The Democrats get into the Republicans time cycle on their ad. Good Politics.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
November 23, 2003
Democrat Urges G.O.P. to Withdraw Bush Ad
By BRIAN KNOWLTON,
International Herald Tribune
ASHINGTON, Nov. 23 — With the television advertising wars gaining steam in the presidential campaign, the Senate Democratic leader angrily called today on Republicans to withdraw an advertisement that Democrats say depicts them unfairly as undercutting the fight against terrorism.
The Democrat, Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota, denounced the advertisement as "repulsive and outrageous."
His comments, made on the NBC News program "Meet the Press," drew attention to what could be one of the most contentious campaign themes in the 2004 presidential contest: the question of which party has a better response to terrorist threats to the United States and its interests abroad.
The advertisement, sponsored by the Republican National Committee, shows President Bush delivering his State of the Union address in January. As he speaks, such phrases as "Some are now attacking the president for attacking the terrorists" flash across the screen.
The ad urges viewers to call members of Congress and ask them to "support the president's policy of pre-emptive defense."
Mr. Daschle condemned the ad with a vehemence that appeared to surprise the host of the program, Tim Russert. "It's wrong. It's erroneous, and I think that they ought to pull the ad," Mr. Daschle said.
"We all want to defeat terrorism," he said. But "to chastise and to question the patriotism of those who are in opposition to some of the president's plans, I think, is wrong."
Several Democrats, including the presidential hopefuls Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut and Gen. Wesley K. Clark, have strongly criticized the advertisement. Some have said that Republicans were violating a presidential promise not to use the campaign against terrorism for political gain.
General Clark, like Mr. Daschle, called for the advertisement to be dropped. He said on the CBS News program "Face the Nation" that it violated "the pledge the president made to not exploit 9/11 for political purposes."
And Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, speaking on the ABC News program "This Week," said that by challenging Democrats' patriotism the advertisement amounted to an "attempt to stifle dissent."
Republican officials have defended the ad, saying that it made legitimate points, and have vowed to continue airing it. It was broadcast today in Iowa, a day ahead of a debate in Des Moines among Democratic presidential candidates.
"It's portraying the president's leadership that he's displayed since Sept. 11, which I support," Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, said on "This Week." "I think it's a very legitimate statement to be made in the coming presidential election."
Some Democrats have taken a sort of perverse comfort in the advertisement, saying that it demonstrated that their criticisms of Mr. Bush, on his handling of the war in Iraq and on the larger battle against terrorism, were beginning to be felt.
Senior Democrats continued those criticisms today.
Senator Joseph R. Biden of Delaware, the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, said that administration plans to quickly replace a portion of the United States force in Iraq with Iraqis being rapidly trained was naïve.
"It's a bit Pollyannish to think we're going to have a couple hundred thousand Iraqis trained up by the end of this year to essentially take the place of a significant portion of U.S. or international forces," Mr. Biden said on "Fox News Sunday."
The United States-led coalition has dramatically increased the number of Iraqis taking part in policing or other security positions, expanding their numbers so quickly that some critics have questioned how well-prepared or reliable they may be.
"The truth is," Mr. Biden said, "these folks aren't trained at all."
Senator Lieberman, who has been criticized by some of his fellow Democratic candidates for supporting the war in Iraq, criticized the Republican advertisement as "very misleading" and said today that if anything, Mr. Bush was not doing enough to fight terrorism.
"I don't know of anybody who's attacking the president for attacking the terrorists," Mr. Lieberman said on the CNN program "Late Edition." "I'm certainly not."
He said that Mr. Bush needed to do more to protect homeland security, in part by backing greater financing for local police and fire departments and the federal Department of Homeland Security.
The advertisement, he asserted, was an attempt by the Republican National Committee to "get the public's mind off joblessness in America," as well as what he said were flawed Republican-backed bills on Medicare and energy.
nytimes.com |
