CRAWFORD, Texas, Aug. 19 (UPI) -- The White House Thursday denied President George Bush was using front groups to attack the military record of his Democratic rival.
Spokesman Scott McClellan, said remarks by Sen. John Kerry in Boston Thursday that implied the president was doing so were "false and baseless."
"I think there's a little bit of a mischaracterization there," McClellan said. "Sen. Kerry knows that his latest attack is false and baseless."
The ad at the center of the squall is by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, an advocacy organization of Vietnam veterans who claim Kerry falsified his military record to gain undeserved medals for bravery and wounds. The Kerry campaign, together with pro-Democratic advocacy groups, have vehemently attacked the ad and its claims.
"Of course, the president keeps telling people he would never question my service to our country," Kerry said in Boston. "Instead, he watches as a Republican-funded attack group does just that."
Bush has called Kerry's Vietnam service honorable. He has condemned advertising by issue advocacy groups using unregulated money, but has not condemned the Swift Boat ad by name.
McClellan made the remarks in Crawford, Texas, where Bush is staying until next week.
