John Kerry was in Cambodia!
Someone save us from the never ending Outer Limits Episode : )
Posted on 08/17/2004 7:59:52 PM PDT by neverdem
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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.
Very well said Meek!
I just want to thank Arizona U.S. Senator Mr. John McPOS again for his outstanding service for America, today, in its greatest time of need.../sarcasm
He whitewashed the Vietnam POW/MIA hearings in the Senate a decade ago along with John Fing Kerry and now he's whitewashing the factual counters to the centerpiece of the lying traitorous World Communist candidate for POTUS to this day...
John Kerry was in Cambodia!
Someone save us from the never ending Outer Limits Episode : )
The always angry dems should shove it. ;-)
Hiya Light Speed.
Thanks. I thought it was a great point that the woman
made. And Rush was glad she reminded him of that, too!
Uh....Kerry doesn't have to 'jut' his chin out. It's built-in.
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