WASHINGTON -- October 27 --“The party of Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman and John Kennedy is rightly remembered for confidence and resolve in times of war and in hours of crisis. Senator Kerry has turned his back on ‘pay any price’ and ‘bear any burden,” President Bush said in a campaign speech in Wisconsin on Tuesday.

While we appreciate his recognition of these great Democrats, let us point out what he fails to say in this message. President Bush fails to mention that the war and crisis he eludes to is mostly of his making. Not our fight against terrorism, which is justified and must be relentlessly pursued to victory, but the delusional adventure he has taken us into in Iraq.

The great leaders that Bush mentions showed their resolve in the face of real threats not in pursuit of ideological crusades.

And as an organization borne out of the New Deal era and having been co-founded by Eleanor Roosevelt, ADA finds it downright insulting for the President to invoke FDR’s legacy when his first term in office has been dedicated to the systematic dismantling of the very policies and programs the Roosevelt’s aspired to.

“The Bush Administration and Republican leadership in Congress have gone out their way to reverse the progress of the past century with respect to the social safety net, workers’ rights, and progressive taxation,” said ADA National Director Amy Isaacs.

And, now, a hallmark of the Bush campaign is an attempt to privatize social security and undermine one of the greatest legacies of the Roosevelt era. “How dare President Bush wrap himself in the aura of Franklin Delano Roosevelt while he systematically moves to destroy his legacy.”

ADA is the nation's oldest independent liberal political organization, dedicated to individual liberty and building economic and social justice at home and abroad. Since 1947, we have led public opinion and coalitions by taking early, principled stands on a broad range of domestic, foreign, economic, military, social and environmental issues.

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