Posted on 08/17/2004 7:59:52 PM PDT by neverdem
ADVERTISING
Senator John Kerry denounced an advertisement by the liberal group MoveOn.org questioning President Bush's Vietnam-era service in the Air National Guard yesterday, a move likely to raise pressure on President Bush to condemn a recent commercial accusing Mr. Kerry of lying about his war record.
The new MoveOn advertisement, running in three states, accuses Mr. Bush of using family connections to get into the Air National Guard to escape combat in Vietnam and revisits accusations that he did not adequately meet his service requirements - charges that he denies.
Mr. Kerry's statement came hours after surrogates for his presidential campaign made similar accusations and was prompted by a plea from Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, a friend of Mr. Kerry and a fellow combat veteran in Vietnam.
Earlier this month, Mr. McCain similarly called on Mr. Bush to denounce the advertisement criticizing Mr. Kerry, by a group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. That spot, in which fellow Vietnam War veterans said Mr. Kerry lied about the incidents for which he won his combat medals, stopped running last week but the group says it plans to run another one soon.
The Bush campaign has declined to denounce the Swift boat advertisement, saying it had nothing to do with the spot.
That decision created an opening for MoveOn, whose spot ends with a quotation from Mr. McCain about the Swift boat commercial earlier this month: "I think the Bush campaign should specifically condemn the ad."
In an interview with The Associated Press yesterday, Mr. McCain said Mr. Kerry should condemn the MoveOn spot because it's "the same line of scurrilous attack" leveled against Mr. Kerry by the Swift boat veterans.
Shortly afterwards, Mr. Kerry's campaign released his statement: "I agree with Senator McCain that the ad is inappropriate. This should be a campaign of issues, not insults."
Yesterday, Mr. Bush's campaign again refused to repudiate the Swift boat advertisement. Democrats say that spot was largely paid for by Bob J. Perry, a Texas homebuilder with longstanding ties to Mr. Bush's top political aide, Karl Rove. Mr. Perry has donated $200,000, the group said.
The Bush campaign and the group say they have had no contact and are not working in coordination, which would be a violation of campaign finance rules.
"The campaign has not questioned and will not question John Kerry's service in Vietnam," said Steve Schmidt, a campaign spokesman. "The president made clear on national television that he honors John Kerry's service in Vietnam."
Mr. Schmidt painted Mr. Kerry's repudiation of the spots as disingenuous, given that at a campaign-sponsored news conference earlier in the day Gen. Wesley K. Clark, who competed against Mr. Kerry in the Democratic primaries earlier this year, and Adm. Stansfield Turner, the director of central intelligence for President Jimmy Carter, echoed MoveOn's accusations that Mr. Bush used family connections to avoid combat.
"Kerry's condemnation reeks of hypocrisy given the fact that his campaign surrogates are on the attack echoing the same baseless charges," Mr. Schmidt said.
Echoing a line that the Swift boat veterans have used, Mr. Kerry's campaign said General Clark and Admiral Turner had earned the right to speak their minds.
"With their service, they've more than earned the right to speak out," Mr. Clanton said. "We're still waiting for the president to condemn the smear campaign against John Kerry's military service."
As of last night, it did not seem as if Mr. Kerry's condemnation of the Moveon advertisement would have any effect on the group's plans.
Eli Pariser, the head of the Moveon political action committee responsible for the spot, said of Mr. Kerry, "We feel he's entitled to his opinion."
But Mr. Pariser said he did not believe that the Moveon spot and Swift boat veterans' one were in the same league.
The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth has provided affidavits for the men making claims against Mr. Kerry in its first and last advertisement. But while some of the men served near Mr. Kerry's Swift boat, none in the advertisement served on it.
That's a beaut!
The SBVs ad and the book "Unfit For Command" is doing John Kerry in. GW Bush should just stay where he is on this, simply condemning all 527 ads. The Kerry campaign is screwing up big time by letting that insane maniac, Wesley Clark act as the Kerry surrogate. Actually, I like all this fuss! It only serves to highlight the phony traitor John Kerry really is. Bush should continue to take the high ground and stay out of the fray. The more the book sells, the more panic stricken the Democrat Party will become. I suspect Kerry's internal polling is not looking good.
