Someone needs to explain something to me.
Why is it that the truthful revelations of information about Bush’s AWOL service to this country in the Texas Air National Guard is cited as “instigating an attack.” Since when is fact finding the same as attacking? Bush is complaining that the attacks are being done by Kerry’s surrogates. Hmmm… Since when is Viacom and CBS News a Kerry surrogate?
This country’s media needs a swift kick in their anti-investigative-reporting ass. CBS news looks like they got theirs; now if the rest of the media feels theirs, we’ll have some TRUE reporting. All of which, Bush will say is unfair to him.
Article archived here.
White House Accuses Kerry, Surrogates of Guard Attacks
By Steve Holland
COLMAR, Pa. (Reuters) – The White House on Thursday accused Democrat John Kerry (news – web sites) and his surrogates of instigating a new attack on President Bush (news – web sites)’s Vietnam-era National Guard service because Kerry is dropping in opinion polls.
Bush also accused Kerry of refusing to reveal the true impact of his spending promises and said the Democratic presidential nominee would have to increase taxes broadly to pay for what the Bush campaign has calculated as $2 trillion in new spending.
“America will reject the hidden Kerry tax plan,” Bush told supporters.
After weeks of Republican criticism of Kerry’s decorated war service in Vietnam, Democrats tried to turn the tables on Wednesday with a barrage of questions about whether Bush fulfilled his military obligations in the Texas Air National Guard in the early 1970s.
The charges included documents that indicated Bush did not meet performance standards and received favorable treatment. A group called Texans for Truth launched a new ad in which a lieutenant colonel in the Alabama Air National Guard questions whether Bush ever performed his service during a stint in Alabama.
“I think you absolutely are seeing a coordinated attack by John Kerry and his surrogates on the president,” said White House spokesman Scott McClellan. “The polls show Senator Kerry falling behind and it’s the same old recycled attacks that we’ve seen every time the president has come up for election.”
The Bush campaign did not believe the new accusations would gain traction among the American people. Questions raised by Bush supporters against Kerry’s Vietnam service, however, were considered a factor in Kerry’s August swoon in the polls.
A new CBS News poll showed more signs that Bush got a bounce out of the Republican nominating convention last week. It gave him a seven-point lead over Kerry among registered voters, 49 percent to 42 percent.
McClellan’s comments came as Bush campaigned in Pennsylvania, a battleground state he lost by 205,000 votes in 2000. Polls show the race close in the state, which lost 2,800 jobs in July – 1,600 of them in the manufacturing sector.
Bush devoted a speech at Byers Choice, which makes Christmas figurines, to his economic agenda, centered largely around tax cuts and job training for the unemployed.
“People have got more money in their pockets because of the tax relief,” Bush said. “Our economy is stronger because people are keeping more of what they earn.”
Bush said Kerry instead has promised new spending of $2 trillion but that his plan to take away tax cuts from those making more than $200,000 a year would only raise $650 billion, leaving the rest to be raised elsewhere.
He said the Kerry campaign has not talked about how the Democrat would pay for his programs. “If they want to hold back information until the people vote, you can bet it won’t be good news for the taxpayers,” Bush said.
Bush’s speech was briefly interrupted by a handful of protesters who shouted “more money for AIDS (news – web sites).” Bush kept a steely grin on his face as the protesters were dragged out and the crowd shouted them down with chants of “four more years.”