Apr 26 2004
Desperation
This article from The New York Times illustrates just how desperate the Republicans are becoming.
FULTON, Mo., April 26 — In a day of piercing and personal exchanges, John Kerry questioned on Monday whether President Bush skipped National Guard duty 30 years ago, while Vice President Dick Cheney disparaged Mr. Kerry as an opportunist unfit to lead the nation in wartime.
Mr. Kerry had previously declined to join other Democrats in raising questions about Mr. Bush’s National Guard attendance record. But during a contentious interview on national television on Monday, when pressed on whether he threw away his Vietnam war medals in a protest in 1971, he defended himself and attacked the president.
“This is a controversy that the Republicans are pushing,” Mr. Kerry said on “Good Morning America” on ABC. “The Republicans have spent $60 million in the last few weeks trying to attack me, and this comes from a president and a Republican Party that can’t even answer whether or not he showed up for duty in the National Guard. I’m not going to stand for it.”
Later in the day, Mr. Kerry challenged what he called attacks on his military record from Republicans who did not fight in Vietnam.
“I did obviously fight in Vietnam, and I was wounded there, and I served there and was very proud of my service,” Mr. Kerry said. “To have these people, all of whom made a different choice, attack me for it is obviously disturbing.”
Mr. Cheney came here to Westminster College, where Winston Churchill first used the term Iron Curtain to describe the imposition of Communist rule in Eastern Europe, to offer a sharply drawn comparison between Mr. Kerry and Mr. Bush. The vice president drew snickers from the heavily Republican invited audience as he read quotations from Mr. Kerry intended to portray the senator as equivocating on major issues of national security.
“The contrast between the candidates this November will be sharper than it has been in many years,” Mr. Cheney said. “The senator from Massachusetts has given us ample grounds to doubt the judgment and the attitude he brings to bear on vital issues of national security.”
The developments on Monday illustrated how the White House is planning to anchor Mr. Bush’s re-election campaign to the war on terrorism and showed the imperative his aides see in trying to undercut Mr. Kerry’s foreign policy credentials, including his decorated service in Vietnam. Democrats hope Mr. Kerry’s résumé will help neutralize Mr. Bush’s presumed advantage on these issues.
The Bush campaign is going to challenge John Kerry on the basis of his military record?! I would think that military records would be the last thing Mr. Bush would want to compare. He’s also completely botched the battle against terrorism. I cannot believe they have chosen these two items upon which to base his campaign for (re)election. But then, what else does he have? Certainly not jobs.
Every day in America, 85,444 workers lose their jobs. 14.7 million people are jobless, underemployed or have given up looking for work. 43.6 million people have no health insurance. 4,227 people file for personal bankruptcy. 12,878 workers are injured or made ill by their jobs. 6.8 million people are in the workforce but are still poor. 11 million children attend broken-down schools.
These are the almost-numbing statistics about the state of America’s working families. They are among the most important parts of the case against George W. Bush. How could somebody do so little while so many hurt?
Mr. Cheney is definitely correct about one thing — the contrast between the candidates this November will be much sharper than it has been in many years. I’m predicting a landslide victory for Kerry.
