Kerry's Voting Record

The Bush administration's constant barrage of half-truths on Senator Kerry's record in the Senate has just taken a turn for the worse. The most recent ad states that,

"John Kerry has repeatedly opposed weapons vital to winning the War on Terror..."

It then lists a number of military vehicles which John Kerry supposedly didn't support, and ends with this nugget, "Kerry even voted against body armor for our troops on the front line of the War on Terror. John Kerry's record on national security: Troubling."

What's much more troubling is the Bush Administrations record on distorting the truth in polical ads.

Lets examine their latest accusation.

"The claims are misleading...The Bush campaign bases its claim on Kerry's votes against overall Pentagon money bills in 1990, 1995 and 1996, but these were not votes against specific weapons. And in fact, Kerry voted for Pentagon authorization bills in 16 of the 19 years he's been in the Senate. So even by the Bush campaign's twisted logic, Kerry should -- on balance -- be called a supporter of the "vital" weapons, more so than an opponent...

It is true that when Kerry first ran for the Senate in 1984 he did call specifically for canceling the AH-64 Apache helicopter, but once elected he opposed mainly such strategic weapons as Trident nuclear missiles and space-based anti-ballistic systems. And Richard Cheney himself, who is now Vice President but who then was Secretary of Defense, also proposed canceling the Apache helicopter program five years after Kerry did. As Cheney told the House Armed Services Committee on Aug. 13, 1989:

Cheney: The Army, as I indicated in my earlier testimony, recommended to me that we keep a robust Apache helicopter program going forward, AH-64; . . . I forced the Army to make choices. I said, "You can't have all three. We don't have the money for all three." So I recommended that we cancel the AH-64 program two years out. That would save $1.6 billion in procurement and $200 million in spares over the next five years.

Two years later Cheney's Pentagon budget also proposed elimination of further production of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle as well. It was among 81 Pentagon programs targeted for termination, including the F-14 and F-16 aircraft. "Cheney decided the military already has enough of these weapons," the Boston Globe reported at the time.

Does that make Cheney an opponent of "weapons vital to winning the war on terror?" Of course not. But by the Bush campaign's logic, Cheney himself would be vulnerable to just such a charge, and so would Bush's father, who was president at the time."

Their hypocrisy knows no bounds.

Why can't the Bush administration run on what they've accomplished in the last four years rather then attacking their opponent for things he didn't do.

Because if they run on their record. They'll lose.