WASHINGTON (AFP) — US President George Bush said John McCain has a lot of work left to convince Republicans he is a "solid" conservative, but said he would support his one-time rival if McCain wins the party's presidential nomination
"I know him well. I know his convictions. I know the principles that drive him. And no doubt in my mind he's a true conservative," Bush said in an interview on Fox News Sunday.
But, Bush added, "I think that if John's the nominee, he has got some convincing to do to convince people that he is a solid conservative."
"And I'll be glad to help him if he's the nominee."
Bush defended McCain, who ran against him in the 2000 presidential race, against criticism from the party's right-wing that McCain is not conservative enough to represent them.
"Look, he's very strong on national defense. He's tough fiscally. He believes that tax cuts ought to be permanent. He's pro-life. I mean, his principles are sound and solid as far as I'm concerned," Bush said.
But Bush, in his final year as president, refused to declare his preference between McCain and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who has remained in the race despite having little chance of overcoming McCain's massive lead.
"I do want to make sure that you don't rope me into getting into this primary before it ends, because we have another conservative candidate in Mike Huckabee still running," Bush told Fox.
McCain, who has squared off with the White House numerous times during the Bush presidency, is accused of being out of line with the party's principles.
But Bush defended McCain.
"You can find in the course of any senator's career a case where they may have differed with the president," he said.
"The question I ask myself and I hope voters ask, what are the principles by which this person will be making decisions?"
"And we've got two conservative candidates running for office. Our party will soon decide ... who our banner carrier is going to be, and our candidate will be certainly more conservative than the other."
Bush criticized Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton for making him an issue of the campaign, and criticized Barack Obama's stance on Pakistan.
"What's going to matter is not the past but the future when it comes to campaigns," he said in response to a Clinton campaign ad saying she will have to "clean up" after Bush if she wins the presidency.
"If the Democratic party feel they can win an election by focusing on me, I think they'll be making a huge tactical mistake," Bush said, "because our candidate will be able to talk about the future and what this person intends to do for the country."
Asked if voters know enough about Senator Obama, Bush replied: "I certainly don't know what he believes in.
"The only foreign policy thing I remember he said was that he's going to attack Pakistan," the US leader said.
For its part, Obama's campaign responded sharply Sunday to the president's broadside.
"Of course President Bush would attack the one candidate in this race who opposed his disastrous war in Iraq from the start," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement.
"Barack Obama doesn't need any foreign policy advice from the architect of the worst foreign policy decision in a generation," he said.
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