President Bush delivered a ringing endorsement of presumptive GOP nominee John McCain yesterday, saying his one-time bitter rival will continue the fight against Islamic terrorism and push to win the peace in Iraq.
Bush said his potential successor will be resolute like him – and not buckle or retreat like Democrats Barack Obama or Hillary Rodham Clinton when the going gets tough.
“The good news about our candidate is there will be a new president, a man of character and courage,” Bush said, with McCain standing by his side at a White House press conference.
“But he’s not going to change when it comes to taking on the enemy. He understands that this is a dangerous world,” Bush added.
He said McCain, a former Navy fighter pilot and Vietnam POW who is the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, knows that protecting Americans is the president’s top responsibility.
“There’s still an enemy that lurks, an enemy that wants to strike us, and this country better have somebody in the Oval Office who understands the stakes. John McCain understands those stakes,” Bush said.
He declared that McCain is “plenty capable” of making the tough decisions on war and peace, and “when the Americans take a hard look” at the Arizona senator, they’ll vote for him.
Bush said McCain showed his determination and grit with his tremendous comeback to win the nomination after “many people” counted him out.
“And that’s exactly what we need in a president,” he said. McCain, who is rarely at a loss for words, couldn’t be more pleased.
“Thank you, sir,” he told Bush. “I don’t have anything to add.”
McCain and Bush have had a sometimes stormy, sometimes friendly relationship over the past eight years.
Bush defeated McCain in the nasty 2000 GOP primaries.
But McCain noted that he campaigned for Bush’s election and re-election in 2004.
McCain backed Bush’s authorization to invade Iraq, but complained that the administration had too few troops on the ground. He supported the subsequent troop surge.
The GOP nominee also voted against the Bush tax cuts, but now says he would extend them.
Democrats gleefully tried to make hay of Bush’s endorsement, claiming McCain has become a clone of the unpopular incumbent. The Dems even distributed a video of the joint press conference.
“John McCain has worked hard over the last eight years to throw away his maverick image and morph into the ultimate Bush Republican. As President Bush himself said today, a vote for John McCain is a vote for more of the same failed Bush policies,” said Democratic National Committee spokeswoman Karen Finney.
But McCain said the president can help raise much-needed cash for his campaign kitty and rally the conservative faithful to his side.
“I appreciate his endorsement and I appreciate his service to our country,” said McCain.
“I hope the president will find time from his busy schedule to be out on the campaign trail with me.”
Bush was in a jovial mood, as if eager to enter the political fray. Before McCain and his wife, Cindy, arrived, the president killed time by tap-dancing in front of reporters.
“If he wants my pretty face by his side at one of these rallies,” Bush said, “I’d be glad to show up.”
Tongue firmly in cheek, he added, “If he wants me to say I’m not for him, I will. Either way, I want him to win.”
McCain joked that he certainly wanted Bush to stump for him in the president’s home state of Texas. Bush said McCain would win the Lone Star State by a landslide without his help.