Patriot Act called lifesaver for U.S.

HERSHEY, Pa. — President Bush yesterday credited the Patriot Act with preventing a repeat of the September 11 attacks in part of a three-day campaign to prod Congress into reauthorizing the law, which many Democrats, including presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry, have sharply criticized.

The Patriot Act, set to expire in 2005, allows federal investigators to employ many of the same surveillance tactics used to catch mobsters and drug dealers, Mr. Bush said.

The Bush administration has also cited the Patriot Act for tearing down the bureaucratic “wall” that prevented the FBI and CIA from sharing intelligence that could help catch terrorists.

“You cannot fight the war on terror unless all levels can share intelligence at a real-time basis,” Mr. Bush told about 2,000 members of the State Association of Township Supervisors.

“We could not get a clear picture of terrorist threats,” he said of the situation before September 11. “Different people had different pieces of the puzzle, but because of law, they couldn’t get those pieces in the same place.”

Mr. Bush also used yesterday’s speech to justify the war in Iraq and against terrorists elsewhere with some of his sharpest personal and religious rhetoric.

“We will never show weakness in the face of these people who have no soul, who have no conscience, who could not care less about the life of a man or a woman or a child,” Mr. Bush said. “There is no doubt in my mind that with the Lord’s blessing and with hard work, we will succeed in our mission.”

Mr. Bush also devoted his Saturday radio address to praising the Patriot Act and will give another speech on the topic today in Buffalo, N.Y.

Mr. Kerry voted for the Patriot Act in 2001, but has spoken out against it on the campaign trail, most vehemently while he was battling former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean for the Democratic nomination for president.

In a speech in Iowa in December, Mr. Kerry warned of a Bush administration empowered with the Patriot Act as forgetting that “we are a nation of laws, not a knock in the night.”

Over the weekend, Mr. Kerry said he now supports much of what’s in the law, but maintains that it “needs to be fixed.” He said he would create a new federal post, the “Director of National Intelligence,” to collect and analyze domestic intelligence to stop terrorists.

CIA Director George J. Tenet and FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III testified before the September 11 commission last week that the creation of that new position would mean a new level of bureaucracy that would hamper the war on terrorism.

Mr. Bush traveled with Sens. Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum, both Pennsylvania Republicans, finishing his day with a rally and fund-raiser for Mr. Specter in Pittsburgh.

Mr. Bush’s visit netted $400,000 for Mr. Specter, one of the more liberal Republicans in the Senate, who is seeking to fend off a challenge in next month’s primary from conservative Rep. Patrick J. Toomey, who has been a more reliable vote for Mr. Bush’s agenda.

Mr. Bush was joined on stage by Mr. Santorum, a conservative hero, and lavished praise on Mr. Specter, a four-term incumbent.

“Let me say this as plainly as I can: Arlen Specter is the right man for the United States Senate,” Mr. Bush said, urging the enthusiastic crowd to “get out the vote” for Mr. Specter next month.

“He is a tough and principled legislator,” the president said of the man who will chair the Senate Judiciary Committee in a second Bush term if both men get their way. “He’s a little independent-minded sometimes, but there is nothing wrong with that.”

Mr. Specter enjoyed a 30-percentage-point lead over Mr. Toomey three months ago, but the conservative’s aggressive campaign — as well as anti-Specter ads run by nonprofit conservative activist groups — have whittled that lead in half.

Conservatives have hammered Mr. Specter for his record of voting against tax cuts, his liberalism on social issues and even his endorsement by the left-wing magazine the Nation.

None of that seemed to bother the pro-life, tax-cutting president.

“I can count on this man. That’s important,” Mr. Bush said. “He’s a firm ally when it matters most. I can look at him and say, ’I need your help,’ and he will give it.”