Bush and Clinton seek to grab leadership mantle after Paris

The coordinated terrorist attacks across Paris last week, which left 129 dead and scores more wounded, has provided Bush with an opening to make the case more clearly and forcefully than he has before: that his leadership skills and experience make him best equipped to be commander in chief.

Bush has not been unwilling to characterize ISIS as “radical Islamic terrorists” and will decry their aims to destroy Western civilization. “Our vulnerability is our freedom”.

Graham has always been an outlier even among hawkish Republicans, but his tone is increasingly matched by politicians in both parties as the White House struggles to articulate its compromise strategy of airstrikes and limited ground support from United States special forces.

“I believe in the principle that the greater our superiority in military power, the less likely it is that we will have to assert that power, or be provoked into using it”, Bush said in the excerpts.

“We must address the underlying conflicts in Syria and Iraq, which created this crisis – one that spiraled out of control as President Obama and Hillary Clinton failed to act – and today present a critical threat to global security”, Bush said. “Refugees come to this country for all sorts of reasons – they don’t normally come with embedded terrorists in their midst”, Bush told reporters this week.

DONALD TRUMP: Yes, I will also quickly and decisively bomb the hell out of ISIS.

USA advisers earlier this month joined with Iraqi Kurdish forces to help them in attacking the strategic northern city of Sinjar, which had been seized by Islamic State militants in August 2014.

Bush was the first major presidential candidate to file for the primary since terror attacks struck Paris and reignited a tense focus and debate over the current fight against ISIS and the worldwide reception of Syrian refugees. “We can’t withdraw from this threat, nor negotiate with it”, he said.

“In effect, this president wants to run out the clock and leave this responsibility to the next president”, Bush said. He referenced his time as Florida governor dealing with Haitian refugees, saying, “There’s a way to find common ground”.

The candidate drew attention last week for comparing Carson’s self-described “pathological” teenage temper to the mental state of a child molester.

The presidential candidate has repeatedly reminded voters this week that he laid out a plan this summer to take on ISIS.

It’s worth remembering that only one Bush won primaries by portraying himself as the candidate of foreign policy seriousness and heft.

“This brutal savagery [in Paris] is a reminder of what is at stake in this election…we are choosing the leader of the free world”.

Here are more quotes from George W. Bush that distinguish between the fight against extremists and the Islamic faith.

“I wouldn’t say, ‘Well, no, we can’t have civilian casualties.’ It’s impossible to wage war with your hands tied behind your back”, he said.

“Apparently they’re scared of widows and orphans coming into the United States of America as part of our tradition of compassion”, the president said of the Republicans while visiting the Philippines.

“Boots on the ground would be important, because throughout that whole Middle Eastern region we have been calling for a coalition of the people who have a vested interest”, said Carson.