Gloves are off: New Kerry Ad Attacks Cheney, Halliburton (AP)

[TheDonkey]

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (news - web sites) on Friday accused the Bush administration of turning a blind eye to waste and overcharging by Halliburton, the company Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) once ran, and proposed reforming the contracting system to ensure fair competition.

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The Kerry campaign said a new ad, "Cheney Halliburton," will air next week in Oregon and other battleground states to criticize the administration and its no-bid contracts with the company. The ad suggests a conflict of interest for Cheney because he collects deferred benefits from the time he was chief executive of Halliburton, a multinational company that provides reconstruction and other services in Iraq (news - web sites).

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The new ad also contends the administration's decision to award contracts to Halliburton without competitive bidding wasted taxpayer money that could have been used to create jobs and provide health care. Several investigations into Halliburton's work in Iraq have shown evidence of overcharging or raised questions about the corporation's performance.

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"We need a commander in chief and a vice president who puts the interests of our troops and our taxpayers ahead of their big-money friends," Kerry said. "I will make sure that all government funds are properly accounted for. And as commander in chief, I will have two words for companies that cheat the U.S. military: 'You're fired.'"

[TheDonkey]

1. Link

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040917/ap_on_el_pr/kerry&cid=536&ncid=536

[renoray]

2. Pile it on

The same ad should cover Haliburton's dealings with other "rouge nations" like Iran, it should cover how this administration owns the defense contractors, it should cover the fact that Cheney let Enron make our energy policy.

[Cocoa]

4. it's focused on quid pro quo

Cheney got $2,000,000, Halliburton got billions.

[flpoljunkie]

3. Link to ad on johnkerry.com. Good one!

http://www.johnkerry.com/pressroom/releases/pr_2004_0917.html

The new ad, "Not True" also very good.

[Crachet2004]

5. This is how we win...and about Damn time, too.

The GOP is so very, very weak when it comes to Halliburton and Dick Cheney.

I know a lot of people, some with very low levels of political sophistication (which doesn't mean they are stupid, by any means), and everyone, simply EVERYONE, has heard about Dick Cheney and Halliburton.

And now almost everyone knows someone who has had their ass Shanghaied to Iraq in the military.

It is a crooked-ass rich man's war, and a poor man's fight.

And the fact that Dick Cheney had "other priorities" and five deferments during Vietnam is also fuel for the flames.

How hard can it be to connect the dots with regards to all this, and make a political add? Dick Cheney has dots hanging all OVER his sorry ass...just reach out and grab a handfull, any handfull.

[TheDonkey]

8. This is the time to get down and dirty

if it was before the media and public would have been even more apt to ignore it. I'm very happy Kerry has sharpened his commercials. Always thought they were very good though.

[Roland99]

6. I wish they'd run that ad Nationwide

States like TN and KY could be in play with more help.

[Pirate Smile]

7. I keep seeing this 527 ad with Vets praising * and saying Kerry is

weak, blah, blah, blah. It focuses on Iraq and one of the vets says "why did Kerry vote to send us to war and then vote against giving us the body armor and supplies we need to fight the war" (paraphrasing - but very close to the actual script).

I wish K/E or one of the Dem 527's would do an add with some vets criticizing the * Administration's actions in Iraq.

[Arugula Latte]

9. I've seen this ad a few times already.

It's good.

But I agree, this is the type of ad we need to run against Prez Asswipe. There is just so much material to mine. Why hasn't the Kerry campaign done this yet?

[Kahuna]

10. I'm elated that Team Kerry is knocking the crap out of bushco..

Keep it up! People need to be reminded about what thugs these people are. Voters obviously did have doubts about bush. So bush had to bloody Kerry so that voters would vote for the devil they know. Nice to see the gloves are off.