Kerry Press Release: Fact Check on New Bush Ad

[Skinner]

Kerry Campaign Response and Fact Check on New Bush Ad

***Fact Check Below***

“This ad illustrates the kind of negative, misleading and pessimistic campaign the Bush-Cheney team is running. They’ve got no record to run on, no positive vision for the future, so they attack. The American people deserve better, and that’s exactly what Kerry and Edwards will give them,” said Kerry campaign spokesman, Chad Clanton.

BUSH-CHENEY AD FACT CHECK

AD TITLE: “Priorities”
DATE: 7/8/04

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BUSH-CHENEY CREDIBILITY GAP

NARRATOR: “Leadership means choosing priorities.”

THE RECORD

1968: John Kerry’s Priority Was Serving His Nation in Combat: John Kerry first learned the importance of national service from his father who volunteered for the Army Air Corps in World Ward II. Kerry volunteered for the United States Navy after college and served from 1966 through 1970 rising to the rank of Lieutenant. Kerry served two tours of duty in Vietnam--one tour as commander of a Navy Swift Boat in the Mekong Delta. Kerry’s action during the Vietnam War resulted in his being awarded the Silver Star, the Bronze Star with Combat “V”, three Purple Hearts, the Presidential Unit Citation for Extraordinary Heroism, the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal, three Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medals and the Combat Action Ribbon. Selective Service System National HQ

For More 30 Years John Kerry’s Priority Has Been Serving the Public: John Kerry’s More Than 30 Years of Service - 1966, John Kerry Enlisted in the U.S. Navy; November 1968 through March 1969, Served in Vietnam; 1970-1978, Served in U.S. Navy Reserves; 1976-1979, Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office; 1983-1985, Lt. Governor of Massachusetts; 1985-2004 U.S. Senator from Massachusetts.

BUSH WAS WARNED ABOUT AL QAEDA ATTACK PRIOR TO 9/11 BUT FAILED TO ACT

Bush Ignored Terrorism Before 9/11. Richard Clarke, former Bush counterterrorism chief: “Frankly, I find it outrageous that the president is running for reelection on the grounds that he’s done such great things about terrorism. He ignored it. He ignored terrorism for months, when maybe we could have done something to stop 9/11. Maybe.” CBS, "60 Minutes," 3/21/04

Bush Ignored the August ’01 PDB That Warned Of An Imminent Al Qaeda Attack Inside the US. Bush received a Presidential Daily Briefing on August 6, 2001, entitled, “Bin Laden Determined to Attack in US.” However, Bush did not hold a cabinet meeting on terrorism until September 4, even though his counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke had requested one in January 2001. Clarke believes that Bush “ignored” the threat of terrorism. AP, 4/8/04; Richard Clarke, Against All Enemies, pp. 231-237; CBS “60 Minutes,” 3/21/04

Bush Taskforce On Terrorism Never Met. On May 8, 2001 “Bush announced a new Office of National Preparedness for terrorism at the Federal Emergency Management Agency. At the same time, he proposed to cut FEMA’s budget by $200 million. Bush said that day that Cheney would direct a government-wide review on managing the consequences of a domestic attack, and ‘I will periodically chair a meeting of the National Security Council to review these efforts.’” Neither Cheney’s review nor Bush’s took place.” Washington Post, 1/20/02

Bush Himself Admitted No Sense Of Urgency. In his interview with journalist Bob Woodward for Woodward’s book Bush at War, “the president himself acknowledged that Osama bin Laden had not been a central focus in the eight months before the attacks. ‘I was not on point,’ Mr. Bush was quoted in the book as saying. ‘I have no hesitancy about going after him. But I didn’t feel that sense of urgency, and my blood was not nearly as boiling.’” New York Times, 3/29/04

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BUSH-CHENEY CREDIBILITY GAP

NARRATOR: “While campaigning, John Kerry has missed over two thirds of all votes. Missed a vote to lower health-care costs by reducing frivolous lawsuits against doctors.”

