ABC News' The Note: First Source for Political News
W A S H I N G T O N, Aug. 19, 2004—<br> -- NOTED NOW
TODAY'S SCHEDULE (all times ET)
FUTURES CALENDAR
Morning Show Wrap
Evening Newscasts Wrap
11 days until the Republican convention75 days until election day
NEWS SUMMARYAugust tinder that would be October firestorms —
The Washington Post looks at one of the key members of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, laying down not the first (nor the last) journalistic suggestion that the group's name is more ironic than Dickensian. LINK
A1: "Newly obtained military records of one of Sen. John F. Kerry's most vocal critics, who has accused the Democratic presidential candidate of lying about his wartime record to win medals, contradict his own version of events."
The Bush campaign's performance 3/5th of the way through "Intelligence Week" has been boffo so far.
Yesterday's missile defense cameo by the not-involved-in-this-campaign SecDef Rumsfeld was exquisitely timed coincidence, and helps with the succinct summary of the state of affairs laid out by the Washington Post 's own Okie, Lois Romano: "Kerry has in the past 10 days been put on the defensive on national security with a barrage of partisan challenges to his Vietnam service record, his war wounds, his commendations for valor, and his fitness to serve as commander in chief."
And here, buried in Paragraph 6, is our lede: Watch Sen. Kerry today at his morning firefighter event, and there's a new ad. Today, simply put, is pushback day.
The KE04 campaign is releasing a new ad responding to the Swift Boat charges today — a 30-second spot entitled "Rassmann," featuring former Green Beret Lt. Jim Rassmann talking about Kerry's service in Vietnam, which will air in the states where the SBVfT claims were first aired — including West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Ohio.
The exact size of the this first campaign buy since the convention is TBD (The campaign says it will match the SBVfT buy, but its political impact will be felt no matter what.)
And judging from the campaign's statement, it's going nuclear.
"This truth knows no party labels. In fact, Republican Senator John McCain called the television ad run by these Bush supporters 'dishonest and dishonorable,' and called on President Bush to condemn it. Nearly two weeks later, the president still refuses to join Senator McCain in setting the record straight — just as he refused to disavow or condemn hateful and vicious attacks on Senator McCain's military record during the Republican primary in South Carolina in 2000."
Script:
John Kerry:"I'm John Kerry and I approved this message."
Narrator: "The people attacking John Kerry's war record are funded by Bush's big money supporters. Listen to someone who was there, the man whose life John Kerry saved."
Lt. Jim Rassmann: "It blew me off the boat. All these Viet Cong were shooting at me. I expected I'd be shot. When he pulled me out of the river, he risked his live to save mine."
Narrator: "The Navy documented John Kerry's heroism, and awarded him the Bronze Star. Today, he still has shrapnel in his leg from his wounds in Vietnam."
The First Lady does her best imitation of Brent Bozell in an interview with the Washington Times . LINK
"' … I think it's obvious in some parts of the media … that there's a bias … Or an agenda … .' The first lady said she has resigned herself to the reality that conservatives seeking the presidency must work harder than liberals in order to compensate for the liberal bias of the press."
Dow Jones Owl-Eyed David Rogers touts GOP Representative Doug Bereuter's turning against the Iraq war as huge and deserving of the LaHood Award.
And Ray LaHood agrees!!!
Drudge gets it wrong in touting Mike McCurry as poised to draw a Kerry paycheck.
But there are those who are Harbouring a willingness to Park themselves at 15th and Eye Streets. (Note apology: that's mostly for insiders … .)
The Wall Street Journal 's brilliant Greg Ip stumbles into the minimum wage ballot measures in Florida and Nevada — the gay marriage of the left.
Bush campaign policy director Tim Adams does his best John Kerry imitation, saying the president "is willing to consider any reasonable proposal that phases in an increase over an extended period of time — provided it would not place unreasonable costs on small businesses or other job creators."
David Broder loses out to John Harwood by one day, with his own nifty look at the power and influence of early voting. LINK
The Dean gives his stamp of approval to said early voting.
Kit "The Artist Formerly Known as an Inky" Seelye goes to Pennsylvania to look at Democratic ballot challenges to Ralph Nader. LINK
And Kit proves again to be the master of the kicker quote.
On the day when Ralph Nader has to submit ballots to get onto the Ohio ballot, Sen. Kerry is the only one out and about.
At 9:00 am ET he makes his news with an addresses that International Association of Fire Fighters' annual convention in Boston and then travels to Derry, NH, for a front porch event, where he is expected to jump on a new study that finds higher health has care has cost Americans jobs and reduced job quality.
The campaign claims 40,000 New Hampshire residents have lost their health care under Bush.
Other than that, there's a whole lot of vacation:
Following his third bus tour of Wisconsin, President Bush is down at his Crawford ranch until Thursday, Aug. 26, with only a single event on the schedule: a closed meeting with Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld next Monday.
Sen. Edwards is at his residence in Washington, DC with no scheduled events through Friday.
And Vice President Cheney is in Wyoming with no public events.
