Kerry Goes on the Attack in New Ads

Script of the new ad: Narrator: "George Bush. $200 Billion for Iraq. In America, lost jobs and rising health care costs. George Bush's wrong choices have weakened us here at home. The Kerry Plan. Stop tax incentives for companies that ship jobs overseas. Lower health care premiums by up to a $1000 per family. Reduce the deficit to protect Medicare and Social Security. Stronger at home. Respected in the world." John Kerry: "I'm John Kerry and I approved this message."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4421-2004Sep8.html

Kerry Goes on the Attack in New Ads

By LIZ SIDOTI
The Associated Press
Wednesday, September 8, 2004; 4:01 AM

WASHINGTON - For months on the campaign trail, John Kerry has criticized President Bush for running advertisements assailing the Democrat's record. Now, Kerry is the one on the attack.

Since last week's Republican convention, the Democratic presidential nominee has rolled out nine television ads bashing Bush on everything from factory jobs and family incomes to health insurance and coal technology.

Several commercials accuse Bush of "broken promises." Another spot suggests the president is aligned with "special interests." And, then there's one ad that lists job-loss statistics and says, "President Bush insists the economy is just fine."

In conjunction with a speech on the Iraq war, Kerry was unveiling a tenth Wednesday that accuses Bush of squandering $200 billion on Iraq while the United States suffers with "lost jobs" and "rising health care costs." The commercial claims: "George Bush's wrong choices have weakened us here at home." <snip>

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of the issues that matter to people.

Text: Was George W. Bush AWOL in Alabama? Visual: Bob Mintz sitting in front of an American flag. Mintz: "I heard George W. Bush get up there and say, 'I served in the 187th Air National Guard in Montgomery, Alabama.' "I said, 'Really, that was my unit? And I don't remember seeing you there.' So I called my friends and said, 'Did you know that George Bush served in our unit?' and everyone said, 'No I never saw him there.' Text: Tell us whom you served with, Mr. President. Mintz: "It would be impossible to be unseen in a unit of that size." Text: George Bush has some explaining to do. Voice over and text: Texans for Truth is responsible for this advertisement.

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Mintz never saw President Bush show up for duty at the Air National Guard in the fall of 1972, and notes this is his "first interview with a national news" organization

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-ads8sep08,1,4805136.story?coll=la-news-a_section
THE RACE TO THE WHITE HOUSE
Ad Campaign to Question Bush's Time in Guard
By Ronald Brownstein
Times Staff Writer

September 8, 2004

WASHINGTON — Escalating the campaign warfare over the Vietnam era, a new group founded by a veteran Texas Democratic operative will announce today a television ad campaign reprising charges that President Bush failed to perform his service in the Texas Air National Guard while on temporary assignment in Alabama.

The ad, funded by Texans for Truth, features Robert Mintz, a retired lieutenant colonel in the Alabama Air National Guard, who said he never saw Bush while serving in the same unit in 1972.

"It would be impossible to be unseen in a unit of that size," Mintz charged in the ad, which the Texans for Truth group posted on its website Tuesday.

One source familiar with the group's plan said it raised more than $100,000 on Tuesday to air the ad after sending an e-mail solicitation to members of MoveOn.org, a liberal online advocacy group that has been among Bush's staunchest opponents, and DriveDemocracy.org, a spin-off group in Texas.

"The money came in really fast," said the source, who asked not to be identified.

The new ad drive appears in the wake of the advertising assaults on Democratic nominee John F. Kerry from Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a conservative group with strong Republican ties. The group has accused the Democratic nominee of misrepresenting his actions in Vietnam and betraying fellow servicemen by pursuing antiwar activities after leaving the Navy.

The source familiar with Texans for Truth's plans said it was considering running the ad in some of the same markets where the Swift boat group aired, nearly all of them in swing states.

But the source added that the group might also seek to run the ad in states that have suffered disproportionately high levels of casualties in the Iraq war. The group will announce its ad buy at a news conference this morning.

The new anti-Bush ad comes as Kerry allies have escalated their criticism of Bush's service record — and as both campaigns await a piece from CBS' "60 Minutes" tonight examining Bush's National Guard record.<snip>

The AP is poisoning the well. People will simply read the article in their "attack" context, and overlook the truth in it.

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