A Vote Against Bush Is A Vote For Osama

GOP congressman sticks with that remark but trys to deny his statement that a vote for Kerry is like a vote for Hitler.

"What do you think Hitler would have thought if Roosevelt would've lost the election in 1944? He would have thought American resolve was" (weakening), Cole said, according to a spokeswoman.

After local news reports paraphrased Cole as claiming a vote against Bush is a vote for Hitler, some Democrats demanded he apologize.

"What I am saying is that in a time of war, if our commander in chief is defeated in an election, our adversary will regard that as a triumph," Cole told CNN in an interview Thursday.

Oklahoma Republican Rep. Tom Cole said Thursday he did not intend to equate a vote against President Bush to a vote for Adolf Hitler, but stuck by recent comments that a Bush loss would be a win for Osama bin Laden.

California Rep. Robert Matsui, chairman of the Democrats' House campaign committee, compared Cole's comments to Bush's new campaign commercials that use images from the terrorist attacks.

"The Republican Party's continuing attempt to politicize the 9/11 tragedy is an insult to the victims' families and our entire nation," Matsui said in a statement.