Text 757, 107 rader
Skriven 2004-08-05 14:46:00 av Jeff Binkley (1:226/600)
Ärende: Kerry and McCain
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I like the Admiral's response...

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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-
bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/08/05/politics1020EDT0544.DTL&ty
pe=printable

 RON FOURNIER, AP Political Writer
Thursday, August 5, 2004 


(08-05) 10:20 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) -- 

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." 

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. 



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On the Net: 
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth: www.swiftvets.com/ 

CMPQwk 1.42-21 9999 
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