Bob Kerrey and Max Cleland Call for Karl Rove's Resignation
9/1/2004 4:59:00 PM
To: National Desk, Political Reporter
Contact: Chad Clanton or Phil Singer, 202-464-2800, both of Kerry-Edwards 2004
WASHINGTON, Sept. 1 /U.S. Newswire/ -- In response to today's outrageous attacks on John Kerry's service by Karl Rove, former Georgia Senator Max Cleland and former Nebraska Senator Bob Kerrey made the following statements
Senator Max Cleland:
"Karl Rove was behind it all, it's part of his smear campaign to tarnish to tarnish the records and service of Vietnam Veterans, and now he's doing it again. I find it interesting that three different people have had to resign from basically the Bush Campaign and their official duties because of this ad, because they are all tied together."
Senator Bob Kerrey:
"If the question is whether or not there is any independence left between the campaign and these swift boat ads, that question has now been answered. Karl Rove has been in enough political campaigns to understand how separate you need to be from these independent efforts and he just ended that separation. If Ginsberg resigned, so should he."
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WHERE WERE THEY?
KARL ROVE - TOO BUSY WORKING ON CAMPAIGNS
ROVE GOT STUDENT DEFERMENT, THEN DROPPED OUT OF COLLEGE. According to the Bush campaign, Rove drew the number 84 in the draft lottery when he graduated from high school in 1969 and received a student deferment upon enrolling at the University of Utah that fall. In the fall of 1971, after transferring to the University of Maryland, he was notified by his draft board in Salt Lake City that his student deferment had been revoked. Rove then was put into the extended priority status, which Schmidt said made him among the first eligible to be called in early 1972, but he was not called. (Washington Post, 4/17/04)
ROVE WORKED ON CAMPAIGNS, COLLEGE REPUBLICANS. "Rove acknowledges that, in 1970, he used a false identity to gain entry to the campaign offices of Illinois Democrat Alan Dixon, who was running for state treasurer. Once inside, Rove swiped some letterhead stationery and sent out 1,000 bogus invitations to the opening of the candidate's headquarters promising 'free beer, free food, girls and a good time for nothing.'" In 1971, Karl Rove quit college to become executive director of the College Republicans. From 1973-74, Rove worked as an assistant to Bush's father at the RNC. Rove opposed compulsory service and avoided the draft, winning high school debates with his views. But Rove supported Nixon in Vietnam, saying, "I was living in a relatively conservative state (Utah), and it was hard to sympathize with all those Commies," he says. (Washington Post, 7/23/99; Houston Press, 6/17/99; James Moore, Bush's Brain, p.121-22)
ROVE OPPOSED THE DRAFT. According to the book "Bush's Brain," about Karl Rove, "Rove had doubts about the war... In any case, he felt that government had no right to require citizens to serve in the military. 'He was opposed to compulsory service. He felt we don't need the damn government telling us what to do. We can do it on our own,' (a friend of Rove's said) ...Whether guided more by the apprehension of being drafted or a commitment to individual liberty - Rove was no fan of the war, or at least the draft." (Moore, Bush's Brain, p.120)
DICK CHENEY - HAD OTHER PRIORITIES
CHENEY RECEIVED FIVE DEFERMENTS. Dick Cheney had four student deferments, despite dropping out of college twice, and one for having his first child. In 1967, Cheney was 26 and no longer eligible for the draft. Cheney once stated that he had "other priorities in the 60's than military service." (Washington Post, 4/30/91, New York Times, 5/1/04)
CHENEY'S DEFERMENT CHRONOLOGY RAISES QUESTIONS. Cheney received five deferments from 1963-1966: four 2-S student deferments and one under the 3-A classification - "registrant with a child or children; or registrant deferred by reason of extreme hardship to dependents." In his Senate confirmation hearing, Cheney said he "would have obviously been happy to serve had I been called," but a look at his activities from the Fall of 1959 until he turned 26 (and thus was ineligible for the draft) in 1967 suggest he may have actively avoided the draft:
Fall '59: Cheney entered Yale.
6/14/62: Cheney withdrew from Yale.
1/63: Cheney entered Casper Community College.
8/7/64: Congress approved Tonkin Gulf Resolution.
5/19/65: Cheney received his B.A. after six years of study at three colleges, Cheney received 1-A draft classification -- meaning he was "available for military service."
7/28/65: President Johnson announced draft calls would be doubled.
10/26/65: Selective Service lifted ban against drafting childless married men.
1/19/66: Cheney applied for 3-A status; Lynne was roughly 10 weeks pregnant.
7/28/66: Cheney's daughter Elizabeth was born -- nine months and two days after the ban on drafting childless married men was lifted. (Washington Post, 4/3/91)
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