Here's something I REALLY hope John Kerry and Senate Democratic candidates will use in their attack ads. EVERY GOP SENATOR save one voted AGAINST legislation sending body armor to our troops, and George Bush threatened to VETO the body armor legislation TWICE.
How did that happen? It happened when John Kerry voted FOR the legislation but the Republicans almost unanimously voted against it, and Bush threatened to veto it twice. The legislation (Biden amendment #1796 to S. 1689) had everything President Bush and the military wanted for Iraq, but on October 2, 2003 the Senate Republicans opposed it and President Bush threatened to veto it because it gave new federal employees union rights, something that has NOTHING to do with the body armor our troops dearly needed.
Oh, but it gets better than that. Bush also threatened to veto the final legislation EVEN AFTER the Biden amendment was defeated. Yes, Bush threatened to DENY BODY ARMOR TO OUR TROOPS simply because he disagreed with some arcane loan mechanism in the bill - see for yourself, from the administration's own letter threatening the veto:
[T]he Administration strongly opposes the Senate provision that would convert a portion of this assistance to a loan mechanism. If this provision is not removed, the President's senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill.So Bush threatened to veto the same bill he's now criticizing Kerry for not supporting.
Memo to Kerry... When Bush brings up the $87 billion, respond: "That would be the same body armor legislation that you threatened to veto." And when Bush says "well, I was opposed to something else in the bill, not the body armor," then you answer "so was I."
These are all the Senators voting AGAINST providing body armor to our troops:
