Kerry hits back with disclosure of military and lobbyist records

I've already posted stuff from the incredible collection of laudatory military records Kerry recently released. Now Kerry is hitting back by going one better and releasing his records of all the meetings he's had with lobbyists:

Members of Congress routinely meet with lobbyists. And while Kerry had meetings with powerful business group advocates, including representatives of Microsoft, Intel, IBM and Cisco, nearly one-fourth of the meetings were with lobbyists for unions or other groups representing workers, Kerry's campaign said.

But here's the catch for Bush:

"Now it's the Bush administration's turn to release the list of oil company lobbyists in (Vice President Dick) Cheney's secret energy task force that rewrote our energy policy," said Kerry spokesman Chad Clanton.

Hmmm...will the media pressure be as intense on this one?

To a certain extent, the Bush administration's refusal to budge on issues like this give the impression that they stick to their guns. If and when Kerry comes under fire he relents the media will decide he can be pressured and change stances, tactics or policy. This will only add credence to the flip-flop charge. While I support his decision to release the military records, I'm less certain about Teresa's tax return. The NY Times editorial page turned up the heat on this today. The media would love to distract people from Kerry's message du jour by clamoring for more information. There is almost no evidence that the Bush administration's unwillingness to divulge sensitive information on the energy task force has hurt them politically, except among people unlikely to support Bush's reelection anyway. However, I will certainly support whatever decision the Kerrys come to on this. By I think my point is an important one.