WASHINGTON, Aug. 25 (UPI) -- The White House slammed Sen. John Kerry Wednesday for staging a "political stunt" at the president's ranch and for a double standard on attack ads.
Spokesman Scott McClellan said Kerry's dispatch of former Sen. Max Cleland and Vietnam veteran Jim Rassman to Crawford to press President Bush to condemn and stop ads by a veterans group that questions Kerry's war record was an attempt to divert attention from Kerry's "out-of-the-mainstream record and out-of-the-mainstream views."
"Senator Kerry says he wants to talk about the issues. Today's political stunt is an interesting way of showing it," McClellan said. "If Senator Kerry was interested in focusing on the issues, he would join the president in calling for a stop to all these ads by these shadowy groups."
Kerry accuses the Bush campaign of being behind Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, whose questioning of the veracity of Kerry's war accounts has roiled the Kerry camp. Bush denies it, but a lawyer with his campaign resigned Wednesday when it was disclosed he also did some legal work for the group.
Bush has called for a ban on all ads by the so-called 527 advocacy groups. Kerry has not heeded Bush's call to stand with him on the issue.
Bush has been savaged for a year by 527s favoring Kerry.
