Dubya's Guard Duty Brought to Light, Including Cheney's Deferments...

[JoseCuervo]

Kerry Attacks Bush on His National Guard Record
By Caren Bohan | April 27, 2004

CLEVELAND (Reuters) - Democrat John Kerry raised questions on Tuesday about President Bush's military record as the war of words over what the two presidential candidates did during the Vietnam era escalated.

The Massachusetts senator also took aim at Vice President Dick Cheney, saying he "got every deferment in the world" that allowed him to avoid service in Vietnam.

Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, was on a bus tour of four states, highlighting job losses during Bush's presidency.

But for the second straight day, it was what Kerry, a decorated Vietnam War veteran turned antiwar activist, and Bush, a pilot in the National Guard, did three decades ago that attracted much of the campaign heat.

Kerry's campaign accused Bush of receiving special treatment during his service in the Guard and of failing to prove he had showed up for duty in part of his service.

"Bush has said he used no special treatment to get into the Guard. How does he explain the fact that he jumped ahead of 150 applicants despite low pilot aptitude scores?" the campaign said in a statement.

It also pointed to what it said were gaps in the records of Bush's service in the Guard during 1972 and 1973 and asked nine specific questions about them.

Kerry raised the Vietnam issue as a counterattack to comments by Cheney on Monday suggesting that the senator was not fit to serve as U.S. commander in chief.

"I think a lot of veterans are going to be very angry at a president who can't account for his own service in the National Guard, and a vice president who got every deferment in the world and decided he had better things to do, criticizing somebody who fought for their country and served," Kerry said during a bus ride from Youngstown to Cleveland.

KERRY ACCUSED OF DUCKING QUESTIONS

The Bush campaign accused Kerry of using the Vietnam issue to duck questions on his own record.

"Instead of explaining his record, John Kerry has turned to political attacks on the president. John Kerry is doing exactly what he said he would never do, 'divide America over who served and how,"' said Nicolle Devenish, communications director for the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign.

On Monday, the Bush campaign led by Cheney unleashed a major assault on the Democrat's record on defense spending and raised questions about differences between his opposition to the Vietnam War then and now.

Republicans pressed Kerry to explain what they called an inconsistency over whether he threw away his ribbons or the more important medals themselves.

Asked on MSNBC's television talk show, "Hardball with Chris Matthews," about the medals, Kerry said there was no inconsistency because the terms medals and ribbons were used interchangeably in the Vietnam era.

A Kerry supporter at a Cleveland jobs event voiced outrage that Republicans would broach the topic. "It seems to me that you earned those medals and ribbons and what you want to do with them is your right," he told Kerry.

But Sen. John McCain, himself a prisoner of war during the Vietnam conflict, faulted both candidates for bringing Vietnam into the campaign.

"I believe Bush served honorably. I believe Kerry served honorably. Let's get over it, stop it now," the Arizona Republican said. "We should be fighting this war (Iraq), not fighting the one that ended over 30 years ago."

As his campaign entered into the fray over Vietnam, Kerry was trying to highlight the loss of 2.8 million manufacturing jobs during Bush's time in office in a "Jobs First" bus tour through Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

He said American workers, particularly those in manufacturing, were facing a crisis that Bush has ignored.

"When it comes to the crisis in American jobs, it is not a stretch to say that George Bush has been busy clearing brush," Kerry said, referring to Bush's well-publicized enjoyment of clearing brush on his ranch in Crawford, Texas.

"I think we need a president who creates jobs," Kerry said at a rally in Youngstown

 

[pawclaws]

Near as I can figure; Kerry has never done anything honorably. He flip flops more than all the IHOP pancakes combined!!