Kerry: GOP Uses 'Fear and Smear' Tactics
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By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK - Democrat John Kerry (news - web sites) accused Republicans of "fear and smear" attacks and urged them to turn their focus to the problems facing voters Tuesday as an effort by anti-Kerry Vietnam veterans continued to roil the presidential campaign.
Kerry sought to turn the campaign debate back to issues on which he thinks he can win — and away from questions raised by fellow veterans about his honesty in recounting his service in the Vietnam War. He also tried to paint Bush as the candidate who has been dishonest.
"My duty, as I understand it, is to be a president and commander in chief who finds the truth and tells the truth instead of misleading the American people," Kerry said to several hundred supporters in the city where Republicans will nominate Bush for re-election next week. "My duty is to be a president who tells the truth instead of hiding behind front groups, saying anything and doing anything to avoid the real issues that matter like jobs, health care and the war in Iraq (news - web sites)."
While emphasizing economic and other issues in public appearances, the Kerry campaign continues to battle the fallout from other veterans who have criticized him. Robert "Friar Tuck" Brant, a member of the anti-Kerry Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, said Kerry called him Sunday and asked him if he was aware of the group's activities.
"I said, `I am one, John,'" said Brant, who had appeared at a press conference announcing the group in May. "There was a moment of hesitation and he said, `I appreciate your honesty.' He said, `Well, why are you?'"
Brant said he told Kerry that he was most upset about Kerry's protests after returning from the war, when he accused soldiers of committing atrocities. "I said, `You know that's not true,'" Brant said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "That's been simmering in me about 35 years."
He said Kerry said he didn't mean everyone was involved in war atrocities. The Massachusetts senator also told Brant he was willing to meet and talk about their differences. Brant declined, saying, "I know what I know."
Brant, who like Kerry was skipper of a Navy swift boat patrolling the Mekong Delta in 1968-1969, said he also disagreed with the portrayal of swift boat actions and commanders in the Kerry biography "Tour of Duty," written by historian Douglas Brinkley with Kerry's cooperation. Brant, who lives in Virginia, said he did not witness any of the incidents that led to Kerry winning medals but lived in close quarters with Kerry at the barracks. He said he has talked to Kerry at two swift boat veterans reunions in recent years, including a barbecue he attended at Kerry's Washington home in 1995, but he had never voiced his disagreements directly with Kerry until Sunday night.
Kerry has also called other swift boat veterans in recent days. And Kerry's former Senate colleague, one-time Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole, said Kerry called him to say he was disappointed that Dole had said Kerry's three Purple Heart awards came from "superficial wounds."
On Tuesday, Kerry spoke at New York's Cooper Union, blocks from the location of next week's Republican National Convention. The speech site was where President Lincoln gave his 1860 speech against slavery that helped thrust him into national prominence.
Kerry predicted the Republican gathering would be full of "last-minute proposals and last-minute promises to make up for all they haven't done and to pretend that they're not who they really are."
"They have obviously decided that some people will believe anything, no matter how fictional or how far-fetched, if they just repeat it often enough," Kerry said with a smile in response to the applause of his accusations. "That's how they have run their administration; that's how they're running their campaign and that's how they're going to run their convention. I believe that the American people are smarter than that. You can't cover up reality with a few empty slogans. You can't lead America by misleading the American people."
Kerry was speaking a day after Bush criticized attack ads being run by outside groups — known as 527s in reference to an IRS code provision — including the commercial criticizing Kerry's military record being aired by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Kerry has said the veterans group is a front for the president's re-election campaign, but the Bush campaign denies any coordination.
"The Bush campaign and its allies have turned to the tactics of fear and smear because they can't talk about jobs, health care, energy independence and rebuilding our alliances," Kerry said to 850 invited supporters who filled the auditorium.
Bush spokesman Steve Schmidt said Kerry's attempt to declare himself a victim of negative ads is "stunning hypocrisy." He said, "His campaign has hid behind and benefited from $63 million in attack ads by shadowy 527 groups."
Kerry later went to the observation deck at the Statue of Liberty, which he said was his first visit to the landmark that welcomed his paternal grandparents nearly a century ago. Asked on the way if he was trying to put the debate over his Vietnam record behind him, Kerry refused to get pulled further into the debate.
"I don't know if it is in front of me — behind me," Kerry said. "I am talking about the things that are important to Americans." |
