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thefinalw0rd · **McCain Condemns Anti-Kerry Ad -** 08-05-04

Quote:

Republican Senator Calls Attack 'Dishonest and Dishonorable'

WASHINGTON (Aug. 5) -- Republican Sen. John McCain, a former prisoner of war in Vietnam, called an ad criticizing John Kerry's military service ''dishonest and dishonorable'' and urged the White House on Thursday to condemn it as well.

The White House declined.

''It was the same kind of deal that was pulled on me,'' McCain said in an interview with The Associated Press, comparing the anti-Kerry ad to tactics in his bitter Republican primary fight with President Bush.

The 60-second ad features Vietnam veterans who accuse the Democratic presidential nominee of lying about his decorated Vietnam War record and betraying his fellow veterans by later opposing the conflict.

''When the chips were down, you could not count on John Kerry,'' one of the veterans, Larry Thurlow, says in the ad. Thurlow didn't serve on Kerry's swiftboat, but says he witnessed the events that led to Kerry winning a Bronze Star and the last of his three Purple Hearts. Kerry's crewmates support the candidate and call him a hero.

The ad, scheduled to air in a few markets in Ohio, West Virginia and Wisconsin, was produced by Stevens, Reed, Curcio and Potham, the same team that produced McCain's ads in 2000.

''I wish they hadn't done it,'' McCain said of his former advisers. ''I don't know if they knew all the facts.''

Asked if the White House knew about the ad or helped find financing for it, McCain said, ''I hope not, but I don't know. But I think the Bush campaign should specifically condemn the ad.''

McCain, chairman of Bush's campaign in Arizona, later said the Bush campaign has denied any involvement and added, ''I can't believe the president would pull such a cheap stunt.''

White House spokesman Scott McClellan declined to condemn the ad. He did denounce the proliferation of spending by independent groups, such as the anti-Kerry veterans organization, that are playing on both sides of the political fence.

''The president thought he got rid of this unregulated soft money when he signed the bipartisan campaign finance reform into law,'' McClellan said. A chief sponsor of that bill, which Bush initially opposed, was McCain.

In 2000, Bush's supporters sponsored a rumor campaign against McCain in the South Carolina primary, helping Bush win the primary and the nomination. McCain's supporters have never forgiven the Bush team.

McCain said that's all in the past to him, but he's speaking out against the anti-Kerry ad because ''it reopens all the old wounds of the Vietnam War, which I spent the last 35 years trying to heal.''

''I deplore this kind of politics,'' McCain said. ''I think the ad is dishonest and dishonorable. As it is, none of these individuals served on the boat (Kerry) commanded. Many of his crew have testified to his courage under fire. I think John Kerry served honorably in Vietnam. I think George Bush served honorably in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War.''

Retired Adm. Roy Hoffmann, head of the Swift Boat group, said they respected McCain's ''right to express his opinion and we hope he extends to us the same respect and courtesy, particularly since we served with John Kerry, we knew him well and Sen. McCain did not.''

McCain himself spent more than five years in a Vietnam prisoner of war camp. A bona fide war hero, McCain, like Kerry, used his war record as the foundation of his presidential campaign.

The Kerry campaign has denounced the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, saying none of the men in the ad served on the boat that Kerry commanded. Three veterans on Kerry's boat that day - Jim Rassmann, who says Kerry saved his life, Gene Thorson and Del Sandusky, the driver on Kerry's boat, said the group was lying.

They say Kerry was injured, and Rassmann called the group's account ''pure fabrication.''

The general counsel for the Kerry campaign and the Democratic National Committee sent television stations a letter asking them not to run the ad because it is ''an inflammatory, outrageous lie'' by people purporting to have served with Kerry.

Hoffmann said none of the 13 veterans in the commercial served on Kerry's boat but rather were in other swiftboats within 50 yards of Kerry's. The group claims that there was no gunfire on the day Kerry pulled Rassmann from a muddy river in the Mekong Delta and that Kerry's arm was not wounded, as he has claimed.

Glad to see McCain standing up here for what he knows is right rather than what his peers might rather have him do. Too bad Bush lied about him last election, he would have made a great president.

Lanthros · 08-05-04

Im not fond of republicans or democrats but I respect McCain in this. The fact of the matter is that ad IS an outrageous and bold faced lie. I know for a fact that before ANY award is granted to any soldier since wwii there is a thurough and all encompassing review on the circumstances the awardie is nominated for. This ad is not only such a lie but is also an insult to all intelligent citizens. While bush and his campaign deny any involvement thier refusal to condemn this ad alone makes them just as responsible as those that created it. It would not be even a small stretch of the imagination to picture bush approveing such an ad after all it wouldnt be the first time the bush family has resorted to out right lies in order to secure a campaign victory. Case in point the scandalous photo doctoring his father's campaign perpetrated against ross perot.

thefinalw0rd · 08-05-04

To be fair, Bush is supposidely distancing himself from that group...but he still should condemn it.

