Bush camp welcomes Kerry talk on war, security

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President Bush's re-election strategists hope Sen. John Kerry keeps talking about Iraq and Vietnam for the next 54 days because they think national security is the president's strong suit.

"As long as they're talking about national security, we're winning every single day and he's digging a deeper hole," said a senior Bush strategist. "Amazingly, even when Bill Clinton gives Kerry advice to stop talking about Iraq and Vietnam, he proceeds to keep talking about both of them. It's very helpful."

Bush strategists say such topics serve to reinforce their portrayal of Mr. Kerry as a flip-flopping political opportunist who takes all sides of every issue.

Yesterday, for example, when Mr. Kerry savaged the president for spending $200 billion on Iraq, the Bush campaign pointed out that the Massachusetts Democrat once called for Iraq funding to be increased by "whatever number of billions of dollars it takes to win."

Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt pronounced this Mr. Kerry's "eighth distinct position on the war in Iraq."

"John Kerry voted for the war, but voted against funds for our troops, and after saying he was 'proud' of voting against money for the troops, he now says that the money could have been better used elsewhere," Mr. Schmidt said. "John Kerry can't keep his story straight for 24 hours about what his priorities would be."

Even when the Bush campaign is accused of crossing the line in its attacks on Mr. Kerry, another precious news cycle ends up being consumed by the debate over national security.

After Vice President Dick Cheney suggested on Tuesday that America would be at greater risk of a terrorist attack if Mr. Kerry were to be elected, Democrats cried foul. But a new Gallup poll shows that Americans, by a 2-to-1 margin, agree with that sentiment.

Yesterday, Republicans were unapologetic about Mr. Cheney's remarks.

"It's up to the American people to make a judgment as to who's going to make the country safer," said the senior Bush strategist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "The administration that has the right ideas to make us safe is this administration."