President Bush arrived in New York last night and immediately was embraced by the firefighter heroes of 9/11 – as he got ready to accept the Republican nomination at Madison Square Garden tonight in a speech that will evoke that searing day.
Firefighters chanted, “Four more years!” as Bush and his wife Laura arrived at a Queens community center to accept the endorsement of the Uniformed Firefighters Association of Greater New York, which broke with its parent AFL-CIO union to back him.
The endorsement has special meaning to Bush because of his trip to Ground Zero three days after the terror attacks.
“The truth of the matter is, the inspiration I received from the firefighters on that site is something I’ll never forget,” he said last night.
His eyes got misty as he stood with the Big Apple heroes, clutching a black fire helmet that proclaimed: “Commander in Chief.”
“To see the courage and compassion and decency of our fellow Americans during an incredible time of stress has shaped my thinking about the future of this country,” he said.
The FDNY lost 343 firefighters on 9/11 as they led thousands to safety from the collapsing towers, and the Bravest came to symbolize the city’s gritty courage in the face of unimaginable tragedy.
“The reason we’re supporting President Bush is leadership,” said firefighters union chief Steve Cassidy.
“Post-9/11, we needed someone who had the courage and integrity to do what was right for this country. The president said he would take the fight to the terrorists, and he has done that.”
Bush and the firefighters were sharing pizza and sodas at the Italian Charities community center in Elmhurst.
“He was walking around and shaking everybody’s hand. He thanked us for what we do,” said firefighter John Debo, adding many of the Bravest became Bush fans when he came to Ground Zero.
“He supported us then and he supports us now. We’re glad to support him.”
Video of the president with New York’s Bravest was flashed live to delegates at the Garden.
Mayor Bloomberg, embroiled in a bitter contract dispute with the firefighters union, wasn’t on hand, saying he didn’t have time. But Gov. Pataki was there.
“I can’t be at every place the president goes,” Hizzoner said, adding that he’ll be at the Garden tonight for Bush’s big speech.
Many convention speakers have evoked the image of the president standing with his arm around a retired firefighter atop the rubble – an image Bush often uses on the stump as he did yesterday in Columbus, Ohio.
The president starts his big day today at a prayer service at the Church of Our Saviour in Midtown with Rudy Giuliani, then tours the Garden after noon. He flies to Wilkes-Barre, Pa., right after his speech to get ready for an early rally in Scranton.
The firefighters union did not make an endorsement in 2000.
Democrat John Kerry has been endorsed by the union representing the city’s 2,900 fire lieutenants, captains and other officers. He also has the nod of the International Association of Firefighters, which represents more than 250,000.
“George Bush likes to talk about supporting firefighters, but his policies haven’t done that,” said IAFF spokesman Jeff Zack.
But the fact that the firefighters most closely linked to 9/11 chose to go with Bush make it much harder for Kerry to argue that the president has turned his back on first responders.
Amid rumors that the president would drop by a neighborhood firehouse, several hundred Elmhurst residents waited nearby, outside Ladder 136/Engine 287 – but the president’s 37-car motorcade took a different route to Manhattan.
Earlier yesterday, the president got a rip-roaring sendoff from Ohio as he road-tested tonight’s big speech by portraying himself as a steady rudder in a time of change.
Additional reporting by Gersh Kuntzman, Tatiana Deligiannakis