That was John Kerry …
That was John Kerry then

“Well, if he wants to have a debate about our service in Vietnam, here is my answer: Bring it on.”

This is John Kerry now

The Kerry letter, signed by at least seven Democratic senators who have served in the military, calls on Bush to “recognize this blatant attempt at character assassination, and publicly condemn it.”

“Call on this group to cease and desist,” they wrote.

Again, it’s not “character assassination” if it’s true, as the Kerry campaign has had to admit on more than one occasion so far. Of course he wants Bush’s condemnation of those ads; they’re working because there’s something to them.

(UPDATE: Speaking of the whole letter-delivery incident, the play-to-the-cameras bit done by Cleland really ticked marc off. You don’t want to do that. Follow the link.)

One other note: In the second article there is a mention of a lawyer working for the Bush campaign doing some work for the Swifties. MSNBC has further details. But there’s a problem with the Kerry campaign charge in this.

A top lawyer in President Bush’s reelection campaign acknowledged Tuesday that he has been advising the veterans group seeking to discredit Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kerry’s military record, an admission the Kerry campaign said is evidence the president’s campaign is orchestrating a “smear” by the private group.

Fair enough, this certainly does have the appearance of bolstering the Kerry campaign’s complaint to the FEC about unlawful collusion between the Bush camp and a 527 group. But read on.

Benjamin L. Ginsberg, the chief outside counsel to the Bush campaign who also has advised Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, said in an interview: “I’ve done some work for them. … The law lets lawyers do that … and does not include lawyers among the coordinated political activities” that are prohibited by federal election law. He said two prominent Democratic lawyers are doing the same thing.

Other election lawyers agreed that the fact that Ginsberg, who also was active in Bush’s 2000 campaign, has been giving legal advice to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth does not necessarily violate campaign finance law prohibiting collusion between campaigns and independent groups.

Now remember, Kerry voted for these campaign finance laws, so it’s extremely difficult now for his campaign to credibly try to stretch the truth so that what he was for he is now against. This was the bill you voted for, big guy. Can’t handle the Swifties? Then call off MoveOn.org, who’s ads, by contrast, have generated way more heat than light. They haven’t required the Bush campaign to shift into serious damage control mode because there has to be some semblance of truth for that to happen.

Welcome to the bed you made. Now lie in it.

Filed under: Uncategorized

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!