Saudis Criticize Kerry for 'Bashing' Kingdom
Saudi Arabia on Friday criticized Democratic presidential challenger Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites) for "bashing" the kingdom when he called on the United States to cut its dependence on the Middle East nation's oil.
"Saudi bashing is not an energy policy," an official with the Saudi Embassy in Washington said.
The Saudi embassy official said Saudi Arabia has been a reliable supplier of oil to the U.S. market for decades and expects to continue in that role whether or not Kerry becomes president.
"This an election year ... and unfortunately Saudi bashing in expected," he said.
Interesting!! Kerry has the potential to run to the right to hammer Bush on this issue.
He should say this election will not be dictated by Saudi royal family but by American people.
[Update: Kerry AP interview http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040730/ap_on_el_pr/kerry_interview_quote_box_1]
"Look, I'm running a positive campaign for the country, and I'll stand on my 19-year record: pages of legislation."
"They don't have a record to run on, so all they can do is attack. They're running away from their own record. ... They don't want to talk about the real problems."
"I offered the president an opportunity yesterday. I said, "Let's run a positive campaign with big ideas." The first thing out of his mouth today is negative."