If the Republicans want to continue to attack Kerry and question his patriotism for suggesting that the Vietnam War may not have been our nation's finest moment, I think the perfect Kerry response would be:
"We may not know all the facts about his service in the Texas Air National Guard, but I know this: Bush has been AWOL on jobs; AWOL on the economy; AWOL on health care; AWOL on a plan to secure the peace in Iraq..."
This is basically a three-pronged attack.
- It raises the AWOL issue w/o Kerry making any specific claims about a complicated paper trail issue;
- Makes Bush's lifetime of unaccountability his defining mark;
- Focuses on important issues (jobs, etc.) that are negatives for Bush and positives for Kerry.
Bush is essentally to decide which argument he wants to answer, leaving himself exposed in other areas. Does he want to defend his past TANG service, putting a dubious record front and center in the campaign?
Does he ignore the AWOL issue and try to pretend his record on the issues is good? This leaves the TANG service vulnerable.
Get the picture? It's lose-lose-lose for Bush.