On the eve of a Republican huddle in the city today, President Bush’s pick to head the GOP is circulating a memo that blasts Democrats as “naive” politicians who are willing to just stand by and wait for America to be attacked again.
Republican National Chairman-designate Ed Gillespie’s hard-hitting memo charges Democrats are big spenders who favor “countless new spending” plans to cope with the aftermath of future attacks instead of self-defense to prevent attacks.
“Democrats are coalescing behind an ‘aftermath policy’ toward potential threats that is naive in the post-9/11 world. It is a passive, reactive approach that fails to connect the dots and would put America’s fate in the hands of people who seek to destroy us,” the memo says.
“Those unwilling or unable to stop terrorist activity by dealing with it will be forced to deal with its aftermath. Our choice is confronting terrorists in Baghdad or Boston, in Kabul or Kansas City,” adds Gillespie’s memo to Republican leaders.
Gillespie, a longtime GOP operative who officially becomes Republican National Committee chief Friday, was tapped for the post in order to produce a more aggressive response to the Democrats in the upcoming presidential election year.
This week’s RNC summer meeting, dubbed “Victory Starts Here,” is a countdown to the GOP convention in the Big Apple a year from now, when Bush will presumably be renominated for a second term just miles from Ground Zero.