Posted on 09/27/2004 9:51:57 PM PDT by Former Military Chick
W A S H I N G T O N, Sept. 27, 2004— A new Bush campaign ad tries to make the case that Sen. John Kerry has held a host of contradictory positions on the war in Iraq, but it does so by relying on misleadingly edited portions of the Democratic candidate's statements.
Part of the latest Bush campaign TV commercial includes a clip from ABC News' May 2003 Democratic presidential candidate debate, during which Kerry said, "I think it was the right decision to disarm Saddam Hussein." But the ad excludes part of the same sentence, in which Kerry said, "I said at the time I would have preferred if we had given diplomacy a greater opportunity."
Another misleading clip in the ad shows the Massachusetts Democrat saying the "winning of the war was brilliant," implying Kerry was praising Bush's leadership in the war.
"When he says winning the war was brilliant, he's talking about the way the war was won by the troops. He's not praising Bush, and he's certainly not endorsing the decision to go to war," said Brooks Jackson, director of FactCheck.org of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.
The rest of Kerry's quote, from an appearance on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews in May 2003, clarifies his position.
"That winning of the war was brilliant and superb, and we all applaud our troops for doing what they did. But you've got to have the capacity to provide law and order on the streets and to provide the fundamental services, and I believe American troops will be safer and America will pay less money if we have a broader coalition involved," he said.
Other Incomplete Quotes
Other quotes in the ad are complete, such as one in which the senator tries to explain his vote on money to provide equipment for U.S. troops: "I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it."
Kerry instead voted for a version of the $87 billion supplemental spending bill that helped pay for the expenses through a partial rollback of some of the Bush tax cuts.
According to Norm Ornstein, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, "About half the statements in [the Bush] ad were Kerry statements that stand alone and the burden has to be on him to defend them, but about half the statements in this ad are truncated, taken out of context and probably shouldn't be there."
Using a politician's own words against him can be an effective campaign tactic. But anaylsts say it's one that can backfire if those quotes are used in a way voters ultimately decide is misleading.
"I think this about the most egregious example I've seen of using selective quotes to mislead voters so far in this campaign," said Jackson.
Added Ornstein: "John Kerry has said plenty of things that require at minimum an explanation from him, you can use those without having to get into statements that are either cut short or taken out of context in a way that just isn't appropriate for an ad of this sort."
Asked about the accuracy of the ad, Bush campaign spokesman Scott Stanzel told ABC News that "all the quotes are in context and they demonstrate how John Kerry's positions on one of the most important issues of the day contiue to change."
ABC News' Ann Compton contributed to this report.
What's dishonest is the way these quotes are "debunked." Kerry said "I think it was the right decision to disarm Saddam Hussein..."
Regardless of the second part of that quote, Kerry is saying here that it was the right decision, which contradicts what he's saying now, that it was "the wrong war at the wrong place at the wrong time."
This is funny. Ornstein would advocate that Kerry have to explain himself in some of the quotes, which means that voters would expect him to be able to explain himself in all the quotes.
Eyes glaze over when Kerry clarifies, so this ad is a winner.
And John Kerry has held only one position on Iraq, didn't you know?
BTW, he also served in Vietnam.
"I think it was the right decision to disarm Saddam Hussein." But the ad excludes part of the same sentence, in which Kerry said, "I said at the time I would have preferred if we had given diplomacy a greater opportunity."
How are those two statements "part of the same sentence"? Do people usually insert semi-colons into dialogue?
I'm sure this scumbag didn't find the Democrat use of a partial Newt Gingrich quote about Medicare a few years ago "egregious", lol.
What a bunch of winers!
They would never cut Bush this kind of slack.
I have proof: For the past three weeks they've been misquoting Cheney, who did NOT say we'd be attacked if Kerry is elected. What he said was that if Kerry's elected, there's a danger that we'll be attacked and then WE WON'T RESPOND PROPERLY, but will instead go back to the Clinton method of dealing with terrorism, ie not confronting it.
Gee, kinda like "Mission Accomplished" is being used out of context. I'm sure you'll get right on THAT story, ABC! :D
Why didn't these "objective" journalists do a story about the lies and distortions that are in Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11? Or the MoveOn.org anti-Bush propaganda? Their Liberal agenda is showing.
The MSM - eternal guardians of "context". Remember how they all rushed to Newt Gingrich's defense over the "wither on the vine" statement? Remember? Think really, reeeeallly hard.
Crap, I think think they may just be hypocritacal lefties.
The same Jake Tapper from SALON?
Here comes the MSM (ABC in this case) out to save Kerry as best they can. They curiously ignore that fact that he ran as the War candidate during the first part of the Democratic primary season. Remember he was pounded hard by Howard Dean and company for taking the same position as Bush. Then later on he became the nuanced War candidate and now he is the anti-war (Howard Dean) candidate.
The MSM cannot even keep their own stories straight. I heard Lawrence O'Donnell on the McLaughlin Report say the only sensible policy for Kerry to have taken is an ever changing policy because the situation has changed. Now, which is it. Has Kerry been strong and resolute in his convictions or is he always changing. Clearly he has a "windsurfing" foreign policy and shifts with the political winds. You just cannot trust DemoRats and the MSM.
Note the times Kerry has faulted Bush for claiming that the "mission was complete"!! Kerry has them "winning the war"!
Or hypocritical, even. Dummy.
The quotes were in context before they were out of context.
"Kerry instead voted for a version of the $87 billion supplemental spending bill that helped pay for the expenses through a partial rollback of some of the Bush tax cuts."
