Whether he meant to or not, President Bush, in his comments Thursday opposing diplomacy with despots, unleashed a torrent of GOP ire as prominent Republicans took the opportunity to pile on Barack Obama -- treating Hillary Clinton as all but an afterthought.

The two-day food fight over foreign policy could be a preview of things to come, as Obama moves closer to wrapping up the Democratic nomination. Presumptive GOP nominee John McCain is already preparing for a general election fight against the Illinois senator, and their differences on diplomacy seemed to serve as a potent rallying cry for both Democrats and Republicans.

After Obama blasted both McCain and Bush on Friday for a failed go-it-alone policy in the Middle East, Republicans ripped Obama for his willingness to meet with nations like Iran without preconditions. The intense focus on national security was reminiscent of the 2004 presidential race between Bush and then-Democratic nominee John Kerry.

"You know, it would be a wonderful thing if we lived in a world where we don't have enemies but that's not the world we live in. And until Senator Obama understands that reality, the American people have every reason to doubt whether he has the strength and judgment and determination to keep us safe," McCain said, calling Obama's foreign policy "reckless."

Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton said he thought Bush "hit the nail on the head yesterday in Jerusalem. And today, the nails started to complain. It's not just naïve. It's dangerous for our country."

The Republicans were all speaking at a National Rifle Association meeting in Louisville, Ky., which served as a staging point for the cross-party battle.

Bush touched off the firestorm with his address to the Israel Knesset on Thursday, when, without mentioning Obama by name, he criticized politicians who would negotiate with terrorists and radicals. He called such positions a "foolish delusion" and the "false comfort of appeasement."

Obama and other Democrats took it as an affront to him, and immediately lashed out at Bush and McCain. Obama said Friday that kind of comment is "exactly the kind of appalling attack that's dividing our country and that alienates us from the world."

Arguing that McCain and Bush have no room to talk when it comes to foreign policy, Obama said he would not directly engage terrorist groups like Hamas but defended his proposed policies of holding direct talks with sponsors of terrorism like Iran.

As Republicans lined up at the NRA meeting to slam both Clinton and Obama for what they described as their lax defense of the Second Amendment, they weaved in several responses to Obama's diplomatic positions.

Former GOP candidate Mitt Romney said if Barack Obama were to meet with "some of the world's worst actors" as president, it would "bestow upon them the dignity of the office of the president of the United States, giving them a propaganda bonanza."

The Republicans also used the meeting to skewer Obama as an elitist politician who would curb the gun rights of ordinary Americans.

"Barack Obama may believe there is an individual right to bear arms in the Constitution. He would simply like to make it impossible for you to exercise that right," former Bush adviser Karl Rove said.

McCain said that if either Democratic candidate is elected, "the rights of law-abiding gun owners will be at risk."

Obama, who has supported tough gun restrictions, said Americans who use their guns legally to hunt or protect their families have nothing to worry about if he is president.

"They have got the same play book every election and guns is going to be one of those issues," Obama said of his Republican critics. "And I understand that it has been effective for them in the past."

But if the two-day furor over Bush's remarks in Israel were any gauge, gun control likely won't hold a candle to foreign policy as an issue that can galvanize Republicans against the Democratic nominee, and vice versa.

One Obama aide told FOX News the campaign would have had to spend millions in ad money to accomplish what the campaign believes it achieved in the past 36 hours -- linking McCain to Bush on foreign policy, and portraying the Arizona senator as the next incarnation of a Bush presidency.

FOX News' Major Garrett and Carl Cameron contributed to this report.