Bush ads attack Kerry 'extremism'; liberal group targets Rumsfeld

By Nick Anderson
Los Angeles Times

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WASHINGTON — The political battle of the airwaves is intensifying, with President Bush about to launch commercials heaping fresh criticism on Sen. John Kerry's anti-terror credentials.

Kerry, meanwhile, plans a shift in his advertising message, according to a published report, switching from commercials that tell his life story to spots focusing on political issues.

Several conservative and liberal interest groups also are financing messages in critical markets.

The Bush campaign yesterday confirmed the president's latest assault on the presumed Democratic presidential challenger would be a 30-second commercial that claims Kerry was "pressured by fellow liberals" to change his position on the Patriot Act.

That law, passed with backing from the Massachusetts senator and 97 colleagues weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, broadened the government's information-gathering powers.

Amid the ensuing controversy over the law's impact on civil liberties, Kerry in November joined other lawmakers in proposing a bill that would restrain some of the surveillance and search-warrant powers the Patriot Act grants investigators.

His allies include Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, the proposed bill's chief sponsor, and several other GOP senators — Mike Crapo of Idaho, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and John Sununu of New Hampshire.

But the new Bush ad, first disclosed yesterday in USA Today, apparently makes no mention of the bipartisan unrest over the Patriot Act. Instead, it accuses Kerry of "playing politics with national security."

USA Today quoted Matthew Dowd, a top Bush campaign strategist, as saying the ad is "another opportunity for us to say Senator Kerry is way out on the extreme on his views on the Patriot Act." Dowd referred questions to the Bush campaign press office.
 
Said Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt: "Kerry didn't become a co-sponsor of the Craig bill until late in 2003, after those on the left had already pushed him to oppose it."

Asked about GOP critics of the law, Schmidt said: "There is wide bipartisan consensus for the act."

The campaign said the commercial would start airing Tuesday in 19 states. Washington is among them.

Kerry spokesman Phil Singer questioned the president's judgment.

"George Bush is so out of touch that his commercials are now attacking positions held by Republicans like Larry Craig and Arlen Specter," Singer said. "On this issue, Americans from both sides of the political spectrum are with John Kerry in calling for a better Patriot Act, and George Bush is out of the mainstream."

Also yesterday, the liberal advocacy group Moveon.org announced it would begin airing ads next week that call on Bush to fire Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld over the Iraq prison-abuse scandal.

The group distributed an image that shows the Statue of Liberty wearing a hood — a pointed visual reference to images of hooded prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

A conservative group, Club for Growth, plans by the end of next week to unveil an ad attacking Kerry's economic record and accusing him of being too quick to raise taxes.

Stephen Moore, the group's president, has set a goal of spending $10 million to $20 million to influence the presidential race.