WASHINGTON – John Kerry yesterday launched two new biographical ads to introduce himself to voters – and they focus almost entirely on his Navy service in Vietnam.
The 60-second spots, airing in 19 key states at a cost of $25 million, are meant to give voters a positive, likeable view of Kerry as a war hero and public servant and erase any image of him as a negative critic.
Both show black-and-white photos of Kerry’s parents, pictures of Kerry in college and at Yale, and old footage of Kerry holding a rifle with one hand as he walks by a hutch in a Vietnamese jungle.
“I enlisted because I believed in service to country,” Kerry says in the ad titled “Heart.”
“I thought it was important if you had a lot of privileges as I had had, to go to a great university like Yale, to give something back to your country,” Kerry says.
The spots have the same tagline: “Lifetime of service and strength.”
The ads don’t mention President Bush at all, but one cites Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, a former Bush opponent, who openly toyed with the idea of becoming Kerry’s running mate.
“[Kerry] joined John McCain to find the truth about POWs and MIAs in Vietnam,” says the narrator of the ad titled “Lifetime.”
Both commercials feature fellow Vietnam veterans Del Sandusky and Jim Rassman. “The decisions that he made saved our lives,” Sandusky says, repeating a line from an ad Kerry used in the primary season. “When he pulled me out of the river, he risked his life to save mine,” Rassman says.
Kerry’s daughter Vanessa tells the camera, “If you look at my father’s time in service to this country, whether it’s as a veteran, prosecutor or senator, he has shown an ability to fight for things that matter.”
Kerry’s wife, Teresa, says, “John is the face of someone who’s hopeful, who’s generous of spirit and heart.”
The ads attempt to show Kerry, who has relentlessly criticized Bush’s Iraq plans, as more hopeful than he’s been seen in past months.
“We’re a country of optimists,” Kerry says, “We’re the can-do people and we just need to believe in ourselves again.”
One ad says Kerry “in the 1990s cast a decisive vote that created 20 million new jobs,” referring to Bill Clinton’s deficit-reduction package that passed the Senate in 1993 by just one vote – although former Sen. Bob Kerrey (Neb.), not John Kerry, was the last Democratic holdout on that vote.
As for the claim that the Clinton bill, which included $240 billion in new taxes, created 20 million new jobs, the Kerry campaign attributed that line to the Clinton Presidential Center Record of Accomplishments.
Meanwhile, Kerry yesterday told the Anti-Defamation League in Washington he’ll fight anti-Semitism globally and, if elected, “I will never force Israel to make concessions that cost or compromise any of Israel’s security.”
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KERRY ADWATCH
Titles: “Heart” and “Lifetime”
Lengths: 60 seconds each
Airing: In 19 key states
Cost: $25 million
Summary: Both are biographical spots that focus heavily on Kerry as a Vietnam veteran rather than on specific campaign issues. They feature old photos of him and his parents, as well as video tributes from fellow vets, his wife and daughter.
Excerpts :
“I thought it was important if you had a lot of privileges as I had had, to go to a great university like Yale, to give something back to your country” – John Kerry
“John is the face of someone who’s hopeful, who’s generous of spirit and heart” – Teresa Heinz Kerry
Analysis – The ads are aimed at conveying that Kerry is a bonafide war hero who was honored for his military service – a dig at President Bush and an effort to present the Democratic hopeful as someone who can keep America safe. “Lifetime of Service and Strength” is the tagline and that says it all.