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Posted on 08/23/2004 12:28:53 PM PDT by KQQL
CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - Under pressure from Democrats and Republican Sen. John McCain, President Bush on Monday called for ads attacking John Kerry's record in Vietnam to be stopped along with others run by independent groups, and said Kerry should be proud of his war service.
"That means that ad and every other ad," Bush said when asked if he wanted to bring a stop to commercials by a group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which accuse Sen. Kerry of lying about his war record in Vietnam.
Bush said Kerry "served admirably" in Vietnam, adding: "He ought to be proud of his record." But Bush stopped short of directly condemning the charge that Kerry lied about his actions.
Unlike previous statements by the White House, Bush this time referred specifically to the ad attacking Kerry's Vietnam service record, though he did not mention the Swift Boat group by name.
Bush did not specify what actions might be taken to stop the advertisements run by independent groups, except to renew his call on Kerry to join him in condemning all unregulated soft money ads.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
They'll keep running. The Swifties are not part of the Bush Campaign. This strategery is part of the President's taking the high road. He'll let Kerry mewl and incidentally he's showing he's the classier guy.
The invasion of Iraq? My idea. < /smug >
< |:)~
"WELL GUESS , that means now SWIFT ads will run and Kerry can't blame BUSH for them.
Kerry will have to take on Swift Vets himself and not hide behind W."
Now Kerry can say they should stop because both he and Bush say they are not telling the truth.
Wait! For the past week we've heard that he can't tell them to stop. Legally or it ties him to their ad. Is this no longer the truth or was it a delay tactic on his behalf?
Well, I guess the first thing to do is suspend the first amendment.
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Nothing new here. He said the same thing on Larry King. This is non news.
GWB just immunized himself from Kerry's attacks without slammin the vets. Meanwhile, Kerry can't counter the vets by going against GWB. He has to go mano a mano against John O'Neil and the swiftees. JFK is not in a good position.
Settle down and take some tranquilizers.
Just the next move of rope a dope which puts the kerry team on the defensive. This also helps to defuse the false claim that Bush is behind the swiftvets ad.
lol...
GWB just immunized himself from Kerry's attacks without slammin the vets. Meanwhile, Kerry can't counter the vets by going against GWB. He has to go mano a mano against John O'Neil and the swiftees. JFK is not in a good position.
true enough. regarding this first ad - there is alot of risk to Bush being tied to it, you never know what revelations will arise - he has to publicly distance himself from it, just as Kerry must publicly tie him to it.
but what will Bush say when he is asked about the message in the second ad (which I think is much more powerful then the first)? about Kerry's testimony, what he said when he returned. He can't use this same answer for that, and he also must say that he disagrees with Kerry's assesment of all US vietnam vets being "genghis khan". He better have a good response to the contents of the second ad.
Masterful. The President gives the impression he's giving Kerry a compliment without saying he's truthful. Only someone with Bush's smarts could pull a non-response response of this sort off. And the Democrats say Bush is stupid. Dubya has been underestimated yet again!
Can.....you.......say......that.......slower....?
Some......folks......are......having.....a.......hard....time....understanding......this.
Exactly. He condemned ALL 527 ads, the ones attacking HIM and Kerry and urged Kerry to do the same. I heard what he said WITHOUT the partisan HACK media spin. He also said he thought McCain-Feingold would have put a stop to this.
John O'Neill on Rush's show said they were going to continue the ads because this is PERSONAL. They are not beholdened to the Bush campaign and they don't take their orders from them!
Yeah, Bush has been on record as an enemy of the First Amendment for a long time. I guess this is no surprise. Which candidate will defend my free speech rights? Neither apparently. I guess we are down to the particulars. Kerry wants to start banning politcal books and Bush hasn't made that suggestion yet. WooHoo! A few crumbs of freedom might remain if Bush is elected. I am just going to vote on other issues and hope that some future President -- or court or whomever -- restores the First Amendment in its totality.
LOL! like that's going to happen, and he knows it. George W. is one cool dude.
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