THE REALITY

Bush Spends Over 43 Percent of His Presidency On Vacation. According to an April CBS News report, Bush has spent 233 days at his Texas ranch since being inaugurated, including his 78 days at Camp David and five days in Kennebunkport, Maine. Since April, Bush has spent an additional 22 days at either Camp David or his Crawford ranch. In total, Bush has spent 43.1 percent, or all or part of 522 days, of his time in the White House at a vacation spot. Washington Post, 4/9/04

Unlike Bush, John Kerry Actually Has a Plan to Lower the Cost of Health Care & Cover More Children: John Kerry has a comprehensive health care plan for America which will simultaneously hold down costs while expanding coverage to more Americans. Kerry's plan would cover 27 million uninsured Americans and reduce premiums for everyone by 10%. Kerry’s plan will allow all Americans to buy into the same health plan that the President and Members of Congress give themselves and provide health care coverage for every child in America. “No health care plan for America can work without the direct personal involvement and leadership of the President of the United States. I intend to be a President who goes to the Oval Office each morning resolved that health care will not merely be the rhetoric of a campaign, a promise made and lost, but that with unwavering determination, for as long as it takes - we will at long last make health care available and affordable - a right and not a privilege - for every American.” – Kerry Announcing His Health Care Plan Mercy Medical Center, Des Moines, IA, 5/16/03

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BUSH-CHENEY CREDIBILITY GAP

NARRATOR: “Missed a vote to fund our troops in combat.”

THE RECORD

John Kerry Has Fought For Higher Pay, Increased Benefits & Better Equipment for the Men & Women in the Armed Forces: John Kerry has worked to support the men and women who defend the United States. Kerry knows what it is like to serve the country in uniform that is why he has strongly supported military pay raises and increased housing, education and retirement benefits for the men and women of the Armed Services. Kerry voted for the “Soldiers', Sailors', Airmen's and Marines' Bill of Rights Act” which authorized $46 billion over ten years to create a 4.8% pay raise for members of the military. The Act also authorized additional pay, retirement, education, savings, and health benefits. In 2000, Kerry voted for the McCain amendment to provide a further $28 million to service members for an additional allowance to military families who are eligible for food stamps—a problem John Kerry wants to end. Kerry was a cosponsor of John McCain’s Troops-to-Teachers Program Improvement Act which would provide stipends to members of the military who have recently retired or been discharged and are interested in becoming teachers. As recently as 2002, John Kerry voted for another pay raise for the men and women in the Armed Services. The 2002 vote provided “$10.4 billion for military construction and family housing” and “authorizes a new special compensation program which provides significantly enhanced compensation for military retirees with 20 or more years of service who incurred a qualifying combat-related disability.” 106th Congress, S.4 & S. 389; Office of Senator John Warner; Senate Roll Call Vote 1990 # 214;1999 #26; 2000 # 61; 2002 #239

Kerry Was a Lead Sponsor of the Amendment to Fund Our Nation’s Troops in Iraq Through Rescinding the Bush Tax Cut for the Wealthy: "The people who ordered up this war are the ones who ought to finance its aftermath. Yet when the Senate had a chance to vote on Oct. 2 for an amendment that would pay the postwar costs by temporarily reducing the tax cut for the wealthiest slice of Americans -- the less than 1 percent who $400,000 a year -- it was rejected, 57-42." Broder, 10/12/03; 108th Congress S.Amdt. 1796

Kerry Returned From Vietnam and Began a Lifetime Fight to Protect Those Still in Uniform: John Kerry was honorably discharged from the US. Navy in 1970 and began promoting issues important to his fellow veterans as well as the young men and women still in uniform. Kerry testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on behalf of those still fighting in Vietnam--whom he felt had been abandoned by their country--and concluded that “Someone has to die so that President Nixon won't be, and these are his words, ‘the first President to lose a war.’ ” Kerry, who had joined forces with the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, would lead 250,000 people in Washington against the White House’s mistaken decisions which cost American lives--“Half the names on the Vietnam Wall date from the time that that type of pride began to cloud the decisions in Vietnam.” John Kerry was motivated to ensure that veterans would never again be treated badly by their government and has continued this commitment ever since then. Kerry’s work for veterans has come through a number of organizations: Kerry’s work with the VVAW led to his co-founding the Vietnam Veterans of America and he became a life member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Additionally, Kerry is a member of the NamVets Association, the SWIFT Boat Sailors Association, and is the honorary co-chair of the United States Navy Memorial Foundation, a Corporate Council Member of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund and sits on the Advisory Council for the Library of Congress’s Veterans History Project. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 4/22/71; CNN, 7/21/03; AP, 10/12/03; Boston Globe, 6/17/03

