WASHINGTON – Now that America is on the brink of declaring victory in Iraq, Democratic presidential wannabe John Kerry has suddenly launched a slashing attack on anti-war rival Howard Dean, slamming him as soft on defense.
Kerry spokesman Chris Lehane pounced on a Dean remark that America “won’t always have the strongest military,” and claimed it raises “serious questions about [Dean’s] capacity to serve as commander in chief.” “No serious candidate for the presidency has ever before suggested that he would compromise or tolerate an erosion of America’s military supremacy,” added Lehane, firing off the harshest attack of the 2004 campaign in e-mails to reporters.
It’s a sharp shift in tone for Kerry (D-Mass.), who just a few weeks back blasted President Bush on Iraq and called for “regime change” in America, sounding almost as antiwar as ex-Vermont Gov. Dean – even though Kerry voted for the Iraq war last fall.