Continuing the theme of the previous post, John Kerry has harsh words for his opponents, especially President Bush. This article contains two interesting statements:
"John Kerry has voted for higher taxes 350 times and his numbers for new spending don't add up," said Steve Schmidt, a Bush campaign spokesman. "His campaign-trail promises mean he is going to raise taxes by at least $900 billion." It is the first time the Bush campaign has put a number on tax hikes it says Kerry favors.
I expect that the Bush campaign has the documentation to back up that rather startling claim, because Kerry is sure to dispute it, or (if his team has come up with similar figures) gloss over it with as little comment as possible.
Kerry, the Democratic nomination well in hand, is moving to engage Bush, and the president is returning the favor. The Massachusetts senator said Bush has resorted to personal attacks at an unprecedented early stage in the campaign.
Kerry has been campaigning against Bush since 2002, launching countless attacks on the president. Here is one from April 4, 2001, 73 days after Bush took office. His last four press releases (on his senate website) are threeattackson Bush and a congratulatory note to the New England Patriots on their Super Bowl win. Bush has waited until after the nominee has been decided by the Dems before beginning his campaign. Another note to Kerry: pointing out inconvenient facts in your voting record does not constitute a personal attack. Attacking someone's integrity (which you have done with an astonishing frequency to Bush) is a personal attack. I'm waiting for the GOP to start launching retaliatory attacks upon Kerry, responding to every attack with an attack of their own.
(UPDATE 4:21 PM—Jim Miller has a post that is germane to my second point, with numbers to back it up.)
posted on March 10, 2004 03:27 PM
