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Originally Posted by errand
Really? Wow, then surely there is a link to the story where he has denounced them.
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Indeed there is. Wow, really?!?!? Really.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...ryonaid18.html
Kerry denounces ad that criticizes Bush over service in Guard
By Richard Simon
Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON — John Kerry took a cue from Republican Sen. John McCain yesterday and denounced a television ad by one of his allies attacking President Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard.
In the latest twist in a debate about military credentials, Kerry condemned the new ad by the MoveOn political-action committee, even though it was produced in response to an ad questioning Kerry's Vietnam War record.
"This should be a campaign of issues, not insults," Kerry said in a written statement.
The Democratic presidential candidate called the ad "inappropriate" after McCain, of Arizona, a former Vietnam prisoner of war, criticized the MoveOn commercial. The 30-second ad accuses Bush of using family connections to avoid the Vietnam War.
McCain is campaigning for Bush but has come to Kerry's defense against GOP attacks about his military record. He recently lambasted an anti-Kerry ad.
McCain told The Associated Press the anti-Bush ad is "totally inappropriate" and a disservice to members of the National Guard who are "fighting and dying in Iraq."
Kerry said he agreed with McCain that the ad was over the top.
The executive director of MoveOn's political-action committee said his group had no plans to pull the spot, which began running yesterday in three swing states.
A Bush campaign spokesman didn't see Kerry's action as doing the president any favor, saying the Massachusetts senator's condemnation of the anti-Bush ad "reeks of hypocrisy."
During a news conference arranged by the Kerry campaign earlier in the day, some Kerry supporters repeated the central claim in the MoveOn ad: that Bush used his father's influence as a congressman to get him into the Texas Air National Guard.
"John Kerry condemns the ad on one hand and then his campaign's surrogates go out and echo the baseless charges that appear in the ad," said Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt. "It's typical John Kerry: Say one thing, do another."
The MoveOn ad was produced in response to an anti-Kerry ad by a group calling itself Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. The ad featured 13 veterans who served in close proximity to Kerry in Vietnam accusing him of lying about his military service.
The group is heavily funded by Robert Perry, a Texas homebuilder and big GOP political donor.
The group said it stopped running its anti-Kerry commercial last week after exhausting its $500,000 buy.
The 30-second MoveOn ad is running in the same swing states of Ohio, West Virginia and Wisconsin as the anti-Kerry ad did and on some cable TV stations nationally.
Kerry volunteered for service in Vietnam, earning a Silver Star and three Purple Hearts. Bush served stateside in the Texas Air National Guard and was honorably discharged.
Earlier yesterday, a group of Kerry supporters, including retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark and some of Kerry's Navy crewmates, condemned the anti-Kerry ad and called on Bush to disavow it.
The president has not denounced the anti-Kerry ad, but in an interview with "Larry King Live" last week, he called Kerry's military service "noble."
Bush campaign officials said the president has called for the end to all ads by soft-money groups.
Clark, who branded the anti-Kerry ad the "worst form of politics," declared that voters are sick of personal attacks.