WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush's campaign announced Sunday its plans to
use as the basis of a new commercial a quote from an 8,000-word New York
Times Magazine article about Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry.

The article, a largely analytical cover story in the magazine, says the
interviewer asked Kerry "what it would take for Americans to feel safe
again."

''We have to get back to the place we were, where terrorists are not the
focus of our lives, but they're a nuisance,'' the article states as the
Massachusetts senator's reply.

''As a former law enforcement person, I know we're never going to end
prostitution. We're never going to end illegal gambling. But we're going to
reduce it, organized crime, to a level where it isn't on the rise. It isn't
threatening people's lives every day, and fundamentally, it's something that
you continue to fight, but it's not threatening the fabric of your life.''

Kerry was a prosecutor before he got into politics, and made fighting
organized crime a priority.

Bush campaign Chairman Marc Racicot, in an appearance on CNN's "Late
Edition," interpreted Kerry's remarks as saying "that the war on terrorism
is like a nuisance. He equated it to prostitution and gambling, a nuisance
activity. You know, quite frankly, I just don't think he has the right view
of the world. It's a pre-9/11 view of the world."

Republican Party Chairman Ed Gillespie, on CBS' "Face the Nation," used
similar language.

"This is yet another example of the Bush campaign taking John Kerry's words
out of context, and then blowing it up into something that is nothing,"
Kerry campaign spokesman Phil Singer said.

"The whole article is about how John Kerry recognizes that the war on terror
requires a multipronged approach. It's not just the military aspect, but you
need diplomacy to be able to enlist your allies. The Bush people have never
understood that. John Kerry has always said that terrorism is the No. 1
threat to the U.S."




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