Posted on 08/23/2004 7:58:02 PM PDT by j.cam
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush on Monday criticized a commercial that accused John Kerry of inflating his own Vietnam War record, more than a week after the ad stopped running, and said broadcast attacks by outside groups have no place in the race for the White House.
"I think they're bad for the system," added Bush, who had ignored calls to condemn the ad while it was on the air.
Democrats criticized the president's remarks at the same time they worked to limit the political damage from the ad which they denounce as a smear sanctioned by Bush and his high command.
"The moment of truth came and went, and the president still couldn't bring himself to do the right thing," Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards said in a statement. "We need a president with the strength and integrity to say when something is wrong."
"Too little, too late," added party chairman Terry McAuliffe.
Campaign surrogates worked throughout the day to rebut the claims made by Kerry's detractors.
"The fourth Purple Heart could have been an AK-47 through his heart," said Rich Baker, who served on a swift boat in Vietnam at the same time as Kerry. He was referring to weekend comments by former Republican Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas - grievously wounded in World War II - that Kerry had won three Purple Hearts "and never bled that I know of."
Dole's comment drew a morning-after phone call from Kerry, his colleague in the Senate for more than a decade. "He said he was disappointed. And I said, 'John, I didn't mean to offend you,'" Dole told CNN, the same network where he appeared on Sunday.
Other Swift Boat veterans came forward over the weekend to verify the events that Kerry's detractors have challenged.
The controversy over the ad aired by Swift Boat Veterans For Truth has roiled the race for the White House during what is customarily a quiet summer interlude between political conventions.
While attacking the ad, Democrats have also said privately that Kerry and his campaign were slow to recognize the potential danger in the attack. The four-term Massachusetts senator, who came home from Vietnam with five medals, has made his wartime service a cornerstone of his challenge to the president.
Sean McCabe, a spokesman for the veterans' group, said the ad that questioned Kerry's record ran in three states for a week and stopped on Aug. 12. The organization intends to begin airing a second commercial on Tuesday in three other states. That spot intersperses clips of a youthful Kerry talking about war atrocities during an appearance before Congress in 1971 with images of members of the swift boat group condemning his testimony.
Asked about the issue, Bush said, "I think Senator Kerry served admirably and he ought to be proud of his record. But the question is who is best to lead the country in the war on terror? Who can handle the responsibilities of the commander in chief? Who's got a clear vision of the risks that the country faces?"
Bush criticized the groups' first commercial and all other outside group attack ads - many of which have targeted his own re-election.
"That means that ad, every other ad," he said. "I can't be more plain about it. And I wish - I hope my opponent joins me in saying - condemning these activities of the 527s. It's - I think they're bad for the system. That's why I signed the bill, McCain-Feingold."
Bush's comment about 527s was a reference to independent groups that raise money in unlimited amounts. The so-called McCain-Feingold bill, a campaign finance overhaul bill which Bush signed reluctantly earlier in his term, banned the political parties from raising such funds.
While Kerry and Democrats have demanded that Bush condemn the attack on his war record, the president has been targeted by an estimated $60 million in commercials by outside groups since the campaign began.
Kerry has declined to call for an end to those ads, which helped him at a time when he did not have the funds to compete with Bush' campaign advertising budget.
At the same time, Kerry's aides and campaign argue heatedly that the commercial that challenged Kerry's war record was demonstrably false - and fit a GOP pattern. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., was subjected to a similar attack four years ago during the campaign for the GOP presidential nomination, they said, and former Georgia Sen. Max Cleland's patriotism impugned in an re-election race he lost two years ago.
"This can't be tolerated," said Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., who participated in a campaign conference call during the day.
McCain, who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam for nearly six years, has urged Bush to denounce the ad the day it began running. Cleland came home from the war a triple amputee.
The Bush campaign denies any involvement with the group.
This is amazing. This is how the partisan, liberal media works. First they write articles skeptical of the Swift Boat Vets for Truth. They ignore all of Kerry’s lies the Swift Boat Vets have exposed like Cambodia, and then they write biased articles like Michael Dobbs’s often-cited article from Yesterday’s Washington Post. Though the headline of the article claims the Swift Boat Vets for Truth are refuted, Dobbs admits in the article that he doesn’t refute them. Though the article was titled: "Records Counter a Critic of Kerry," Dobbs buries his retraction in the article:
"Thurlow and other anti-Kerry veterans have repeatedly alleged that Kerry was the author of an after-action report that described how his boat came under enemy fire. Kerry campaign researchers dispute that assertion, and there is no convincing documentary evidence to settle the argument. As the senior skipper in the flotilla, Thurlow might have been expected to write the after-action report for March 13, but he said that Kerry routinely 'duked the system' to present his version of events."
So the Vets for Truth were not contradicted because they always claimed Kerry wrote the reports. But the whole tone of the article and the way talking heads report on it is that they caught the Vets lying.
Next as we see in Espo’s article, the President condemns all 527s, but it is this one that the liberal media focuses on.
So many who don't follow these things are under the impression the Vets for Truth have been caught lying. Now all Kerry has to do is claim their lies are "verifiable" and the liberal media will report this and never ask Kerry to verify what he claims are lies. So it seems the media is reporting the lies are verifiable.
I don't recall hearing JFK call for Mickey Moore to cease and desist in showing "Fake'n'hype 911".
Stand tall, Jorge. There is nothing to apologize for. When the Rats apologize for the ad they ran against you in 2000, then you can consider it. Until then, stop pandering.
Democrats criticized the president's remarks at the same time they worked to limit the political damage from the ad which they denounce as a smear sanctioned by Bush and his high command.
Republicans can never apologize soon enough, often enough or even do it right. So why do they even offer apologies? Boggles my mind.
The "national" media is working so hard to make the President the Heavy in all this. The joke is on them. How they continue to treat this story made indeed be their last hoorah. Nobody in any area outside of San Francisco and Manhatten is buying anything the cheerleading choir of the USA media has to say about how their Mannequin On A Swift Boat and it's oscilating history Of John Kerry's Holiday in Vietnam.
I drove the heartland today. I started out in Joplin, where I spent the weekend, and drove back to DFW. I know these areas are a solid Bush Camp, but still...these people think Kerry is toast. I do too.
Belive it or not, the Lobby TV at the Ramada Inn Hotel in Joplin was tuned to CNN! I registered my complaint, but the desk did not seem too responsive. I told the woman that she had the TV tuned to the LEAST-watched news on cable TV and the FOX was what everybody watches. She said she didn't have anything to do with the lobby TV.
If you wanna call and let them know the public would rather see FOX and not CNN, the number is 417-781-0500. that's the Ramada Inn on Rangeline Rd. in Joplin, MO.
Don't get me wrong, it's a great hotel.
Amazing! And it is Kerry not the Swift Boat Vets for Truth who was caught lying.
Bush: "Dear Hanoi John, I'm sorry you're such an effin commie lovin hypocrite."
How's that for a sincere apology?
Here in NorCal, the title is "Bush Attacks Anti-Kerry Ads".
As to this article, Mr. Espo, you are a borderline liar with your spin--a traitor to the Fourth Estate. *spit*
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