Posted on: Saturday, August 21, 2004

EDITORIAL
Vietnam War rehash is becoming sordid

President Bush must be congratulated for insisting he will not make his opponent's military service record an issue in this year's campaign.

Democrat John Kerry's service in Vietnam was "noble," Bush says, and he is uninterested in any discussion of whether that service record was embellished or falsified.

That's a good statement, and it takes some self-restraint because Kerry has made his Vietnam service the very centerpiece of his campaign to unseat the president.

But the president's self-restraint is lacking in some of his supporters and associates.

By now, most people have heard about a group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which has produced a book and a series of television ads asserting Kerry either lied or embellished his record in Vietnam and is claiming rights to medals he does not deserve.

The Bush campaign says it has nothing to do with the group, its ads or the book.

Perhaps not directly, but it is well established that some of those behind the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth include those with close connections to the Bush family, to prominent Texas fund-raisers and supporters of both Bush and the GOP and to top Bush political adviser Karl Rove.

If the president is sincere in his desire to get this issue off the political table, all he need do is denounce the ads.

By contrast, Kerry has denounced an ad by a group of Democratic supporters called Move On, which accused Bush of using family connections to get in the Air National Guard to avoid Vietnam service.

That's the right thing to do, although one has to assume Kerry's actions were designed in part to position Bush to back away from the anti-Kerry campaign.

The larger issue is the use of so-called "527" organizations, named after a section of the federal tax code, that can raise and spend money to attack political candidates outside of the rules that apply to candidates themselves.

Bush has said there should be no role for these 527 groups in the campaign. We agree, and so should Kerry.

And then, we should get on to the issues that affect America today rather than continuously rehashing events of three decades ago.