Sentence:  His reference to ' discredited carcass ' or ' tattered remains ' of the president 's leadership is an insult to the man who led our forces to victory in the greatest war in all history , to the man who <WSD>was</WSD> twice elected overwhelmingly by the American people as president of the United States , and who has been the symbol to the world of the peace-loving intentions of the free nations . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun)