“It is a very different world,” said Tad Devine, a senior adviser to Kerry’s 2004 campaign.
Kamala Harris’ campaign has pushed back against the attacks, but some Democrats worry Republicans might succeed in turning Walz’s military service into a liability.
Others accused Republicans of attempting to “swift boat” Walz, a reference to the 2004 campaign and a sign of the campaign’s continued relevance.
An outside political group, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, led the anti-Kerry campaign, spending millions of dollars on hard-hitting television ads.
Chris LaCivita — a top Trump campaign adviser — was one of the top Republican operatives behind the “swift boat” campaign.
Whereas the “swift boat” attacks were generated by an outside group relying on advertising, Republicans have largely hit Walz on social media and in interviews.
Could attacks on Walz’s 24 years of military service boomerang on the Republican standard-bearer?
The former president has been criticized for avoiding military service over claims he suffered from bone spurs.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Last week seemed familiar to some members of the Democratic Party.
Republicans had launched an attack on the party’s vice presidential nominee’s military record, evoking comparisons to Sen. John Kerry in his presidential campaign.
Still, Democratic strategists who saw the Kerry assault from the inside claim that the attacks won’t have the same impact because the political climate has changed so drastically since 2004.
Senior advisor to Kerry’s 2004 campaign Tad Devine stated, “It is a very different world.”.
Following Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s military record in an effort to discredit him as the Democratic nominee for vice president. Walz was a member of the Minnesota National Guard for twenty-four years, but the Trump campaign has attacked him for his use of vague language when describing how he carried a weapon during combat and after leaving the service.
While the Kamala Harris campaign has retaliated against the attacks, some Democrats are concerned that Republicans may be able to use Walz’s military experience against him. Republicans were accused by some of trying to “swift boat” Walz, a reference to the 2004 campaign that indicates its ongoing significance.
The history of “swift boating.”.
Attacks in the summer of 2004 that called into question whether presidential candidate John Kerry had merited his many accolades as a swift boat commander during the Vietnam War took the campaign by surprise. Three Purple Hearts, a Silver Star, and a Bronze Star were awarded to Kerry.
Following the Sept. 11 attacks, America was engaged in two wars by 2004: one in Afghanistan and the other in Iraq. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The Massachusetts senator Kerry had made his military service the focal point of the fiercely contested presidential primary campaign, even going so far as to declare he was “reporting for duty” at the outset of his nomination speech. “.
Republicans attempted to discredit that argument by bringing up concerns about his involvement in the Vietnam War. The anti-Kerry campaign was spearheaded by an outside political organization called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which spent millions of dollars on aggressive television commercials. Men who had fought in Vietnam questioned Kerry’s bravery, leadership, and suitability to be the nation’s leader in one of the spots, while Kerry’s involvement in subsequent anti-war demonstrations was criticized in another.
The advertisements worked well.
“I recall hearing that advertisement while I was in Ohio. “Guys, I just heard an advertisement,” I said as I called the campaign headquarters. In2018, Kerry told NPR, “And if I heard that advertisement, I wouldn’t vote for me.”.
While some in Kerry’s campaign favored a more forceful response, others preferred to proceed cautiously for fear that drawing attention to the attacks would elevate them.
Although the campaign refuted the controversy in the media, it did not invest much in expensive television advertisements.
According to former Kerry advisors, this anxiety made sure that people started to doubt the candidate’s competence in handling matters of national security.
One of the principal Republicans working on the “swift boat” campaign was Chris LaCivita, a top adviser to Trump during the campaign. Democrats compared Walz’s attacks to those on Kerry, prompting LaCivita to write on X that the 2004 accusations “were never disproven.”. “.
You don’t lie about your combat experience or the medals you’ve received. The two major sins are those two. And he’s accountable for at least one of them,” LaCivita said last week to The Associated Press.
In 2004, a number of veterans who served alongside Kerry denied the allegations. The “swift boat” accusations, according to Matthew Dowd, the chief strategist for the Bush campaign in 2004, were “nearly all lies,” he stated last week. “.
Walz pulls away.
The Trump campaign has attempted to attack Walz’s service using a similar strategy. The vice presidential candidate of Trump, Sen. Lead accuser of Walz’s falsehoods regarding his record is JD Vance. Veteran of the Marine Corps Vance also charged Walz of deserting his unit prior to its deployment to Iraq.
The criticism has been met with resistance by the Harris-Walz campaign. When Walz tried to make a point about gun control in 2018 by claiming he carried weapons in a war, a campaign spokesman told the AP that he “misspoke.”. During his time serving in the Minnesota National Guard, Walz did not witness any combat.
In a statement released during his initial congressional campaign in March 2005, Walz declared his intention to run even though there was a chance his troops would be sent to Iraq. Walz left the Guard in May 2005, according to the Guard. The Army ordered Walz’s unit to be mobilized three months later. March 2006 saw its shipment to Iraq. Rejecting Republican claims that Walz retired to avoid being deployed to a combat zone is the Harris-Walz campaign’s way of fighting back.
Walz attained the position of major command sergeant. However, for benefits purposes, he retired as a master sergeant, a lower rank, since he did not complete certain coursework prior to his 24-year National Guard retirement.
It’s unclear how successful these GOP assaults will be. Democrats who contributed to the Kerry campaign stated that since so much has changed since 2004, they probably won’t be as effective.
Overflowing with money.
The primary cause is that campaigns are now well-funded, which makes it simpler to respond.
Kerry along with President George W. With the exception of private contributions, Bush, the Republican nominee, accepted public funds, receiving $74.6 million from the government each. According to Devine and other critics, the decision hampered a campaign that aimed to concentrate on its desired message.
“We had to decide whether to go on the air now or later because we were operating in a world with limited resources,” Kerry’s deputy campaign manager Steve Elmendorf said. Those limitations don’t apply to the Harris-Walz campaign. “.
Public funding is no longer available, and in July, Harris’ operation brought in an incredible $310 million. More than $1 billion is anticipated to be raised by the Democratic campaign, helped along by the funds that President Joe Biden gathered prior to his resignation.
“We were going to need to spend money that we were going to need in October if we were going to respond to those attacks in the paid media,” Devine stated.
No, Walz is not the front-runner.
The strategists highlighted additional variations in the current setting.
Additionally, unlike Kerry, Walz is not the front-runner for the presidency. As Trump himself has observed, voters frequently pay attention to the candidates at the top of the ticket.
And there’s the whole Trump thing. The former president has been under fire for allegedly having bone spurs, so it’s possible that attacks on Walz’s 24 years of military service will backfire on the Republican standard-bearer.
Democrats should remember a lesson that was discovered the hard way by Kerry’s campaign veterans: they delayed their counterattack for too long, despite the differences between the two campaigns. Democrats should be especially worried about attacks on Walz’s integrity, which is a major selling point for his candidacy, according to Kerry’s pollster, Mark Mellman. “It can be quite problematic to the extent that image is damaged,” Mellman stated.
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