LaRouche says Bush `dumbest’ president

LaRouche says Bush `dumbest’ president
BY MICHAEL R. WICKLINE ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock)
May 12, 2004 Wednesday

Lyndon LaRouche, a Democratic candidate for president, said Tuesday
that there’s “a feasible escape” for the United States from the
“continuing worsening mess in Iraq.”

At a a news conference at the Radisson Hotel in Little Rock, he said
the nation must “get out of this mess because we cannot solve the
international financial crisis when we are generating and supporting
the kind of conflict we are developing with our potential partners
and allies from around the world.”

LaRouche, 81, of Round Hill, Va., blamed Vice President Dick Cheney
for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and called President Bush “the
dumbest president we have ever had.” LaRouche said the U.S. State
Department should negotiate “a southwest Asia security policy” with
Turkey, Armenia, Egypt, Iran and other nations.

He also said the United States is “in a depression which is far worse
than that of 1929-1933.” The president should declare a national
emergency and launch a $6 trillion infrastructure program for the
next four years.

The program would provide government credit for things such as water
projects, power generation and distribution projects, and health care,
LaRouche said. The government would encourage people to invest in
stocks and bonds of public utilities formed by states and provide
a safe and secure place for people and institutions to place their
savings, he said.

Josh Earnest, Democratic National Committee spokesman, said Arkansans
who are concerned about the nation’s direction under Bush are looking
for “a viable alternative” to Bush. They want a candidate like John
Kerry, a U.S. senator from Massachusetts, Earnest said.

LaRouche was convicted of mail fraud in 1988. He has run in every
presidential election since 1976.

Kerry, LaRouche and U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio are on the
ballot in Arkansas’ Democratic presidential primary Tuesday.

This article was published 5/12/2004