The A.P. selectively reminds reader's of Kerry's record.
"Senator Kerry assures us that he's the one to win a war he calls a mistake, an error, and a diversion" Bush said in a speech designed to reclaim the campaign offensive midway through a series of four debates.
"But you can't win a war if you don't believe in fighting," he said of his challenger, five times a decorated Vietnam War veteran.
Wait! says that media. Kerry has all those medals from thirty years ago. No mention of his senate voting record of downsizing the military or his vote against the 1991 Gulf War.
"... Iraq is no diversion. It is a place where civilization is taking a decisive stand against chaos and terror, we must not waver," Bush added.
The president unleashed his newly sharpened attack nearly a week after a scowling, unsteady debate performance that led to a gain in the polls by the Democratic nominee and one day after the Iraq war dominated the only vice presidential encounter of the race.
Don't forget that Bush lost that debate. Please forget that Cheney won the next one.
The president also spoke as the administration's top arms inspector said he had found no evidence that Iraq produced any weapons of mass destruction after 1991. Charles Duelfer said Saddam Hussein's capabilities to develop such weapons had dimmed rather than grown in the years preceding his ouster, contrary to claims by administration officials in the run-up to the U.S.-led invasion.
Don't listen to Bush because weapons inspectors contradict him. We won't mention the numerous Kerry speeches in which he claimed that Saddam had the same weapons.
Next the Democrats get to say harsh things unchallenged.
Democrats produced a list of "Top Ten Lies" they said Cheney had uttered in 90-plus minutes on the debate stage. Leading off was a claim - erroneous, aides quickly conceded - that Edwards was so neglectful of his Senate duties that the two men had never met before shaking hands on Tuesday evening.
"Someone who lies about the little things will lie about the big things too," Democratic Party chairman Terry McAuliffe told reporters in a conference call.
Wouldn't this have been a good time to mention that MCAuliffe didn't have much of a defense on Kerry's Christmas in Cambodia lie?
The Kerry campaign released a new ad accusing Bush of "desperately attacking" in the wake of one debate in which Kerry shone and another in which Cheney did "not tell the truth" on Iraq and his ties to Halliburton, the oil services company he once headed. Officials declined to say how much air time the commercial would receive.
My guess is that it won't need much airtime if AP officials are going to parrot the charges. They could skip advertising altogether and just tell the AP what they'd like to say in an ad.
But it was Bush who delivered the strongest attack of the day.
"In Iraq, Senator Kerry has a strategy of retreat; I have a strategy of victory," he said.
Broadening the criticism, he added, "My opponent's endless back and forth on Iraq is part of a larger misunderstanding. In the war on terror, Senator Kerry is proposing policies and doctrines that would weaken America and make the world more dangerous."
He was no less forgiving on domestic issues. "My opponent is a tax-and-spend liberal. I'm a compassionate conservative," he said.
They're calling Cheney a liar, but Bush pointing out Kerry's position is the strongest attack of the day.
These guys are "objective" journalists.
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