To read the latest on the Franchurian Candidate's bizzare exploits, click the picture, goto "last," and work backwards:
To bolster this baseless claim, he is once again using Vietnam POW Senator John McCain as a weapon against Bush (and McCain seems to be just fine with this, but that's another thread). In "Old Tricks," one of a flurry of new ads available on the Kerry website, a clip from the GOP Presidential Debate from February 15, 2000 is used. It was broadcast on CNN and moderated by Larry King. Present were not only then-Governor Bush and Sen. McCain, but also Alan Keyes, who was allowed to participate in this debate (he was arrested and removed from the studio where the first debate was held when he demanded to be included).
You can view Kerry's "Old Tricks" commercial by clicking here.
As the ad begins, with ominous, horror-movie music in the background, with a black screen and "George Bush...is up to his old tricks" appears in white letters.
Fade in to the debate clip, with Sen. McCain speaking slowly and somberly:
Let me tell you what really went over the line. Governor Bush had an event, and he paid of it, and standing -- and stood next to a spokesman for a fringe veterans' group. That fringe veteran said that John McCain had abandoned the veterans.Now, I don't know if you can understand this, George, but that really hurts, that really hurts.
And so five United States senators, Vietnam veterans, heroes, some of them really incredible heroes, wrote George a letter and said, Apologize, you should be ashamed...
It is at this point the video stops, and Bush, who is about to respond to the charges, is frozen with his mouth partially open. The screen goes black except for a square around Bush's awkward-looking face, and the words "America can do better" are shown in white.
Now, here you will find the actual exchange between Bush and McCain IN FULL, and IN CONTEXT. I would simply cut-and-paste it here, but CNN only will allow excerpts. Sorry.
A reading of the entire transcript reveals that McCain admits to negative ads of his own, some that he said he authorized in response to negative ads from Bush. It also shows that the "fringe veteran" that McCain refers to didn't only suggest that McCain was less than trustworthy, but also aimed barbs at former President George H.W. Bush, Dubya's father, who is also a decorated veteran (of World War II).
Bush in return takes McCain to task for not condemning former New Hampshire Sen. Warren Rudman, who apparently said something intimating that the Christian Coalition was made up of bigots. McCain's response was "he's entitled to his opinion."
BTW, FWIW -- I stand by my prediction that McCain will pull out of his speech at the Republican Convention if Bush doesn't bend over and beg forgiveness for something he's not responsible for.
From the American Spectator
| A SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP On Friday, Kerry campaign spokesman Debra Deshong was telling any reporter who would listen that there was a big difference between the negative advertisements being run by George Soros-funded MoveOn.org and Swift Boat Veterans for Truth: "MoveOn.org is an independent organization that existed well before the Kerry campaign," she said, whereas the veterans group "is not an independent group." Deshong denied that the campaign had any knowledge about MoveOn.org's financing or motives or plans in its almost $20 million attacks against President Bush. Swift Boat Veterans for Truth has spent about $800,000 on its advertising. In fact, according to a Kerry campaign volunteer, staff members and volunteers of the Kerry campaign in New York, Washington, and Los Angeles have been in almost constant contact with MoveOn.org staffers, including advanced viewing and reviews of MoveOn.org television commercials, online ads, and web content. As well, MoveOn.org staffers provided the Kerry campaign with opposition research within the past two months, as well as advance looks at speeches made by MoveOn.org speakers, including former Vice President Al Gore. "We're always running into those guys," says a Kerry campaign volunteer in Washington, about MoveOn.org staffers. "We socialize with them, we see them at meetings, we can't avoid it. And of course we talk about the campaign. In some cities, we get our volunteers from MoveOn. No one has ever raised an issue about it." In some cases, it isn't just volunteers that the Kerry campaign is getting from MoveOn.org. They are hiring them too. In April, the Kerry campaign hired MoveOn's special projects and research director Jack Exley to oversee Kerry's campaign's website. At the time, the Kerry campaign made a point of saying that Exley was joining the campaign with not a single scrap of paper or computer disk from his time with MoveOn. But Exley didn't need to bring much. According to another Kerry adviser, there were already so many back-channel relationships between the two organizations, Exley's presence to foster more was unnecessary. "As soon as it was clear Kerry had the nomination, we began coordinating. It's all done through the DNC and the AFL-CIO, which is financing many of the other groups out there running anti-Republican advertising. We will sit on conference calls, but we won't take part. We just take notes, then confer with our folks inside the DNC. That's the way it's done." |
Thanks for posting this.
