Was it this one?
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.
Yep. And the MSM has already jumped on this like flys on you-know-what. ABC radio news played up this angle and made it look like Bush was playing dirty while Kerry was taking the high road. Bastards, all of them (except maybe Brit, Mort, and Fred).
I wonder if McCain ever envisioned being dragged into the political swamp he helped to create with his CFR nonsense.
Sharp observation!
I have already sent it, I'm not sure if it will help but I hope it does.
And thanks
Is everyone aware that Kerry only went into the Navy after his request for a one-year draft deferment was turned down? Who is Kerry kidding? Yes, he did "volunteer"for the Navy. But does he think that we think he would have done that without the "incentive" known as the draft? Puleeeeeeeze!
That's what you get with two lawyers who follow the teachings of the Clinton School of Law.
The big deal here is that the "paper of record" is finally addressing the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth for the first time on its news pages IIRC, albeit deeply buried. Brooks or Safire may have mentioned them in an OpEd column.
Good Going Swifties!!!!!!!!!
A lot of us volunteered rather than be drafted, including myself. I knew that when I finished college, my student deferment would be gone and it was much better to make your own choices instead of letting the draft board make them for you. So I don't fault Kerry for that. It's what came later that has me so determined to help get the truth out.
I understand. But is it not true that most of the DemSocLibComs think he valiantly volunteered to protect his country? At least that is the impression Scary Kerry gives.
This line cracked me up. As if the gang at MoveOn were restrained and judicious until the perfidious Swift Boat ad went on the air and made them mad.
This is a set-up. LOL! So damned transparent. And this reporter is aiding and abetting it.
http://www.cnsnews.com/Politics/archive/200402/POL20040204b.html
Sen. John F. Kerry, a decorated Vietnam War veteran, Tuesday "defended" President Bush's choice to serve in the National Guard -- but then, in the same breath, Kerry appeared to equate National Guard service with draft-dodging.
http://www.nationalreview.com/york/york200402180840.asp
Men like Campenni and Harmon were deeply offended when Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry equated Guard service during the Vietnam War with fleeing the country or going to jail.
http://www.poe-news.com/stories.php?poeurlid=34455
John Kerry, a decorated Navy veteran criticized by Republicans for his anti-war activities during the Vietnam era, lashed out at President Bush on Monday for failing to prove whether he fulfilled his commitment to the National Guard during the same period.
"If George Bush wants to ask me questions about that through his surrogates, he owes America an explanation about whether or not he showed up for duty in the National Guard. Prove it. That's what we ought to have," Kerry told NBC News in an interview. "I'm not going to stand around and let them play games."
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0427-01.htm
"This is a controversy that the Republicans are pushing," Mr. Kerry said on "Good Morning America" on ABC. "The Republicans have spent $60 million in the last few weeks trying to attack me, and 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. I'm not going to stand for it."
JUST BECAUSE I found this comment funny
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/2/4/112807.shtml
"I'm here personally to express my anger, as a veteran," Kerry told National Public Radio two months before the 1992 election, "that a president who would stand before this nation in his inaugural address and promise to put Vietnam behind us is now breaking yet another promise and trying to use Vietnam and service in order to get himself re-elected."
"That is not an act of leadership, that is an act of shame and cowardice," the Massachusetts Democrat railed
Bush should simply urge Kerry to release his military records as he has done in order to make sure the official version is out in the open.
This would keep Bush in a position above the ad fray while forcing the media to deal with the Kerry's military record / swift boat situation, if only by reporting Bush's statement for the sake of their own clucking about it. They would amplify Kerry's problem in their zeal to nail Bush. They believe the worst about Bush in the national guard so they will dig at it like hungry pigs.
I think this move shows that Kerry is bleeding from the swift boat issue, and Bush ought to recognize the weakness and twist the knife.
Kerry's involvement seems to add credence to the Swiftboat ad claims, the damage they are causing and Kerry's urgent need to end the Swiftboat matter NOW.
BINGO! BZ to the both of you.
I think McCain is feeling dizzy. After years of probably hating Kerry's guts, McCain decided to put it behind him. They became supposedly good friends. Now McCain's tarbaby CFR is worse than useless.
Was it this one?
LOL, coughing, thanks for the links!
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