BUSH WAS SLOW TO DELIVER EQUIPMENT TO TROOPS ON THE BATTLEFIELD

Bush Was Slow To Address Troops’ Need For Body Armor. Though Bush signed the Emergency Supplemental funding bill in November 2003 promising to use the money to “acquire new equipment, such as armored humvees and communications gear,” he has been slow to deliver on that pledge. The Bush Administration first promised all the troops they would have body armor at the end of November. They extended and missed deadlines for December, January, and February, until the Army Secretary told Congress in March 2004 that there were finally sufficient stocks of body armor to equip all soldiers by the end of the month. Bush Remarks at Iraq Supplemental Bill Signing, 11/6/03; House Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, 9/24/03; UPI, 12/3/03; Hartford Courant, 1/11/04; House Appropriations Committee, Defense Subcommittee, 2/12/04; Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, 3/2/04

Army Lacked The Resources They Needed In Iraq War. In a 542-page exhaustive self-assessment of the Iraq war, the Army concluded that American forces prevailed in the Iraq war despite supply and logistical failures, poor intelligence, communication breakdowns and futile attempts at psychological warfare. The LA Times characterized the findings of the report: “American soldiers who defeated the Iraqi regime 15 months ago received virtually none of the critical spare parts they needed to keep their tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles running. They ran chronically short of food, water and ammunition. Their radios often failed them. Their medics had to forage for medical supplies, artillery gunners had to cannibalize parts from captured Iraqi guns and intelligence units provided little useful information about the enemy.” LA Times, 7/3/04; Center for Army Lessons Learned, “On Point,” onpoint.leavenworth.army.mil/

Soldiers Forced to Buy Their Own Equipment. Soldiers are so desperate for lacking equipment that they are buying their own. “Some Army maintenance chiefs, in desperation, are using their own credit cards to make purchases. One soldier, who asked not to be identified, listed boots, goggles and protein bars as particularly coveted items.” MSNBC.com, 4/15/04

Army Study Suggested One-Fourth of Deaths in Iraq Could Have Been Prevented If Troops Were Properly-Equipped at Beginning of War. Newsweek reported, “A breakdown of the casualty figures suggests that many U.S. deaths and wounds in Iraq simply did not need to occur. According to an unofficial study by a defense consultant that is now circulating through the Army, of a total of 789 Coalition deaths as of April 15 (686 of them Americans), 142 were killed by land mines or improvised explosive devices, while 48 others died in rocket-propelled-grenade attacks. Almost all those soldiers were killed while in unprotected vehicles, which means that perhaps one in four of those killed in combat in Iraq might be alive if they had had stronger armor around them, the study suggested. Thousands more who were unprotected have suffered grievous wounds, such as the loss of limbs.” Newsweek, 5/3/04

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BUSH-CHENEY CREDIBILITY GAP

NARRATOR: “Yet, Kerry found time to vote against the Laci Peterson law that protects pregnant women from violence.”

THE REALITY

As a County Prosecutor, Kerry Led the Prosecution of Rapists, Started One of the First Rape Crisis Counseling Center & Was an Advocate for Victims Rights: John Kerry was the first assistant prosecutor of Middlesex County (one of the largest counties in the country) and had a strong record of being tough on crime and fighting for the rights of victims. Kerry founded a victim and witness protection program that made victim’s rights a top priority, a rare program for a District Attorney’s office. Kerry created a program that fast-tracked violent crimes to trial in 90 days and Kerry implemented counseling sessions for rape victims. “He launched initiatives that were innovative at the time: special units to prosecute white-collar and organized crime, programs to counsel rape victims and aid other crime victims and witnesses, and a system for fast-tracking priority cases to trial” and “is credited with reducing the backlog of cases” Boston Globe, 5/23/79, 6/3/79, 6/18/03; The New Yorker, 5/10/04; AP, 5/9/04Washington Post, 2/21/85

Bush Nominated Pryor To Lifetime Judicial Seat; Only State Attorney General to File a Brief Against VAWA. As attorney general of Alabama, William H. Pryor, Jr. was the only attorney general to file an amicus curiae brief asking the Supreme Court to strike down the Violence Against Women Act. Atlanta Journal Constitution, 7/31/03

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BUSH-CHENEY CREDIBILITY GAP

NARRATOR: “Kerry has his priorities. Are they yours?”

