Democrat John Kerry’s campaign raised questions Tuesday about President Bush’s military record as the war of words over what the two candidates did during the Vietnam era escalated.
Kerry was on a bus tour through four states that he was using to highlight the loss of jobs during the Bush presidency. He depicted Bush as someone who was focused on the needs of the wealthy and on his leisure time at his Texas ranch while factory workers were being laid off.
But for the second straight day, it was what Kerry, a decorated Vietnam War veteran turned antiwar activist, and Bush, a pilot in the National Guard, did three decades ago that was attracting much of the campaign heat.
Kerry’s campaign issued a statement accusing the president of receiving special treatment during his service in the Guard and of failing to prove he showed up for duty during part of his service.
“Bush has said he used no special treatment to get into the Guard. How does he explain the fact that he jumped ahead of 150 applicants despite low pilot aptitude scores?” said the statement.
Gaps in Bush's record
The statement also pointed to what it said were gaps in the records regarding Bush’s service in the Guard during 1972 and 1973. The campaign asked nine specific questions highlighting what it said were gaps in Bush’s record.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan called the statement a “political attack” but referred questions about it to the Bush campaign, which had no immediate reaction.
The Kerry response came a day after the Bush campaign led by Vice President Dick Cheney unleashed a major assault on the Democrat’s record on defense spending and raised questions about differences between his opposition to the Vietnam War then and now.
Republicans, looking to neutralize Kerry’s status as a decorated war veteran, pressed him to explain what they called an inconsistency over whether he threw away his ribbons or the more important medals themselves.
As his campaign entered into that fray, Kerry was trying to highlight the loss of 2.8 million manufacturing jobs nationwide during Bush’s time in office in a “Jobs First” bus tour through Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Michigan.
All four states have heavy manufacturing bases with workers who have been hard hit by layoffs and all four are considered major swing states in the November election.
In Youngstown, on the second day of the bus tour, Kerry said American workers, particularly those in manufacturing, were facing a crisis that Bush has ignored.
“When it comes to the crisis in American jobs, it is not a stretch to say that George Bush has been busy clearing brush,” Kerry said, referring to Bush’s well-publicized enjoyment of clearing away brush on his ranch in Crawford, Texas.
“I think we need a president who creates jobs,” Kerry said.