Friday, September 3, 2004
Kerry maintained that Bush is 'unfit to lead this nation.'
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
NEW YORK -- John Kerry declared he'd taken enough "incoming" Thursday night and blasted back by suggesting President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were Vietnam War draft dodgers and charging they misled the nation into the Iraq war.
In his toughest counterpunch of the campaign, decorated Navy vet Kerry said he wasn't going to have his military qualifications questioned by "those who refused to serve" in Vietnam.
"For the past week, they attacked my patriotism and my fitness to serve as commander in chief ... Well, here's my answer," Kerry said.
"I'm not going to have my commitment to defend this country questioned by those who refused to serve when they could have and by those who have misled the nation into Iraq."
Bush spent the Vietnam War in the Texas Air National Guard. Cheney got five deferments and once explained that he had "other priorities."
Kerry collected five medals in Vietnam, but Bush allies have charged that Kerry has lied about his service.
And Kerry's commitment to the nation's defense was a prime target of Cheney and Sen. Zell Miller, D-Ga., in convention speeches Wednesday night.
Rebuttal
"We all saw the anger and distortion of the Republican convention," Kerry said. "The vice president even called me unfit for office last night. I guess I'll leave it up to the voters whether five deferments make someone more qualified to defend this nation than two tours of duty."
Kerry charged that Bush's conduct in the presidential campaign and his failed planning in Iraq made him "unfit to lead this nation."
"Let me tell you what I think makes someone unfit for duty," Kerry said in remarks prepared for a speech in Ohio after Bush spoke last night. "Misleading our nation into war in Iraq makes you unfit to lead this nation. Doing nothing while this nation loses millions of jobs makes you unfit to lead this nation."
Backlash
Kerry hit back as the Democrats tried to stoke a voter backlash to the blowtorch GOP attacks on Kerry.
"There was a lot of hate coming from that podium," Kerry's running mate Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., said of the one-two political punches by Miller and Cheney.
Democratic strategists said Miller and Cheney gave them an opening to rebound from a dismal August spent fending off attacks on Kerry's military record.
"We always knew August would be a tough month for us," said Kerry campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill, but, "I think Zell Miller will be the lasting impression. People remember gasoline."
Team Bush liked what they heard from Miller, who is a Democrat.
"He was reaching people we might not have been able to reach," said White House Chief of Staff Andy Card.