty, resonated with base Democratic voters.

Mr. McCurry said Mr. Kerry now embarks on the “closing argument” phase of the election, which means speeches over the next week on the reason that voters should seek “a fresh start.”

Continuing some of his attacks from Wednesday night on Mr. Bush’s fiscal discipline, Mr. Kerry yesterday said, “We need a president who’s prepared to use the veto pen.”

He also said that Mr. Bush wants to privatize Social Security and that if the president had put the money he used for his tax cuts into stabilizing the Social Security system, it could have helped it remain solvent decades longer.

“I pledge this to you — I will not privatize Social Security, I will not cut the benefits, and I will not raise the retirement age, because when you’ve worked for a lifetime, America owes you what you’ve earned,” he said.

But Mr. Bush’s campaign said Mr. Kerry, by claiming economic growth and small tweaks will be enough to save Social Security, proves he doesn’t understand the system’s long-term woes.

“John Kerry’s lack of a plan to strengthen Social Security will lead to tax increases, benefit cuts or both,” the campaign argued in a memo yesterday.