Kerry Ad Labels Bush Politics 'Despicable'

Presidential candidate John Kerry — responding to a Republican group's ad that portrays the senator as soft on terrorism — accused President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney of "despicable politics" in a new commercial that the Democrat's campaign rolled out Saturday.

Kerry's ad claims that the Republican ticket is "using the appalling and divisive strategy of playing politics with the war on terror, a strategy that undermines the efforts to combat terrorists in America and puts George Bush's own ambition ahead of the national good."

The ad responds to one running in Iowa and Wisconsin by Progress for America Voter Fund, an affiliate of a group created by longtime Republican consultant and former Bush aide Tony Feather. The fund's ad shows Sept. 11 hijacker Mohammed Atta, Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein and references terrorist attacks in Russia, Spain and the United States. "Would you trust Kerry against these fanatic killers?" the ad asks.

Kerry's campaign called the fund "a right-wing front group doing Bush's dirty work." Kerry's campaign also released one statement from former Sen. Max Cleland calling on Bush to condemn the "un-American" ad and another from former Sen. Bob Kerrey vouching for Kerry's "commitment to protecting America and strengthening our intelligence."