Voters Need a Heads Up, Not a Look Back, From Bush, Kerry

[papau]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-outlook23aug23.story

Voters Need a Heads Up, Not a Look Back, From Bush, Kerry
Ronald Brownstein

August 23, 2004

<snip>Bush's campaign has been even heavier into retrospective. On the campaign trail, the president has devoted almost all of his time to defending his decisions of the last four years and attacking Kerry's voting record in the Senate. His television ads have struck the same notes. Until recently, the missing piece has been almost any hint of what Bush might do if reelected.

This shift into reverse has now been accelerated by the group of anti-Kerry Vietnam War veterans called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Amplified by talk radio and heavy coverage on cable television, their ad accusing Kerry of misrepresenting his service in Vietnam is consuming the campaign. Suddenly, on the evening news, debates about the Mekong Delta are elbowing aside reports about Najaf; if you closed your eyes, you might wonder if you were listening to Walter Cronkite instead of Dan Rather.

Investigative reports in several major newspapers over the last week have opened gaping holes in the credibility of the first Swift boat ad. Reporters showed that several of the veterans criticizing Kerry's wartime record in the ads had earlier praised his performance in interviews and formal evaluations.<snip>

The group suffered the most serious damage on its most serious charges. The group has challenged Kerry's account of the firefight in which he won a Silver Star, but on Saturday another swift boat commander on the scene, William Rood, now a Chicago Tribune editor, confirmed the key elements of Kerry's version. <snip>

Yet by exhuming this argument (71 Kerry repeated allegations from antiwar veterans that they had committed atrocities in Vietnam) from more than three decades ago, the Swift boat veterans are virtually compelling Democrats to amplify their attacks on Bush's choices during the same period. The more the right accuses Kerry of serving dishonorably, the more the left will stamp Bush as dishonorable for avoiding combat service altogether.<snip>