Kerry TV Ad Pins Veterans' Attack Firmly on Bush

[papau]

Has Bush suceeded with making it War Hero with a question mark? selling Kerry has "trouble with the truth" to the press rather than having press look at Bush's lack of truth telling? - Papau wants to know! :-) - - "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."

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/23/politics/campaign/23swift.html

Kerry TV Ad Pins Veterans' Attack Firmly on Bush
By ADAM NAGOURNEY and JIM RUTENBERG

enator John Kerry released a television advertisement yesterday blaming President Bush for a campaign by a "front group" of veterans that Mr. Kerry said had smeared his Vietnam record, as he intensified his drive to gain control in a fight that some Democrats said could undermine his campaign for the presidency.

Mr. Bush's campaign denied any involvement with the effort by the veterans challenging crucial parts of Mr. Kerry's war record and sent a letter to television station managers calling the new Kerry advertisement libelous.

But at the same time, Bob Dole, the Republican presidential candidate in 1996 and a World War II veteran, called on Mr. Kerry to apologize to Vietnam veterans in a television interview on CNN. He appeared to get behind some of the accusations raised by the group, when its most serious contentions have been undermined by official records and conflicting accounts.

"He's got himself into this wicket now where he can't extricate himself because not every one of these people can be Republican liars,'' said Mr. Dole, whose right arm was left limp by a war injury. "There's got to be some truth to the charges," he said.

Mr. Dole also sought to put the focus as much on Mr. Kerry's antiwar activities as on his war record, noting testimony Mr. Kerry gave to a Congressional committee in 1971. <snip>

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/08/23/kerry_camp_ties_bush_to_smear_by_veterans/

Kerry camp ties Bush to 'smear' by veterans
By Anne E. Kornblut, Globe Staff | August 23, 2004

HOUSTON -- Senator John F. Kerry's campaign accused President Bush of running a "smear" campaign to taint his Vietnam service yesterday, intensifying an increasingly bitter battle over negative ads from a veterans group that the Bush campaign has so far refused to denounce.

In a new 30-second ad, titled "Issues," the Kerry campaign demands that Bush "denounce the smear," referring to charges by a largely conservative-funded group, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, that Kerry lied about his war service to win medals and enhance his stature as a hero.

"Get back to the issues," says the narrator of the ad, which the Kerry campaign plans to run in six states this week. "America deserves better."<snip>

[DeepModem Mom]

1. Keep in mind that the NYT piece is by Adam Nagourney...

who has not written kindly about Mr. Kerry since the campaign began.

[DeepModem Mom]

2. NAGOURNEY E-MAIL: [e-mail]; NYT reader rep...

[e-mail]