Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has offered his business experience as his No. 1 qualification for the presidency. But that experience is being turned on him in a negative way by both Democratic and Republican opponents.
And that reversal is similar to the one Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., suffered when trying to run on his Vietnam War military service in his 2004 campaign against President George W. Bush,
The Hill reports.
The thinking was that his status as a war hero would beef up his foreign policy credentials and protect him from Republican criticism that he was soft on defense.
He even began his nomination acceptance speech: “I’m John Kerry, and I’m reporting for duty.”
Several days later, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth started an advertising campaign questioning the veracity of Kerry’s version of his accomplishments in Vietnam. The Kerry campaign was unable to offer a strong response.
“It’s funny how similar Romney is to John Kerry,” Kyle Kondik of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics told The Hill. Kerry “was sure his status as a war hero was going to be a selling point for his campaign,” Kondik said. But there was the whole Karl Rove thing of ‘take your opponent’s greatest strength and make it a weakness.’ Now what’s happening to Romney? The exact same thing.”
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