There will be a Bush backlash because of Swift-boat.
Attack ads obscure the real issues
As a registered independent, the group that both parties are courting, I am once again disgusted with the Republican Party's smear attacks on candidates. Now John Kerry is the target regarding his volunteer service in the Vietnam War.
The history of Republican attacks continues. In the South Carolina 2000 Republican primary race, the Bush camp ran a rumor campaign against John McCain to win. In the 2002 Georgia congressional race, Sen. Max Cleland lost after the Republicans questioned Cleland's patriotism and commitment to national security. McCain spent five years as a POW in Vietnam and Cleland lost three of his limbs there.
Now Kerry's military service as a swift-boat commander is questioned in that war, in which he was decorated by the U.S. Navy for courage under fire. A political ad funded by Texas Republicans questions his bravery and disputes what happened 35 years ago. Never mind that those veterans sponsoring the ad didn't serve on Kerry's boats and that the men who were there swear that Kerry saved their lives. Forget that the Navy presented Kerry with the medals. All three of these men are heroes. No attack ads or smear tactics can change that, but that isn't the real issue.
The Republicans don't want this campaign to be about the real issues: affordable health care, unemployment and the outsourcing of jobs, homeland security, the record deficit, education, the environment and the war in Iraq to name a few. It's easier to personally attack an opponent than to run on one's record. It's easier to wrap oneself in the flag and preach about family values and Christian morals than to live them. And it's easier to have the Texas Republicans put together attack ads, then deny that the White House had anything to do with it but fail to denounce them.
Rick Granberg>
Bradenton
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