Kerry Fights Back Against War Critics

It's all well and good that this group of Vietnam Vets is being taken to task. Unfortunately, John Kerry is not the one who should have to do it. Attacking those guys credibility isn't hard, given their retraction of sworn statements, military records that contradict their claims of there being no enemy fire, none of them serving on a boat with Kerry, commanding officers claiming today he was terrible but giving him glowing reviews at the time and on and on.

This sort of dirty work should be done by surrogates, not by Kerry. But Kerry was losing ground with veterans (he and Bush were neck and neck after the DNC and now Bush has an 18 point lead in this group) and he's decided he has to directly address the campaign. Some say he waited too long. It's the old Clinton rule: immediately attack back on any negative ads. You're just "responding," not being negative; so no one can accuse you of slinging mud. And letting negative charges linger is always bad.