Kerry Hits Back at White House, Defends Patriotism

Yahoo! News ^ | 4/16/04 | John Whitesides - Reuters

[NormsRevenge]

PITTSBURGH (Reuters) -

Democratic presidential challenger John Kerry (news - web sites), lashing out at the White House's "twisted sense of ethics and morality," accused Republicans on Friday of distorting his record and attacking his patriotism.

Kerry, at an outdoor rally on the University of Pittsburgh campus, used an American flag and the national anthem to fire back at Republicans who charge he is weak on defense for voting against some weapons systems and an $87 billion bill to pay for operations in Iraq (news - web sites) and Afghanistan (news - web sites).

Kerry, a decorated Vietnam War veteran, pointed out Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) and political adviser Karl Rove did not serve in the military.

"I'm tired of Karl Rove and Dick Cheney and a bunch of people who went out of their way to avoid their chance to serve when they had the chance," the Massachusetts senator said. "I'm not going to listen to them talk to me about patriotism."

"I've seen how these people in the White House today, in their twisted sense of ethics and morality, don't think twice about challenging John McCain and what happened to him as a prisoner of war," he said in reference to attacks by President Bush (news - web sites) in 2000 on his Republican primary rival McCain, an Arizona senator.

Kerry, who has tried to make his military experience a centerpiece of his campaign, is in a tight battle with Bush for the White House more than seven months before the November election.

Steve Schmidt, a Bush campaign spokesman, said Kerry's judgment in his voting record on defense and security was in question, not his patriotism.

"The fundamental difference in this election will be between President Bush's steady leadership in the war on terror and John Kerry's consistent political opportunism on the war on terror," Schmidt said.

Kerry has come under heavy attack from Bush and Republicans, who have launched tens of millions of dollars of advertising trying to paint him as a waffling, traditional tax-and-spend Democrat.

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"They don't think twice about trying to pretend to America that I somehow don't care about the defense of our nation," Kerry said, paraphrasing wording in the Star Spangled Banner including reference to "political bombs" bursting in the air.

"When I look up, that flag is still there and it belongs to all Americans," he said, pointing to a flag near the stage. "Not to them, not to a party. It belongs to us."

Kerry told the crowd of more than 5,000 that "asking questions about the direction of our country is patriotism."

The Bush campaign said on Thursday that it is cutting back its advertising by two-thirds, which Kerry said was designed to "distort" his record. Kerry told reporters he believed he had withstood the early Republican charge.

"They're out 50 million bucks and they got nothing for it," Kerry told reporters on his campaign plane on Thursday night.

The rally in Pittsburgh, which featured a performance by rocker Jon Bon Jovi, concluded a week-long tour of college campuses where Kerry plugged his programs to make college more affordable.

He appeared in Pittsburgh on the same day the powerful pro-gun lobby, the National Rifle Association, opened its annual convention in town. More than 50,000 gun-lovers packed the downtown convention center to sample what organizers billed as "Four Acres of Guns and Gear."

Cheney will make the keynote speech at the convention on Saturday, but Kerry did not mention the gun issue during his appearance.

The NRA has not made an endorsement yet but is certain to back Bush in November over Kerry, who supports the federal ban on assault weapons and a waiting period and background checks for the purchase of handguns.

[NormsRevenge]

[NormsRevenge]

[Prime Choice]

Those Kerry counter-attacks are soooo amusing!

[Right_in_Virginia]

John Kerry ... accused Republicans on Friday of distorting his record and attacking his patriotism.

Oh for heaven's sake...is he back on this nonsense?

What a waste of oxygen.

[commish]

WOW! Kerry served in Vietnam? You would think he would like trumpet that fact or something! I had no idea!

Does he know anything other than "how dare you attack my patriotism" as an answer to ANYTHING?

[LurkedLongEnough]

"Kerry, at an outdoor rally on the University of Pittsburgh campus, used an American flag and the national anthem..."

