Okay, let's say Vanessa Kerry is Governor of Anystate and, as such, has authorized many executions of prisoners. Even though her father (and his party) are against capital punishment, Vanessa feels it is justified but in every other respect she is a good Democrat.
In the debate, Bush and Kerry are asked if they think prisoners are "bad seeds" or if they can be reformed. Kerry says they can be reformed and should not be punished, that as president he would sign a ban on capital punishment.
Bush says, it is a hard choice because we are all God's children, but I bet if you asked Vanessa Kerry how she felt about all those she's executed, she would say that justice had been served.
Now, do you see that as a cheap, tawdry political trick?
Another analogy would be..The candidates are discussing the major problem of obesity in America and it's costs to the health care system and President Bush says, " Obesity is a major problem in America today, take that blob Barbara Edwards for example....just trying to explain how families deal with the blob problem, thats all "
This was only one of many cheap debating tricks that kerry used, he frequently used the "even person X, a Republican, thinks (along he lines of Kerry)" that you describe -
- his mis-representation about Bremers' comments
- his constant use of Republicans to make his claims
"I'll do what Reagan did" when in fact he opposed every single thing Reagan stood for ...
- he used Sensenbrenner and misquoted him, Sensenbrenner had to issue a press release
- Kerry's lies about Tora Bora and 'letting Osama Bin Laden go' and 'getting our eye off the ball' was refuted by Tommy Franks and CENTCOM generals.
- The attempt to put words in Mary Cheney's mouth was of a piece with that, but bringing in family members who didn't ask for 50 million people to know their private lives was rightly seen as tacky.
Family members are different than other public political figures. Kerry could have said Barney Frank, but he is trying to drive a wedge, obfuscate, and dissemble. Kerry's tried to move to Bush's right on issues - crazy disconnect from reality since he has a lifetime ACU rating of a mere 5% - but his goal is to fool voters.
The Kerry camp says it's 'fair game' because mary works on the campaign... excuse me, but the private lives of campaign workers is 'fair game'???
Notably Bush never used that, kept Kerry's past and family offlimits, and when he went after Kerry, BUSH USED KERRY'S OWN WORDS.
It's clear who is the more decent campaigner and human being.