VOA标准英语2008年-Bush Raising Money for Presidential Candidate M

By Scott Stearns
White House
29 May 2008

U.S. President George Bush wraps up three days of fundraising for his Republican Party and its presumptive presidential candidate, Arizona Senator John McCain.  VOA White House Correspondent Scott Stearns reports, the McCain campaign is trying to balance the president's record-low approval ratings with his considerable fundraising ability.

This was the president's first active campaigning for the man who will lead his party's ticket in November - three events in the southwest states of Arizona and Utah and another two for Republican candidates in New Mexico and Kansas.

All were private fundraisers closed to the press.  Only once did President Bush and Senator McCain appear together in public: shaking hands at the foot of the steps to Air Force One, the presidential aircraft.

White House officials say that is because the McCain campaign keeps all its fundraisers private.  And fundraising is what the senator needs as he trails both of his Democratic rivals in campaign cash.

But private events also avoid the political gamble of a public rally with a deeply unpopular president.  It is a quandary¹ for McCain that the president joked about when endorsing² him two months ago in the Rose Garden.

"If my showing up and endorsing him helps him or if I am against him and it helps him, either way I want him to win.  Look, this is the same age-old question that every president has to answer and there is an appropriate amount of campaigning for me to do," Mr. Bush said. "But they are not going to be voting for me."

The Democratic Party's leading presidential candidate, Illinois Senator Barack Obama, says the private fundraisers show the vote is as much about the president as it is about McCain.

"He is holding a fundraiser with George Bush behind closed doors in Arizona.  No cameras.  No reporters.  And we all know why," Obama said. "Senator McCain does not want to be seen hat-in-hand with the president whose failed policies he promises to continue for another four years."

A poll by Fox News Channel this week found that just over one-third of Americans have a favorable opinion of the president. 

Although observers have frequently labeled McCain a maverick³ for not more closely supporting Bush administration policies,  Obama is focusing most on linking McCain to Iraq at a time when more than two-thirds of Americans disapprove⁴ of the president's handling of the war.

"I do not think we want to continue a misguided foreign policy and an endless war in Iraq that has cost us thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars while making us less safe and secure," Obama said. "That is the choice in this election.  On issue after issue, John McCain is offering more of the same policies that have failed for the last eight years.  That is the agenda that he and the president are raising money to support."

Obama says he will end the war in Iraq.  McCain says Obama setting a deadline for the withdrawal⁵ of U.S. troops would bring chaos⁶ and genocide.

President Bush says Americans are safer because the war is denying terrorists a base from which to launch new attacks.  Endorsing McCain, Mr. Bush said the Navy veteran understands that threat and has the courage to pursue America's enemies.

"John McCain will find out, when he takes the oath of office, his most important responsibility is to protect the American people from harm," Mr. Bush said. "And there is still an enemy that lurks⁷, an enemy that wants to strike us.  And this country better have somebody in that Oval Office who understands the stakes, and John McCain understands those stakes."

McCain says he intends to campaign as much as possible with Mr. Bush given the president's schedule. 

As for the lack of public events, White House Spokeswoman Dana Perino says Mr. Bush is not bothered in the slightest as he fully⁸ understands how presidential campaigns work.  

The question for the McCain campaign is what to do with the president at the party's convention in September when the Republican nominee⁹ will be seeking to attract both political independents and his own party's more social conservatives who still generally back Mr. Bush.

1 quandary   

n.困惑，进迟两难之境

参考例句：

• I was in a quandary about whether to go.我当时正犹豫到底去不去。
• I was put in a great quandary.我陷于进退两难的窘境。

2 endorsing   

v.赞同( endorse的现在分词 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品

参考例句：

• Yet Communist leaders are also publicly endorsing religion in an unprecedented way. 不过，共产党领导层对宗教信仰的公开认可也是以前不曾有过的。 来自互联网
• Connecticut Independent Senator Joseph Lieberman is endorsing Republican Senator John McCain. 康涅狄格州独立派参议员约瑟夫。列波曼将会票选共和议员约翰。麦凯恩。 来自互联网

3 maverick   

adj.特立独行的；不遵守传统的；n.持异议者，自行其是者

参考例句：

• He's a maverick.He has his own way of thinking about things.他是个特异独行的人。对事情有自己的看法。
• You're a maverick and you'll try anything.你是个爱自行其是的人，样样事情都要尝试一下。

4 disapprove   

v.不赞成，不同意，不批准

参考例句：

• I quite disapprove of his behaviour.我很不赞同他的行为。
• She wants to train for the theatre but her parents disapprove.她想训练自己做戏剧演员，但她的父母不赞成。

5 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

6 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

7 lurks   

n.潜在，潜伏；（lurk的复数形式）vi.潜伏，埋伏（lurk的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• Behind his cool exterior lurks a reckless and frustrated person. 在冷酷的外表背后，他是一个鲁莽又不得志的人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Good fortune lies within Bad, Bad fortune lurks within good. 福兮祸所倚，祸兮福所伏。 来自互联网

8 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

9 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。