Uh, doesn't that mean he was actually voting for rolling back the tax cuts, considering he would have voted for that part by itself but voted against the $87 Billion when it stood alone?
Bush-Cheney ;04 Ad Facts: “Searching”AD FACT
PRESIDENT BUSH: I'm George W. Bush and I approve this message.
JOHN KERRY: It was the right decision to disarm Saddam Hussein, and when the President made the decision I supported him.
BACKGROUND
May 2003: In First Democrat Debate, Kerry Strongly Supported President's Action In Iraq. SEN. JOHN KERRY: George, I said at the time I would have preferred if we had given diplomacy a greater opportunity, but I think it was the right decision to disarm Saddam Hussein, and when the President made the decision, I supported him, and I support the fact that we did disarm him. (ABC News Democrat Presidential Candidate Debate, Columbia, SC, 5/3/03)
AD FACT
JOHN KERRY: I don't believe the President took us to war as he should have.
BACKGROUND
January 2004: After Voting For War And Trailing Candidate Howard Dean In The Democrat Primaries, Kerry Said He Is Anti-War Candidate. CHRIS MATTHEWS: Do you think you belong to that category of candidates who more or less are unhappy with this war, the way it's been fought, along with General Clark, along with Howard Dean and not necessarily in companionship politically on the issue of the war with people like Lieberman, Edwards and Gephardt? Are you one of the anti-war candidates? KERRY: I am -- Yes, in the sense that I don';t believe the president took us to war as he should have, yes, absolutely. (MSNBC's Hardball, 1/6/04)
AD FACT
JOHN KERRY:The winning of the war was brilliant.
BACKGROUND
May 2003: Kerry Said The Winning Of The War Was Brilliant. I think they clearly have dropped the ball with respect to the first month in the after -- winning the war. That winning of the war was brilliant and superb, and we all applaud our troops for doing what they did, but you've got to have the capacity to provide law and order on the streets and to provide the fundamental services, and I believe American troops will be safer and America will pay less money if we have a broader coalition involved in that, including the United Nations. (MSNBC's “Hardball, 5/19/03)
AD FACT
JOHN KERRY: It's the wrong war, in the wrong place, at the wrong time.”
BACKGROUND
September 2004: Kerry: Iraq Is The Wrong War In The Wrong Place At The Wrong Time. Democrat John Kerry accused President Bush on Monday of sending U.S. troops to the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong timeand said he'd try to bring them all home in four years. (Calvin Woodward, Kerry Slams Wrong War in the Wrong Place, The Associated Press, 9/6/04)
AD FACT
JOHN KERRY: I have always said we may yet even find weapons of mass destruction.
BACKGROUND
December 2003: Kerry: I Have Always Said We May Yet Even Find Weapons Of Mass Destruction. I Don't Know The Answer To That. (Fox News’ Fox News Sunday, 12/14/03)
AD FACT
JOHN KERRY: I actually did vote for the 87 billion dollars before I voted against it.
GRAPHIC: How can John Kerry protect us when he doesn't even know where he stands?
BACKGROUND
March 2004: Kerry Claims I Actually Did Vote For The $87 Billion Before I Voted Against It. (Sen. John Kerry, Speech In Huntington, WV, 3/16/04)
Where is the outrage when BUSH=HITLER ads are shown
THE MEDIA IS A DISGRACE
w2004
ciao
If John Kerry can't figure out sound bites... how is he going to be POTUS???
Its hilarious that the media is discrediting themselves by trying to tell people that John Kerry isn't a flip-flopper, thats like trying to convince people at the Vatican that the Pope isn't Catholic...
But its true. Of course, Kerry is entirely out of context anyway.
Change the time, the faces, the war for a moment: Dewey: "I think it's wonderful that the U.S. Military forces prevailed in WWII, but it's a crying ass shame that FDR was Peez. at the time." Truman would have love that one, ha, the election in 1948 would have likely been a super blowdown for HST. Not a little close.
Soooo, Kerry gives the troops credit for winning the war but not Bush who is their Commander in Cheif? I guess they sent themselves there and devised and implemented their own war strategy.
How does this author explain Kerry calling Dean unfit to be president, after Dean said Iraq was better off with Saddam?
It's not just showing, it's like they're standing on a mountaintop and shouting it. They make no bones whatsover about their bias. But then again, the liberals don't really have much conscience.
These quotes the MSM tries to justify are typical Kerry. He's nuanced don'tcha know.
Funny… Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t remember ABC News, Jake Tapper, Toni Wilson or Ann Compton being upset a few years ago when the Democrats were running ads featuring Newt Gingrich and Republicans supposedly referring to Social Security “dying on the vine” that ran about 10 million times and was absolutely, completely unfair, misleading and taken out of context too.
But, the dems and MSM have very much taken Cheney's quote about being hit hard out of context to change the meaining.
Is this article a forgery?
Anyone who has paid any attention knows Kerry has flip-flopped on Iraq based on what he has said. However, he has not flip-flopped based on what he believes.
What is wrong with this? He is doing his damndest to make us think he didn't want to disarm Saddam now! That's a flippin' freak flop!
Oh... you know what I mean!
Note that the second part of this is Kerry telling us what he previously told us about an important subject - which most likely doesn't match what he actually said "at the time" (naturally).
Now, the first part is a standalone thought - thet's why it's a complete sentence. The second, modifying, sentence, is the political double-speak that Kerry thinks makes him look presidential - even though it's probably not true.
It's interesting that the punctuation used in the article reinforces that these are two separate sentences, even though the author describes them as being parts of one.
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