The article neglects to mention that he used the French national anthem... </sarcasm>

[governsleastgovernsbest]

John Kerry accused Republicans on Friday of distorting his record and attacking his patriotism.

There's only one thing Kerry failed to do. Give one example - one! - of an instance in which Republicans had attacked his patriotism.

[gramcam]

"When I look up, that flag is still there and it belongs to all Americans," he said, pointing to a flag near the stage. "Not to them, not to a party. It belongs to us."

Oh....I'm assuming the flag wasn't upside down this time, huh?

Grandma from Michigan

[what's up]

Did Kerry spend more than a day in the hospital for the purple hearts he received?

Should the Military be giving purple hearts to those who don't really get injured?

[BushisTheMan]

Kerry, a decorated Vietnam War veteran...

Please someone, can you do a picture of Kerry with three shaving cuts on his face...maybe a purple heart band-aid on the cuts?

He is making a mockery of people who honestly deserve purple hearts for wounds and courage. That's why I can't stand the guy.

[dead]

"I'm tired of Karl Rove and Dick Cheney and a bunch of people who went out of their way to avoid their chance to serve when they had the chance,"

Did anybody on earth ever hear Rove or Cheney question this dickbag's patriotism?

I swear, this loser is debating the voices in his own horse head.

[colorado tanker]

Excellent. Instead of playing offense, Kerry is playing defense, denying that he's not patriotic, thereby planting the seed that since he has to deny the charge, maybe there's something to it. Yep, the old Dukakis machinery is working just fine.

[dead]

[alloysteel]

"Patriotism" is not the same thing as "being a patriot". There is a clear, but subtle difference. One may go through the MOTIONS of being a patriot, yet feel not the least stirring in his heart. Down deep, where nobody on the outside may discern the cold lifeless loathing that is at the core of being, all the rituals may be acted out, and while this fine acting performance is going on, the plans for dismantling what is considered to be the whole sham are being rehearsed and honed.

But true patriotic emotion comes from the inside, a genuine love and affection for those abstract principles that define the intangible "home", and an intense desire to protect and defend in every way, even by life itself, the ideals that have surrounded your existence, your home, your family, the set of eccentricities that define your ethnicity, and the larger piece of real estate that you have chosen as your country. This realm is not only a place on the map, it is a state of mind.

[Reagan Man]

I see John Kerry is still lying and making an ass of himself. No one in the Bush administration or reelection campaign is questioning his patriotism.

More librat desperation on Kerry's part.

[Vermont Lt]

Do ya'll get the sense that most of the folks in Bush's campaign are standing in front of their TVs scratching their heads.....and saying "huh?"

Who questioned this guys patriotism? I havent hear it?

[Vermont Lt]

Do ya'll get the sense that most of the folks in Bush's campaign are standing in front of their TVs scratching their heads.....and saying "huh?"

Who questioned this guy's patriotism? I havent heard it?

[maxwellp]

Be careful. The liberal flip-flopper is trying to move center.

[raynearhood]

"Did Kerry spend more than a day in the hospital for the purple hearts he received?

Should the Military be giving purple hearts to those who don't really get injured?"

The answer to your first question is, it doesn't matter.

The answer to your second question is, the military only awards Purple Hearts for injuries incurred as a result of enemy contact. No matter the extent of the injury.

A friend of mine, while in Iraq, was involved in an ambush of the convoy he was in. No one was killed, he was the only one injured. His injury was a broken nose caused by the steering wheel of his Humvee. A mortar destroyed the rear axle of his truck, running him of the road into a ditch. He received, and rightly deserved, a Purple Heart.

I also know that alot of Purple Hearts awarded during WWII were for relatively minor injuries incurred during combat.

Attacking Kerry's awards is pointless. Most likely he deserved them. Just because he is a liberal doesn't mean that he didn't serve bravely in Vietnam. His actions since have been liberal enough, or detestable enough, to draw criticism.

Leave his military record alone, it always ends up making us look stupid.