Lanthros · 08-05-04

as long as he doesent condemn them then he condons them when it comes down to out right lies on his behalf.

diogenes · 08-06-04

I saw the interview this morning on CNN with the head of the organization that put out those ads. He seemed more pissed about the fact that when Kerry returned from his tour of duty he testified on war crimes that he saw his fellow soldiers perpetrate ( somthing that the speaker thought of as a betrayal) and Kerry's subsequent protests with veterans against the war, pics of which are prominant in the ad. Is'nt it a soldiers duty to report atrocities in war? even if that betrays some kind of 'brotherhood among the soldiers' and then follow his concience if he bilieves the war unjust? there are higher goods to be acomplished here. Since Kerry did feel that the war was unjust I don't think he should be flaunting his career as a veteran, but I admire and respect the fact that he protested the war and reported warcrimes.

thefinalw0rd · 08-06-04

I disagree - the fact that he felt the war was unjust but served his country because it was the right thing to do (a lot of rich people used influence to keep their children out of it) speaks volumes about how honorable he is.

Let them be pissed about that, if they want to be angry because Senator Kerry has morals, then go ahead. But the ends do NOT justify the means. This is, as McCain said, dishonest and dishonorable. If they felt that Kerry did not deserve his decorations, then the time to complain was 35 years ago. Where were they during the subsequent investigation that led to Kerry getting his medal? They don't just hand these out, events must be confirmed. They're blowing steam.

diogenes · 08-06-04

I agree that it was comendable to serve his country during the vietnam war ( if he thought at the time it was the right thing to do, in a war like that your personal beliefs feature prominant) But the point is that when he finished his tour he did an even more comendable thing, which is fight against a war that through personal experience he had found to be corrupt and without justice (this is just an observation, I don't mean to put words into his mouth). and this is what that ad focuses on, that somehow when he reported attrocities and marched against the war that he was somehow betraying his country, when that sort of action is the right and duty of every American. I only wish that Kerry was proud of this part of his past instaed of trying to hide it.

thefinalw0rd · 08-06-04

He's done nothing to hide that he protested the war.

diogenes · 08-06-04

'hide' waas a bad choice of words-I think he should be promoteing it

errantrogue · 08-09-04

perhaps he thinks its a non-issue... and so do i.

i'm more interested in the current man... not what he might have been more than twenty years ago.

diogenes · 08-09-04

it still show a stregth of character-is'nt that worth promoting?

Shadowborn · 08-09-04

My hat's off to McCain. The guy is all right. He would have been the first canidate to make me vote Republican in years...

thefinalw0rd · 08-09-04

I agree.

juggernaut · 08-11-04

Bush should not comdemn the ad. He can only distance himself from it, it's called campaigning you dolts! Newsflash: Most Vietnam veterans are republican and strongly support Bush. By condemning the swiftboat group for their false ad he'd risk loosing a percentage of the veteran vote. So that's just not going to happen, from either side. If the situation were reversed and a group had launched an Anti-Bush ad that were a bold faced lie, Kerry would not condemn it, nor should he!!!! Kerry will not condemn a moveon.org ad, just as Bush will not comdemn an Anti-Kerry ad. You do not come to the defense of your opponent in the race for the U.S. presidency. He's not going to take Kerry out from under any negative light and cost himself votes. What should he do, a few months prior to the election, when he's campaigning for re-election? Should he get on TV and say "Everything in that ad is complete horseshit. John Kerry is a real war hero, he fought valiantly and courageously for our country, he has 3 purple hearts, he is not unfit to take away my job, and I want America to think about all of this when they go to the voting booth come November."

errantrogue · 08-11-04

since when did ends justify the means become the way of society?

thefinalw0rd · 08-12-04

As far as politics are concerned, it's always been that way.

On the other hand, if Bush condemned it anyway, he'd be a raving liar, given that he did the same thing to McCain back in 2000.

Dark Messiah · 08-20-04

Wow. Didn't there used to be a hefty rabid conservative presence on this board?

Lanthros · 08-20-04

campaigning or not there is NO justification for out right lies and manipulations. Bush's refusal to condemn it shows his lack of charachter and corruption. Also I have NEVER met a vetran (vietnam) that would even dream of voteing republican and even if they would Bush's own vietnam records should and has turned away most military supporters.

Dark Messiah · 08-20-04

Your experience has been limited, then. I think it would show great character and spine to condemn these kind of ads against an opponent, but we do not live in a political system that encourages leaders with character and spine (this is why Keyes isn't president), and so this reaction of silence is completely predictable. Kerry would almost certainly do the same thing.