THE REALITY

Kerry’s Priorities Are the Same as Every American

Lower the Cost of Health Care:

Kerry’s Health Care Plan Will Cover 27 Million Uninsured Americans and Cut Premiums by 10%. John Kerry has a comprehensive health care plan for America which will simultaneously hold down costs while expanding coverage to more Americans. Kerry's plan would cover 27 million uninsured Americans and reduce premiums for everyone by 10%. Kerry’s plan will allow all Americans to buy into the same health plan that the President and Members of Congress give themselves and provide health care coverage for every child in America. “No health care plan for America can work without the direct personal involvement and leadership of the President of the United States. I intend to be a President who goes to the Oval Office each morning resolved that health care will not merely be the rhetoric of a campaign, a promise made and lost, but that with unwavering determination, for as long as it takes - we will at long last make health care available and affordable - a right and not a privilege - for every American.” – Kerry Announcing His Health Care Plan Mercy Medical Center, Des Moines, IA, 5/16/03

Create 10 Million New Jobs:

John Kerry Has a Plan to Create 10 Million New Jobs in America: Use Government Contracts for U.S. Workers: Stop Giving Government Contracts to Corporations Breaking the Rules; Consumers “Right to Know” on Call Center Workers; End Every Single Tax Credit That Gives Corporations Breaks for Moving Jobs Offshore; A Tax Credit to Create Manufacturing Jobs; More Jobs in Small Business; Jobs Through Energy Technology; Enforce Trade Laws to Protect American Workers; Make Sure Americans Can Compete in 21st Century Economy. www.johnkerry.com

A Plan to Win the War on Terror:

• John Kerry Has a Seven-Point, Comprehensive Plan to Fight the War Against Terror: I. Use Direct Military Action: Kerry will use military force when necessary to capture and destroy terrorist groups and their leaders. He will also increase active duty end strength and tailor forces to be better prepared for post-conflict and stability operation. II. Improve International Intelligence and Law Enforcement: Kerry will strengthen communication networks between intelligence agencies, build cooperative capacity with international law enforcement agencies, increase the number of linguists trained in critical languages and create a real Director of National Intelligence with budget and personnel power. III. Cut Off the Flow of Terrorist Funds: Kerry will impose tough financial sanction against banks or nations that engage in money laundering or fail to act against it and will launch a “name and shame’ campaign against those that finance terror. IV. Control the Spread of Weapons on Mass Destruction: Kerry will appoint a high-level Presidential envoy to lead the effort and expand the Nunn/Lugar program to buy up and destroy stockpiles of loose WMD materials. V. Win the Peace in Iraq and Afghanistan: Kerry will bring real security in Iraq by broadening the coalition, including the United Nations, and creating a real Iraqi security force that can take care of itself and the people it is supposed to protect. In Afghanistan, Kerry would put forward a major increase in security and fund the promised a Marshall Plan for reconstruction. VI. Win the War of Ideas and the Future of a Young Generation: Kerry will build bridges to the Arab and Islamic world by supporting and assisting human rights groups, independent media, and labor unions dedicated to building a democratic culture. VII. Secure America's Homeland: Kerry will restore funding for the COPS program, add 100,000 firefighters to our streets, secure and protect our nuclear and chemical facilities, bolster port and aviation security.

www.johnkerry.com

Paid for by John Kerry for President, Inc.

[wolfgirl]

1. Yee haa! n/t

[Media_Lies_Daily]

2. Whammo!! This is just like the way Clinton's team responded to....

...GOP attacks in 1992 and 1996.

Excellent!