Partisan Dem Kerry gets caught again:
Victory 2000: GOP War Vets Challenge Sen. Kerry's Hypocrisy On Use of 'AWOL'
Massachusetts Senator Attacked His Opponent Using 'Inappropriate' Term During Last Senate Race
WASHINGTON, Aug. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. Reps. Sam Johnson (R-Texas) and Randy ``Duke'' Cunningham (R-California), both distinguished military men and veterans of the Vietnam War, today challenged Massachusetts Democrat Sen. John Kerry to check his own record regarding the use of the term ``AWOL'' in the political arena.
On NBC's Meet the Press Sunday, Kerry feigned outrage at a recent news release from Governor George W. Bush describing Democratic opponent Al Gore as ``AWOL'' on issues affecting America's veterans. Use of the term in a political campaign is ``inappropriate,'' Kerry said, because AWOL (absent without leave) is a ``court martial offense'' and ``reduces the campaign to a level that all of us ... are trying to avoid.'' But as Johnson and Cunningham noted today, Kerry himself repeatedly used the word ``AWOL'' to attack his opponent in his last race for the Senate.
Among other Democrats who also have made use of the term ``AWOL'' in a political context: Vice President Al Gore himself, President Bill Clinton, Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy, Florida Sen. Bob Graham, and North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan.
``Next time you summon your indignation over 'inappropriate' language, may we suggest that you first search your own record,'' Reps. Cunningham and Johnson told Kerry in a letter sent today.
Democrats Who've Used the Term ``AWOL'' In Politics:
Vice President Al Gore
Vice President Al Gore accuses former Sen. Bill Bradley of having gone AWOL on his party after the Republicans took control of Congress. (Detroit News, 01/09/00)
Gore says Bradley went AWOL when Democrats needed him most -- during the Clinton administration's 1994 push for universal health care, and the 1995-96 fight against newly empowered Republicans led by Newt Gingrich. (Philadelphia Inquirer, 10/05/99)
Senator John Kerry (D-MA)
Kerry TV ads recall his service on a patrol boat along the Mekong River in an implied contrast with Weld, who did not serve in the military. ``He was AWOL from both wars -- the war for it and the war against it,'' Kerry said last week. ``The differences between us are just enormous.'' (USA Today, 10/18/96)
Kerry said the governor (Weld) had gone ``AWOL on the most important fight Massachusetts has faced since textiles went South,'' by supporting the Republican plan to slow down Medicare cost increases by $270 billion over seven years. (Boston Globe, 11/18/95)
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Kerry is an outrageous shill. Bush has too much grace to go after Kerry. |
