Bush: Kerry is wrong on taxes and national defense
WASHINGTON (AP) — On the air for just a week, President Bush launches the first negative television ads of his re-election campaign on Friday, accusing Democratic rival John Kerry of being “wrong on taxes” and “wrong on defense.”
The toughest of the two new ads names Kerry and claims he would raise taxes by $900 billion and “delay defending America.” The other makes a veiled reference to Kerry when Bush says: “We can go forward with confidence, resolve and hope. Or we can turn back to the dangerous illusions that terrorists are not plotting and outlaw regimes are no threat.”
In response, Kerry accused Bush of “running away” from his own record, and the Massachusetts senator’s campaign called the $900 billion figure “completely made up.”
Bush’s new 30-second spots will air in 18 competitive states, along with similar ads on radio. They are the second installment in a multimillion-dollar ad campaign that attempts to shift voters’ attention from his political weaknesses to his strengths — from talk of joblessness in an ailing economy to a debate over Democratic tax hikes; and on terrorism, from violence-torn Iraq to reminders of his leadership on Sept. 11, 2001.
Bush’s campaign wants to open the general election campaign in control of the debate and with Kerry on the defensive after Democrats spent months exploiting Bush’s vulnerabilities, both on the campaign trail and on the television airwaves during the early primaries. Over the past six months, Kerry alone has spent millions to run at least a dozen ads critical of Bush or his policies.
The Democrats’ attacks likely contributed to the drop in Bush’s approval ratings, which have fallen to the lowest levels of his presidency. The incumbent Republican now is in a rush to recover, and to define Kerry for voters.
The characterizations of Kerry as a tax-raising, soft-on-terorrism candidate prompted his advisers to say the campaign would run a response ad accusing Bush of distorting Kerry’s record and highlighting Kerry’s middle-class tax cut plans.
But they would not say how much money Kerry would spend to broadcast the ad or name the state where it would run, raising doubts about whether the ad would be a formidable response to Bush’s blitz.
Kerry is not on the air anywhere as he works to rebuild his shrunken campaign coffers after an expensive Democratic primary contest. Until Bush’s ads were unveiled Thursday, Kerry’s campaign had no immediate plans to go on the air or dip into the $16 million in Democratic Party money available to him.
Kerry has raised $7 million on the Internet since locking up the Democratic presidential nomination March 2, but he would have to spend most of it to match the $6 million Bush has spent on broadcast ads alone in his first week on the air. That doesn’t include the more than $4.5 million Bush is spending on national cable networks through May.
On Capitol Hill where he met with congressional Democrats on Thursday, Kerry criticized Bush’s ads for not focusing on health care, the economy, education, the environment or national security.
“They can’t talk about those things because George Bush doesn’t have a record to run on, he has a record to run away from, and that’s what they’re trying to do,” Kerry said.
His campaign condemned Bush’s “attack ad” and negative politics just a day after Kerry called Republican critics “the most crooked … lying group I’ve ever seen.” That comment, captured by a live microphone without Kerry’s knowledge, prompted Bush adviser Marc Racicot to call on Kerry to apologize “for this negative attack.”
Kerry said Thursday that he had “no intention whatsoever of apologizing.”
Bush’s first round of ads were positive, but their references to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks sparked criticism from Democrats and some victims’ relatives who accused him of exploiting the tragedy.
One of his new ads now has drawn the ire of the Arab American Institute. James Zogby, the institute’s president, suggested that Bush not run the commercial because it shows a picture of an olive-skinned man with bushy eyebrows above the phrase “Weaken Fight Against Terrorists”
“This is the very thing that the president warned against after 9-11. He was so wise to tell the country not to fall prey to the negative stereotypes that exploit fear,” Zogby said. “Now the president seems to be doing what he warned against.”
The ad, the most critical of the two, alludes to Kerry’s desire to get United Nations approval before the U.S. invasion of Iraq and notes his opposition to the Patriot Act. It also makes the claim of a $900 billion tax hike, which Kerry has never explicitly called for.
Kerry has vowed to roll back Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy, saving about $250 billion over 10 years by most estimates. He would keep — and perhaps enhance — middle-class tax cuts pushed by Bush.
The Bush campaign says there is no way Kerry can implement his health care plan and not increase the deficit without hiking taxes by $900 billion. Kerry campaign officials said they will flesh out his economic plans soon.
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On the Net:
Bush campaign: http://www.georgewbush.com
Kerry campaign: http://johnkerry.com