The truth of the statement is immaterial.
The tactics of having him say that now are the question. That kind of stuff P.O.'s potential swing voters as "mean spirited". Right now, the "party faithful" are already in the bag. The hunt is on for "swing voters" and a comment like that won't help with them.
That's my opinion, of course. I think it's a tactical mistake on the order of Kerry continually bringing up VietNam. There's other stuff to talk about that attracts rather than divides.
Kerry's speech today struck me as good for drawing undecideds. The Bush team will have to responds. Kerry got off defense and played offense. Good thing.
Now Bush is going to have to play defense. This remark makes that harder with undecideds IMO. If I were a GOP tactician, I'd be tooting the tax reform horn, which EVERYBODY loves except H & R Block. I'd toot the "we're funding a crash program for alternative energy" horn. I'd toot the "we have a new medicare/prescription/health care plan ready for the next Congress horn.
GOP needs to steal a page from Clinton and co-opt Kerry's best debate points.
I doubt they're that smart.
