Tying Kerry to Terror Tests Rhetoric's Limits (washingtonpost.com): "President Bush and leading Republicans are increasingly charging that Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kerry and others in his party are giving comfort to terrorists and undermining the war in Iraq -- a line of attack that tests the conventional bounds of political rhetoric.
Appearing in the Rose Garden yesterday with Iraq's interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, Bush said Kerry's statements about Iraq 'can embolden an enemy.' After Kerry criticized Allawi's speech to Congress, Vice President Cheney tore into the Democratic nominee, calling him 'destructive' to the effort in Iraq and the struggle against terrorism.
... 'What we're seeing now isn't just offhand comments by outliers but clearly a decision by the Republican hierarchy to put this charge out there consistently.'
Pollster Frank Luntz, who has advised Republicans on rhetoric, cautions that 'statements like that can cause a backlash' against the accuser. 'Candidates have to be careful of going over the line,' he said."
- posted by geoff @ #