Brownback jabs at Bush, GOP rivals on foreign policy

By: PHILIP ELLIOTT - Associated Press Writer | Tuesday, August 14, 2007 10:41 PM PDT ∞

MERRIMACK, N.H. (AP) -- Republican presidential candidate Sam Brownback on Tuesday criticized President Bush and two GOP rivals, saying the presidency isn't a foreign policy classroom.

Brownback's criticism that governors often do not have the foreign policy experience necessary to be president was aimed primarily at rivals Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee, both former governors. But in the process, he also took a jab at the man they all seek to replace, former Texas Gov. George W. Bush.

"We've got to walk more humbly and a lot more wisely than the current president," said Brownback, a Kansas senator and former member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

"I really believe this next president needs to go in with knowledge on foreign policy and not learn it on the job," said Brownback, who has been a vocal activist against the genocide in Darfur.

"We have a tendency to elect governors as president because people like executive experience. I don't have any problem with that. The problem is most governors don't have foreign policy experience."

Brownback finished third in the Iowa straw poll last weekend. Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, easily won the contest and Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, finished a distant second.

Brownback's criticism of Bush might help him in New Hampshire, where the unpopular war in Iraq was an important factor in the defeat of two incumbent GOP congressmen in 2006.

Brownback has scuffled with Romney in recent weeks over social and political policy, including fiercely criticizing Romney's changed position on abortion. Again on Tuesday he told New Hampshire's WKXL-FM that Romney "hasn't been consistent on these positions in the past. He's stated that himself. He continues really even to support new research on the youngest of humans."

Romney retorted during a recent debate: "I get tired of people that are holier than thou because they've been pro-life longer than I have."

Brownback spoke at Thomas More College.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Former Secretary of State Colin Powell has time for any presidential candidate who wants to chat about foreign policy. He has money, though, only for John McCain.

Powell has shared his military and diplomatic expertise in meetings with Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Rudy Giuliani, his spokeswoman, Peggy Cifrino, said Tuesday. A planned meeting with Republican Mitt Romney earlier this year was postponed due to bad weather.

But when it comes to sharing his money, Powell chose McCain, the Republican senator from Arizona.

While not meant as an endorsement, Powell's $2,300 contribution last week gave a bit of needed cachet to McCain's struggling campaign.

"General Powell has known Senator McCain for many, many years, he considers him a friend," Powell spokeswoman Peggy Cifrino said, adding: "It was not a formal endorsement and he has not endorsed any of the candidates."

In a June appearance on NBC's "Meet The Press," where he acknowledged meeting twice with Obama, Powell said: "I make myself available to talk about foreign policy matters and military matters with whoever wishes to chat with me."

Cifrino also noted that Powell is a Virginia neighbor of former Sen. Fred Thompson, who is contemplating entering the Republican race. The two, however, have not had a formal sitdown on policy issues, she said.

McCain also got a boost from former Commerce secretary and top GOP fundraiser Robert Mosbacher, who joined the campaign as co-chairman.

McCain spokeswoman Jill Hazelbaker said Mosbacher will play a role similar to that of former Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas, another McCain campaign co-chair. Both act as advisers and gray eminences for the campaign.

Mosbacher, 80, is a Texan who served in the Cabinet of the first President Bush. He is a highly regarded fundraiser who served at the top echelons of George H.W. Bush's presidential campaigns.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton will join Ellen DeGeneres for the season premiere of her show Sept. 4, the first time Clinton will appear on a daytime talk show since launching her presidential bid.

The New York senator last appeared on the syndicated "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" in October 2005, on another DeGeneres visit to New York. Clinton offered DeGeneres a subway fare card and a tourist map of the city and the two dished about seeing theater together and going to clubs.

Throughout her career, Clinton has been a frequent guest on daytime talk shows with largely female audiences. She appeared on ABC's "The View' late last year to promote the rerelease of her book, "It Takes a Village," and made appearances on several shows to promote her best-selling memoir, "Living History," in 2003.

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has begun airing a Spanish-language ad on radio stations in Nevada, introducing himself as a "son of a foreign father."

