GOP Big Guns Fire On Kerry

CBSNews.com producer Jarrett Murphy reports from the Republican National Convention

What is intriguing about this is not that Republicans are drawing a sharp contrast between their standard-bearer and the other party's; that is the stuff of which conventions are made.

But in this instance, the GOP luminaries are giving measured backing to attacks on the Massachusetts senator's war record by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the type of political group that the White House has dubbed "shadowy."

The attacks began on Aug. 22, when former Kansas Sen. Bob Dole, who was crippled in action during World War II, told CNN that Kerry "has got himself into this wicket now where he can't extricate himself because not every one of these people can be Republican liars. There's got to be some truth to the charges."

While calling Kerry "a good guy, good friend," Dole said: "I respect his record. But three Purple Hearts and never bled that I know of. I mean, they're all superficial wounds. Three Purple Hearts and you're out."

In an interview with Time magazine released on Sunday, Laura Bush was asked if she thought the attacks against Kerry were unfair.

"Do I think they're unfair? Not really," Mrs. Bush said. "There have been millions of terrible ads against my husband."

Then on Monday, in an interview with CNN, former President Bush said the Swift Boat vets' charges — that Kerry exaggerated the war record that earned him five medals — were "quite compelling."

And just as Dole had said the people behind the ads could not all be liars, Mr. Bush said, "I have great confidence in Bob Dole. I don't think they'd be out there just smearing."

The Swift Boat Vets are one of several so-called "527" groups, which are supposed to be independent of candidates and face looser scrutiny under campaign finance laws. The Bush campaign's top lawyer, Benjamin Ginsberg, resigned after it was revealed he had ties to the group. Republicans counter by charging that the liberal 527 group MoveOn.org has links to the Kerry campaign.

On the convention floor Monday night, when the Republicans featured veterans prominently, the official line was respect for Kerry's war record, which echoes White House statements on the matter.

When former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said of Kerry, "I respect him for his service to our nation," the crowd applauded.

But Giuliani also fiercely attacked Kerry's ability to lead. With many delegates in the audience doing the "flip-flop" cheer (shouting "flip-flop" in a sing-song voice and waving one's hand side to side), Giuliani excoriated Kerry for what he said were contradictory positions and statements. His criticism was sharpest on Kerry's commitment to defending the country.

"John Kerry's record of inconsistent positions on combating terrorism gives us no confidence he'll pursue such a determined course (as Mr. Bush)," Giuliani said.

After saying Mr. Bush would not let other countries "set our agenda," Giuliani said, "John Kerry's claim that certain foreign leaders who opposed our removal of Saddam Hussein prefer him, raises the risk that he would accommodate his position to their viewpoint."

The tone of the statements by Republicans at and leading up to the convention is in contrast to the Democratic convention, which went through great pains to remain positive — despite departures by Rev. Al Sharpton and others.

American Enterprise Institute research fellow John Fortier says the Democrats faced a different job at their convention than the GOP: The Dems had to define their candidate, which left little time for direct attacks on Mr. Bush.

But the Republicans' man is well known; his backers can afford to go on offense.

However, Jim Pelura, a delegate and Bush-Cheney state leader who says the Vietnam controversy is hurting Kerry in Maryland, does not consider the GOP attacks to be "negative campaigning."

"If I were to call John Kerry ugly, that's a negative attack. If I were to call him and say he has no fashion sense, he has goofy clothes, his wife is ugly, his kids are goofy – that's a negative attack," Pelura said. "But if I bring up a point of truth in his record I don't consider that a negative attack.

"John Kerry from the beginning of his campaign decided that, 'My Vietnam service is going to be the center of my campaign,'" he added. "Ok, Bud, if that's the way you want to run your campaign, let's talk about your service. Now he doesn't like it. Well, you can't have it both ways."

Bob Carpenter, a Republican from Maryland, agreed. "Negative campaigning is in the eye of the beholder," he said.

"I think Bob Dole and the president have been very respectful of John Kerry's war record," Carpenter said. "I think the leaders of our party have indicated that John Kerry is a veteran ad has every right to claim that and we should all be appreciative."

And if surrogates mount attacks on that record? "You can't control everyone," Carpenter said.

Fortier is not surprised that the likes of a former president, a former presidential nominee and a first lady are joining in the effort to contrast Mr. Bush favorably with Kerry.

"In general the vice presidential candidate is the one to draw contrasts with the opponent – and that's about as high profile as you can get," he said.

And he noted that the Democrats were likely to ask their higher-ranking officials also to join in the fight — particularly vice-presidential nominee John Edwards.

"His style obviously in the primaries was to be positive but I think he's going to have to be tougher and more protective of his presidential candidacy," Fortier said. "I do think he has to play that role."

In Boston, there was a marked contrast between the ferocity of the dislike for Mr. Bush by many Democrats and the fairly friendly tone of the convention.

In New York, most Republicans seem more pleased with Mr. Bush than infuriated by the Democratic nominee.

But underlying some of the Republican attacks could be the feelings expressed at a GOPAC seminar Tuesday afternoon, where former House Speaker Newt Gingrich depicted America as facing a stark choice between decay and freedom.

"The assault of the secular left has really put into question what type of country we're going to be," Gingrich said, going on to warn that Americas would split into appeasers and warriors in the fight against terrorism, and that "either the world will end up free" or be overwhelmed by dictatorship.

He called the Ninth Circuit Court decision, later overturned, to remove "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance, "our generation's Dred Scott decision," called for school prayer, the posting of the Ten Commandments and wiping out courts if their judges are "so nutty they don't understand what country they're in."

By Jarrett Murphy