JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – President Bush, taking his Medicare sales pitch to middle America, got a rousing welcome yesterday on his first road trip since a federal prosecutor said Bush authorized the leak of intelligence information.
A few protesters were nearby as Bush arrived for a Medicare prescription drug benefit event. But inside, Bush got a standing ovation when he was introduced to the prescreened audience.
“I support the president 100 percent and I appreciate what he is doing for democracy around the world and I think it is a bunch of hogwash,” Valerie Weber, manager of volunteer and senior services at a local medical center, said of the allegation that Bush leaked intelligence information.
The event came as Bush's approval rating hit a new low, with only 38 percent in a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll expressing support for his policies.
At an afternoon fundraiser for Rep. Jim Nussle, R-Iowa, who is running for governor of his state, Bush employed an often-used line against the backdrop of his declining poll numbers: “You cannot lead the nation, nor can you lead a state, if you rely on polls that tell you what to think.”
Bush took no audience questions during yesterday's events in Missouri and Iowa. On Monday in Washington, Bush, in response to a graduate student's question after a speech, said he had declassified intelligence information in July 2003 to counter what he said was misinformation about why he decided to invade Iraq.