The 60-second ad, the campaign's first media buy in the state, emphasizes Obama's religious affiliation, his call for unity and his father's background as a Kenyan who moved to the United States to study.

"As a son of a foreign father who came to this country looking for a better life, Barack Obama learned that differences do not divide, but rather enrich," the ad says.

Hispanics make up nearly a quarter of the population in Nevada and are expected to be a key voting bloc for Democrats competing in the state's Jan. 19 caucus, the second in the nation.

"If you still want to know more, let us tell you Barack Obama is a Christian man committed to our community, his wife and his daughters," it says in Spanish.

The ad is running on stations in Las Vegas and Reno.

In July, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson was the first Democrat in the field to launch radio ads, both in English and Spanish, in Nevada.

PORT ROYAL, S.C. (AP) -- Republican presidential candidate John McCain said Tuesday that Congress' failure to act on Social Security shows there is more concern about partisan politics than the good of the nation.

"It's disgraceful and outrageous that Republicans and Democrats have not sat down together and worked out this Social Security problem," the Arizona senator told 100 people attending a forum sponsored by the AARP in early voting South Carolina.

The speech came on the 72nd anniversary of the signing of the Social Security Act by President Franklin Roosevelt.

"A half a century ago there were 16 American workers who supported every retiree, today it is three and soon it will be two," he said. "Around 2020 you will have more money going out than you have coming in. That's going to be a crucial time. Should we wait until 2020?"

McCain said as president he would deal with the matter, but did not offer specifics. He said a bipartisan effort was needed and a plan should be developed "working with you, working with AARP, working with the smart people in America and say, 'OK Congress, here's a plan to fix Social Security. Vote up or down."'

He said Social Security is a $3 trillion unfunded liability and told the group he doesn't want to hand future generations a broken system.

"I want to do the hard things," McCain said. "If Congress doesn't want to do it, let me do it. Let me do it. I'll fix it for them."

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson began airing two new ads in Iowa Tuesday highlighting his work as New Mexico's governor, an implicit shot at his rivals' lack of executive experience.

"Alright, a lot of candidates here ... any of 'em actually been a boss or a governor of something?" an actor playing a human resources director asks his staff in one of the ads.

The ad is the fourth in a humorous series that Richardson has been airing that portrays him as a job applicant unable to impress his interviewer with his credentials.

"Well, this guy passed a tax credit for creating jobs if they pay above the prevailing wage," the interviewer says, without much enthusiasm. Then adds: "And a tax credit for brand new industries like wind and solar."

The second ad promotes similar accomplishments in a more traditional fashion. Images of Richardson blend into scenes of workers and new plants as a narrator touts Richardson's support for tax credits and state investments in new industries.

"We need a president focused on good paying jobs again," Richardson says as he signs off.

Richardson, a former congressman, diplomat and Cabinet secretary, has been trying to play up his experience to distinguish himself from his Democratic rivals. Helped by a continuing advertising presence in Iowa, his standing in public opinion polls has improved.

The two new ads will rotate into his current schedule in Iowa markets. Richardson has spent more than $1.5 million in ads in the state.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards told President Bush to put aside his concerns for the toy industry and immediately stop the importation of certain toys from China until they can be tested to make sure they are safe.

Edwards wrote a letter to Bush on the same day that Mattel recalled more than 9 million Chinese-made toys because of dangers to children from lead paint or tiny magnets that could be swallowed. The toy industry has had a string of recalled products from China, where about 80 percent of toys sold worldwide are made.

Edwards said the U.S. should require independent third-party testing of all Chinese toy imports. Until then, he said the U.S. should stop and test the toys with lead-based paint or detachable magnets.

"Given the growing scope of this crisis," Edwards wrote to Bush, "we cannot rely on corporations to initiate voluntary recalls, while your administration sits on the sidelines. Your working group to study the issue is plainly inadequate. As president, you must put aside any concerns you may have for the impact on this industry and do everything in your power to ensure that dangerous toys never pass our borders and harm America's children."

Associated Press writers Bruce Smith in Port Royal, S.C., Beth Fouhy in New York, Jim Kuhnhenn and Nedra Pickler in Washington and Kathleen Hennessey in Las Vegas contributed to this report.