Bush Sr. discredits claim
President George H. W. Bush said that the claim that he got his son
into the National Guard is a lie. In an interview aired Wednesday on
CBS's "The Early Show," the president's father dismissed claims that
he helped his son stay out of the conflict.
"They keep saying that and it's a lie, a total lie," former President
George H.W. Bush said. "Nobody's come up with any evidence, and yet
it's repeated all the time."
Bush-Cheney sues
The
Washington Post reports on the law suite filed by the
Bush-Cheney ’04 Committee to stop the unregulated 527 committees
supporting Sen. John Kerry:
President Bush's campaign filed a lawsuit yesterday that accuses
advocacy groups that support Democratic nominee John F. Kerry of
"massive" and "ongoing" violations of election laws and seeks an
emergency court order to stop their activities.
Bush's campaign complained in the suit that at least five
Democratic-leaning fundraising organizations, including MoveOn.org,
Media Fund and America Coming Together, are violating the law by
coordinating their efforts with Kerry's campaign and by raising
unlimited funds from labor union, corporate and individual donors
while expressly working to defeat Bush.
The Bush campaign asked a judge in the U.S. District Court for the
District of Columbia to immediately intervene and force the Federal
Election Commission to take action.
GOP Convention speeches, Wed. night
The text of
Sen. Zell Miller’s speech:
LINK
The text of
Vice President Dick Cheney’s speech:
LINK
The text of
Michael Reagan’s introduction:
LINK
Rove dismisses attack
White House advisor Karl Rove dismissed calls for his resignation.
Rove, interviewed on PBS coverage of the National Convention, said
that it was ridiculous that he should have to step down because he
commented on the Swift Boat for Truth claims. He stated that
commenting on something did not mean that you were coordinating an
attack.
Earlier former Senators Bob Kerry and Max Cleland both called for
Rove’s resignation.
Senator Max Cleland:
"Karl Rove was behind it all, it's part of his smear campaign to
tarnish to tarnish the records and service of Vietnam Veterans, and
now he's doing it again. I find it interesting that three different
people have had to resign from basically the Bush Campaign and their
official duties because of this ad, because they are all tied
together."
Senator Bob Kerrey:
"If the question is whether or not there is any independence left
between the campaign and these swift boat ads, that question has now
been answered. Karl Rove has been in enough political campaigns to
understand how separate you need to be from these independent efforts
and he just ended that separation. If Ginsberg resigned, so should
he."
Who will be visiting Iowa soon?
The one thing that is clear about the Republican National Convention
is that soon a new crop of those who would be President will be
visiting Iowa. In fact, some are already planned to campaign here for
the President and the Iowa Republican ticket. Governor George Pataki
is scheduled for a fundraiser in Iowa.
Names on the list of possible candidates include: Sen. John McCain of
Arizona, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Nebraska Sen. Chuck
Hagel, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, New York Gov. George
Pataki, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, and Massachusetts Gov. Mitt
Romney.
Legion polite to Kerry
While Sen. John Kerry’s reception at the American Legion was polite,
it was not a big welcome either. It was apparent that many in
attendance had chosen to not listen to Kerry’s speech.
Kerry offered veterans help and inferred that the current
administration had left veterans short of assistance.
"I'm proud to be here, and I'm proud to be a Legionnaire," he said
after saluting the several thousand veterans seated in the giant hall.
"When I am president, you will have a fellow veteran in the White
House who understands that those who fought for our country abroad
should never have to fight for what they were promised back here at
home," Mr. Kerry said.
Noticeably absent from Kerry’s speech was any apology or ‘clearing up’
of any charges raised by the 527 group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
The Swiftees’ ads have made a considerable dent in Kerry’s support
nation-wide. A letter had been publicly issued by the group stating
they would stop all ads and efforts against Kerry if he would publicly
apologize and explain his Vietnam mistruths to the American Legion and
America’s Vietnam veterans.
Soros vs. Hastert
House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert has entered into an exchange of
responses with billionaire George Soros. Soros accused Hastert of
implying that he was a drug dealer on national T.V.
Hastert responded, "The American people ought to know that the same
people who have fought so aggressively to legalize drugs in this
nation and to promote euthanasia are now fighting to defeat George
Bush and Republicans in Congress," Mr. Hastert said. "I would hope
that the American people will take note of the radical agenda that
lies behind the millions of dollars of negative advertising."
Hastert was speaking about Soro’s past support of those causes.
Edwards responds
Sen. John Edwards went on the morning show and accused the Republicans
of telling lies about Kerry being weak on defense. He also tried to
change the subject.
"What we heard from the Republicans in that hall last night was an
enormous amount of anger," Edwards said on CBS's "The Early Show." "If
you got up and went to the refrigerator to get a Diet Coke, you would
have missed any discussion of what they're going to do about health
care, what they're going to do about jobs, what they plan to do about
this mess in Iraq."
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