WASHINGTON – Disabled World War II hero and former presidential candidate Bob Dole demanded yesterday that John Kerry apologize for insulting Vietnam vets – and ripped him because he collected “three Purple Hearts and never bled.”
Dole’s bombshell rebuke came after a group of anti-Kerry vets shot holes in his war-hero record claims in TV ads – and the Kerry campaign ripped the riled vets as GOP operatives.
Dole lashed out at Kerry for disparaging Vietnam vets in 1971, when Kerry said U.S. troops raped civilians, cut off ears and razed villages.
“Maybe he should apologize to all the other 2.5 million veterans who served,” Dole said. “He wasn’t the only one in Vietnam.”
Dole – whose right arm is limp from wounds suffered as an infantry officer on the front lines in Italy more than a half-century ago – lambasted Kerry as undeserving of the Purple Hearts.
“And as far as I know, he’s never spent one day in the hospital,” Dole said.
“I don’t think he draws any disability pay. He doesn’t have any disability. And boasting about three Purple Hearts when you think of some of the people who really got shot up in Vietnam.”
The Kerry campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Dole said Kerry brought the attack ads on by hyping his Vietnam service.
“I said months ago, ‘John, don’t go too far,’ ” Dole said.
“And I think he’s got himself into this wicket now where he can’t extricate himself because not every one of these people can be Republican liars.”
In another development, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, whose two ads blasting Kerry’s war record rocked the presidential campaign, deny Democrats’ claims that they’re props for the GOP.
“Our message is our message and no one tells us what to say,” Swift Boat vet Van Odell said on “Fox News Sunday.”
A CBS poll shows Kerry’s support among veterans has dropped 10 points since the group began advertising.
Kerry launched a new ad yesterday – after his first damage-control ad last week did little to raise his poll numbers.
The new ad features President Bush and McCain, with a narrator saying: “Bush smeared John McCain four years ago. Now, he’s doing it to John Kerry.”
It implies that the Bush campaign is behind the Swift Boat ads.
The ad is designed to make it appear John McCain is bashing Bush – even though McCain heads Bush’s re-election bid in Arizona and has asked Kerry not to use him in the Democratic ads.
The Bush campaign criticized the ad as “false and libelous.”
Meanwhile, Kerry spent a profitable Saturday in the Hamptons, where at least $2.5 million for the Democratic National Committee at three events.
Some 750 guests showed up for the main event, a $1,000-a-head fund-raiser at the home of venture capitalist Alan Patricof.
Kerry told the celebrity-studded crowd that his opponents are going after him personally “because in the last months they have seen me climbing in America’s understanding that I know how to fight a smarter and more effective war [on terror].”
Later in the day, Kerry headed to the home of “Sex and the City” creator Darren Star, who co-hosted a $25,000-per- person dinner. Some 250 guests turned out.
Kerry was a no-show for the third event, which took place at a local restaurant.
Additional reporting by Bridget Harrison and Dan Kadison