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At the fund-raiser, Kerry defended his anti-war activism as "an act of conscience." "You can judge my character, incidentally, by that," Kerry said. "Because when the time for moral crisis existed in this country, I wasn't taking care of myself, I was taking care of public policy. I was taking care of things that made a difference to the life of this nation. You may not have agreed with me, but I stood up and was counted and that's the kind of president I'm going to be."

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Democrat John Kerry (website - news - bio) defended his Vietnam War record Tuesday night from accusations that he didn't deserve his medals and invited voters to judge his 1970s anti-war activism as an indication of the "kind of president I'm going to be." Kerry, speaking at a fund-raiser that the campaign said raised $1.7 million for the Democratic Party, said criticism of his decorated service in Vietnam has "become so petty it's almost pathetic in a way." Kerry has been reaching out to fellow soldiers for help battling the fallout from a group of veterans who...

August 23, 2004 -- Democrat John Kerry's first TV ad defending himself against attacks from fellow Vietnam vets wasn't very effective, an independent nonpartisan advertising study has found. But it also found that a second TV ad by the anti-Kerry veterans — which blasts him for portraying fellow Vietnam vets as war criminals — wasn't as effective in zapping Kerry as the first ad, which challenges his image as a war hero.

The Kerry response to the Swift Vets for the Truth is that these charges area a baseless smear on Kerry. Kerry's handlers are going into WJClinton defense mode: Regardless of the accuracy of the charges, divert attention from them by attacking the accusers. That defense did not prevent Clinton from being Impeached, but it did keep him from being removed from office. I do not think this tactic can relied on in this case since the standard that needs to be met is a bit higher. Kerry is running for the approval of the American people, not the Senate.

As President Bush (search) stays in the background relaxing at his Texas ranch, the debate over claims by members of a veterans' group opposing Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (search) continues to rage. On Sunday, the Kerry campaign released a new ad accusing the president of backing the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (search), which has released a series of spots calling into question Kerry's heroism during the Vietnam War. In the ad, the narrator claims that families are losing jobs and health care while "George Bush's campaign supports a front group attacking John Kerry's military record." The ad calls...

Deeply worried that the swift boat veterans' ads are damaging John Kerry his media pals intensified their campaign to destroy the credibility of these veterans. On August 20 the New York Times struck back for Kerry by allocating a huge amount of space to the swift boat veterans. The article will now be used by the Democrats, who basically wrote it anyway, and the rest of mainstream media to attack the swift boat veterans and their allies. Nevertheless, it should be plain to honest observers that the article was nothing but a hit job by Kate Zernike and Jim Rutenberg,...

EAST HAMPTON, New York (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry has accused his Republican critics of having launched their offensive against his Vietnam war record in a bid to sabotage what he called growing voter support for his strategy to fight the war on terror. Attending back-to-back fundraisers in ritzy beach communities outside New York City that raised $2 million for his White House bid late Saturday night, Kerry repeated his call for President George W. Bush to denounce the advertisements that seek to cast doubt on his Vietnam record. "We're at war," Kerry told supporters. "But this is...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen. John Kerry's campaign released a video Saturday comparing the controversy over Kerry's Vietnam service to attacks on John McCain during the 2000 Republican primaries.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen. John Kerry's campaign released a video Saturday comparing the controversy over Kerry's Vietnam service to attacks on John McCain during the 2000 Republican primaries. The video, sent via e-mail to supporters, says, "George Bush is up to his old tricks" and shows then-Texas Gov. Bush and Arizona Sen. John McCain at a debate in February 2000. McCain, sitting next to Bush, says that when "fringe veterans groups" attacked him at a Bush campaign function, Bush stood by and didn't say a word. McCain says a group of senators wrote Bush a letter that said: "Apologize. You...

More Republican Ties Revealed Behind "Swift Boat Vets For Bush", Says Kerry Campaign 8/20/2004 5:45:00 PM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: National Desk Contact: Chad Clanton or Phil Singer, 202-464-2800, both of Kerry-Edwards 2004 WASHINGTON, Aug. 20 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Public records reveal that two of the people in the new "Swift Boat Veterans for Bush" television ad are Republican activists, as the fact sheet below shows. This is just more proof that Bush's Republican allies are the ones behind this disgraceful smear of John Kerry's military record. It's pretty clear what's going on here. It's no wonder the Bush campaign refuses to...

