CAMPAIGN SNAPSHOT

	July 5, 2004
	President Bush and presidential contender Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., observed the Fourth of July in their latest campaign speeches.

JIM LEHRER: Our presidential campaign snapshots tonight come from the candidates' appearances this holiday weekend. President Bush observed the fourth of July in Charleston, West Virginia, yesterday. PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: On July 4, 1942, in the midst of the Second World War, President Franklin Roosevelt gave encouragement to our troops abroad by reminding them of our nation's founding creed. They were fighting, he said, because Americans believe in the "right to liberty under God." (Applause) The president said, "for all peoples and races and groups and nations everywhere in the world." Today, a new generation of Americans is wearing the uniform. They are serving the same creed. They are showing the same courage, and they make us proud every single day. (Applause) The war on terror has placed demands on our military. In Afghanistan and Iraq and elsewhere, our people in uniform have been unrelenting in their performance of duty. They've been skillful and courageous. They've accepted hard missions, long deployments, and the difficulties of being separated from their homes and their families. Some have returned home wounded. Some have died. Each is mourned and missed. And each one will be honored by our country forever. (Applause) Iraq, only last year, was under the control of a dictator who threatened the civilized world, who used weapons of mass destruction against his own people. He tormented and tortured the people of Iraq. Because we acted, Iraq today is a free and sovereign nation. (Applause) And because we acted, the dictator, the brutal tyrant is sitting in a prison cell, and he will receive the justice he denied so many for so long. (Applause) Because we've taken the fight to the enemy, because we've been strong and determined to do our duty to protect America, and because freedom is rising in places they claim as their own, the terrorists are desperate, and they are furious. They're running out of places to hide. They know their cause is failing. They know that time is against them, and their only chance is to shake the resolve of Iraqis, Americans, anybody else who loves freedom. This history we celebrate today is a testament to the power of freedom to lift up a whole nation. And we still believe, on America's 228th birthday, that freedom has the power to change the world. May God bless you. And may God bless America. Thank you all. JIM LEHRER: Senator John Kerry spent this afternoon at a barbecue on a farm near Pittsburgh. SEN. JOHN KERRY: There was a great writer who said the two most magical words in the English language are summer afternoon. I think if you take a look at the kind of day we've had today particularly celebrating the Fourth of July weekend, this is very special. I thank you. We thank you. Teresa and me, the family, all of us for taking time to come and sort of break bread and share a moment like this together -- the importance of this race. One of you came up to me and said, someone working so hard in the Pittsburgh area and said to me, you've got to restore our country's conscience. That's really what this race is about. It's not about the politics of Democrat-Republican though we are proud of who we are. We're proud that we're democrats. We're proud of the values. But we believe those are values that reach across party lines. Those are values that bring people together -- that actually try to govern and get things done, not just protect the most powerful, not just divide the country for the purpose of winning. I'm running for president because I believe this nation is thirsty for leadership that builds the future and makes America stronger. That's what we're doing. I look around here. There are a lot of vets here, a lot of vets from different eras. I think every single one of us wants to join together. We're here celebrating one of America's great holidays. But as we are here celebrating a holiday, those of us who have served abroad at any point in time know that it's a harder time for service people who are away from home because they're thinking about the barbecues. They're thinking about a beautiful summer afternoon when they're out in the desert. It's 110 degrees and we're home under the trees and in the water fountains and enjoying the day. The blessings of liberty and freedom are not cheap. You have to preserve them. You have to guard them. You have to fight for them. And it takes patriots who are willing to stand up and speak the truth and make our country stronger and fight for it. And every single one of us, no matter how we feel-- and we have strong feelings about how we got where we are today, and we have strong feelings about why America wasn't told the truth up and down the line about what we're doing. We have strong feelings about sending troops into combat without body armor and adequate arm amount, but we no matter what as Americans all join together in gratitude for the service of those troops who are there for our nation. I hope that over these next days we're going to do what excited me in the 1960s when President Kennedy stood up and lifted the spirit of our country with the possibilities of going to the moon and of standing up for principle and making a difference. Every single one of us has the opportunity to do that in these next days. We're going to let America in the words of Langston Hughes, we are going to let America be America again. That's what this race is about. Thank you and God bless you all for coming. Thank you.