WASHINGTON – In one corner of Capitol Hill on Thursday stood former Vietnam prisoner of war Bud Day, looking a little stooped and wan but making his points with classic military vigor.
“When these people (POWs) came back from war, they were vilified and spit upon. That was due largely to the efforts of this man masquerading as a war hero,” Day said of Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry.
A few blocks away, another decorated Vietnam veteran, retired Air Force Col. Richard Klass, was just as determined. “He’s not telling the truth about his military service,” Klass said of President Bush.
The dueling news conferences were the latest in what’s become daily – and sometimes almost hourly – exchanges of extraordinarily ugly, personal charges for a presidential campaign.
Each side offers two key reasons for this explosion of bile, this need not just to respond, but to respond quickly and angrily. The election is close, so there’s a feeling that an effective accusation, no matter how credible, could tip the balance. And it’s an election about leadership – and thus character – more than about any single issue such as taxes or health care.
On those points, at least, both sides agree.
“People are on the ballot, not policies,” said Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, R-Calif.
“Character counts,” said Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa. “If the president lied about his military record, will he lie about how he got us into Iraq?”
The two sides use a range of weapons. There’s the snappy insult, as when former Vice President Al Gore last week accused Bush of “genuine moral cowardice” and compared his religious views with those of Islamic fundamentalists. Or Georgia Sen. Zell Miller telling the GOP convention that Kerry would defend the country with spitballs.
There are the sober warnings from higher-ups, such as Vice President Dick Cheney’s suggestion Tuesday that a terrorist attack is more likely if Kerry is elected, or Kerry’s charge that Bush’s policies in Iraq have led to “spreading violence, growing extremism, havens for terrorists that weren’t there before.”
Then there’s the flat-out ugliness, like Republicans linking Minnesota Democrats to bumper stickers comparing Bush and Cheney to Hitler.
Through it all, both sides insist that they are not dredging up 35-year-old rumors or tying the opponents to history’s worst villains. They’re only getting in the muck, they say, because the other side made ‘em do it.
“This has nothing to do with Vietnam,” said Harkin. “It has to do with character.”
The blasting seems to have begun in earnest this summer with the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, who questioned Kerry’s Vietnam service.
What might have made the attacks continue is the sense that Bush clearly benefited from them – his poll numbers have been up – even though the Kerry forces insist that they rose because of the recent GOP convention.
There are other signs that the Swift boat ads were effective. Kerry brought in new advisers, notably go-for-the-jugular political pros Joe Lockhart and John Sasso. And his side in recent days has been able to get headlines from questioning the National Guard service of President Bush – illustrating how slam-bang tactics are seen as the way to political success.
Now the Swift boat group is ready to lash back at Kerry as it launches a nationwide $680,000 ad buy.
“Senator Kerry’s history goes to the issue of leadership. People want vision, they want a sense of national security,” said Sen. John Sununu, R-N.H., who has no connection to the group. Anything that gives them doubts about Kerry’s ability to lead helps Bush, this thinking goes.
Some observers see all the attention to such charges as a result of the nonstop news cycle. Once something airs or circulates, no matter how absurd it seems, the other side has to answer back, fast.
But what might be most responsible for this brawl is that character matters more than usual, because of the stakes involved. The wrong leader can mean a less secure country.
Both sides feel that to not respond would be costly in such a close race, which is why the president in his Sept. 2 convention acceptance speech took digs at Kerry by name. Nor was Kerry reluctant to respond an hour later at a midnight rally in Ohio.
There is a big risk to both sides in this kind of campaign – if the bullets keep flying, both sides could diminish whatever aura they’ve created.
Remember, said Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, who before becoming a senator managed campaigns, “These charges work if they are believable.”
That means truth is less important than credibility. It might never be precisely known just what Kerry did in Vietnam, for instance, or what Bush did during his National Guard stint.
Both Bush and Kerry loyalists are convinced the other side will overplay its hand and eventually look so ridiculous that no one will take its allegations seriously.
“The public has a hard time deciding who’s right or wrong on these matters, but in times of uncertainty, they will trust the incumbent,” said Republican pollster Frank Luntz.
No sir, countered Kerry campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill. “Republicans are employing a very risky strategy,” she said. “They are ignoring the undecided voter and playing to their base.”
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