Tv add broadcast draft hearsay Kerry says good chance of its return

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Long post. Read fast or skim.

The draft story or issue that won’t go away

A Democrat-leaning 527 group is set to debut a television ad in battleground states next week suggesting President Bush would reinstitute the draft if re-elected.

The liberal Campaign for America's Future joined forces with former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean on Friday in a fund-raising appeal to air the commercial. The ad was produced by the 527 group Win Back Respect with the help of the MoveOn Voter Fund.

"With America's troops stretched to the limit, and Army recruiters unable to meet their quotas, how would George Bush get the troops he needs to fix the mess in Iraq?" the announcer asks. "And where will he find the troops if America faces a more immediate threat? George Bush and the draft: What is his plan?"

Matt Bennett, a spokesman for Win Back Respect, said the ad was posted on the group's website this week. He said Win Back Respect is in negotiations to air the ad in several states starting early next week.

"It's going to come out in the next few days," Bennett told CNSNews.com. "It's going to be airing in swing states. I don't know where; we're still looking at the [ad] buy."


The ad is the latest effort by Democrats to spread rumors about Bush reinstituting the draft. Sen. John Kerry told the Des Moines Register on Thursday there was "a great potential" for the draft to return should Bush be re-elected. Last week Kerry's surrogates peddled the rumor, and Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe also raised the possibility.

Bush has dismissed the rumor, telling a questioner during the Oct. 8 presidential debate, "We're not going to have a draft, period. The all-volunteer Army works."

Despite Bush's promise, young voters continue to be targeted with the rumor. The original source of the controversy remains unknown, but Dean has penned an op-ed about it and filmmaker Michael Moore and former Sen. Max Cleland have raised it as well.

A spokeswoman for the Defense Department told CNSNews.com there is no intention to have a draft, nor does the Pentagon want one.

"Secretary Rumsfeld has said all along we do not need a draft. That's our stance and it will continue to be," said Lt. Col. Ellen Krenke, a Pentagon spokeswoman. "We don't need one. We're recruiting the number of people we need and the quality of people we need to perform all of our missions."

Krenke said all divisions had met their most recent recruiting goals except the Army National Guard, which fell 5,000 recruits short of its quota.

"The Army National Guard attributed it not meeting its goal to stop-loss," Krenke said. "They depend on getting at least 5,000 soldiers per year from prior service members of the Army. The Army has stop-loss in effect, so people were not getting out of the Army and they could not join the Army National Guard."

Bennett dismissed the Pentagon's response. He said the military couldn't handle its responsibilities in Iraq and Afghanistan if another international conflict arose.


"The bottom line is the American military is vastly overextended," Bennett said. "No matter what kind of happy face the Bush people want to paint on it, the fact is they are conducting a backdoor draft with their stop-loss order, with their deployment of the Ready Reserve and with their incredible overextension of the National Guard."

The goal of the advertising campaign, Bennett said, is to get Bush to explain what his plan would be if another conflict arose overseas.

The Republican National Committee doesn't see it that way. Spokeswoman Christine Iverson said it was merely a scare tactic orchestrated by Democrats.

"If this group wants to demand honesty about the draft," Iverson said, "they should start by sending their online petition to John Kerry, who is willfully working to scare young voters by spreading rumors about the reinstatement of the draft."



Source
http://www.cnsnews.com//ViewNation.asp?Page=\Nation\archive\200410\NAT2004 1015c.html


Related story.

"Kerry: Potential great for return of draft"

There is "a great potential" for a military draft in the United States should President Bush win re-election in November, Democratic challenger John Kerry said Thursday during an interview with The Des Moines Register.

"With George Bush, the plan for Iraq is more of the same and the great potential of a draft," Kerry said during a meeting with Register reporters and editors before headlining a rally at the Iowa State Fairgrounds.

Bush campaign aides dismissed Kerry's comments as "irresponsible" and "the mother of all cheap political scare tactics."

Kerry and Bush have both said repeatedly that neither would reinstate the draft. Bush pledged during the debates to maintain the "all-volunteer army."

Kerry has said a draft is "possible" under Bush and has characterized the heavy use of National Guard and Reserve troops as a "backdoor draft."

Kerry's comments Thursday went further.

"With George Bush, the plan for Iraq is more of the same and the great potential of the draft. Because if we go it alone, I don't know how you do it with the current overextension" of the military, Kerry said.

The comments came as a broad countercharge to Bush's accusation that Kerry's criticism of the war has made it more difficult to win allied support in Iraq.



Bush campaign Iowa spokesman Dan Ronayne responded: "Senator Kerry's comment is irresponsible, patent nonsense and the mother of all cheap political scare tactics. He knows better, and that statement is just another example of John Kerry's willingness to say absolutely anything he thinks will benefit his political fortunes, and as a result he is losing credibility with the American people."

Kerry also said Thursday he expected the election, now less than three weeks away, to be a referendum on the war. However, he acknowledged Bush had an advantage in public opinion polls on the issue of Iraq because he is an incumbent president.

Kerry repeated his proposal to begin bringing U.S. troops home within six months of his term, a goal he said would be achievable by speeding up training of Iraqis with help from allies.

Bush has given no timeline, saying only that troops will come home when Iraq is able to maintain its own security. He has pledged to have 125,000 Iraqi troops trained by January and 200,000 trained within a year. Bush has said Kerry's six-month proposal gives terrorists and insurgents incentive to hold out until troops leave.

Although the race is tightly knotted nationally and in Iowa, Kerry continues to trail Bush on the question of who is better able to handle the situation in Iraq.

Kerry aides point out that the Democrat has edged closer on the question since the first debate on Sept. 30. Kerry was widely viewed as having won that matchup, which focused on Iraq and foreign policy.

But polls also show attitudes about Iraq at their worst, with a CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll this week showing a majority of Americans - 54 percent - say the war was not worth fighting.

Bush has flatly ruled out reinstating the draft. "We're not going to have a draft, period. The all-volunteer army works," Bush said during last week's debate in St. Louis.

"We don't need mass armies anymore. . . . We're beginning to transform our military."

Kerry has made his criticism of Bush's handling of the situation in Iraq a centerpiece of his campaign. Bush has accused Kerry, who voted to authorize the use of force in Iraq, of hurting chances of allied support by criticizing the war as a diversion from the global war on terror.

Kerry expanded his attacks of Bush's Iraq policy Thursday, saying a draft was more likely under Bush because the administration failed to plan properly for the postwar occupation.

"It's because they've had to do this on the fly, and without planning and without building alliances that we're bearing the burden we face," he said.

"There will not be a draft, and there doesn't need to be a draft if we have a foreign policy that is in keeping with the values and the history of our country," Kerry said. "This president has created greater overextension than needed of our armed forces."

Kerry has recently accused the Bush campaign of using scare tactics to influence voters. In September, he charged Vice President Dick Cheney with trying to frighten voters by saying terrorists would be more likely to strike the United States if Bush lost re-election. Cheney later clarified the comments to say he didn't think a Kerry victory meant an imminent attack.

Kerry met with the Register's editorial board at the newspaper's request. He has met with the editorial boards of the Miami Herald in pivotal Florida and the Columbus Dispatch in key battleground Ohio, aides said.

Bush has been invited to meet with the Register's editorial board but has not yet accepted. He has also met with the Columbus Dispatch's editorial board. Bush is expected to campaign in Cedar Rapids today.

Kerry later headlined a rally at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, where he was joined by vice presidential nominee John Edwards.

Source
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041015/NEWS09/410150395/1001&lead=1