MCCAIN: You should be ashamed -- you should be ashamed of sponsoring an event with that man there who had attacked your own father.
BUSH: The man was not speaking for me. If you want to know my opinion about you, John, you served our country admirably and strongly, and I'm proud of your record, just like you are.
And I don't appreciate what he said about my dad, either. But let me say something, if you're going to be -- hold me responsible for what people for me say, I'm going to do the same for you. And let me give you one example.
Warren Rudman, the man who you had as your campaign man in New Hampshire, said about the Christian Coalition that they're bigots. He talked about the Christian Coalition in a way that was incredibly strong. I know you don't believe that, do you?
MCCAIN: George, he's entitled to his opinion on that issue.
BUSH: Well, so is this man.
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GEORGE BUSH IS A CLASS ACT!!!!!!!!!!!!
good find
Howlin - You may want to ping some people to this, the true context of the Kerry ad featuring Bush v. McCain 2000
bttt
McCain himself had harsh words for Jerry Farwell, so I am not sure what Rudman said was much worse than what McCain said at the time.
He won't,but I wish McQueeg would! That would REALLY cook his goose once and for all!
McCain is on the campaign trail supporting President Bush. I wonder how he really feels about Kerry using his image for Kerry's political gain. I'll bet he doesn't like it. It makes him look like a foolish , confused man.
Anyone notice how John McCain is not demanding the Dems stop airing this ad?
Good find. Please send this to all radio talk show hosts and news media outlets.
Let's talk about honor, John McCain. You have SOLD OUT - abandoned your party and your name is being used by the decitful traitorous coward that is John Kerry. He's taking your reputation down along with him. I suggest you denounce John Kerry as quickly as possible.
Thanks, I was wondering what Bush said.
McCain-McGreevey perfectly Gay toghether!
If I see McCain's lips moving... I assume he is lying about something.
If I see McCain's lips moving while on CNN... I assume he is lying about a fellow Republican.
This method has proven reliable -- nay: virtually infallible -- for over twenty years. :)
For what it's worth, the New York Post is reporting that McCain has asked Kerry to drop the ad featuring him.
And one other thing: did you know that one of the POWs the Dems are smearing for being in the second SVFT ad was McCain's Virginia campaign co-chairman?
Nice editing in the commercial; the Kerry campaign must have hired Jabba the Hut (i.e. Michael Moore) as a consultant. I wonder how many burgers per hour Moore charges?
Confront lefties with the fact that there's no way to tie the single veteran McCain complains about to Bush personally, and that veteran attacking Bush's father rather makes it improbable, and eventually they'll claim that there's also a vicious "ad" that Bush threw against McCain. Not a campaign heckler, not a push poll, but an "ad". They never give any greater detail than that it happened in South Carolina. Exactly that happens on this thread at the Charlie Rose board:
http://boards.charlierose.com/board/topic.asp?ti=8028
Now, in the transcript, McCain informs us of the only "ad" that -he- ever found to be offensive.
MCCAIN: Well, let me tell you what happened. There was an ad run against me, we ran a counter-ad in New Hampshire, Governor Bush took the ad down. And then I was beat up very badly by all of his surrogates, called Clinton, called Clinton-lite, called every -- a hypocrite. I mean, you've seen...
KING: In New Hampshire?
MCCAIN: No, here in South Carolina. You've seen it -- turn on the radio, turn on the television, and unfortunately now pick up the telephone and you'll hear a negative attack against John McCain.
Let's all pause for a moment and appreciate the irony here: The -vicious- South Carolina "smear ad" that McCain charged Bush with, and that Democrats regularly decry as an outrage... was that he compared McCain to Bill Clinton. An incredible outrage!! A vicious smear!! How dare he smear McCain by likening him to our favorite President?!?!?
I think we can all understand why a Republican during a Republican primary would consider being called "Clinton-lite" to be a smear. But why Democrats are telling us that "Clinton-lite" is a vicious smear is absolutely beyond me. You'd think in their eyes, it would be a compliment.
Is there any real question as to -why- Democrats constantly repeat McCain's claim that he was "smeared" in an ad, without telling us the details?
I'm going to be laughing about this for a week. I couldn't make stuff like this up if I tried.
Qwinn