Political week puts campaigns on offensive
From Wolf Blitzer
CNN
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- As in football, the best defense is often the best offense in politics.
That may explain why Vice President Dick Cheney came out swinging Monday against Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry -- citing his votes against various weapons systems.
"The senator is obviously free to vote as he wishes but he should be held to his own standard. It is irresponsible to vote against vital support for the United States military," said the vice president.
Kerry's supporters were assuming this was going to be a tough week for the Bush-Cheney campaign -- with three events that would put the president and the vice president on the defensive.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on Cheney's refusal to release details of his 2001 controversial energy task force. On Thursday, the president and the vice president will appear before the 9/11 commission. And Saturday is the one-year anniversary of the president's landing aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln -- under the "Mission Accomplished" banner.
But even before Cheney lashed out against Kerry, Democratic Party Chairman Terry McAuliffe launched his own strike.
"You remember Dick Cheney. When John Kerry was risking his life for his country in Vietnam, Dick Cheney was getting deferments because, in his words, he had other priorities than military service," McAuliffe said Monday.
But as much as the Democratic candidate's supporters were hoping to keep the Bush-Cheney team on the defensive, Kerry was feeling the heat from his 1971 statements and behavior in opposing the Vietnam War after he came home.
At issue -- whether he threw away his medals to protest the war -- and not just his ribbons as he has long maintained.
"I threw my ribbons. I didn't have my medals. It's very simple," Kerry said on ABC's "Good Morning America" on Monday.
Kerry also went on the offensive saying, "This comes from a president and a Republican Party that can't even answer whether or not he showed up for duty in the National Guard. I'm not going to stand for it."
This debate is only just beginning -- witness this latest Bush-Cheney ad, in which a narrator says:
"Kerry even voted against body armor for our troops on the frontline in the war on terror. John Kerry's record on national security: troubling."
