Off the Cuff and Into the Crossfire
WASHINGTON — John F. Kerry leveled his harshest criticism yet at Republican critics Wednesday, accusing them of corrupt and deceitful behavior -- comments that some analysts warned could backfire on the presumed Democratic presidential nominee.
Kerry made his offhanded remark during a stop at a sheet-metal plant in Chicago. As he shook hands with workers, one urged him to stay on the offensive in his campaign.
"Oh yeah, don't worry, man," the Massachusetts senator said. "We're going to keep pounding, let me tell you
The candidate, who had just finished delivering an address to the executive council of the AFL-CIO via satellite, still had a microphone clipped to his collar. His voice was picked up by television and radio stations plugged into the sound system.
Kerry spokesman David Wade said later that the senator was speaking about "the Republican attack machine," not President Bush personally. Added Wade: "We're making it very clear that [Kerry] is a Democrat who's punching back."
The remarks are the latest example of a general election campaign that is off to an unusually nasty and pointed start. Republicans responded to Kerry with barbs of their own Wednesday, calling him "relentlessly negative."
Kerry's remarks were the second time this week he had made an off-the-cuff comment some view as imprudent for a presidential candidate. On Monday, at a fundraiser in Florida, he told donors that foreign leaders had privately told him they wanted Bush ousted from the White House.
Political analysts warned that the language Kerry used Wednesday could come back to haunt him.
"This makes it hard to appear later that he's in any way above the fray and that the other side should be held accountable for taking the debate into the gutter," said Thomas Hollihan, an associate dean at USC's Annenberg School of Communication. "And when the attack comes from the candidate himself, then there's no distancing himself from the message at all."
Kerry's comments came on a day when his campaign hoped to emphasize unity in the Democratic Party, assembling reporters to witness former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean arriving for a private meeting with Kerry at his Washington campaign headquarters.
Since Dean and his other major opponents ended their candidacies, Kerry has adopted increasingly tough rhetoric, warning that the Republicans are going to try to "tear down my character."
