And Kennedy, who voted against the war resolution, said: "It is deeply regrettable that the president is using Veterans Day as a campaign-like attempt to rebuild his own credibility by tearing down those who seek the truth about the clear manipulation of intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq war."
The exchange of fire heated up as the day wore on. White House press secretary Scott McClellan said it was "regrettable that Senator Kennedy has found more time to say negative things about President Bush than he ever did about Saddam Hussein" and added: "If America were to follow Senator Kennedy's foreign policy, Saddam Hussein would not only still be in power, he would be oppressing and occupying Kuwait."
And Mehlman, addressing a GOP dinner in Fort Wayne, Ind., mocked Democratic calls for further investigation into the handling of intelligence before the war. "Maybe this investigation will reveal that they were brainwashed," he said, according to prepared remarks released by the RNC. "Or that, like John Kerry, they were for the war before they were against it for short-term political gain."
Party strategists said neither side can afford to let the other define how the war began. "We cannot allow a mythology to develop that somehow it was inappropriate to be frightened" of Hussein, former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) said in an interview. "The president absolutely should take on what I would describe as the surrender wing of American foreign policy."
Jim Jordan, a former adviser to Kerry, said Bush's speech reflected weakness. "It was driven by a petulance and frustration, and it had the tone of a president with an approval rating of 35 percent," he said. "He's sounding less statesmanlike when he needs to seem more."
In flying to Pennsylvania, Bush chose a battleground state in next year's election. Standing before a warehouse full of current and former troops, he spoke under a banner that read "Strategy for Victory" and next to a sand-colored Humvee and a 59,000-pound array of satellite and radar dishes.
The crowd cheered him exuberantly, especially when he embraced a constitutional amendment to ban the desecration of the American flag -- a proposal he has supported for years but almost never mentions in speeches. At another point, as he denounced terrorists, someone in the audience yelled out, "Give 'em hell, George."
Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.) was on hand, but notably absent was fellow Republican Sen. Rick Santorum (Pa.), who trails badly in his bid for reelection next year. His press secretary, Robert Traynham, said the senator was speaking at a long-scheduled American Legion luncheon in Philadelphia and could not be in two places at one time. Jay Reiff, campaign manager for Democratic challenger Robert Casey Jr., said Santorum "is clearly trying to distance himself from an unpopular president and an unpopular agenda."
Baker reported from Washington.