ABC News Vote 2004: Bush-Cheney v. Kerry-Edwards:
USA Today 's Jill Lawrence reports on Kerry's VFW appearance and touts the new USA TODAY /CNN/Gallup Poll of Ohio showing "Kerry besting Bush 48%-46% among likely voters, and 52%-42% among registered voters. The poll of 761 registered and 628 likely voters, conducted last Friday through Sunday, had a margin of error of +/-4 percentage points for registered voters and +/-5 percentage points for likely voters." LINK
Wednesday was just another day chock-full of attacks between the two presidential campaigns. Yesterday's was on troop realignment and other issues of national security, and Patrick Healy of the Boston Globe has all the gory details. LINK
Ed Chen and Matea Gold of the Los Angeles Times team up to delve into the back and forth on troop redeployment. And for you recipe seekers out there, apparently, "16 allusions to his military service in the 34-minute speech" makes for a "heavily salted" John Kerry appearance. LINK
"The differing stances by Kerry and Bush on troop redeployment help bolster both men's military credentials. Bush, who did not see combat in Vietnam but served in the Texas Air National Guard, can show his empathy for soldiers by bringing them and their families home. Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran, can appear tough on military issues by saying the troops need to stay abroad, while demonstrating his interest in maintaining cooperation with allies."
Sen. John Kerry calls President Bush's plan to recall troops from Europe and South Korea dangerous and shortsighted, Notes Stephen Dinan of the Washington Times .
"The president's vaguely stated plan does not strengthen our hand in the war on terror. It in no way relieves the strain on our overextended personnel. It doesn't even begin until 2006, and it takes 10 years to achieve," Kerry told a VFW convention in Cincinnati. "This hastily announced plan raises more doubts about our intentions and our commitment than it provides real answers." LINK
Doug Feith argues on the Washington Post 's op-ed page that President Bush's plan to restructure the military will make the forces stronger, and help U.S. relationships with American allies. The undersecretary of defense for policy also says changing deployments in East Asia will allow more flexibility in dealing with threats from North Korea. LINK
The Washington Post 's Dana Milbank reports that the Bush and Kerry camps are coming to they-said/they said blows over the terms for the intelligence briefings that Sen. Kerry would typically receive, delaying overview. Bush people say Kerry's logistical preferences — i.e., out of Washington — and the request for advisers to participate is a problem, while Kerry people say the administration is dragging its heels on OKing security clearances for the meetings. LINK
"The result is that at a time when access to sensitive intelligence is more important than ever for national leaders, a skirmish between the White House and the Kerry campaign has postponed the sort of intelligence-sharing that has been standard during presidential races over the past half-century."
Milbank's last graf takes a historical peek at how the briefings have been run in the past. Clip and save, everybody!
Looking for the women who don't fit the mold — Ron Fournier looks at women voters and who the campaigns are targeting. "Polls show that single women generally favor Democrats, married women lean Republican, elderly women are more Democratic. Bush and Kerry are targeting swing-voting women such as Burnosky who defy categorization with their independence."LINK
USA Today 's Rick Hampson reports on the efforts to get young eligible voters registered AND voting. The skepticism in this piece is heavier than that felt by a test audience for an M. Night Shyamalan film. LINK
Hampson also looks at the Homeric journey of Rock the Vote. LINK
ABC News Vote 2004: Bush-Cheney re-elect:
Bill Clinton and John Kerry will both read this one with interest:
The New York Times ' David Kirkpatrick reports that a/the key adviser on Catholic issues to the Bush campaign, Deal Hudson, announced yesterday in a column on National Review online that he is resigning as a BC04 adviser "because of a Catholic newspaper's investigation into accusations of sexual misconduct involving a female student at a college where he once taught." Hudson is the "publisher of the conservative Roman Catholic journal Crisis and the architect of a Republican effort to court Catholic voters." LINK
In a New York Times must-read, Dick Stevenson examines the president's rhetoric on defense and military issues on the trail this week, Noting that the emphasis "appeared intended to position him as an innovative, forward-looking commander in chief whose vision extends well beyond the problems he has had bringing Iraq under control."LINK
Stevenson looks at the politics and writes that "the challenge for Mr. Bush is not so much to solidify his standing as the nation's commander in chief as it is to make sure he appears stronger and more reliable than Mr. Kerry. As Mr. Bush's political advisers often say, elections are about choices and comparisons.
And with just two weeks until the President's speech at the Garden, this sentence is probably not what campaign advisers hope to be reading: "The upshot is that Mr. Bush's standing among voters on national security matters is not what he and his advisers had hoped it would be heading into the Republican Convention in New York, which the White House had once assumed would be a perfect setting to showcase the president's standing as commander in chief in a post-9/11 world"
The Washington Post 's Dana Milbank wraps President Bush's trip to Chippewa Falls, WI, where he "proposed new educational benefits for National Guardsmen and reservists." LINK
Milbank Notes the presence of a permanent face on the campaign plane: "Traveling with Bush was Karen Hughes, a key figure in his 2000 election who joined the campaign this week at a salary of about $15,000 per month. 'I took the training wheels off today,' said Hughes, who will travel with Bush for the rest of the campaign."
