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'A noble and just cause'
By ADAM C. SMITH, Times Political Editor ST. PETERSBURG -- President Bush, wiping teary eyes, gazed down from a podium Friday at the families of two Florida Army Rangers killed recently in Afghanistan. "I know your heart aches, and we ache for you," the president said to relatives of 30-year-old Spc. Marc Anderson, who lived in Fort Myers when he joined the Army. "But your son and your brother died for a noble and just cause." The emotional scene came during the president's visit to a St. Petersburg computer parts company, where Bush acknowledged the families of Anderson and Sgt. Bradley Crose of Orange Park. But even as his lips quivered and he brushed teary eyes, the president predicted that more soldiers would die and that the war against terrorism will be a long one. "I hate it to know that young soldiers are at risk, but I want to assure you and all those loved ones whose sons and daughters are at risk that not only is this cause just and important and noble, but our U.S. government will provide the U.S. military with whatever it needs to win this war against terror," the president said. Florida is America's biggest swing state and is as crucial to President Bush's political future as it is to Gov. Jeb Bush's. This was the president's eighth trip to Florida since becoming president. He's visited only Pennsylvania more. "I told Jeb I'll do anything he wants me to do to get him elected. If he wants me down here, I'm coming back," said the president, who was accompanied on Air Force One by a bevy of Florida Congressmen, C.W. Bill Young, R-Largo; Jim Davis, D-Tampa; and Mike Bilirakis, R-Tarpon Springs.
Pinellas County, which Bush narrowly lost in 2000, embraced the president Friday. Hundreds of people lined Roosevelt Boulevard and the Pinellas Bayway to hoist flags and wave to the passing presidential caravan. At America II Electronics on 118th Avenue N, Bush gave a wide-ranging speech with heavy emphasis on thundering patriotism. Among the crowd of 500, which repeatedly erupted in cheers, dozens of spectators nodded their heads as the president spoke or watched him with huge smiles. "George, the people of the state of Florida are behind you 1,000 percent," Gov. Jeb Bush declared in introducing his brother in the crowded company warehouse. The Bush brothers later rode in the presidential limo to the Don CeSar Beach Resort and Spa. There the president headlined a $25,000-a-plate fundraiser expected to raise about $500,000 for the state GOP. Gov. Bush's re-election campaign will be the big beneficiary. The press was excluded from that event, but the Bushes also fired up nearly 200 Republican loyalists gathered for a free reception in another Don CeSar conference room. "By helping me, you're going to help this great president," Gov. Bush said. At one point a woman shouted: "We love you both!" "Sounds like you've been talking to our mother," the president said. "I think she still loves us. I know she's telling us what to do all the time. Jeb listens about half the time, and I listen all the time, of course." In the wake of the Enron scandal, the president this week unveiled proposals to better protect investors. The plan, criticized by Democrats for not going far enough, would, among other things, bar corporate officers who abuse their power from serving again as directors of public companies. Bush touted his "corporate responsibility" initiatives at America II, although the company is not publicly traded. He called the company a national model for corporate citizenship. The 500-employee distributor of semiconductors suffered serious sales declines last year, but continued expanding and did not lay off an employee. The president wants to show that the war is not keeping his attention from domestic issues. Various indicators are pointing to an economic recovery, he said, but those numbers don't mean much to him. "I'm concerned about anybody who's not working and wants to work," he said after finishing a private discussion with several America II employees. "And so the numbers talk, but in terms of policy and the focus of this administration, we're going to do everything we can to increase jobs." Standing beside his brother at the Don CeSar, Bush also bashed critics who argue that his tax cuts should be delayed. "When times are slow, they want to raise your taxes. Or when times are slow, they don't want tax relief to continue on. Well, when they do that, they get crossways with the Bush boys," the president said. Unmentioned was Gov. Bush's decision last year to support delaying scheduled cuts in Florida's intangibles tax because of budget shortfalls caused by the sputtering economy. The war on terrorism dominated Bush's speeches. Twenty-eight Americans have died in combat or while working in support of the war. Bush repeatedly emphasized that Americans should not become impatient, because he has always said this would be a long war. He also downplayed the significance of Osama bin Laden when a reporter asked if he was surprised bin Laden remained at large after six months. "For those who say, "Well, one person matters,' they elevate that person to a status he does not deserve," he said. "I don't know if Mr. bin Laden is alive or dead. I do know that we haven't heard from him in a while."
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