Posted on: Tuesday, August 10, 2004

EDITORIAL
Attacks on Kerry's war record are unfair

At some point, presidential candidate John Kerry will have to get past his compelling story of service in Vietnam and get on with more detail on how he will manage the nation's economy, resolve our presence in Iraq and so forth.

But it is one thing to say "enough already" with the Vietnam history. It is quite another to suggest that history is bogus or an invalid part of Kerry's story.

But that is precisely what is happening in an unpleasant campaign under way in swing states such as Ohio and West Virginia.

The ads, which raise doubts about Kerry's war record, have been slammed by Republican Sen. John McCain — a Bush supporter — as being unworthy. And indeed they are.

The campaign, with substantial Republican funding, is being led by a new group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

Ads sponsored by this new group depict Kerry as a bungler, unworthy of his medals.

Among those on the steering committee of the new Swift Boats group is a veteran named John E. O'Neill. O'Neill helped form another organization in 1971, at the behest of the Nixon administration, called Vietnam Veterans for a Just Peace.

Among the new effort's goals: discredit a young John Kerry, then fresh out of the military and making a name for himself as an anti-war protester.

There are many areas where the Bush administration and the Republicans can legitimately attack Kerry, including his Senate record and his conflicting stand on Iraq.

But going after him for his service in Vietnam doesn't cut it. President Bush should denounce these ads and all similar efforts in the strongest of terms.