Slapstick Politics: Bush Visits Greeley To Boost Beauprez, Musgrave

Matthew Staver © Bloomberg News
President George W. Bush speaks during a campaign rally at Island Grove Regional Park in Greeley. Bush was in Colorado to campaign for Representative Marilyn Musgrave in the final days leading up to Tuesday's midterm elections.

Complete video of Bush's speech in Greeley this morning.

Bush rallies Colorado GOP, but is it too little, too late?:

GREELEY – President George W. Bush today told several thousand Republican boosters attending a rally here this morning that America’s best defense against terrorism is a strong offense and that the effort should be entrusted to GOP leadership.

Bush’s hour-long appearance at the Island Grove Regional Park Events Center, at which he pushed Republican virtues in an impassioned speech lasting 45 minutes, was primarily intended to boost the chances two-term incumbent U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave and that party’s candidate for Colorado governor, U.S. Rep. Bob Beauprez.

"I like coming to places like Greeley, Colorado, because the people here are down to earth, hard-working people who have a lot of common sense," Bush said. "That’s what we need in Washington, D.C., common sense. And Marilyn Musgrave brings common sense to Washington, D.C."

One protestor did manage to make it into the arena as Bush stressed the difference between GOP and Democratic views on foreign policy:

Bush’s speech was interrupted frequently by roars of approval and applause, but it wasn’t an exclusively adoring crowd.

A man who identified himself as 24-year-old David Mann of Boulder, a veteran of two tours of duty in Iraq with the U.S. Army, was escorted from the room by Secret Service personnel for heckling the president, who hadn’t let Mann affect his delivery.
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But Bush spent far more time making the case for Republicans nationwide. Devoting much of his talk to hammering away at the dangers America faces from terrorists he said preach an ideology of hate, Bush said Democrats aren’t the best ones to combat that threat.

"I’m not saying these people are not patriots," he said of the Democratic party. "I’m just saying they’re wrong."

Appearing in dark slacks and a pale blue, open-necked dress shirt with his sleeves rolled up, Bush hit repeatedly on his charge that the GOP’s rivals have no plan for victory against Islamist extremists determined to hurt America.

"Harsh criticism is not a plan, for victory," said Bush. "Second-guessing is not a strategy."