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Presidential Elections - AP
Kerry Campaign Explains Bob Kerrey Mixup Oh No! Another mixup!
1 hour, 50 minutes ago
By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - John Kerry (news - web sites), Bob Kerrey. It's easy to get confused.
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At least that's how the Kerry campaign is explaining claims that Kerry — the Democratic presidential candidate — served as vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
Oops. Make that Bob Kerrey — the former Democratic senator from Nebraska who did serve as the panel's vice chairman.
In news releases and postings on Kerry's campaign Web site as recently as last Friday, the Massachusetts senator is touted as the panel's former vice chairman. However, according to the Senate Historical Office, Kerry never had the seniority to hold a leadership position on the committee — though he was a member from 1993 until 2001.
"John Kerry, Bob Kerrey — similar names," said Kerry campaign spokesman Michael Meehan, adding that any reference to Kerry as vice chairman was an error.
Republicans were less willing to see the misstatement as an innocent mistake.
"It's difficult to take John Kerry's claims about his intelligence experience seriously when one of his credentials is completely made up," said Republican National Committee (news - web sites) spokeswoman Christine Iverson. "If he had shown up for Intelligence Committee hearings he would notice he wasn't vice chairman."
Kerry's failure to attend three-fourths of the committee's public hearings was criticized by RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie in a memo Tuesday to members of Congress.
The Kerry campaign has not denied he missed meetings but has said the criticism relies on accounts of 65 open hearings and doesn't note that the panel held more than 329 meetings.
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Democratic National Committee (news - web sites) chairman Terry McAuliffe wants to know why Republicans won't release a full list of delegate names to the upcoming GOP convention in New York.
The Republican National Committee has said it will leave it up to states to decide whether to publicize delegates' identities, citing security reasons and confidentiality.
As an example, Gillespie two weeks ago pointed to Web sites that invited protesters to "show them the kind of welcome they can expect in New York."
The DNC released a full list of its convention delegates weeks before its convention in Boston in late July, McAuliffe said.
"What do they have to hide?" McAuliffe asked. "These are the people who will ratify the Republican Party platform, and the American people have the right to know who they are. Republicans can't have it both ways."
McAuliffe's response came a day after GOP convention organizers said 15 percent of their delegates were military veterans. Not releasing a full delegate list prevents the public from substantiating such claims, he said.
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Days after Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) mentioned slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in a campaign speech, Pearl's family asked that his name not be used as part of any election campaign.
"We would like him to be remembered for what he was in his life," the Pearl family said in a statement, "a passionate American and humanist who rose above political, religious and cultural divisions, and used his pen and fiddle to connect people of all backgrounds."
A spokesman for The Daniel Pearl Foundation, a nonpartisan organization that promotes cross-cultural understanding, said Tuesday the statement was in response to controversy surrounding the recent use of Pearl's name. Cheney's statement was not singled out by the family.
"Their hope would be that all involved, not just the U.S. election, but the dozens of elections going on around the world, can come together on this one issue and erase the hatred that took Danny's life," spokesman Jonathan Heit said.
Both Pearl, who was beheaded by Islamic militants in Pakistan in 2002, and Paul M. Johnson Jr., beheaded by militants in Saudi Arabia in June, were cited by Cheney last week as he criticized Kerry for calling for a "more sensitive" war on terror.
"A sensitive war will not destroy the evil men who killed 3,000 Americans," Cheney said. "The men who beheaded Daniel Pearl and Paul Johnson will not be impressed by our sensitivity."
Kerry had told a convention of journalists a few days earlier, "I believe I can fight a more effective, more thoughtful, more strategic, more proactive, more sensitive war on terror that reaches out to other nations and brings them to our side and lives up to American values in history."
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Associated Press writers Genaro Armas and Douglass K. Daniel contributed to this report. |
