Bush calls Demos dangerous

STOCKTON, Calif. — With control of Congress up for grabs in November and Republicans mired in an ugly sex scandal, President Bush is ripping into Democrats as never before. His message: They're dangerous to America.

Bush unveiled the aggressive line of attack this week during a fund-raising tour that set the tone for what's sure to be a bruising run-up to the November elections. Republican loyalists cheered him at every stop, but they acknowledged their anxieties after the applause died.

"There's certainly tension in the air in this congressional election," said Russell Armstrong, a mortgage broker who drove five hours from his home in Mission Viejo to see Bush at a congressional fund-raiser in Stockton. "There's always risk in politics because there are always wild cards that you don't expect."

The wild card this week was former Rep. Mark Foley, the Florida Republican whose lascivious e-mails to congressional pages threaten to bring down House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill.

The president never mentioned the Foley scandal during his string of appearances before Republican donors, focusing instead on a bare-knuckle assault on Democrats. At times, he took liberties with the facts to make his case that the opposition party is soft on terrorism.

At a stop in Scottsdale, Ariz., he said Democrats who voted against his warrantless eavesdropping program "don't think we ought to be listening to the conversations of terrorists."

"If the people of the United States don't think we ought to be listening in on the conversations of people who could do harm to the United States, then go ahead and vote for the Democrats," he added. "If you want to make sure those on the front line of protecting you have the tools necessary to do so, you vote Republican, for the safety of the United States."

Even for campaign rhetoric, that's a stretch. Many lawmakers who oppose Bush's program — Democrats and Republicans — say they agree on the need to eavesdrop on suspected terrorists. They just don't like the idea of doing it with little or no court oversight.

Democrats offered alternative legislation that would permit warrantless eavesdropping for up to a week, with court approval required after that.

"All of us support strong tools to intercept the communications of terrorists, track their whereabouts and disrupt their plots. All of us," Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., said during House debate on the issue last month.