Cheney was interrupted during the meeting when a supporter of independent candidate Ralph Nader jumped on her chair during the question-and-answer session.
"I came 1,000 miles to ask you one quick question," the woman said. "I’m here with Ralph Nader. . . ." The crowd packed with Cheney supporters began chanting, "Four more years," and the woman was escorted out of the hotel banquet room.
As she was led away, Cheney said, "Treat them with kindness, maybe we can convert them," drawing laughs from the crowd.
The day’s recriminations came as Bush and Kerry prepared for their second presidential debate, a 90-minute town-hall-style event in St. Louis Friday.
Bush planned to address a rally in Wausau, Wis., this afternoon before flying to St. Louis. Kerry, who has spent the last couple of days preparing for the debate in Colorado, planned to leave Denver for St. Louis this evening.
With less than four weeks to go before the Nov. 2 election, both the Bush and Kerry campaigns appealed to their supporters for more money while blasting their opponents.
Bush, expounding on the main theme of a tough speech against Kerry yesterday, charged in a fundraising e-mail sent by his campaign that "my opponent’s weak, vacillating views would make for a more dangerous world."
Kerry said in his own fundraising e-mail that Bush has "turned a blind eye to the devastating impact of his policies on America’s families" and "refuses to budge" amid mounting evidence of his failures.
In his comments in New Jersey, Edwards said Cheney’s comments about the chief weapon inspectors report underscored the administration’s wrong choices in deciding to invade Iraq.
Edwards also looked ahead to Friday’s debate with criticism of Bush’s performance in last week’s debate in Miami, where many news analysts and opinion polls have said the president performed poorly. “Call me old fashioned, but I believe that the president of the United States in order to perform well in a debate needs to do more than just screw up his face. He needs to do more than just string a sentence together. He needs to come clean with the American people. This president has a very high bar this Friday night.”
Cheney, while meeting with a group of community leaders in a small country restaurant in Fort Myers, Fla., continued to defend the United State’s attack on Iraq.
“The thing to remember about Iraq is its history of supporting terrorists ..... as well as its history of producing and using chemical and biological weapons,” Cheney said. He said it is that combination that “is so worrisome,” adding, “So what we did in Iraq, I was convinced then and I’m convinced now that we did the right thing.”
Cheney questioned Kerry’s assertion that the United States should have used a global test before attacking Iraq. “What’s a global test, who you gonna ask?” Cheney said. “Who makes a decision by the president of the United States to use military force? In my book, nobody.” The crowd of supporters applauded.
