Kerry once criticized Bush's service record

[BeyondGeography]

This is taken from cursor.org. The Kerry quote is highlighted in color on the link:

Boston Globe, November 6, 2000:

Senator plays role of Gore loyalist:

Kerry, a decorated Navy veteran of Vietnam, said Bush should be scrutinized because he ends every speech by raising his hand, taking a mock oath of office, and pledging to restore honor and integrity to the White House. "How is it that someone who was supposedly serving on active duty, having supposedly taken that oath, can miss a whole year of service without explaining where it went?" Kerry asked the crowd.

http://216.239.41.104/search?q=cache:9JWfMIlwG6MJ:democrats.com/smokingjet/+%22service+without+explaining+where+it+went%3F%22+Kerry&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

Where were those prinicipled words today on Crossfire, Senator?

[NewYorkerfromMass]

1. He asked the question then FOR GORE

Gore should return the favor now.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

3. Kerry knows when to play his cards.

[BeyondGeography]

2. Sorry about the link, folks

It's google's cache of http://democrats.com/smokingjet

You can get there directly from the Clark blog (not surprisingly).

[LiberalBushFan]

4. what did he say on crossfire? n/m

[BeyondGeography]

6. Said calling Bush a deserter

was "over-the-top language." The typical spineless crap that makes you think twice about Kerry just when you're getting used to the idea of him being the nominee.

http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0401/23/cf.00.html

[Feanorcurufinwe]

9. Dean probably would have put his foot in his mouth on this one.

Notice how careful Kerry is with his words. Now of course we all know that Bush was AWOL, and most of us realize that AWOL and desertion are two different things.

But the heart of the charge -- that Bush is a coward, a chickenhawk willing to order American soldiers to their deaths, but unwilling to take that chance himself -- that is true.

So Kerry simply talks about the rhetoric used - it was over the top. And, personally, I wish Moore hadn't been so sloppy with his words, and had actually charged Bush with doing what he did - being AWOL.

[NNN0LHI]

15. That spineless crap is pure bull shit

Do you think Kerry's answer was to help get Bush elected in November? I don't. All I know is that the deserter talk has already hurt Bush and that is a good thing. This also puts Bush and and his minions on notice to just try and pull the military card on Kerry and see what happens. For all we know the Kerry and Clark campaigns are working on this one together. That is what I think is actually happening.

Don

[KittyWampus]

5. Hypocracy At It's Finest

I witnessed his performance on Crossfire today.

Man, they were just giving him an open mike.

[Valjean]

7. Doth the Bonesmen Call

Could Kerry have received a call from his fellow Bonesman telling him to STOP attacking Bush's service record??? What type of dirt do the Bonesmen have on Kerry?

[texasmom]

8. Bob Kerrey criticized Bush's record...

not John. For three years I thought it was John, too, but it wasn't.

[LiberalBushFan]

10. Kerry's answer to Democrat Begala was ten times wimpier

than the answer Clark was willing to give to arch-Faux-neocon Brit Hume. I liked Kerry up until this Crossfire moment.

[oasis]

11. Kick for exposing the Chimp's "combat" record.

[isbister]

12. that's not the ground I want to fight this campaign on

KERRY: Paul, that's not -- that's not the ground I want to fight this campaign on.

And I'm very proud of my service. I'm glad that I got the experience I got. And I'm proud of the friendships I have from it. But a lot of us decided many years ago not to make the other choices people made an issue. It was a very complicated time. It was a very difficult time. What I want to talk about now is the future, how we bring the country together over a war that has been bum-rushed at the American people.

Their -- the president did not do, I think, the diplomacy that the United States of America deserves, that the world deserves, before you take a nation to war. There's no graver decision that a president makes. And when the international community is sending you every signal in the world, slow down, let's do this in a responsible way, a president ought to listen. This president didn't.

And now the American people are over $200 billion out of pocket. Our American soldiers are more exposed than they ought to be, because they are not sharing the risk. It's the wrong way to take a nation to war. It was the right thing to do to stand up to Saddam Hussein, but he's done it in the wrong way.

http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0401/23/cf.00.html

[Loren645]

13. Isn't that kind of "over the top"? We better alert Faux news.

Egads how tasteless to point out Chimpy's desertion.

[sandnsea]

14. He didn't call him a deserter

That's a very different word. Funny how people can find Kerry's words when they want to bash him, but never to prove he's always taken on Bush.

[bigtree]

16. Principled words

". . . a lot of us decided many years ago not to make the other choices people made an issue. It was a very complicated time. It was a very difficult time. What I want to talk about now is the future"