WASHINGTON - Attacks on John Kerry (news - web sites)'s war record may be beginning to have an impact, polls suggest, amid raised voices and new TV ads on a subject at least temporarily dominating debate in the close presidential race. Democrats are laboring to deflect the questioning of Kerry's record with fresh ads touting his fitness for national command, even as the White House mocks the Massachusetts senator as "losing his cool" over claims he lied to win military medals in Vietnam. Kerry wasn't going to let such claims pass, spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter shot back on Friday, saying "John...

For a newspaper that has ignored the Swift Vets, New York Times, they sure put a lot of time and effort into that graphic in the last weeks. How long was it in the making while nary a peep about the Swifties was in the Times?  

8/20/2004 5:16:00 PM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: National Desk, Political Reporter Contact: Chad Clanton or Phil Singer, both of Kerry-Edwards 2004, 202-464-2800; Web: http://www.johnkerry.com WASHINGTON, Aug. 20 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Kerry-Edwards campaign spokesman Chad Clanton released the following statement today about the new Swift Boat Veterans for Bush ad: "This is another ad from a front group funded by Bush allies that is trying to smear John Kerry. The newest ad takes Kerry's testimony out of context, editing what he said to distort the facts. He testified as a 27 year-old Vietnam veteran. He opposed a war that, at that point, cost...

Kerry Aims to Counter Impact of Criticism By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent WASHINGTON - The Democratic Party launched a costly round of ads Friday to buttress John Kerry (news - web sites)'s credentials to be commander in chief as the White House accused the Massachusetts senator of "losing his cool" over attacks on his war record. "John Kerry is a fighter and he doesn't tolerate lies from others," shot back spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter. The unusual late-August maneuvering highlighted the closeness of the race for the White House and came as polls offered the first hint that the questioning of...

The Democratic Party launched a costly round of ads Friday to buttress John Kerry's credentials to be commander in chief as the White House accused the Massachusetts senator of "losing his cool" over attacks on his war record. "John Kerry is a fighter and he doesn't tolerate lies from others," shot back spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter. The unusual late-August maneuvering highlighted the closeness of the race for the White House and came as polls offered the first hint that the questioning of Kerry's medal-winning service in the Vietnam War -- allegations that he strongly condemned this week as lies -- were...

...........A CBS News poll out last night found Kerry has lost the 5-point lead he held last month, and the 2004 race is now a statistical tie with Kerry at 46 percent, Bush at 45 and Ralph Nader at 1. Kerry has lost support among independents, Catholics and, most dramatically, vets.

Damage Control for Kerry By Cliff Kincaid | June 11, 2004 Clearly, the Post wants to give the benefit of any possible doubt to Kerry. But that doesn't mean the Bush charges are false. To listen, click on the Play button Send this page to a friend Format this page for printing "From Bush, Unprecedented Negativity," was how the Post headline summed up the President's advertising campaign for re-election. In a May 31 page-one story, Post reporters Dana Milbank and Jim VandeHei said the President had engaged in an "extraordinary" assault on John Kerry with charges that are "wrong, or...

CNSNews.com) - Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean backpedaled Friday on comments he made in 2000, alleging that the caucuses are controlled by extremist groups. Dean made the comments four years ago on a Canadian television show, "The Editors," which covered U.S. and Canadian politics. "If you look at the caucuses system, they are dominated by the special interests, in both sides, in both parties. The special interests don't represent the centrist tendencies of the American people. They represent the extremes," Dean said. NBC News first reported Dean's comments about the caucuses Thursday night, after reviewing 90 of Dean's appearances on...

Howard will be speaking on his comments about the Iowa Causus. Dean is trying to do damage control..

Howard Dean's incomplete damage control.By William SaletanPosted Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2004, at 1:19 PM PT Dean Debate Scorecard, Take 2 Tuesday, in a debate with five other Democratic presidential candidates on National Public Radio, Howard Dean tried to patch up his weak spots. Here's a look at how he did.1. Anger. This has become such a popular criticism of Dean that even Dennis Kucinich used it in this debate. As in Sunday's Iowa debate, Dean mouthed the necessary clichés about "empowering" people through "hope, not anger." For any other candidate, these platitudes would be dog-bites-man. But in an election whose principal theme...