Making front-page headlines in this morning’s New York Times is this story about the Kerry campaign’s new ad, which claims that those devastating spots from the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth originated from the White House. What’s really interesting is this comment from an insider at Kerry headquarters:
Another Democrat close to the campaign, who asked not to be quoted by name, was more dire.
"When you’re basically running on your biography and there are ongoing attacks that are undermining the credibility of your biography, you have a really big problem."
In other news, Bob Dole has weighed in on the controversy as well, suggesting that Kerry apologize to his fellow Vietnam vets for his antiwar testimony in 1971:
"I mean, one day he’s saying that we were shooting civilians, cutting off their ears, cutting off their heads, throwing away his medals or his ribbons,’’ Mr. Dole said. "The next day he’s standing there, ’I want to be president because I’m a Vietnam veteran.’ ’’
Why would you not mention that Kerry’s revelation that there are links between the swift boat group and the Bush/Cheney campaign include a campaign worker appearing in the first spot, the funding for the group coming primarily from a close friend of Karl Rove and the Florida campaign passing out fliers for a SBVT rally?
You started out talking about the link, but then you jumped to unrelated quotes? This sounds like just another cheap attempt to bring up discredited accusations and out of context attacks. Is there no sense of honesty anywhere in the Conservative world?
Larry, why don’t you admit the obvious? Both campaign camps are up to their elbows coordinating with, or cheering on, the 527 attacks helping their campaigns. As a prominent Democratic politician once said, "Politics ain’t beanbag".
Kerry’s protestations do not mention the close coordination between the Democrats and MoveOn.org. His call for the Bush campaign to stop the ads is another joke. The Bush campaign cannot do a thing to stop a 527 organization’s ads.
Campaign finance reform as structured by McCain - Feingold is a joke. Democrats voted for McCain - Feingold in droves, and lauded it as a great idea. Too bad it came back to bite them.
this is funny coming from Dole, who described his own wound as "something that is treated with iodine and a Purple Heart."
Surely, Christopher, you aren’t trying to disparage the injury that Senator Dole endured, which left him with very little use of one of his arms and limited use of the other? As I recall, the man isn’t even capable of buttoning his own shirts.
Certainly one’s injury in a war is not necessarily a sign of heroism, but Dole’s injury was far from a pin prick, regardless of his quips to the contrary.
this is funny coming from Dole, who described his own wound as "something that is treated with iodine and a Purple Heart."
Hey Christopher, I think Dole was joking when he described his own wounds. He is known to have a sense of humor. For Pete’s sake, it took him three years for him to recover for his injuries. He had nine operations.
I don’t particularly care about John Kerry’s injuries that lead to his Purple Hearts. I also don’t care about his Bronze Star and his Silver Star or whatever medals he was awarded. He served honorably.
My big thing is that he almost solely based his Democrat convention speech on being a Vietnam veteran. He spend something like 16 lines on his 18+ year Senate career. He opened the door for all sorts of criticism about his military record. It happened to Dole in 1996 (the Nation article about it). It happened to Clinton in 1992 and 1996. It happened to G.H.W.B. in 1992 (Sidney Bluementhal wrote about it in 1992 for the New Yorker). It is fair game.
John Kerry is solely running on his Vietnam biography and that just invites criticism.
"He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword>"