You are right on! We must do all possible to get that book out in as wide a distribution as possible. If the book hits number one on the New York Times bestseller list, it will be hard to ignore it in the MSM.
That resoundingly confirms George Bush's qualification to be President.
What does John Kerry's military record show? Let those records show how qualified he is for the job.
I was furious last night watching Susan Estrich try to explain why the move on ad was ok and the swiftboat ad wasn't. Obviously she is clueless that Soros is behind all this, and since he has donated money to the Kerry camp, he is just as culpaple as O'Nell, since they believe O'Neill is doing something illegal.
The difference between the two is that the Moveon ad is slander and lies.
At least are smear ads have truth on their side.
are should be our
Wait a minute! Didn't Kerry already attempt to discredit Bush's ANG record a while back? And if so, does anyone know exactly what he said?
Hmmmmm....Lets see....A new survey shows that SBVFT ad is killing Kerry with Indys, and Undes and NOw Moveon puts out a similar ad on Bush, and Kerry needing to sieze the moral high ground condemns it....
No Coordination there....NOthing to see here, lets all move along.....
How many think this ad was created just so it could be denounced by Kerry. "See, Kerry denounced this ad, why won't Bush denounce the SBVets."
From the article:
The Bush campaign has declined to denounce the Swift boat advertisement, saying it had nothing to do with the spot.
That decision created an opening for MoveOn, whose spot ends with a quotation from Mr. McCain about the Swift boat commercial earlier this month: "I think the Bush campaign should specifically condemn the ad."
I think McCain should keep his MOUTH SHUT! He should know these jerks will use them against Bush!
John McCain Exposed! Photographed in his Natural Habitat!
Yep. It was part of a widespread counteroffensive yesterday against the Swift Boat vets - a very, very elaborate and broad attack. A columnist in the Boston Globe. Both Philly papers, one with an editorial regurgitating all the Dem talking points, and the other just so happens to make it the subject of an ongoing Red State Blue State exchange that day. The KC Star.
Normally the Dems just resort to slight editorial rewrites of their talking points. The fact that they put together such an orchestrated plan and attacked on so many fronts with so many varied methods means they are VERY scared of the Swifties.
FLIP "Those of us who were in the military wonder how it is that someone who is supposedly serving on active duty...can miss a whole year of service without even explaining where it went," said [Senator John] Kerry.
FLOP: In an interview with The Associated Press yesterday, Mr. McCain said Mr. Kerry should condemn the MoveOn spot because it's "the same line of scurrilous attack" leveled against Mr. Kerry by the Swift boat veterans. FLOP
From the article:
Yesterday, Mr. Bush's campaign again refused to repudiate the Swift boat advertisement. Democrats say that spot was largely paid for by Bob J. Perry, a Texas homebuilder with longstanding ties to Mr. Bush's top political aide, Karl Rove. Mr. Perry has donated $200,000, the group said.
The Bush campaign and the group say they have had no contact and are not working in coordination, which would be a violation of campaign finance rules.
Yesterday on Rush's show, a Texas woman called up and brought up a VERY VALID point. She said that folks need to be aware that TEXAS IS PART OF THE UNITED STATES. The guy in Texas is an AMERICAN, UNLIKE GEORGE SOROS, who has contributed HUGE SUMS to MoveOn.org ($$$$ MILLIONS!!) - MUCH MORE than Perry has contributed ($200,000).
The Soros ThreatThe Capitalist Threat
(1997 article by Soros)SOROS SNACKING ON SIDE DISHES
(Soros the Adulterer)FR Search for Keyword George Soros
"This comes from a president and a Republican Party that can't even answer whether or not he showed up for duty in the National Guard," a seething Kerry told "Good Morning America's" Charlie Gibson.
"This comes from a president who can't even show or prove that he showed up for duty in the National Guard. And I'm not going to stand for it.
"George Bush has yet to explain to America whether or not - and tell the truth about whether he showed up for duty. I'm not going to get attacked on something that I did that is a matter of record."
Clarify: MUCH MORE than Perry has contributed TO THE SWIFT BOATS ($200,000).
Please see post #116.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
