Kerry slammed Cheney Rove Inc. today for choosing to attack his patriotism and questioning his commitment to the defense of the country with their new 'I voted for it before I voted against it' ad/distortion. This is the candidate Kerry that Bush's hit men never expected.
From today's New York Times...He called Vice President Dick Cheney as well as Karl Rove, Mr. Bush's political guru, people "who went out of their way to avoid their chance to serve when they had a chance."
Mr. Kerry also referred to the "twisted ethics and morality" of "these people in the White House today," citing attacks on his fellow Vietnam veterans John McCain, the Republican senator from Arizona, and Max Cleland, the former Democratic senator from Georgia.
"I'm tired of these Republicans, who spend so much time denigrating Democrats and other people's commitment to the defense of our nation."
I'm just not going to be accused by any of these people of not being strong on defense, period," Mr. Kerry said.
While this is certainly charged rhetoric Kerry has a real point here. It is simply not appropriate to take one vote out of context and use it to attack a guy who fought and bled for his country. I think only in extraordinary circumstances should politicians question other politicians on their commitment to the defense of the nation. Bush's war in Iraq is certainly provocation for such an attack and moreover Kerry needed to send a signal that he was not going to tolerate draft dodgers questioning him on his commitment to defense. This is a moral fight, and Kerry understands that you don't just win a Presidential election with better and smarter domestic policies, but you win the values debate, the leadership debate, and the honesty debate, too.
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