WAKEFIELD, Ohio -Since John Kerry embraced speculation about another national draft as a campaign issue last week, he has been repeatedly criticized by Republicans for exploiting the issue for political gain.
Speaking with reporters aboard his campaign bus, the Massachusetts senator backed off his original assertion that there was a great potential of a reinstituted draft under Bush, insisting that the comment was not meant to imply that a draft would be more likely.
What I said was it's possible because I don't know what he's going to do
Kerry said. President Bush has promised more of the same. He says we're on track; he says we're making progress.
Kerry also dodged the question when asked if he thought Bush was lying in the second debate, when the president said, We're not going to have a draft so long as I am the president.
I think our military is overextended and I think we have a serious problem in dealing with Iran and North Korea and Iraq ... with the National Guard and reserve already with extra deployments Kerry said.
Kerry said he would not institute a draft, and he laid out his plan for the war. The plan calls for shifting the burden of securing the country to Iraqis and international troops, which he said he would do better than Bush. Kerry also would add 40,000 active-duty troops to the U.S. military to be deployed to other parts of the world.
The senator was effusive when asked if avoiding the draft was a bigger priority than boosting the military's ranks but insisted that he could add the troops without a draft.
When I put a responsible foreign policy in place
and Americans trust the commander in chief is not going to rush to war without a plan to win the peace ... and is going to set up relationships with other countries that presidents have used
people will trust being in the military
Kerry said.
A poll released last week by the Annenberg Center for Public Policy at the University of Pennsylvania showed that 69 percent of military families had a favorable view of Bush and 29 percent had a favorable view of Kerry. The Democrat dismissed the results, musing that a poll between former President George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton when he was running would produce similar results favoring the current commander-in-chief, but, Clinton beat Bush because in the end
what matters is your ability to lead the nation and make it safe.
Republicans have charged that Kerry is fear-mongering by bringing up the draft in an attempt to win over young voters. Similarly, Democrats have accused the Bush campaign of using fear by suggesting that a Kerry presidency would make another terrorist attack more likely
Campaigning in Florida Saturday, Bush invoked Kerry's past draft comments to restate his position, saying, The only person talking about a draft is my opponent. The only politicians who have supported a draft are Democrats. Kerry did not bring up the draft in any of his public appearances Saturday.
Kerry said he was not trying to exploit voter fear in mentioning the draft. He said there is evidence that another draft is possible, and he cited the comments of Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee and one of only two representatives to vote in favor of a recent bill to reinstate the draft. Murtha said in September that he learned through conversations with Pentagon officials that the Bush administration soon plans to call up large numbers of the military Guard and Reserves.
The draft speculation is based on conversations between a respected congressman and members of the military
Kerry said. It's not fear; it's a legitimate question mark.
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