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.
She asked why is Kerry doing this, I told her it is because we donated $100 to the Swifties.
Big Deal. Did Kerry denounce Michael Moore's movie? Looney Toons Kerry is stepping up to the plate now 'cause the "swift boat" folks are taken 'em down.
OMG! Even more?
It doesn't matter what Bush says; the Swifties have already said they aren't going to stop.
Any real journalist would now take the opening the Dum-butts have created and run with it...
"Mr. Kerry, do you also denounce all the other MoveOn.org ads which have been proven to be built on several falsehoods?""Mr. Kerry, do you denounce the foreign funding of MoveOn.org by George Soros in an attempt to influence a United States presidential election?"
This move reminds me of a nerd in high school taking the fall for a prank played by the toughest guy in class. He never mentions it, but it's like he's always looking for the tough guy to give some payback.
But the tough guy just thinks he's an even bigger nerd, and will slap the nerd's books out of his hands, and everyone will laugh at the nerd.
"But, W...*I* said those mean ads about you shouldn't have been put on....don't you want to, you know, do the same...?"
Pressure from whom, the NYT and the rest of the liberal media who are ignoring the SBVFT story? Kerry wants Bush to call off the dogs, but it won't happen. They have a different master--the Truth.
President Bush should thank John Kerry and say that the moveon.org adds false accusations have all been investigated and have no foundation in fact.
Then he should say the Swiftboat Vets aren't Republicans but Kerry's fellow servicemen who have a personal problem with John Kerry, and anyway Kerry can do what President Bush did to disprove those false charges and sign a DD SF 180 and release all his service records.
Kerry is BowelMovementonAmerica.org's #1 fan.
And to top it off the Dems keep calling it salt.
Oops, just saw the list. Hope I didn't break any laws.
BUMP....Please send your excellent post #48 to the WH & RNC.
Head of Kerry's Vietnam Vets Against the War was Vietnam Vet phony
"Many of the stories were later shown to be fictional. Other so-called Vietnam veterans, such as the executive secretary of VVAW, Al Hubbard, a self-styled poet ("See what you've become, Amerika," ends one of his Vietnam odes), turned out to have no record of service in Vietnam."
http://www.washingtontimes.com/commentary/20040313-103742-2364r.htm
"...At the time, Kerry was serving as the point man for the Vietnam Veterans Against the War.
The president of the organization was Al Hubbard, who claimed to be an Air Force captain
who was severely injured during his service in Vietnam.
It turned out Hubbard was a sergeant who never served in Vietnam..."
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=39982
Bingo. This is a trap.
Exactly!
Just like the report indicated, the dems are trying to get Bush to condem the anti-kerry ads. Only problem is that Bush's service is real without any wild claims, and he doesn't showcase it. On the other hand, kerry made his 4 months in country in vietnam the centerpiece of his campaign, which has been critically denounced by the swiftboat vets for truth.
Okay. This sucks.
Kerry reserves special seating at the convention for the hollyweird liars like Moore and hires MoveOn flunkies for his campaign.
John Kerry needs help getting ALL of his military records.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1188078/posts
Kerry's VVAW blocked Commandant of the Marine Corps investiagtion of Winter Soldier
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1193326/posts
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