Gov. Linda Lingle yesterday praised President Bush's remarks in Israel last week that warned against the "false comfort of appeasement" with terrorists or political radicals.

Bush's comments to the Knesset in a speech marking Israel's 60th anniversary were not specifically aimed at any Democratic candidate for president, according to the White House. But his words prompted a response from U.S. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, who has spoken of outreach with Iran and Syria.

The Hawai'i-born Obama called Bush's comments a "false political attack."

Lingle, who is Jewish and was in Israel last week for a global leadership conference, told Republican delegates to the state GOP convention in Waikiki that Democrats were in an uproar because the president "hit the nail on the head."

Noting that some Democrats were offended by Bush's reference to a U.S. senator who wondered whether he should have spoken to Adolf Hitler before Germany invaded Poland in 1939, Lingle said:

"I say if the shoe fits, wear it."

The Republican governor rarely talks about Bush or national politics in her public appearances locally and her criticism was unusually disparaging.

Andy Winer, who is active with the local Obama campaign, said he was surprised.

"Linda Lingle has clearly demonstrated that she has little grasp of foreign policy," Winer said. "It is astonishing to hear her simply miming the failed policies of George Bush and John McCain.

"As emphasized by Sen. Obama, the Bush-McCain foreign policy approach has resulted in an unnecessary war in Iraq, a failure to properly address the security threats raised by al-Qaida, and increased destabilization of the Middle East," he said.

Lingle also told Republicans that she would campaign with McCain, the U.S. senator from Arizona and presumptive Republican presidential nominee, on the Mainland in late summer and fall.

Lingle, referring to Obama, said he has campaigned as someone who can bring people together but is really one of the most partisan in the Senate. She said it is McCain who has worked across party lines, citing his role in a bipartisan group of senators to break a deadlock on Bush's judicial appointments.

Lingle also contrasted McCain's defense of free-trade agreements while appearing in industrial states such as Michigan, which likely cost him votes among blue-collar workers who have lost their jobs to foreign competition, while the Democratic candidates were critical of the pacts.

"Being true to his beliefs and to the country is more important to him than winning any election," the governor said. "And that's the kind of leader you want, where values mean more than winning elections."