GOP Prism Distorts Some Kerry Positions

[papau]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57627-2004Sep2.html

GOP Prism Distorts Some Kerry Positions

By Glenn Kessler and Dan Morgan
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, September 3, 2004; Page A01

Speakers at this week's Republican convention have relentlessly attacked John F. Kerry for statements he has made and votes he has taken in his long political career, but a number of their specific claims -- such as his votes on military programs -- are at best selective and in many cases stripped of their context, according to a review of the documentation provided by the Bush campaign.

As a senator, Kerry has long been skeptical of big-ticket weapons systems, especially when measured against rising budget deficits, and to some extent he opened himself to this line of attack when he chose to largely skip over his Senate career during his acceptance speech at the Democratic convention last month. But the barrage by Republicans at their own convention has often misportrayed statements or votes that are years, if not decades, old.

For instance:

• Kerry did not cast a series of votes against individual weapons systems, as Sen. Zell Miller (D-Ga.) suggested in a slashing convention speech in New York late Wednesday, but instead Kerry voted against a Pentagon spending package in 1990 as part of deliberations over restructuring and downsizing the military in the post-Cold War era.

• Both Vice President Cheney and Miller have said that Kerry would like to see U.S. troops deployed only at the direction of the United Nations, with Cheney noting that the remark had been made at the start of Kerry's political career. This refers to a statement made nearly 35 years ago, when Kerry gave an interview to the Harvard Crimson, 10 months after he had returned from the Vietnam War angry and disillusioned by his experiences there. (President Bush at the time was in the Air National Guard, about to earn his wings.)

• President Bush, Cheney and Miller faulted Kerry for voting against body armor for troops in Iraq. But much of the funding for body armor was added to the bill by House Democrats, not the administration, and Kerry's vote against the entire bill was rooted in a dispute with the administration over how to pay for $20 billion earmarked for reconstruction of Iraq. <snip>

[noahmijo]

1. Could you please post the entire article?

I can't read the whole thing since I'm not a subscriber.

[papau]

2. Entire article can not be posted under DU/copyright rules - sorry

:-(

[Qutzupalotl]

3. Registration is free.

I'm a 100-year old man from Farmville, Virginia 23901.

[Qutzupalotl]

4. Distortions continued last night.

Pataki said:
"You know the history. Osama bin Laden declared war on America -- and then came the attacks -- the first World Trade Center..."

Al Qaeda declared war on us in 1996. The first World Trade Center attack was in 1993.

"How I wish the administration at that time, in those years had done something."

Clinton bombed the al Qaeda training camps in 1998 and was accused by Republicans of "wagging the dog."