JONES DENOUNCES PELOSI COMMENTS.

Byline: Nicholas Grudin Staff Writer

VALENCIA - Bill Jones, Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate, used a portion of a Friday campaign stop at the Valencia Country Club to denounce House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi for critical comments she made about President George W. Bush.

Speaking at the Santa Clarita Valley chapter of the Los Angeles County Lincoln Club, a Republican organization, Jones argued that Pelosi's recent attack on the president could endanger American troops abroad.

``I thought (Pelosi's) comments were totally out of line,'' Jones said. ``You have to be cautious and understand that many who listen to these comments are our enemies.''

Pelosi said Thursday that the president has displayed ``an incompetence in terms of knowledge, judgment and experience in making decisions in the world that would have been necessary to truly accomplish the mission without deaths to our troops and the cost to our taxpayers.

``I think the time has come to speak very frankly about the lack of leadership in the White House, the lack of judgment. People say that the president has great resolve, and they admire that. But resolve must be accompanied by judgment and with a plan to succeed. In the case of Iraq, it was not.''

Jones likened Pelosi's statement to similar comments made by former Vice President Al Gore and Sen. Edward Kennedy, who have harshly criticized Bush for his approach to the war in Iraq and the prison abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib.

But Jones said that politicians should hold their tongues during times of international conflict.

``This is a unique situation. We are at war,'' Jones said. ``We need to be cautious about what we say.''

Jones, California's former secretary of state, is running for U.S. Senate against the popular Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer, who has held the seat for two terms.

According to Jones, the election of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has changed the political landscape in the state enough to make his bid for the Senate a competitive race in the heavily Democratic state.

``When I flew with the president the other day, I told him I was clearly in a position to win this Senate race,'' Jones said. ``If we do this well, then ... California will have the opportunity to have a partnership with Washington.''

Santa Clarita Mayor Cameron Smyth ate lunch with Jones, and after the candidate's speech Smyth said he was hopeful for a Republican victory this November.

``Although Boxer will try to paint him as an extremist, his record clearly does not reflect that,'' Smyth said.

Nicholas Grudin, [phone]

nicholas.grudin(at)dailynews.com

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Senate candidate Bill Jones, former California secretary of state, spoke Friday to the Santa Clarita chapter of the Los Angeles County Lincoln Club. Jones lashed out against recent criticism of President Bush by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

David Crane/Staff Photographer