NEW YORK - Republicans belittled Democratic Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites) as a shift-in-the-wind campaigner unworthy of the White House on Monday at the opening of their national convention, lavishing praise on President Bush (news - web sites) as a steady, decisive leader in an age of terrorism.
"In this great struggle, we need a commander in chief who is a beacon, not a weather vane," said Rep. Heather Wilson (news, bio, voting record) of New Mexico in remarks prepared for delivery to delegates gathered four miles from the site where terrorists struck on Sept. 11, 2001. "We have one in George W. Bush."
"Kerry is weak on war and wrong on taxes," added House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois.
Bush campaigned in New Hampshire as the GOP opened its four-day gathering, and triggered an instant campaign stir when he told an interviewer he doubted victory is possible in the war on terror.
"I don't think you can win it. But I think you can create the conditions that those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world," he told NBC. Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards (news - web sites) quickly labeled that a concession of defeat in the war that terrorists launched in 2001, and White House spokesman Scott McClellan hastened to clarify the president's remarks.
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